Ad Terras Per Aspera

Its funny. Dragonball is sort of the in-joke of the otaku crowd, yet I am actually sad to see it finally finish. With 508 episodes, 17 movies, and 2 TV specials¹, it is a very very long series. I saw the entire life of Goku, and it isn’t until the end that I realized that watching the whole series is a journey worth taking.

Sure, the series is ultimately just about fighting, but after awhile even in such a series, the characters become real, as if the whole weight of the world really was on their shoulders. Goku ultimately wins against the most supreme evil, a culmination of the worst humanity… no, the entire universe has to offer.

Dragonball for 11 years² has taught anyone who watched it to stand up for what they believe in, and to always protect friends and family. Goku even died for this… several times over. Not once did he regret his actions, for his heart was pure.

I’m just sorry that Dragonball is now hated within the otaku community. It was one of the first major hits in the US, and was both horribly translated (with sucky voice actors) and all the good parts were left on the editing floor (thanks to insane censorship laws).

Due to its popularity, it gave rise to the otaku community’s hatred of mainstream anime, and also gave rise to the influx of action/fighting animes that dominate the American airwaves. However, we can not blame the series for this. We can only blame those who let it be corrupted in the first place.

_{[1] 153 episodes of Dragonball, 291 episodes of Dragonball Z, 64 episodes of Dragonball GT, 4 Dragonball movies, 13 Dragonball Z movies, and 2 Dragonball Z TV specials.}

[2] Dragonball ran February 26, 1986 to April 12, 1989. Dragonball Z ran April 18, 1989 to January 31, 1996. Dragonball GT ran between 1996 and 1997.

Well, I’ve finally fixed the comment styling. They’re now styled like the rest of the page, and are readable too. I’ve also played with the themes a little, making them more readable.

Aurelien Jarno on his blog writes about an open source project that the author didn’t release a new version of it for 8 years. Viva la Free Software!

SFN from LXer is currently compiling a database of all organizations, companies, and governments that are switching to Linux. If you’re not on the list please contact him.

You don’t see this every day. What are the chances of a photographer going all the way to Japan from Ireland, takes a picture of a photographer taking a picture of some street performers, and posts it on Flickr, to where a friend of the photographed photographer recognizes her, and shows her the picture, where she eventually finds out she only lives 413 miles away from the photographer who photographed her.