Summary
- A wish to de-age Z Fighters brings consequences.
- Only one wish is granted due to the protagonists being unfamiliar.
- The series blends humor, nostalgia, & fresh elements successfully.
The following contains spoilers for Dragon Ball DAIMA episode 2, "Glorio" available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Dragon Ball DAIMA premiered last week and is being simulcast on Crunchyroll (and on Netflix a few days later). Early reviews (including ours on this site) have been mostly positive, and it seems like the world was ready for more Dragon Ball in the world.
Still, the world only got to see the first episode of the show, and while it set up the basics, there was still much to be revealed. This week, not only do we have more revelations as to what the series is going to be about, we are starting to see the tone the series will be taking going forward.
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A New Wish Has Been Granted
As we saw last week, the Dragon Balls were summoned and our new antagonist, Majin Gomah, decided that he wanted to use the Dragon Balls to gain new power now that his adversaries were defeated by Goku and his friends. With three wishes under his belt, he decided that the first order of business would be to wish that all the Z Fighters be transformed into children once more, so that their power levels would be lowered (and thus less likely to be an obstacle to his ultimate goal). While this wish is granted, wishes two and three are not able to be.
A Technicality Blocks the Plan
Though Shenron does typically grant three wishes, turns out this is a courtesy he gives to people he is familiar with on the planet. Since Gomah is a stranger from another universe, he only gets one wish, and thus the Dragon Balls scatter again. This creates a most unfortunate problem for Gomah, who is informed by his Namekian friend that even he can not restore the Dragon Balls so quickly after being used. They will have to wait a certain amount of time before they can make another wish. As an insurance policy, Gomah decides to kidnap Dende, who was turned into a baby thanks to Shenron granting the wish.
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What is Going on with Goku and His Friends?
Due to the wish being granted, Goku and his friend have all been turned into various degrees of young (with differing opinions). Bulma and Chi Chi are excited to be looking young again, while Vegeta and Piccolo are less than impressed with their new situation. Goku seems more confused than anything else, while Trunks and Goten have reverted to babies (though seem to have the ability to communicate with each other telepathically for reasons that will hopefully be explained in the future).
Powers Have Indeed Been Lost
While the plan was not a surefire thing, it appears that de-aging everyone did at least affect everyone's powers in some way. As expected though, the powers have not disappeared completely. If anything, the way this has been explained is that everyone is "off balance" because of their new size. This means that while they have not lost their powers, they do need to re-train themselves in order to make full use of them. This is certainly convenient as it will give the characters a reason to train and power up throughout the show, leading to an eventual showdown with the new antagonists of the series.
This is What Dragon Ball GT Should Have Been
With two episodes under the belt, it seems clear that the producers are taking inspiration from Dragon Ball GT, in which the humor is put more in the center of everything. Unlike that show though, Dragon Ball DAIMA is largely suceeding at the balancing act. Now, the producers HAVE been toeing this line since Dragon Ball Super came out, so its not like this format will surprise too many longtime viewers. What longtime fans who have bad memories of Dragon Ball GT are going to be taken in with is the fact that the aspect of that show that was most derided (turning Goku back into a kid) is not only being given a second shot but mostly succeeded. The fact that Toriyama helped write the story this time around likely has a lot to do with that success.
Even the theme songs are more adventurous than they are action-packed, with music regular Hironobu Kageyama taking a backseat this time around. With Zedd / C&K performing the opening and Zedd going solo on the ending theme, the series has a fresh sound in regard to the music, and it will be interesting to see if future Dragon Ball productions continue to go with this new sound. Even though the series is charting a new path, it isn't letting go of the past, as characters and items from the earliest episodes are also making appearances (appearances they haven't made in a long time). How much into the past Dragon Ball DAIMA will lean into is unclear at the moment, but what is clear is that the series has been a lot of fun so far and most Dragon Ball fans are likely to be happy with what can currently be dubbed as "the good version of Dragon Ball GT."
- Release Date
- 2024 - 2025
- Network
- Fuji TV, Kansai TV, Tokai Television Broadcasting, Fukui TV, Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting, Iwate Menkoi Television, Sendai Television, SAGA TV, TNC, OHK, Ishikawa TV, Kochi Sun Sun Broadcasting, TV Shizuoka, UMK TV Miyazaki, Television Shin Hiroshima System, NST, NBS, Sakuranbo TV, TSK, Ehime Broadcasting, KTS, NIB, KKT, Fukushima TV, TOS, AKT, Toyama Television, Okinawa Television Broadcasting
- Directors
- Kazuya Karasawa, Ryuta Kawahara
- Writers
- Akira Toriyama
- Franchise(s)
- Dragon Ball
Cast
-
Masako NozawaSon Goku (mini) (voice) -
Koki UchiyamaGlorio (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
Dragon Ball Daima is the latest anime in Akira Toriyama's legendary franchise. After being transformed into a child, Goku must travel to a new world to try and turn things around.
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