Music and the Fictive Dream 2: Dragon Ball Super


Ultra Instinct Theme

         Yeah yeah, so I like dragon ball. If you haven't seen the original series, make a point to go and watch it sometime, because that is some quality content. The Dragon Ball storyline and creation all came from Akira Toriyama, but the art behind the manga and the anime is from Toyotarou. Toriyama has created the Dragon Ball content all the way from the original to where it is now in Dragon Ball Super. The last episode of the anime was released on March 25, 2018. The content of this series has Japanese origin of course, but it is now available in English for the manga and for the anime. 

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        The piece of the show that I am analyzing today is the Ultra Instinct Theme, created by the Toyotarou studio, released in 2018. This musical masterpiece is the quintessence of the storyline. This music plays when Goku is able to master the most difficult form known even to the gods. It is when this music plays that the most intense fight scenes in the entire show happened. It is during these scenes that all of the characters are shocked and amazed at Goku's incredible tenacity and talent in the martial arts. 

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        The Dragon Ball fanbase is pretty huge. The most interesting thing about it is the intense argument over the translation and transition from the original Japanese work to the English manga and anime. For instance, the name "Ultra Instinct." Apparently, hardcore fans did not like the translation at all, thinking that there were better ways for the name to be defined in English. I personally know nothing about the original, Japanese, name, so I really can't say that I hate the name Ultra Instinct for the final form that Goku took on. But nonetheless, there are those that were annoyed, and that is, I think, a lot of the social background behind this particular music/scene in the show.

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As far as musical elements go, this short theme song is rich. The intro and main beat in the song follows a duple meter, with a TON of emphasis on the strong beat. This sort of articulation in the beat causes the sort of majestic theme that overarches the whole work and makes it so thrilling. On top of that, the song as a whole is very forte, this is important because of its role in the show, when this theme comes on it drowns out everything else to put all of the focus onto Goku. Emotionally, both of these elements send tingles down your spine when it all plays out, you just feel so powerful. Nothing can beat the intense orchestral hammering of the song, and the online remixes of it are pretty good too. Overall, this show and this theme are pretty fantastic, a great example of how the music is everything when it comes to the execution of the show. 




"Dragon Ball Super". dragonball.fandom.com.


Valdez, Nick. "Dragon Ball Super Fans are Having Mixed Reactions to Ultra Instinct's New Name". comicbook.com. 12 May 2019. https://comicbook.com/anime/news/dragon-ball-super-autonomous-ultra-instinct-new-name-react/#10



Comments

  1. JasmineNovember 28, 2020 at 11:32 PM

    I remember watching the original Dragon Ball series and then Dragon Ball Z series with my older brothers, but I can't say that I have really seen any of the newer episodes or series. But I always really liked that Goku was never stupidly strong or could just beat anyone for no reason but better yet he had to train to get better and would only get has strong has he needed to defeat is current opponent. I think its one of the things that makes him so great and the show super fun to watch. The Ultra Instinct Theme song is pretty intense and it is super cool how they use all the different instruments to make the dramatic sound differences and change in volume thru out the song.

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