Ford’s Weird Dragon Ball Z Commercial

Ford Makes Bid for Anime Fans’ Business

OK, Ford’s latest commercial for the Ford Focus features Dragon Ball Z’s Gohan and Krillin discussing the pros and cons of the model. No, not making this up. Christmas has come early for fans of Dragon Ball. Or not. You decide. Any ideas for other bizarro ads using anime characters?

[Don’t know Dragon Ball Z from a hole in the road? See below!]

Dragon Ball Z (Japanese: ドラゴンボールZゼット Hepburn: Doragon Bōru Zetto?, commonly abbreviated as DBZ) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Dragon Ball Z is the sequel to the Dragon Ballanime and adapts the last 325 chapters of the original 519-chapter Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama, that were published from 1988 to 1995 in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Dragon Ball Z first aired in Japan onFuji TV from April 25, 1989 to January 31, 1996, before being dubbed in several territories around the world, including the United States, Australia, Europe, India, and Latin America.

Dragon Ball Z follows the adventures of the protagonist Goku who, along with his companions, defends the Earth against an assortment of villains ranging from intergalactic space fighters and conquerors, unnaturally powerful androids and nearly indestructible magical creatures. While the original Dragon Ball anime followed Goku from his childhood into adulthood, Dragon Ball Z is a continuation of his adult life, but at the same time parallels the maturation of his sons, Gohan and Goten, as well as the evolution of his rivals Piccolo and Vegeta from enemies into allies.

Due to the success of the anime in America, the manga chapters comprising its story were released by Viz Media under the title Dragon Ball Z. Additional works called animanga were released, which adapt the animation to manga form. Dragon Ball Z’s popularity has spawned numerous releases which have come to represent the majority of content in the Dragon Ball universe; including 14 movies and 148 video games, many of them being only released in Japan, and a host of soundtracks stemming from this material. Dragon Ball Z remains a cultural icon through numerous adaptations, including a more-recent remastered broadcast titled Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改カイ Doragon Bōru Kai?, lit. “Dragon Ball Revised”).

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