Hey folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been a hectic week on my end, as me and my housemates have been racing to find a new apartment that’s anywhere close to affordable (and also accommodating of our beloved Eevee). It’s been ten years since any of us checked the rental market, and it turns out the city has spent that time upping its rates to accommodate the average billionaire looking to spend some time off his moon-yacht, leaving scant affordable housing for the rest of us. Nonetheless, we’ve got at least a couple prospects lined up, and have spent the time in between apartment viewings consoling ourselves with the indomitable spirit of Goku and his companions. Yes, Dragon Ball Z Kai has indeed become a fixture of our viewing schedule, and has left me with a few thoughts regarding the father of modern shonen. Let’s get to it!
Tag Archives: Dragon Ball Z
Why It Works: What Does It Truly Mean to Be “Over 9000?”
I had a whole lot of fun with this week’s Why It Works article, as it fell into one of my favorite categories of criticism: thorough explorations of seemingly trivial cinematic moments. In this case, the inescapable “it’s over 9000” meme from Dragon Ball Z, a meme whose resonance and enduring nature seems to me to be a natural result of how it articulates the dramatic recalibration from the original Dragon Ball to the more self-serious Z. But enough explaining the article, let’s just get to it!
What Does It Truly Mean to Be “Over 9000?”
Why It Works: Let’s Explore the Finer Points of Anime Power-Ups!
I’ve got another fairly breezy Why It Works column for you all this week, though this one certainly plays into a fair number of storytelling and conflict-building fundamentals. When and how characters overcome their previous limitations is actually a pretty important part of shonen narrative design, particularly since audiences have been primed to assume “sweet power-ups” will always be a part of that genre’s narrative bargain. Today let’s highlight a few broader categories of character improvements, as well as what sort of narratives potentially suit them best. Let’s get to it!
Let’s Explore the Finer Points of Anime Power-Ups!
