A new viral video making the rounds on social media provides the perfect way for fans to introduce their friends to Dragon Ball for the first time.
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The Dragon Ball series really spans just about every genre there is in anime, manga and fiction in general. It tells stories filled with magic and fantasy in the original series, and transitions into high-octane anime with Dragon Ball Z. It reaches the heights of science fiction with space travel and teleportation, and also establishes an system of theology with intergalactic gods and life after death.
Friend: So what is Dragon Ball anime about?
Me: pic.twitter.com/9raysa2Uhs
โ Ken Xyro | แ( แ )แ๐ (@KenXyro) July 27, 2018
In all that time, there is one thing that unifies every part of the sprawling Dragon Ball series — yelling. Heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys, even side characters all get a moment to scream at the top of their lungs somewhere in the Akira Toriyama’s massive mythos.
As the video shows, this is not even confined to the iconic anime series. Dragon Ball characters spend a lot of time yelling in video games, movies, manga and any other form they appear in.
The audio snippet used for the video is from a song called “Big Enough,” by Australian singer Kirin J. Callinan featuring alex Cameron, Molly Lewis and Jimmy Barnes. The song has become viral in and of itself recently as its video is melodramatic, odd and obviously ful of high-pitched, impassioned yelling.
The tweet picked up thousands of likes and retweets in less than a day.
Fans responded with lots of laughter, as well as relevant GIFs and snark of their own. A few other Dragon Ball memes crept in as well, with fans admitting that the series is central to their social lives. For many, not being familiar with Dragon Ball seems to be reason enough to preclude friendship in the first place.
โ Ricardo Garcia (@rg3561) July 27, 2018
“Dragon Ball episode contain 24 minutes video,” one person asserted. “10% fighting, 20% transforming, 70% screaming.”
The same user who created the video has been responsible for other iconic Dragon Ball memes in the past, notably one video back in March featuring Vegeta and Freiza.
i heard ymca in minor key and the first 10 seconds sound like something straight from dbz pic.twitter.com/4yYSdNA46U
โ llama (@llamam00n) March 11, 2018
“I heard ‘YMCA’ in minor key and the first 10 seconds sound like something straight from DBZ,” they explained.
If nothing else, this all goes to show exactly why Toriyama and his team decided to revive the Dragon Ball series after so many years. Dragon Ball Super revived a huge dormant fandom that was dying for new material. At the end of this year, they’ll get their wish with the release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly on Dec. 14 in Japan. The movie hits the U.S. in January.