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The story
A thread on 5ch’s Livegalileo (“Anything Goes Live”) board claimed that a facility in France may have been built without permission, using Dragon Ball as its motif. The thread’s original poster argued, “Don’t use elements derived from China, like the Ruyi Jingu Bang (magic staff) and Flying Nimbus cloud, without permission as if they’re Japanese culture.” Other posters pushed back one after another, saying things like “Of course Son Goku’s roots trace back to China’s Journey to the West” and “The real issue is copyright, not some claim that the origin is being falsified.” The discussion went in circles over copyright and design similarity, and no resolution was ever reached.
What people said
↑Man, this guy's a monster…
It's not about infringement — it's about falsifying the origin.
I think you'd find it if you dug through the old logs, but for now it's really just Re: #6 saying it's "original."
Huh? Isn't Re: #6 just saying Dragon Ball is Japanese, not that Son Goku himself originated in Japan?
Who's even doing that???
Do you have a screenshot or something of anyone actually saying that?
Re: #11
Like this, for example
Re: #2
Doesn't Luffy have charm? He's innocent, a big eater — basically a straight-up Goku ripoff, but still.
https://itest.5ch.io/medaka/test/read.cgi/csaloon/1633982168/3-n
Oh sorry, not that one — I meant the "Son Goku originated in Japan!" claim. That's the origin-falsifying part, right?
Re: #20
Also, he's used as an Olympics ambassador character, so it's a government claim too. He was used as a Japanese character at the Osaka Expo as well.
Well, obviously — Dragon Ball's Son Goku was made in Japan based on the Son Goku from Journey to the West. What are you even trying to say?
Being an ambassador has nothing to do with origin, though.
Not copyright — I said "ripoff."
Sounds like you want to frame this as copyright, but what if France just says a slightly tweaked design doesn't infringe? Like that Shiying Mountain amusement park. Also, Goku, the Ruyi Jingu Bang, and the Flying Nimbus are all Chinese public-domain material anyway, so they're free to use.
Then France should just build a theme park with their own original Son Goku and Flying Nimbus, no?
The Olympics ambassador thing. The Goku merch rollout at the Expo.
How does that connect to an origin claim at all?
Oh, so it's about copyright. So you're saying just tweak Dragon Ball a little and it's fine?
It's a problem precisely because they didn't change anything.
So you're saying it's fine as long as you don't say it outright?
There's no copyright on the name "Goku."
I haven't said anything, outright or vaguely.
Re: #87
It's just mockery. It means "acting like" the origin. That's why he's mad at France.
He's mad about copyright infringement. Don't you even know what copyright is?
Oh, so you've given up citing Re: #43 as your source? lol
Re: #89
I'm not a hater either. I am bashing it, though — would you believe me if I said that?
Whatever, do as you like. I don't care whether you're a hater or not.
Whether you're a hater or not doesn't matter to me either.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The character Son Goku was created by Akira Toriyama for Dragon Ball, based on the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, who appears in the 16th-century Chinese classic Journey to the West. Motifs like the Ruyi Jingu Bang and the Flying Nimbus also trace back to Journey to the West, but the specific design and story of Dragon Ball’s Son Goku are an original creation copyrighted by Akira Toriyama, Bird Studio, and Toei Animation. Throughout the thread, a cultural argument (“they’re falsifying the origin”) and a legal argument (“if the design is being used without permission, it’s a copyright issue”) talked past each other, running in parallel without ever meeting. Notably, no primary source or news report confirming that the French facility was actually built without authorization was ever presented in the thread — much of the speculation grew out of indirect facts, like Son Goku being used as an official Olympics ambassador and merchandise tie-ins at the Osaka-Kansai Expo.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Anything Goes Live) thread “Dora-oji: “Did France Build a Dragon Ball Park Without Permission?”“
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