This Was Made for Me: Dragon Ball Daima First Impressions
Written by Rei Caldombra 10/26/24 Video: https://youtu.be/15dKFoCMSro
Dragon Ball Daima is a beautiful representation of Toriyama’s style and Dragon Ball’s legacy. It returns to the old roots of Dragon Ball while continuing the modern trends of the series. This works great for me, but I understand it may not be for everyone. This is giving me pretty much everything I love about early Dragon Ball. The original Dragon Ball Anime (aka the start of the series through to the 23rd World Tournament) is my favorite section of the anime. I love the adventure and worldbuilding, the focus on martial arts with ki and magic being an accessory rather than the main focus, and the overall lighter tone that has moments of seriousness rather than the other way around. I love the wacky and charming world Toriyama created for Dragon Ball. I’ve always wanted it to be explored more and am enjoying the worldbuilding we are seeing in the Demon Realm. I find Dragon Ball to be at its best when it is lighter in tone, using its wacky world to the fullest. And Daima is doing that for me in spades.
Let’s talk about tone. If you are someone who wants “serious and brutal” Dragon Ball back, I don’t think this is going to do that for you. And to me nowhere does it set that expectation. You can WANT the return to Z’s more serious and dramatic subject matter, there’s nothing wrong with having that opinion. But if you are still expecting the series to go back to that you are setting yourself up for disappointment. I’m sorry but the light and more slice of life-y Dragon Ball has been the new norm since Super started. And I feel Daima excels at being this type of Dragon Ball.
The opening makes the tone and focus of this series very clear from the start. I love this opening, it is bursting with feelings that are right at home with Toriyama’s work. It’s positive, comforting, encouraging, and adventurous.
This anime is about going on an adventure and having fun along the way. Stopping the bad guy is the destination, but it’s really about the journey they are going on. This is very in line with early Dragon Ball. Daima is not trying to make you seriously worry for Dende’s life or that the cast is not going to reverse the wish. I feel the series has very clearly laid out what to expect from it. And even that didn’t make this clear enough, we know this gets reversed already because it takes place before Super. Daima is not trying to trick you, it has laid its cards out on the table about what it wants to be. So if you want to watch Daima, I highly recommend you just enjoy the ride it’s giving us or choose to not stay on the ride if what it’s offering isn’t for you.
Am I offended by Dragon Ball Daima having a fart joke? Not really, Dragon Ball has always had silly and juvenile humor. This is a core part of Toriyama’s style, especially in his early works like Dr. Slump. Even though I don’t always like these jokes, I understand this has always been a part of the series. The very first use of the legendary and iconic Dragon Balls, the series namesake, was for panties. I truly don’t mean to criticize the Z lovers constantly, but I have to mention that in DB discourse it is very easy to notice when people haven’t actually seen early Dragon Ball but consider themselves knowledgeable on the series. You can tell when they act like Z set the standard for the series. There’s nothing wrong with people who came across Z first and that forming the basis of their opinion. But that doesn’t mean you can act like the original Dragon Ball didn’t exist and didn’t form the basis of the series itself. Z didn’t set the standard, Dragon Ball did with the traits that I’ve talked about. Then the series evolved and took itself way more seriously in Z. And then it evolved again with Super, making a bit of a circle backwards. And now we are here with Daima largely fitting in with Super. 2 out of 3 parts of Anime Dragon Ball don’t take themselves extremely seriously, 3 of the 4 if we count Daima already. And GT also had a lot of silly stuff, more than Z at least. You don’t have to like it, but I feel it is time to read the writing on the wall and accept that things have changed.
Speaking of goofiness, the comedy in Daima has been pretty good. Shenron not giving multiple wishes because Gomah is a first-time customer is hysterical.
Some of the worldbuilding in this show could fall under retconning, such as how Shenron’s wish amounts works, but at this point it has happened enough that it doesn’t really bother me. Like how I no longer take power scaling in DB seriously because it has not been consistent enough to feel worth taking seriously, I just take a lot of the mechanical details at face value. Some of the things people are calling retcons also are not necessarily retcons, such as Namekians being demons and how the Demon Realm works. In some cases, they are expansions on the lore that may be unexpected to some rather than contradictory to the canon. DEMON King Piccolo was originally called a demon, with no implications of alien origins that I am aware of (same as how Goku was not an alien from the start). It was later changed to them hailing from Namek in Z, which can be considered the true retcon of this topic. So the Namekians originally being demons from the Demon Realm fits more in line with their original intention. So I do not consider this specific point a retcon, and I think this is more interesting than them just being aliens. I have always preferred Dragon Ball’s magical explanations for things over space and aliens explanations, so this is yet another thing Daima is doing that appeals to me specifically.
This series is absolutely gorgeous so far, both in terms of art and animation. This is a much better look for the modern style of Dragon Ball that we have seen with the main Super anime onward. The characters look better and they move much better, a benefit that comes from having a lot more time to make it than the main series, which had to pump out over 100 episodes with few breaks. The character designs for the main characters take a lot of inspiration from early Dragon Ball, which I like. And the new ones look great overall and are very Toriyama. The setpieces of the anime are also beautiful.
With episode 3 we finally got some extended fights and they are awesome. The first scene against the bandits is great, but the fight in the bar fight especially is simply fantastic.
Picked one of my favorite frames but really go watch the anime or the fight on Youtube if you haven’t seen it.
It’s fluid, well-choreographed, dynamic, and works both the setting and the Goku’s personality into the fight. This is the type of fighting I miss from early Dragon Ball. Close-quarters combat that doesn’t over-rely on Ki and properly shows the martial skills of the characters. Goku moves through acrobatics rather than flying, pulling off tons of cool moves as well as goofy ones that call back to his monkey-boy roots. Goku eating while fighting is hilarious and feels perfect for him. While this is still the goofier and more juvenile Goku that modern Dragon Ball has emphasized more, I don’t think his battle prowess has been degraded (which I will admit Super is guilty of doing at times). Goku knows these guys are chumps and that he is stronger, so he doesn’t need to take it with maximum seriousness. So he kicks ass while shoving food down his throat. To me, this is perfectly in character for Goku in this situation. And makes for a hilarious and dynamic fight scene that is a joy to watch. This fight also has the environment not exist just so the characters who are mostly flying can crash into things when they get hit. He bounces off the walls, uses tableware to block and attack, etc. I love this fight and I hope this high quality continues with future fights.
To bring up a mix of expectations and my own desires, I hope the series continues it’s early Dragon Ball routes when it comes to raising the power ceiling as fights intensify. I want Goku and the others to win because of their skills and strategies, not because they change forms and immediately win. We know they will at least use super saiyan and throw out some ki attacks, so hopefully they will be used in satisfying ways. They absolutely can be, like in early Dragon Ball where Ki attacks still carried weight when they were used (rather than in Z onward where they constantly get smacked away, tanked with no injuries, etc). I never expected Daima to be early DB level power-wise, but I want it to continue feeling like early Dragon Ball.
I am loving Daima so far, everything it is doing is perfect for what I expected and wanted from this series. I understand this is not what everyone wants from Dragon Ball, but this really works for me. Thanks for reading!
My Patreon to support me and the website: patreon.com/ReiCaldombra
More of my apparently unpopular thoughts on Dragon Ball: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/dragon-ball-z-and-super-share-a-lot-of-the-same-issues-im-tired-of-z-worshippers?rq=Dragon%20Ball
