Dragon Ball Daima

 After Majin Buu's rampage came to an end and Dabura was killed, King Gomah rose to power and assumed control of the Demon Realm. Nevertheless, he chooses to use the Dragon Balls to turn them into children and destroy them while they're defenseless and helpless after learning about how Goku and the others defeated Buu and becomes afraid that they would one day pose a challenge to his authority. Goku and the crew are about to go on a brand-new journey that will take them farther into the unknown as they get ready to traverse the Demon Realm and all of the unfamiliar characters and enemies that lie ahead of them. 

©BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION

 Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball spin-off series is called Dragon Ball Daima. On Fridays, Crunchyroll offers free streaming of the anime series.

Back in the early 2000s, when Toonami's afternoon cable block was practically a religion being fervently preached by a generation of budding weebs like me, I was a confirmed Dragon Ball FreakTM. Regretfully, I have abandoned the franchise since the Buu Saga ended; while I did enjoy GT, I never paid much attention to it, and the only recent material I've seen outside of the occasional Super episode is the (admittedly entertaining) Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film.But ever since Akira Toriyama passed away suddenly, I've been really curious to see what his last undertaking in the storied multi-media empire he built was. Dragon Ball Daima feels so much more welcoming than Dragon Ball Super, which makes me wonder what the hell is going on with Goku's umpteenth Super Saiyan upgrade. Plus, it seems like a kind of soft-reboot/jumping-on point for newcomers and lapsed Kakarotholics like me.

The good news is that, in my opinion, Dragon Ball Daima provides a useful point of entry into the narrative for those who are just vaguely acquainted with the vast body of knowledge surrounding the series. Granted, this premiere will probably still seem like a fever dream of insane gibberish to those who know nothing about Goku and company's adventures, but given how much of the Daima premiere is devoted to table setting, I have to assume that almost anyone could follow the upcoming story if they really wanted to.don't even need to be overly familiar with the events of Super since Daima is an interlude that occurs following the Buu Saga of DBZ but prior to Beerus's entrance and Frieza's reappearance at the beginning of DBS. In summary, the newly crowned King of the Demon Realm intends to grow his empire after Kid Buu's defeat and has a few Evil Kai goons to spare along with a strategy to keep The Z Fighters off his back. The clever plan? Because "something something something Shenron's Rules something something," use the Dragon Balls to make all of our heroes into children.

Now let's get real: Basically, the idea of turning Goku and Friends into kids is just an opportunity for the franchise to recreate its most notorious plot device from Dragon Ball GT, albeit with a story that is personally crafted by Toriyama and a tone that seems to be more in keeping with the carefree adventure of the original Dragon Ball stories from the '80s. Furthermore, what do you know? What a clever trick! How about shredding everyone to a smaller, less menacing size and sending them on a new quest to avoid all the absurd power-scaling, exponentially scary villains?

My only real concern is how much time the show spends setting everything up, especially considering how fantastic the production qualities and tone of this premiere are. As B-Tier villains with S-Tier aspirations, King Goma, Degesu, and Arinsu are hilarious, and their antics would fit in perfectly if they were set in any Super Sentai goon's lair. However, we have to follow them for more than twenty minutes, and this episode is just slightly longer than thirty minutes. That means we probably only spend five minutes getting reacquainted with Goku and the group at Trunks' birthday celebration, not counting the extensive DBZ review at the beginning of the show.Even though it's only the first episode, you can see that better things are coming. It's still a lot of fun. Nevertheless, I'll be more than willing to wait a week and revisit Dragon Ball Daima to see if Toriyama was able to bring back the magic of the show's heyday for one last time. 

©BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION

      There are two certainties in life: one is that we will all eventually bite it, and the other is that there will always be more Dragon Ball. I've been waiting a long time for this one for two reasons, but even though I've had mixed thoughts about many of the recent Dragon Ball entries, I'm attached to the franchise enough that I'll probably be here for every new one until the universe's ultimate heat death.First of all, considering how immensely powerful and renowned a creator Akira Toriyama was, and the fact that this was the last Dragon Ball media he worked on before his sad death, there was no way I wasn't going to check out his final effort. The second is that, instead of carrying on with the constant escalation that has characterized Dragon Ball since its return, it appears that the focus will shift back to adventures and gags rather than superpowers and multiverse stuff, which I wholeheartedly support. This has made me more excited about a new Dragon Ball anime than I have been in a long time.

All of that being said, it's difficult to predict if this will be another Dragon Ball GT or a return to the action-comedy genre, and this premiere largely serves as setup, so it's difficult to predict which way the balance will swing. The first few minutes are mostly just there to recap the events of the Buu Saga (and establish that it seems to take place directly after it, for anyone wondering where this was going to fit in Dragon Ball canon), while the rest of the episode is dedicated to introducing our new sets of villains in the form of King Gomah, who has taken Dabura's place as the ruler of the Demon Realm after Buu made him into an afternoon snack, and Degusu and Dr. Arinsu who are apparently siblings of the Supreme Kai, but work with the Demon Realm for reasons we don't quite know yet. 

Even though it's not the most thrilling way to start, it is at least fairly funny, and King Gomah and Degusu in particular make for a pretty good comedic pair. As I always think the franchise could use more ridiculous bad guys on a regular basis rather than fewer, I'm looking forward to seeing more of them. It's also amusing to discover that King Gomah believes that Goku and the group would invade his realm at full strength, and that's a risk he can't bear. That's probably the most calculated response we've seen from a Dragon Ball villain other than Frieza, so he probably has the right idea there. Naturally, as the episode concludes with him taking that action, only time will tell if it works out, but it's a nice way to introduce the characters. There's always a chance that this won't be able to replicate the same level of magic found in early DB as GT did. For the time being, though, I'm feeling very positive about it. Although I'm sure not every Dragon Ball fan will enjoy the lighter tone, this seems like it could be appealing enough to make it difficult not to enjoy yourself. 

©BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION

    It's not sure what I was expecting from Daima, but it was definitely not a straight-forward continuation of Dragon Ball Z's Majin Buu Saga. To be honest, though, this makes a great deal of sense from a narrative and metatextual standpoint. 

Setting it shortly after Buu's fall, as well as making our heroes become children, places them at a very precise strength level. The highest possible power level that we will probably see is Super Saiyan 2 (but given the remark of how simple it is to undo Potara earrings in this episode, I imagine a "Kid Vegetto" fusion wouldn't be out of the question). Super Saiyan 4 from Dragon Ball GT and Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan Blue, and Ultra Instinct from Dragon Ball Super won't be returning. Additionally, we know that although Goku can probably turn Super Saiyan 3, it would only last for a short period because of our understanding of how a comparable de-aging event occurs in Dragon Ball GT.

Taking into account that the Tamagami must be more powerful than Dabura (otherwise he would have defeated them and used the Demon World Dragon Balls himself), all of this essentially ties our heroes down at a strength level where they may theoretically face a challenge in the Demon World. There should be some tension and drama even though we know our heroes will win in the end (otherwise Super/GT wouldn't exist). After all, we don't know what will happen to the Demon Realm and its inhabitants. 

Setting Daima directly after Buu also resolves a long-neglected plot strand, which is another reason it's a wise decision. Dabura ruled over a whole world. What occurs if the king vanishes out of nowhere? Naturally, a battle for dominance. 

This leads us to the season's antagonists. Here we have Gomah, the standard Toriyama tiny bad man, driven more by ambition than common sense. The siblings of the Universe 7 Supreme Kai, Dagesu and Dr. Arinsu, are his incredibly skilled subordinates. Even though both seem to be employed by Gomah, it's obvious that Dr. Arinsu at least has her own objectives. And then there's the ancient Namekian who crafted the Dragon Balls of the Demon World. Even while Namekians are mostly kind people now days, there's no reason this old man couldn't be just as evil as the former King Piccolo. After all, he resides in the Demon World.

This leads us to the subtly revealed cliffhanger of the program. Gomah's goal to transform our heroes into children has come true, but there are still two wishes unfulfilled. I have a feeling that Gomah might not actually get to make them.

Ultimately, this episode serves two purposes: 1) to refresh our memory on the events of the Buu Saga's early chapters, and 2) to present our new antagonists. But there are also two sides to this. To be honest, Dragon Ball Daima is rather unwelcoming to newcomers and anyone who hasn't watched the Buu Saga. This is only a show for die-hard Dragon Ball fans. And although it might not be a bad thing per se, it severely restricts the audience for this show.