Macy’s has announced that Goku, the hero of the hugely popular anime saga Dragon Ball, will appear as a giant character balloon in the 92nd annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, Nov. 22nd, 2018—a first for an anime figure.
Goku will be depicted in his Super Saiyan Blue form, a staggeringly powerful avatar that he transformed into in the feature Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of ‘F’ (2015). The gargantuan helium balloon depicts the character in his signature colors: cyan hair and eyes, orange jump suit, blue sash and boots. As befits the outsized hero, the balloon measures 70 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 56 feet tall; it requires more than 100 handlers for the trip through Manhattan.
Although Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog have been in the Parade, they both originated in games. Akira Toriyama created Goku in his long-running manga series “Dragon Ball,” which has become one of the most popular franchises on the planet. More than 200 million books have been sold worldwide (about one-third as many as “Harry Potter”), plus over $5 billion worth of character merchandise. Americans alone have bought more than 30 million Blu-rays and DVD’s of the Dragon Ball theatrical features and TV shows.
Sean Schemmel, who’s provided Goku’s cheery baritone in the English dub for 19 years, comments, “A lot of people note that he was hit on the head as a child by a large rock. He was supposed to come to Earth to destroy it, but he got hit on the head, then grampa Gohan adopted and raised him. He became Earth’s greatest champion.”
Funimation, the US distributor of Dragon Ball, is sponsoring the Goku balloon to celebrate the North American release of the newest (20th) feature, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, in January. More than 3.5 million spectators are expected on the streets of New York City for the parade, with an additional 50 million watching on TV.
