As you look at this picture of a “cartoon” character flying through the sky holding an orange sphere, those of you who are not familiar with the world of anime might be thinking, who is this and why does he matter? Well his name is Goku and he matters because he is the face of anime.

I got this image as a wallpaper from dragonballz.com which is the official Dragon Ball Z website. It shows Goku in his famous “super saiyan” mode, that’s why he is blonde instead of his normal black hair.

But why is Goku the face of anime? It’s not because he is the best anime character ever created, or even because he is my favorite anime character. He is face of anime because he is the star of the Dragon Ball Z franchise, and Dragon Ball Z was the first anime ever to be popular the whole world round. For many, many people Dragon Ball Z is the first anime they ever watched, and for a lot of those people it is the only anime they ever watched. When I look at this picture I am brought back to childhood when I didn’t know what an anime was. I was just in love this amazing “cartoon” that I would watch every time it came on TV. Its popularity opened the western world to all those other anime that we love, and to this day is till one the most popular and recognizable anime ever, and for that Goku gets to be the face of anime.