@uninspiredcup said:
Ignoring this person, as it's social media clout chasing, but in the West some of his designs could be construed as racist. Namely Mr.Popo, which they turned blue in Kai, and it just looked stupid.
Probably the great irony of that is that Dragonball has massive, massive appeal to black people and generally POC. Latin countries are basically a meme at this point.
Fun fact, when Super aired 5 years go (which again le_ironically had very little to no involvement from Toriyama other than basic input), they held illegal events on the streets for the final episodes.
Most of Black Twitter is defending Toriyama from racism accusations. Some are saying that Mr. Popo is based on a Hindu god. While others are saying his art style evolved and the way he drew black people changed in the '90s.
I've seen black DBZ fans say they see parallels between the Saiyan story and their own history. Basically, a white slave owner (Freeza) enslaves a race of people (Saiyans), uses derogatory racial slurs to dehumanize them, and eventually a Saiyan rises up to whoop his arse.
Dragon Ball is a piece of art that transcends cultural boundaries. It's loved almost everywhere in the world, whether it's Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa or Australia... Well, everywhere except Antarctica.
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