The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been an American tradition for nearly a century
The annual November tradition sees the streets of New York filled with ominous inflatable likeness of beloved kids characters, as well as perky pop performers playing popular hits.
This year, however, the parade was infiltrated by an oversees menace:
anime.
Alongside mainstays like Charlie Brown and Bugs Bunny, Goku, the star of the
Dragon Ball franchise, made his debut as a big New York balloon.
https://twitter.com/FUNimation/status/1065628816150851585
https://twitter.com/Macys/status/1065635646944014337
https://twitter.com/ToeiAnimation/status/1065639907744313344
Obviously, this went down a storm online, as anime nerds on Twitter lol'd at fuddy-duddy news presenters getting befuddled by
Dragon Ball lore.
https://twitter.com/kyle_amato/status/1065636218057236481
https://twitter.com/Eli_bebe_dbz1/status/1065632406886072320
In that video, they say that Goku is about to "become a movie star" -
Wikipedia lists 20 animated
Dragon Ball movies so far, along with the live-action American adaptation
Evolution from 2009.
Goku wasn't the only anime character in attendance - Pikachu also had a giant balloon.
https://twitter.com/VIZMedia/status/1065637179601371137
https://twitter.com/DBZTRUTHS1/status/1065643989603426305
Pikachu actually first appeared in the parade all the way back in 2001, during the first wave of Poke-Mania.