'Dragon Ball Daima' Episode 1 Review

TV & Film

Oct 24

Dragon Ball characters — Image Source: Crunchyroll

Dragon Ball Daima is here, with its first episode premiering on October 11th. The episode is 10 minutes longer than usual, clocking in at about 30 minutes. However, do they use these extra minutes well, or do they just go back to Dragon Ball Z levels of padding? Let’s find out!

Warning: There may be some minor spoilers for Dragon Ball Daima contained in this review

The episode begins with a recap of the Majin Buu arc, which the two new villains, Gomah and Degesu (the younger brother of the Kaioshin of the East), are viewing. Gomah becomes king of the Demon Realm after the death of the former king, Dabura. While viewing this intense and rather detailed recap, Gomah and Degesu get a glimpse of the Dragon Balls in action, recognizing them from their world and being astonished by their power.

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After the recap ends, they are joined by Dr. Arinsu (Degesu’s sister), who asks if the new king will continue to fund her research. Gomah says that he’ll see, and Arinsu reminds them that the beings they watched were powerful enough to defeat Majin Buu. In response, Gomah gets the idea to use Earth’s Dragon Balls to turn these warriors into children. Gomah, Degesu, and the senile Neva the Namek all make their way to Earth in search of their Dragon Balls.

Dragon Ball Daima — Image Source: Crunchyroll

Meanwhile, on Earth, Trunks is celebrating his ninth birthday in the company of his parents, Bulma and Vegeta, Son Goku and his family (sans Gohan), Kurirn and his family, Mr. Satan, Majin Buu, Muten Roshi, Yamcha, Oolong, Puar, Piccolo, and even the Kaioshin and Kibito are in attendance. Of course, during the party, Goku and Vegeta decide to spar.

While this is going on, Mr. Popo and Dende are observing the party (and the fight) from the lookout. Our demon world trio soon makes it to the lookout. Though the Dragon Balls were used recently, they have no problem gathering them using Neva’s powers. Neva then reactivates them. Dende attempts to stop them from summoning Shenlong, but Degesu knocks the young namekian out. Thus, our heroes are turned into young first graders (with Goten, Trunks, and Marron being turned into infants).

The episode sets up the main plot rather well. It is slow, admittedly, but it is rich in new lore and expanding upon what has been set up already. However, the 10-minute Majin Buu arc recap could have been condensed considerably, and its presence definitely hampered the episode’s pacing. Making namekians from the Demon Realm is also an interesting touch that harkens back to Piccolo’s demonic origins. Still, the writing itself is still pretty good, and you can tell Toriyama had a huge hand in this, considering it has his sense of humor.

The animation is also rather nice. Though it bogged the pacing down a bit, the reanimated moments from the Majin Buu arc were a highlight of the episode. The art style itself is also very reminiscent of Toriyama’s style, even down to the coloring being more like the manga. Overall, the art and animation in this episode are really good.

The voice acting is also really good. Masako Nozawa turns in a good performance as Son Goku as usual. Ryo Horikawa also does a good job as Vegeta. Newcomer Ryota Suzuki does a good job taking over as Yamcha. The voice actor for Gomah, Showtaro Morikubo, steals the show. Overall, the voice acting in this episode is pretty good.

Dragon Ball Daima has a slow start but still sets up the series quite well. Hopefully, future episodes will build on this foundation and balance the high-stakes action with the world-building seen here. Dragon Ball Daima is currently available on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix.

Rating: 9/10

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