Goku Is My Homeboy
Girls with tails, middle school shame, and the invention of China
I’m about to share with you a sentence that literally no one has ever written, spoken, or even thought about. I hope the elastic on your socks isn't worn out, because if so I’m about to blow them the hell off.
Here we go:
The world sure has changed a lot over my lifetime.
Sorry, everyone, I am getting a call.
“Yes, this is Stephen, the revolutionary voice behind Boy Meets Void!”
“What? You want to give me a book deal based solely off of that philosophical nugget?” But I haven’t even published this yet! How did you know?
“What do you mean this isn’t a real phone call, but instead is a flimsy premise for a joke that at best three people will find mildly funny?”
“Who is this?”
I’m not going to focus on the bad things that have changed in that time, though there are so many. Instead I am going to focus on the changing of pop culture in a way that has benefited me.
The normalization of anime.
My first introduction to anime, as I suspect is the case with a lot of people my age, was in the late 90s watching Toonami on Cartoon Network. I specifically loved Dragon Ball Z. This wasn’t just the first anime for me, but it was also the first serialized television show I was into as a child.
The shows I watched before were all episodic in nature. The characters sometimes grew throughout the show, but there was no real overarching plot. These were shows like Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, and Spongebob Squarepants.
To me as an eight-year-old this was life-changing. The Dragon Ball franchise continues to be one of my favorite series to this day. As an elementary school student, many of my friends were also watching DBZ, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Digimon and whatever else would air on TV at the time. As far as I was concerned, these were just normal shows. I didn’t even really know what Japan was except that everything was “made there.” (This was of course before the invention of China.)
Later, in middle school, I got into more obscure anime that you had to buy on VHS or DVD at FYE at the mall. (If you remember FYE, then congratulations you are old now!) My friends and I bought new anime like Love Hina and Fruits Basket. I also saw new shows, now airing on Adult Swim, like Inuyasha and Case Closed. I was very much still into Japanese Anime.
Something was different though. In middle school it was no longer what all of the other kids were doing. Now it was a “nerdy” thing to be into. How could everything change so quickly?
The other kids I knew who were still watching what I was watching were definitely the weird ones in the school. Some of them wore tails to school. Not even joking. It's a good thing the Republicans didn't find out about that.
I'm a weird guy, but I never saw myself as a part of that group. More importantly I didn't want to be perceived as part of that group. I couldn't possibly handle being lumped in with the tail-wearing band twins.
Eventually I reached high school, as one tends to do. My love for anime continued to be hidden from the gen-pop—only discussed with my closest of confidants. At some point though, I believe it was 11th grade, I decided I was tired of living a lie. Why was I keeping hidden my passions? So that a bunch of people I hated and didn't give a shit about wouldn't think less of me? Enough was enough. I no longer kept any of my interests hidden.
It turned out no one really cared that Goku was my homeboy. No one ever really cares what you do or what you are into. They're far too concerned with themselves. I wish that was something we could know from a younger age—sadly some people never really learn it.
Kids nowadays would probably find this story foreign. Anime is a part of our society in a much larger way. NFL and NBA players watch and are open about their fandom now. Memes from DBZ circulate online in all kinds of places.
This past year, the Demon Slayer movie made almost $800-million worldwide at the box office. All that for a $20-million budget. For context, the new Avatar movie (which is probably 1/100 as interesting) made a little less than double the revenue at twenty times the budget. And that was only part one of three!
There is an insanely large number of high quality anime that are out now—and they're more accessible than ever. No longer do I have to wait years for the DVD release of an English dub, or for Cartoon Network to get their shit together. They're available online days after the initial Japanese airing.
Gen Z takes a lot of shit—and I'm more than happy to be the one slinging it from time to time—but for helping make anime more mainstream, I must thank them.
This isn't to say I don't still get side-eyed by certain people who think they're too cool for anime. People who never really grew out of their “you like that?” stage. Constantly looking to judge niche interests from high on their pedestal while simultaneously taking in nothing but short-form video content from social media influencers. But those people will be dead soon, killed by the very diet supplements they bought off of the TikTok shop. Meanwhile, I'll be 120 years old screaming along while Goku goes Super Saiyan and defeats Frieza again.
Take that, nerds.
Thanks as always for reading. Are there any other anime fans out there? If so what are some of your favorites?
Vegeta was my favorite 🙌🏻✨
DBZ wasn't something I ever really got into, I'm not entirely sure why. But Sailor Moon and Pokemon, let's talk haha FYE, that's a good one, but did you ever have a Media Play? That was the first mixed media store I remember. Music, books, games, movies. Ah, I can see the store in my memory. Good times.