Forum - View topicDragon Ball / Journey to the West.
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countchocula86
Posts: 159 |
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I was recently watching the perfectly campy 'Monkey Magic' and decided to look it up online. The show is based on a Chinese classic called Journey to the Westhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West
The main character of this story is Monkey King, aka Sun Wukong aka Son Goku in Japanese. Obviously seeing Son Goku, I think Dragon Ball, and lo and behold, that wikipedia entry mentions a bit about it:
Now, I haven't seen all of Dragon Ball, but I guess I know the general premise. I also don't know the full story of Journey to the West. Does anyone know the level to which the two are connected? Is it more than just in the names? |
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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Journey to the West is simply an inspiration to the Dragonball series.
It's like a Romeo and Juliet movie -- featured in modern times (or something like that). Y'know, borrowed ideas. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16963 |
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If you want a series that borrows heavily, as in based on it in essence, from the story of Journey to the West then you should check out the many seasons of Saiyuki. Dragonball may have gotten some inspiration from it (probably in the form of Goku traveling around looking for the dragonballs in the original series) but not much. Not to the degree of Saiyuki anyways. |
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Animastryfe
 Posts: 152 Location: Vancouver |
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Dragonball (not Z or GT) had some inspirations that were obviously from Journey to the West (the 1980's show is still being rerunned in China...), such as the nimba cloud and Goku's name, but there's very little in terms of plot or characters.
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Dragon BALL borrowed from Journey. By Dragon Ball Z they pretty much stopped. Elements borrowed included Son Goku, of course, with his monkey aspects and his ability to grow into a giant monkey, his extending staff, his flying cloud, all that's in the legend. Most of the other stuff Toriyama made up himself, but the influence is obvious if you know the two stories.
Journey to the West is an influence in a lot of things, in which you have a monkey-like character with an extendy staff. There was such a character in Read or Die OVA, Sonson from Capcom's fighter games, etc. |
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countchocula86
Posts: 159 |
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Thanks a lot all, so it basically sounds like Dragonball borrowed a few basic ideas (the name, the staff, the nimbus, the monkeyness) and put it together with the general adventure theme.
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ChronoBall X
 Posts: 389 |
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True, The Original Dragonball was originally meant to be a storyline similar to Journey to the west since it borrowed alot of influence of it,before the whole Anime turned into a Sci Fi mindless fighting Anime.
speaking of Journey to the West,this reminds me of another Anime I used to watch on syndication in 1998 which used a storyline very similar to Journy to the west,it was called Monkey Magic,it came out in america in 1998 on several UPN syndication networks around the same time Pokemon first premired in the U.S,take a look at this,does this ring a bell? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCEuNqofDM4 |
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Veggie-Trunks
 Posts: 43 Location: Chattanooga, TN |
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Yeah, it's very loosely based. Goku does have a cloud named Nimbus, a pole, etc etc. Bulma could be argued to be his "Sanzo", and you could find some other connections but that's about it.
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Vuwazy
Posts: 208 |
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Why actually, Dragon Ball stopped being like Journey to the West long before it got to Z. It stopped being like Journey to the West after the main crew first encounters Pilaf. After the first saga it started to be its own thing when it went to the tournament saga. So no, Dragon Ball isn't just simply an inspiration of Journey to the West.
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