Japan Foundation New York Panel Discussion – Dragon Ball

When talking about Dragon Ball – the entire Dragon Ball franchise – it is simply hard to find words that will adequately describe its impact and influence in Japan and around the world. When its creator Akira Toriyama, passed away last year, the first sentence of the New York Times obituary was “His popular manga inspired numerous television, film and video game adaptations, reaching fans far beyond Japan’s borders.”

And now, the Japan Foundation New York has announced the latest event in its ongoing Japanese Popular Culture series of online panel discussions – the title for it will be Dragon Ball: How Black and Latin American Fans Found Themselves in This Anime.

Tuesday, March 4
7:00 p.m. EST
online – YouTube (registration required)

Featuring:

• Derek Padula, Dragon Ball expert, author of The Dao of Dragon Ball books (self-published)

• Dexter Thomas, writer and documentary filmmaker, Senior Fellow, Annenberg Innovation Lab

• Dani Fernandez, actress, writer, director, influencer

• Camilo Diaz Pino, Assistant Professor, Communication and Media, West Chester University.
  Author of Weaponizing collective energy: Dragon Ball Z in the anti-neoliberal Chilean protest movement (Political Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, 2019).

The discussion will be followed by a live question-and-answer session.

The Japanese Popular Culture series launched in the fall of 2020, with Why Do We Study Anime + Manga, and currently consists of almost two dozen individual events. Some of the others – all now archived on YouTube – have included:

Episode 5 (January 28, 2021): Sailor Moon: How These Magical Girls Transformed Our World

Episode 7 (April 29, 2021): Hayao Miyazaki: Children Entrusted with Hope

Episode 12 (December 16, 2021): Shoujo Manga: The Power and Influence of Girls’ Comics

Episode 19 (March 26, 2024): Leiji Matsumoto: Manga and Anime Legend of Sci-Fi and Beyond