The Legend of the Monkey King
… the definitive guide for your Journey to the West
Dragon Ball is based on the Monkey King
Oct 3rd
Lots of Japanese manga characters and storylines derive their inspiration from the adventures of Sun Wukong. But the most famous of all has to be Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール Doragon Bōru).
For those who don’t know the Dragon Ball series, it is basically about Son Goku, a monkey tailed boy who has super human strength. He trains in the martial arts and later explores the world in search of the seven mystical objects known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon a wish-granting dragon. Along his journey, Goku meets several friends and fights against several villains who also seek the Dragon Balls.
Created by Akira Toriyama, he does explain that his inspiration comes from the story of Sun Wukong except for his character Goku, he wanted him to be human instead of simian. Goku’s gi uniform is also modeled after the robes worn by the Shaolin monks of China but are later embellished when readers complained he was too plain.
Sun Wukong goes to the Beijing Olympics
Aug 8th
Created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett - Monkey and his friends became the faces of the BBC's Beijing Olympics coverage in 2008
It probably helped that Tripitaka, the moral force of the story in the BBC version, is played by a beautiful young woman instead of the manly monk in the original. Apparently, the same scene plays out in Australia and New Zealand where the show also aired, but in the US you would only see men scratching their heads wondering what drugs you’re on.
"The strange fact is that the world goes on against all reasonable odds. A hundred years, and even unimaginable evil is just called history."
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