Waldy Cabral
Writing For the Social Sciences
Nathan Fetherolf
Oct 9th, 2024
The Impact Of Dragon Ball Culture
All around the world, we can see multiple cultures practiced everywhere every single day of our lives. Culture is the essential element that makes all of us unique. Culture is embodied in many different forms, such as the languages the group speaks, racial or religious groups, the food they eat, the clothes the specific culture may wear, dances, movies/shows, and music. In addition, many groups may also be associated with a culture when they share the same norms, values, and ideas to ensure they can keep living and working together. The subculture of Dragon Ball is derived explicitly from Japanese Manga, and the Television/Movie series contains much of the artwork on 6th Ave Midtown Manhattan next to Herald Square Park.
Kinonuniya holds many of the original works of the Dragon Ball franchise that gather the attention of fans from different cultures in this New York bookstore. Initially opened in 1981 in Rockefeller Center, it stands as a significant location to many manga fans in the five boroughs of New York City, where one can expand their horizons, share similar experiences with people within the specific culture, and learn different things they haven’t before. You are welcomed by hundreds of books and mangas from many historical animes by these Japanese writers and developers. This was my first experience within the bookstore, and immediately, I was in for a surprise.
The culture of Dragon Ball has influenced millions worldwide. It has allowed the vibrant community to attend conventions to cosplay different characters from anime/manga and various types of art, have discussions on social media platforms, and playing video games from other consoles like Playstation and Xbox within the community. The themes around the community share optimistic values of friendship, perseverance, and self-improvement. Dragon Ball culture allows fans within the community to come together and connect with different generations worldwide. Dragon Ball culture stands out to millions of people around the world. Kinokuniya has large figurines, text-to-detail pins that have characters like Goku from the Dragon Ball anime/manga smiling with his thumb up, and colorful, vibrant shirts that grab your attention so you can purchase it.
I had the opportunity to speak with the manager of Kinokuniya, and for every question I asked, he seemed sparked to answer all my questions, eager to make me feel like I belonged. The manager (John) was about five foot six. I remember he wore a grey shirt with another anime, “One Piece,” showing the protagonist “Luffy” with his arms crossed, smiling with his brown straw hat; before John could answer my questions, he was quick on his feet and gave specific tasks towards his team. He seemed like he loved where he worked by being fast to attend to clients around the bookstore and always included a bright smile for every sentence he spoke.
I was fascinated with the way the store appeared inside. You wouldn’t expect it to have much from the outside since the stores around this one were wide and tall. As soon as you enter, you are accompanied by paintings and soft and short Japanese music, dozens of people indulging in these books, followed by wooden stairs towards the end of the store leading to the upstairs section of action-packed manga books. It had organized bookshelves of hundreds of anime/mangas in alphabetical order. It gave me room to feel free to inspect these neat shelves, and I noticed that most of these animes used colorful cover art with big fonts to grab the readers attention to pick it up. As well as having many volumes of the mangas to make readers buy more and stay entertained. John follows up by saying, “We moved the store around a lot to accommodate from getting the new mangas that we have to stock up. One of the tenants left, so we could take over the space to have backroom space. After the pandemic, many animes have gained inspiration from Dragon Ball due to their popular artwork and animation styles. Most shelves had to be moved around for this reason.”
“The way Akira Toriyama(Japanese Manga/Anime artist) introduced Dragon Ball was the best way imaginable! It has inspired many others that have not heard of the anime, and the way it popped up in the United States was also amazing since they have been one of the best sellers in this location.” John says. Dragon Ball culture moves you in a way you never thought you can. The main protagonist, Goku, shows us how hard work, dedication, and determination can lead you to great expectations in life and allow you to accomplish any long-term/short-term goals you have. The culture revolves around people within to keep trying whenever they fail and never to give up when times get hard. “ Dragon Ball culture has a lot of fans who are willing to build better habits and learn from past experiences to ensure they don’t end up getting the same result in the end.” says John. As an outsider exploring this culture, John’s words made me realize how impactful Dragon Ball means to millions worldwide to change old habits and appreciate the knowledge we are provided to ensure we don’t repeat similar mistakes.
I walked around the bookstore’s aisles with John and saw many Dragon Ball paintings on the lit-up brown, sugar-colored walls. One painting that grabbed my attention showed Goku training in the “Hyperbolic Time Chamber” with his son Gohan beside him. In the manga/anime, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is an essential place for Goku since he uses this chamber to train hard for his future battles for hours inside, but ultimately converts into years of training from the outside. “I’ve seen so many people on Social media post-Instagram reels with edits of Goku clips from the anime training, and it would transition to their body transformation showing what they looked like many months before training in the gym compared to now.” Goku’s hard training influences many people, as we can see on social media, to follow a specific training regimen to become stronger and healthier, which allows other people to follow these challenging exercises and improve in areas they may not feel comfortable in.
I asked John what the type of people that walk in the store are like, and he replied by telling me, “ We get repeat customers that come here every week expecting to buy newly released mangas. But sometimes we get rowdy New York customers, and sometimes they seem nice.” People from different cultures around New York City come to this location hoping to find their favorite mangas. I was lucky enough to have been able to explore the Dragon Ball section more and learn more about the mangas. I noticed that mangas aren’t like regular American books, where you start and read from left to right. Japanese manga books begin from right to left. As an outsider looking into Japanese manga culture, I learned that Japanese people read from right to left; this fascinated me because, as an American, I am used to reading from the typical left-to-right sequence; this tradition bewildered me since I believed everyone worldwide shared the same tradition as Americans by reading from left to right.
Dragon Ball culture has expanded far beyond just the mangas. The anime Dragon Ball Z aired on TV, and audiences worldwide were immediately hooked. “By then, anime began making waves in the U.S. because of Cartoon Network & its Toonami programming block. Toonami became Millennials’ first introduction to Anime as a form of entertainment AND it just so happened that it included re-runs of Dragon Ball Z. For the first time, kids in the U.S. were watching DBZ every day at 5 pm. This caused the show to rise in popularity, and the big wigs figured it was time for move into a new space with merchandise.” (“How Dragon Ball Z Changed The Culture Forever”) The Dragon Ball anime played an impactful role, allowing television companies such as Cartoon Network and Toonami to expose Dragon Ball culture to young millennial fans, increasing interest in the anime, and prompting companies to capitalize off the show by producing merchandise, as well as cultivating a large audience that has continued for many generations.
After an hour and forty-five minutes of exploring the different sections of the Kinokuniya bookstore, I noticed that inside the bookstore was a small coffee shop named Cafe Zaiya that offered drinks like Japanese-inspired teas, and boba, lattes, as well as pastries to people shopping around. It took me a second to realize how incredible it was how small the shop was, allowing people to order and sit down with their partners and friends to enjoy a drink and eat as they shopped for their favorite manga and merch. I stepped in the shop and ordered the Sencha Tea with a side of Dorayaki. The Hot and steamy tea had a natural and almost grassy lemon taste. It felt like my body was rejuvenating for every sip that I took. The Dorayaki was the pancake bun textured sweet treat I purchased that had chocolate filling inside that surprised me for how delicious this treat was. It complimented so well with the tea that I was drinking with it. It reminded me of a safe, at-home sensation every time I combined both flavors from the drink and the treat. As an American trying one of many delicious Japanese treats and drinks inside this shop, I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to try more of what the shop had to offer.
After exploring the abundance of Dragon Ball mangas and merchandise Kinokuniya had to offer, I headed downstairs to exit the bookstore. With dozens of manga fans on the sales floor, I barely had room to squeeze by to move around. I heard at least six different types of languages being spoken simultaneously. From that moment, I realized how many people from other ethnic backgrounds and cultures are gathered in the little Kinokuniya bookstore to learn and buy manga. I saw a couple of people buy Goku figurines and Dragon Ball T-shirts since the store had a massive sale that week, and this allowed fans to buy their favorite merch from the anime/manga to represent it anywhere they went. As I was leaving the bookstore, an older Asian worker bowed to me and smiled to showcase a sign of respect and gratitude in Japanese tradition. In Japanese culture, community members share the etiquette of bowing to others to express greetings and farewells, as well as appreciation, respect, and apologies as a form of politeness.
Kinokuniya Bookstore offered more than enough from the Dragon Ball culture: big and small Goku Funko Pop figures, colorful and vibrant T-shirts that display all the characters from the manga, and dozens of manga volumes from the first Dragon Ball anime(1985) to Dragon Ball Super (2018). With the manager’s assistance (John), I gained experience and insight into the Dragon Ball culture.
Work Cited
“How Dragon Ball Z Changed The Culture Forever.” snobhop, 15 March 2024, https://snobhop.substack.com/p/how-dragon-ball-z-changed-the-culture. Accessed 8 October 2024.
Kinokuniya Located: 1073 6th Ave, New York, NY 10018
Manager-John
