Age 712: West City College graduate Dr. Briefs invents a revolutionary system for storing objects of any size inside tiny capsules. He then goes on to found a corporation for producing these capsules. Its name escapes me. #HistoryofEver
Dr. Briefs’ life story is outlined in rather surprising detail in his Daizenshuu 7 bio, including the tidbits that he majored in physical chemistry and got his doctorate from West City College (as you might expect), then founded Capsule Corp after inventing the capsule (likewise)
(物理化学/physical chemistry is possibly a typo for 物理科学/physical science, since both are read as butsuri kagaku, although I’ll leave it to you to judge which if either seems a better fit for developing capsules)
How capsules function remained a mystery until the start of the Buu arc, when Bulma rather offhandedly notes that they store objects by converting things into particles. Sure it’s meaningless bafflegab, but what else would you expect?
This explanation for how capsules work is repeated in their Daizenshuu 7 entry, along with a note on how capsules remain unknown out in the remote countryside (a reference to them being absent from Penguin Village throughout Dr. Slump)
As for when Capsule Corporation was founded: according to the DB Online timeline, the company celebrates it’s 250th anniversary in Age 962 by opening up a museum of human history. 962-250=712, although the timeline itself doesn’t include an entry for CC’s founding.
Briefs’ D7 bio describes him as the most successful person of the 700s (ie the century’s most successful man). Early fan translations misconstrued this as him being born in the year 700, but so far he has no official birth year.
Actually 700 isn’t too bad of a guess, since he does look about 50 when he first appears in 750. This would make him only 12 when he founds CC, although Bulma and Tights’ early development in Jaco makes this far from impossible. Either way, he and his wife never seem to age
Around the same period as Capsule Corp’s founding, more revolutionary science is afoot: the government funds theoretical physicist Tokunoshin Omori’s efforts to build a time machine, but it all ends in tragedy. It’s just as well anyway, since time travel is a galactic crime.
The Jaco manga doesn’t specify when Omori’s time machine project was beyond “long ago”, but Omori himself is 67 during Jaco. If we assume he’d be at least 30-40 to head a big project like that, and at most 50 to count as “long ago”, that puts the project between 700 and 720, ish
Tomorrow: class issues!
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It’s already November 20th in Japan, which means Dragon Ball has officially reached its 40th anniversary. In case you weren’t paying attention and/or born at the time, here are some highlights from the first 40 years of DB history… #DragonBall40th
1984: gag manga superstar Akira Toriyama concludes megahit Dr. Slump, and in November debuts its follow-up in Weekly Jump. This Journey to the West-inspired kung-fu adventure kicks off as inventor girl Bulma recruits monkey boy Goku to track down the titular dragon balls.
1985: after last year’s tail-end teaser, things begin in earnest. The initial “quest for the dragon balls” arc wraps up in May, and Toriyama shifts gears to a tournament arc (always a fan favorite in his Dr. Slump days) with the lecherous Roshi and Goku’s new cueball-esque BFF.
According to Bunshun Online, Dragon Room head honcho Akio Iyoku has stepped down from Shueisha and established his own company, Capsule Corporation Tokyo. Supposedly he wants Shueisha to keep DB’s manga publishing rights but for CC Tokyo to handle DB games/anime/etc.
As you might imagine, Shueisha is reluctant to part with DB to any extent, and negotiations are still ongoing. According to this article, anyway. Shueisha has apparently confirmed that Iyoku is stepping down, but not confirmed any of the particulars so far.
Bunshun Online reached out to Toriyama and asked if he would be working with Iyoku in future, but Toriyama said he couldn’t comment publicly, only through Shueisha. He also said the company name “Capsule Corporation Tokyo” was Iyoku’s idea, not his own.
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai ep.41: Pissed Myst’s great and the logistics of Dai’s sword are interesting, while the castle’s just there to be knocked down. But it knocks down well. 4/5 #DragonQuest#ep41
Rewatching the DBS panel, there’s a few things I want to note about the subtitles. They’re fine overall but there’s a few things I think are oversimplified or left out. Going through roughly in order of importance…
When discussing the artwork for New Character 1 and 2, in Japanese Hayashida says how it’s Toriyama’s original artwork, unlike the Piccolo/Pan/etc images that have been developed into full-fledged anime designs. The subtitles instead say it was made before movie production began
Now, it might indeed be true that Toriyama would’ve made the initial artwork before movie production began, but that’s not really what Hayashida is talking about. He’s contrasting this image with the earlier ones shown of Piccolo and co, which weren’t Toriyama’s original artwork
May 15th, Age 767: after three days of rest, Goku recovers from his heart disease (a week earlier than Trunks expected). The situation may be dire, but Goku knows the perfect place where Vegeta and Trunks can finally spend some quality father/son time together... #HistoryofEver
Speaking of quality time, Goku and Chi Chi get a nice moment together in the anime, sharing a kiss far too hot to actually show on screen. Or include in the canon, for that matter.
Alright, so…in the original manga, Goku and Chi Chi are never shown kissing. In DBZ ep.147 they share an offscreen kiss (they later made a figurine based on this). In the DBS anime and manga, Goku claims never to have kissed his wife. Draw your own conclusions.
May 12th, Age 767 (Bad Future Edition): at 10 AM on an island 9km southwest of South City, 17 and 18 begin their assault. Vegeta and co are mowed down, leaving Gohan sole survivor. Even the dragon balls are no use, since Pilaf and co wasted them on a dumb wish. #HistoryofEver
May 12th, Age 767 (Better Future Edition): 19 and 20 appear on schedule, but Our Heroes are ready. Well, Goku gets a bit sick, but Vegeta covers for him. While 19 and 20 don’t last long, 17 and 18 make short work of the gang. And that’s just the beginning of their problems…
Yes, it’s another busy day. May 12th has the honor of being one of the few specific dates mentioned in the series, although the year 767 comes from the Daizenshuu 7 timeline. If there’s any number pun significance to this date, I haven’t been able to find it.