Mexico Loves Dragon Ball

Submission 10,064

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About

Mexico Loves Dragon Ball refers to an axiom that Latino and Hispanic people, generally from Mexico but also from other Latin American and South American countries like Brazil, love the anime / manga series Dragon Ball more than people from other parts of the world. Posts about the phenomenon allege that Latino and Hispanic people heavily identify with DB characters like Goku and portray them akin to religious icons in public art such as the Taqueria Goku in Oaxaca, Mexico. The concept of the Latin world's love for DB has inspired memes like the Cartel Loves Dragon Ball and posts about Latin people mourning the death of Dragon Ball's creator Akira Toriyama in March 2024.

Origin

In the 1990s, Spanish adaptions of Dragon Ball and other animes found success in Mexico, Latin America and South America when compared to other markets like North America.^[1]^[2] Dragon Ball received a Spanish dub in 1996, and by 1997, Mexico was already airing Dragon Ball Z. In North American countries like the U.S. and Canada, adaptions of Dragon Ball were not as successful as early.^[1]^[2]

In articles and videos on the topic, people have speculated as to why anime was so successful early on in Mexico, Latin America and South America. Some, like YouTuber^[3] Get In The Robot in 2018 and LA Times^[4] writer JP Brammer in 2023, cite the popularity of Telenovelas as justification for the phenomenon. They allege that the slow drama of Telenovelas is similar to the storytelling format of anime like Dragon Ball.

Some of the earliest known posts about Mexico's love for Dragon Ball were shared in the /r/dbz and /r/mexico subreddits in 2012. Currently, the earliest known viral post was shared by Redditor^[5] PuroMichoacan on September 2nd, 2012, to /r/mexico, showing an Imgur photo of a taqueria in Oaxaca, Mexico called Taqueria Goku (shown below).

Spread

Going into the 2010s, many Redditors shared photos of Dragon Ball public art in Mexico to the /r/dbz subreddit. For instance, on February 8th, 2013, Redditor^[6] Richiewyler posted "Dragon Ball Z in Mexico" to /r/dbz, gaining over 270 upvotes in 11 years (shown below, left).

On April 9th, 2013, Redditor^[7] VforVendetta85 shared a similar image to /r/dbz, gaining over 70 upvotes in 11 years (shown below, right).

Predominantly starting in 2018, public screenings of new Dragon Ball episodes took place in Mexico and other Latin and Hispanic countries. Notable screenings took place in March 2018 when multiple local governments in Mexico invited people to see the last chapters of Dragon Ball Super in public squares.^[8]

An advertisement for one of the screenings was posted to Facebook^[9] by the page PasionPorMineros on March 8th, 2018, receiving over 1,700 reactions in six years (shown below, left).

After the screenings, Mexican official Sonia Villarreal tweeted^[10] a photo on March 17th of a letter sent to her office by the Mexican Embassy of Japan regarding the public airing of Dragon Ball Super, which was deemed illegal because of Toei Animation's author rights. Her tweet received over 350 likes in six years (shown below, right), as well as more viral reposts in the following days.^[11]

Videos of public Dragon Ball screenings in Mexico surfaced en masse on YouTube in the late 2010s. For instance, YouTuber^[12] ZETA-117 uploaded a recording of a March 2018 screening of Dragon Ball Super on March 18th, 2018, gaining over 250,000 views in six years (shown below).

Memes referencing Mexico, Latin America and South America's love for Dragon Ball continued in the 2020s, evident in a GIF caption shared by iFunnier ^[13] @MentalMenstruation on September 15th, 2021, that read, "Mexicans when Goku tells them to get the vaccine" (referencing the COVID-19 vaccine), gaining over 2,600 smiles in three years (shown below, left).

On October 15th, 2022, X^[14] user @Stick_AA reposted the meme, earning over 52,000 likes in two years. On October 16th, X^[15] user @WingedKoro quoted the post, writing, "You guys have no idea the influence and power that Dragon Ball has here in Mexico," receiving over 127,000 likes in two years (shown below, right).

In March 2024, Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, passed away.^[16] Many memes surfaced about Mexican, Latin American and South American peoples' reaction to the news, such as a post shared by X^[17] user @weeabob on March 7th, 2024, that said, "all flags in mexico are at half-mast," gaining over 116,000 likes in a day (shown below).

The Cartel Loves Dragon Ball

The Cartel Loves Dragon Ball, also known as Cartel Activity Drops When Dragon Ball Content Is Released, refers to a theory that drug Cartel activity in Mexico and South America significantly drops when new Dragon Ball episodes and movies are released. A meme with Goku reading, "Goku Fun Fact" trended online in late 2023 and 2024, originally from Reddit and iFunny. TikTok users also made memes about telling a Cartel member that "Goku wouldn't like this," pretending that the idea would stop the man from committing a heinous act because Goku would be disappointed.