JULIAN LOUW: If I’m to describe how being
Trunks makes me feel in one word...
JULIAN LOUW: Powerful.
MAN: This is really Trunks, y’all! This is nice. Dragon Ball Z all the way through.
COMM: Three years ago, South Africa born Julian
Louw started on a mission to transform himself in his favourite anime character.
JULIAN LOUW: Dragon Ball Z itself is one of
the most intense, indepth anime cartoons I have ever watched. When people see me dressed
as Trunks, I only ever get wow faces, I absolutely love it. I like Trunks a lot because I feel
I am very much like him in terms of his character.
JULIAN LOUW: I overall I just love his, his attitude,
his charisma, his dress sense, his hairstyle and the way that he talks. So I
have got a lot of Dragon Ball Z and Trunks memorabilia. Let me show you some of the things
that I’ve got.
JULIAN LOUW: I was very much daydreamer at
school. I got made fun of a lot, I guess you could say I was somewhat of a weakling. I
kept very much to myself. I mean, Dragon Ball Z itself, it was my escape.
JULIAN LOUW: This little figurine over here,
I’ve had for 12 years. Basically, he has got the same dress sense that I like. The
same hairstyle that I have always wanted and he has just got that attitude and that swag
that basically any teenage rebel would kill for.
COMM: To complete his look, Julian follows
a strict eating and exercise regime.
JULIAN LOUW: To become like the Trunks, I
start my day of with the most nutritionally balanced, energetic breakfast possible. Over
here is my supplements stash for basically my training regime.
JULIAN LOUW: This smoothie consists of oat
meal, egg whites, blueberries, a little bit of chocolate flavoured whey protein, chia
seed powder, pure cinnamon and vanilla extract.
JULIAN LOUW: All done. And so breakfast begins.
JULIAN LOUW: I kept hearing people say that
the look of the Dragon Ball Z character was almost impossible to create and I thought
I was going to make something impossible become possible.
JULIAN LOUW: Time to go train.
JULIAN LOUW: Oh dude, what an awesome day! MAN: Hell yeah!
JULIAN LOUW: Trunks has got a very dominant
upper chest and that’s an area that I pay specific attention to three-four days a week.
I added a lot of gymnastic training in, I added a lot of ballet training for my alignment,
for the flexibility. I went to parkour training and I cut back a little bit on the weight
training and focused more on full body calisthenic training. It was a difficult process.
JULIAN LOUW: I’m going to become this character
and I’m going to adopt his facial expressions, the euphemisms that he uses, the language
he speaks, the way he talks.
COMM: And it’s not just diet and exercise
that Julian will be using to transform into his idol. Today he is getting his hair dyed
to complete the look.
MIGUEL MATA: What’s up, Julian? Good to see you, man!
JULIAN LOUW: Good to see you, too. MIGUEL MATA: Alright.
JULIAN LOUW: I would say I spend a minimum
of 5,000 a year to look like Trunks.
MIGUEL MATA: I have never had anyone with
this request before. You know, I like something that’s a little bit more different than like
the average day’s work. I mean, here in Beverly Hills we do lots of typical blondes
and perfect cookie cutter type of looks, and mixing it up with like purple hair on a guy
is pretty cool.
JULIAN LOUW: Right now while I’m getting my hair done, I feel like I’m transforming already.
JULIAN LOUW: I would say it was costly in
terms of the time and the effort but I wouldn’t have had it in any other way.
JULIAN LOUW: I’m transformed. I’m exactly
what I need to be. Thanks to everyone here, thanks to Miguel. This is the real life Trunks
from Dragon Ball Z.
JULIAN LOUW: When I’m dressed like Trunks,
I feel really powerful, I feel very charismatic. I feel really cool and chilled and I feel
like I’m really just to go and make people overwhelmed and smile. I’m coming down here
to Hollywood Boulevard to show off my Trunks outfit and my hair. I wanna see what the fans’
and the tourists’ reactions are.
MAN: You know who he is?
LADY: Yes.
MAN: Dope f*cking outfit! Can I get a f*cking
picture? This is really Trunks, y’all. This is nice. Dragon Ball Z, all the way through.
MAN: No, no, no. Look at the sword! Holy sh*t…
JULIAN LOUW: I don’t think you can look
really any cooler, so the fact that I’ve surpassed that in a human form, it really
makes me feel like happy that I’ve stuck towards a goal and I feel completely fulfilled.