Culture news What is Goku Day, this day of celebration for Dragon Ball fans?
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This Thursday, May 9, is Goku Day, the day of celebration of the eponymous hero of Dragon Ball. If a specific day was chosen for a very simple reason, it has since become an unmissable event for fans of Akira Toriyama's work.
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2024 is a special year for Dragon Ball fans. On the one hand, the original manga celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year while this universe is still so popular. But on the other hand, fans around the world are still in mourning following the announcement of the death of Akira Toriyama, the author without whom this whole franchise would never have seen the light of day, who left us on March 1st. It is in this particular context that the Dragon Ball saga celebrates Goku Day this Thursday, May 9. Why this particular date and why is it important? We'll explain all that to you.
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Why did May 9 become Goku Day?
To understand why the date May 9 was chosen to celebrate Dragon Ball, we simply have to go back to how we read the date in Japanese. As in English and unlike French, we pronounce the month first, then the number of the day, which gives us 5/9. In Japanese, it is pronounced “go” and “kyu”, which together gives Gokuboth phonetically and in terms of kanji.
Over time, as Dragon Ball grew in popularity, this date has become the day of celebration of Goku and therefore of the franchise as a whole. This process is reminiscent of that for Star Wars fans with May 4 which is pronounced “May the Fourth” in English, which is close to the famous formula “May the Force be with you”, which has given a day of celebration.
A day of celebration for Dragon Ball fans
In addition to this symbolic date, May 9 has become a day filled with announcements for the Dragon Ball universe. It must be said that over time, Akira Toriyama's manga has largely exceeded the limits of its original format to become a globally successful franchise. Anime, video games, figurines, cards, food… Everything has been done! For this Goku Day 2024 for example, three new Son Goku figurines in base form, Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan blue have been revealed as rewards for crane game machines in Japan.
On the video game side, the unbeatable Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle, which turns nine this year, offers a special celebration with rewards for players. This is in addition to the fact that it is also Golden Week currently in Japan, that is to say a series of four public holidays concentrated in one week during which the Japanese often take vacations. Finally, even in Dragon Ball FighterZ this date is celebrated with additional rewards. Goku Day is therefore an opportunity to celebrate Dragon Ball in all its forms, especially this year to pay tribute to Akira Toriyama and everything he brought to the world of manga.
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