Dragon Ball Z (TV Program)

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    Athletes Go Super Saiyan for Anime

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    Young professional athletes are increasingly broadcasting their obsession with anime like “Pokémon” and “Naruto,” upending preconceptions about kinds of fandom.Instead of talking about football after he joined the New Orleans Saints, Jamaal Williams introduced himself to reporters last year with a dialogue on “Pokémon,” prompted by the foxlike character Eevee perched on his head.In homage to “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” the mixed-martial artist Israel Adesanya has boldly nicknamed himself the Last Stylebender.And the sprinter Noah Lyles, to celebrate his Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter dash this summer, cupped his hands forward as if generating the “Kamehameha,” an energy-blast attack from “Dragon Ball Z.”High-profile athletes are increasingly broadcasting their fascination with anime, creating a fraternity inside locker rooms as they lovingly dissect favorite animated Japanese shows and films. In the process, they are upending preconceptions about different kinds of fandom and outdated labels that seek to define and divide jocks and geeks.“There’s more nerds out here that can ball out and like anime,” said Williams, 29, who has worn an anime helmet visor and gently corrected a reporter who mispronounced “Pokèmon.” “You don’t have to be the stereotype where all we do is rap or play ball.”The N.F.L. player Jamaal Williams, wearing an Eevee hat, is happy to talk about Pokémon with reporters.New Orleans SaintsWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Akira Toriyama’s “Dragon Ball” Hero Goku Is One for the Ages

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      The creator of “Dragon Ball” helped bring anime to the world. Its main character became a cultural phenomenon.“It’s over 9,000” is perhaps the most popular line in the English dub of the “Dragon Ball Z” series. The line is beloved for its drama; it’s an exclamation referring to the unmatched power level of the main character, Son Goku. It was an ongoing joke in my middle school and became one of the internet’s most enduring memes.But Goku was always an exemplar of staying power, back from his beginnings in the “Dragon Ball” manga created by Akira Toriyama, whose death was confirmed on Friday.Toriyama is the creator of the manga “Dr. Slump” and “Sand Land” but is best known for “Dragon Ball,” which first published in 1984 and for years ran in the popular Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. It was successful from the start, but as more people around the world learned about it, “Dragon Ball” attained such levels of popularity that it became one of the standard-bearers of anime.Despite the prominence of greats like Hayao Miyazaki and the recent surge of live-action adaptations in the United States, it’s still fairly rare that a manga or anime — even given the massive scope, breadth and history of the art form — achieves crossover appeal to mainstream Western media. There have been a few big exceptions. “Pokémon.” “Naruto.” And “Dragon Ball.”“Dragon Ball” is the story of an alien boy named Son Goku who ends up on Earth. He teams up with a brilliant blue-haired teen named Bulma, and they search for seven dragon balls to summon the powerful wish-granting dragon Shenron.The worlds and images Toriyama created combined the kung fu-inspired fight sequences of old martial arts flicks with science-fiction and a fantasy-style reimagining of space and technology. The characters burst off the page and the screen: A wild-haired boy in an orange gi flying on a cloud; a whiskered green dragon whose serpentine body coils in Gordian knots in the sky; and seven orange orbs, speckled with small red stars, that when combined offer their collector infinite power.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More