Akira Toriyama, the creator of the Dragon Ball series, passed away recently at the age of 68.

His sudden death evoked a great deal of social commentary surrounding the significance of Dragon Ball in modern pop culture, not only in Japan but much of the world.

If you were born either in the early 1990s in Europe or anywhere from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s in many Western and Asian nations, it’s highly likely that you’d have heard of Dragon Ball. In fact, for some kids, watching it straight after returning home from school had become something of a daily ritual.

It ended up becoming such a huge cultural phenomenon that, for example, someone has even compiled a list of Latin American politicians (many top government executives) who have declared their love of the series:

Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, has recently passed away. Toriyama's creations will always have a special place in the hearts of LatAm
As our form of celebrating his legacy, we have decided to catalogue how LatAm politicians have mourned him.
🧵 (1/X) pic.twitter.com/1SG4ySIJF9

— Crazy Ass Moments in LatAm Politics (@AssLatam) March 8, 2024

What I’ll be taking a look at here is the reason behind it achieving such a high level of popularity. As we all know very well, modernity doesn’t push cultural consumer products without there being some sort of hidden agenda or subtext, and since Dragon Ball ended up resonating with a large segment of the public, there simply has to be more to the story.

Of course, I will forego the usual analytical tools mobilized to read Dragon Ball, for example, how it transformed the hero figure of the ’80s, which went from someone “virile” to a “child” (more on this later). This alone, however, can’t explain the series’ popularity in many parts of the world; neither can the fact that it is based on a classical Chinese-Buddhist work, Journey to the West; nor its emphasis on martial arts.

What I’ll trying to do is highlight certain points that link Dragon Ball with much of what shapes our current era. (I will also try to follow some form of chronology, that is, from the early arcs in Dragon Ball to the final arc of Dragon Ball Z.)

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NazBol Villains?

If you’re familiar with the culture wars of the 2010s, you’ve probably come across NazBol memes. NazBol, which stands for National-Bolshevism (a combination of National-Socialism and Bolshevism), has been memed to death because leftists consider them to be “reactionaries” since they want to ape right-wing nationalism and conservatism, while right-wingers consider them to not be serious since they want to implement socialist policies in relation to politics and economics (strong central state, nationalization, etc.).

It could argued that these were nothing more than the intellectual games of edgy Western teenagers, but more serious figures have been ascribed to the ideology, including the Strasser brothers (early associates of Hitler, before being kicked out) and Dugin (the so-called philosophical brain behind much of Putin’s illiberal geopolitics—you can read more about him in an earlier article of ours).

Intriguingly, for many, the very first time they were exposed to the “NazBol gang” was through Dragon Ball, with the Red Ribbon Army (RRR).

The RRR is the first real foe of the main character, Goku, and what you notice straight away is the typical Japanese ethnic anxiety, as the RRR members are all foreigners, including even a Black individual (Black characters were extremely rare in anime during those days).

The RRR is quite obviously patterned on the Soviet Army. Dragon Ball was written in the 1980s, when it was still a major geopolitical player and also an imperialist force. The Soviet Army was known as the Red Army for decades, after Trotsky had founded it in order to counter the White Army, which was still sympathetic to monarchist ideals and thus very much opposed to communism.

Like the Soviet Union’s Army, the RRR is a formidable military power, having countless footsoldiers, planes, boats, as well as the latest technology, including androids.

The reference to National-Socialism is also obvious. One of the main RRR commanders is General Blue, who is tall, blond, blue-eyed, and “German-looking.” He fits the usual Hitlerian idea of eugenics, and he’s also considered to be the strongest man in the RRR. It is worth noting that he also appears to be quite effeminate, if not homosexual. It’s as though, in the Japanese mind, foreign occupation is not only achieved by means of actual physical weapons but also cultural weapons.

It goes without saying that there isn’t really a huge amount of ideological political discourse in the anime, but the RRR, marrying Hilterism with the Soviet Union, seemed to have been a precursor to all those NazBol gang memes decades before they appeared all over social media.

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God and Satan as a Single Divided Being?

We all know that one of the worst aspects of anime in general is the way they normalize Shirk (polytheism and idolatry) due to specific cultural and religious traits of Japanese society (primarily Shintoism, the most widespread religious practices of even secularized Japanese people and a religious way which attempts to “spiritualize” the natural world).

In Dragon Ball, something I found quite disturbing even as a kid were two of the characters which played a major part following the RRR arc: Kami (literally “God”) and King Piccolo, his demonic counterpart—in the sense that they were previously one, single being, but the “good” became Kami, and the “evil” became King Piccolo.

I don’t think much is required in terms of exegesis regarding why this is an extremely problematic and unacceptable proposition for us. It is reminiscent of dualistic philosophies, such as in ancient Persia, where Ahura Mazda (the ultimate force of “good”) and Ahriman (the ultimate force of “evil”) were twin spirits in Zurvanite Zoroastrianism, with the divinity Zurvan (often considered to be an embodiment of infinity) having been split into these two rival divine entities.

Considering how Kami and King Piccolo were from another planet called Namek, thus non-human beings, Akira Toriyama also appears to have been inspired by the “ancient astronauts” theory of authors such as Robert Charroux and Zecharia Sitchin, who argued that all ancient civilizations on earth have been discovered by extraterrestrial intelligent beings, which communicated with them and helped them develop (culturally, technologically, religiously, and biologically). It is also a common view among those who adhere to this idea that that deities from most—if not all—world religions are extraterrestrial in their origin.

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Power-Ups and Capitalist Self-Motivation

We move now from Dragon Ball onto Dragon Ball Z, from child Goku to adult Goku.

When people discuss the popularity of the Dragon Ball series, it’s usually Dragon Ball Z that comes to mind.

Accompanying this change in Goku, we also observe a thematic change. While Dragon Ball was a shonen anime, where the protagonist goes through a slow and methodic evolution, in Dragon Ball Z we have what is often referred to as “power-ups,” with the power scale being shifted drastically. Goku becomes a Super Saiyan, then a Super Saiyan 2, followed by a Super Saiyan 3, etc., almost as a sort of never-ending parodical transformation spree.

It all fits comfortably within the capitalist paradigms which push for self-transformation, not for religious reasons (to reach paradise) but for secular aims (improvement in health and bodily strength).

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Darwinism and Transhumanism

Important arcs in the Dragon Ball Z series include the Androids arc and the subsequent Cell arc.

The Androids were created by an individual named Dr. Gero, who worked for the very same RRR we had touched upon earlier. Even physically, he has a somewhat religious appearance about him as his clothing bears some resemblance to the attire of Christian-Orthodox priests.

The Androids are an obvious transhumanist project, as they have the external appearance of humans but are near invincible. They are thus physically superior to humans in terms of pure strength, which, in Dragon Ball Z, is what makes up a character’s entire identity. Furthermore, they may even be superior to humans spiritually, as at least one of them, Android 16, seemed to have gained consciousness to such a degree that he is able to have some sort of ecological sentiments (before dying, he asks one of the main characters to look after all living beings, such as animals).

As mentioned, the Androids arc is followed by the Cell arc, titled after a character named Cell.

Cell seems to be a perfect Darwinian project. He begins as a fetus (thus the name, “Cell”) and then evolves through different stages of evolution by absorbing others (mainly the Androids). In his final or “perfect” form, he comes across as a thoughtful and coherent antagonist, not a genocidal maniac like other Dragon Ball villains. Perfect Cell seems to be self-aware of his supposed perfection, to the extent that he harbors contempt towards human beings, despite himself growing through absorbing humans (or post-humans, such as the Androids).

It’s as though the subtext read: the transhumanist quest towards “perfection” leads inevitably to a sort of anti-humanism.

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Black Magic?

The last theme I will be focusing on might appear a little surprising, as it’s about black magic.

The final arc of the Dragon Ball Z series is about the antagonist Buu, who comes in many shapes and forms until, finally, he ends up as Majin Buu, a force of pure nihilism, perhaps the most evil character of the entire Dragon Ball franchise.

I think many may have have missed how, in the Buu story, there is reference to black magic. Babidi, the villain who “reawakens” evil Buu, is a sorcerer who possesses some pseudo-Arab features. His physiognomy is that of the cliché evil Arab. His right-hand man Dabura, a demon who is supposed to be Lucifer, also has a very cliché evil Arab look, resembling Jafar from Aladin, himself the archetype of the cunning Arab in pop culture, probably based on the late King Faysal of Saudi Arabia (who famously disrupted Western economies due to their support for Israel).

It’s like it’s a tale of black magic and summoning Jinns (in this case, Buu).

Particularly since Babidi uses a magical mark (called sigil) to exert complete control of people. This mark of his is an “M,” representing Makaioshin, said to be an evil or demonic king.

This connection between black (or evil) magic and a new form of technology is also quite pertinent in our contemporary times (just Google Elon Musk and the “Osiris risen” sign he took from Aleister Crowley).

These are just a few of the themes that, I believe, can help us make sense of the huge popularity behind the Dragon Ball series: they happen to encapsulate our times pretty well.

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