Monday, March 11, 2019

Frieza is Cool, but His brother is Cooler, Just Saiyan - Dragon Ball Beverages

Dragon Ball Beverages
I love Dragonball, especially Dragonball Z, but you know what I don't love? Their novelty products. I've had a few in the past, both snacks and beverages, and they were mediocre at best and inedible at their worst. One of these days I'll finally wise up and ignore the nostalgia pangs in my heart when I see these characters on the grocery store shelves, but that day is not today!
 
We all know I bought these for the packaging. We have Piccolo (AKA "Green Dad") on two of the items (with a guest appearance by Yamcha, my favorite dead character), and the other can features Frieza in their various forms. The ramune bottle doesn't have any information on it about the show or if there are any other characters available on different bottles, but the cans are much more detailed. On the can's backside you can see there are 6 different images for each the blue and the red flavor, making 12 different cans total. Refreshingly, the characters represented are pretty diverse. (Not just 10 different forms of Goku.) Although I am all about Piccolo, I am not so much into Frieza, I would have preferred the Bulma or Ginyu Force cans, but beggars can't be choosers. If you managed to get all of the variants, each set would line up to create a group scene, which is pretty cool as far as collectibles go, but if these taste awful, are they really worth it? (Especially at $2.25 a can.) 
 
We'll kick things off with the ramune. 
The bottle is standard, and judgning by the clear coloring and lack of information, I am guessing this will be a classic ramune flavored beverage, which I am not a big fan of. Ramune tastes like pink wintergreen-esque bubblegum with a lint of lemon. It's a popular flavor overseas, but it reminds me of childhood fluoride treatments.
 
When opened, the liquid inside smells like Lemonheads and bubble gum. Not a terrible combination, and I can see why it appeals to kids and other people, but for me? It filled me with immediate regret.
 
I took a sip, and it honestly wasn't too bad! The carbonation was light, and the flavoring leaned more towards and white "mystery flavor" freezer popsicle than ramune. It is definitely sweet, almost syrupy, with a faint lemonade flavoring and that was about it. No wintergreen and no in-your-face bubble gum to be found. Success! As far as novelty Ramune goes, this isn't half bad! I could drink this again, no problem! For the record, I wouldn't buy this just to drink, the flavoring is mostly a generic syrupy sweetness, so it's not that great a product, but it's far more edible (or drinkable) than DBZ products I've tried in the past. I'll consider this one a win. 
Next up, the mystery soda cans. 
I can't read much of the labeling, but what I can figure out based on context clues, these are each a different flavor, and the red can seems to be diet, or zero sugar. I hate diet drinks, so let's try that one first! 
 
Honestly, I assumed these might be orange flavored, since Goku's iconic turtle school gi is orange, but the ingredients contradict that theory. This red can in particular lists "caramel coloring," which is found in all brown colas. Is this a classic diet cola?  
I popped the top and poured it into the glass to get a better look, and sure enough, cola! 
 
Right away it smells sweet and artificial, like Diet Coke. Actually, this smells exactly like Diet Coke! I took a sip, and it's worse than I thought it'd be. It has that extreme sweetness with a slight cooling effect on the tongue that sucralose gives everything, and it lingers for, what feels like, forever. If you like diet soda, and can handle fake sugar, this might be a great novelty product for you, but I hate it. If you've been on the blog for a while you'll know that sucralose and I don't get along. Years ago I found out that it, and other fake sugars, trigger vertigo for me and that is a deal breaker. One sip is enough, the rest is going down the drain.  
Thankfully the blue can doesn't have sucralose listed at all, just good ol' corn syrup, but this time around we have some vitamin additions. I see Vitamin C, B1, B6, and B12. Oh boy, is this one an energy drink?
 
I opened up the can and this one barely had any smell to it at all. It's sweet, that's for sure, and maybe a little bubblegum-like, but it's barely noticeable. I poured this one out to get a better look, and surprisingly, it's clear with very light carbonation. All the the bubbles disappeared the second I stopped pouring which made this look like a normal glass of water.   
 
It took a few sips to figure this one out, but I think it's a ramune flavored energy drink? When it comes to flavor, this one is very light and almost refreshing, if it weren't for the super syrupy sweetness. The fake that it is so sweet, yet tastes like (almost) nothing, makes for a very odd experience. I don't hate it, but it frustrates my palate because it's searching for flavoring that just isn't there.
My world is turned upside down. The ramune with a generic label, which I thought would be the worst of the bunch, turned out to be the winner! The cans, while super cool looking, both...suck. I hesitate to say "suck," but I said it. They suck. If you like diet sodas, you might find these to be tolerable just to gather the collectibles, but as far as beverages go, you have far better options that was tastier and more affordable. 
These are more-so collectibles than they are food, and that's okay. I bought them knowing that would be the case, but if any of you see these around and hope for them to satisfy your thirst, or sweet tooth, you should leave them where they lie. 
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1 comment:

  1. I think that the front of the Piccolo can says that it is "Cola Zero" with seven amino acids. And the front of the Frieza can says that it is "Cider" with seven vitamins.

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