Dragon Ball Daima

15 Sep, 2025

I was gutted to hear about the death of Akira Toriyama. It was an unexpected shock, it hadn’t occurred to me until that exact moment just how influential he was on pop culture in general, let alone in my life. But I don’t have much unique to add to this discussion. I’m not the only one who feels this way.

I was midway through watching the 1981 Dr. Slump series at the time, and really enjoying it, though I ended up taking an extended break with plans to read the manga. I started watching Dragon Ball, too, but took a break. I read Sand Land last summer, and really enjoyed it. I hate to even make a reference to the concept of art “aging well” (I do not believe art ever becomes “obsolete”), but Sand Land more or less feels like it could have come out today. The super clean caricaturesque art and character designs are only unremarkable insofar as Toriyma’s style has become widely influential, and it must also be noted that Toriyama somehow is still underrated because of how he makes everything look so easy. But something did bother me a bit about Sand Land. I felt it was a little basic, even though the optimism and sentimentality endeared itself to me.

Toriyama’s JRPG Ass Writing

Sand Land made me think of an aspect of Toriyama’s writing that I think is generally misunderstood. The common conception, at least, in the anglosphere, is that he was a bumbling savant making up things as he went along who only managed to write two hit manga despite himself. I think part of this reputation is a basic inability to read between the lines in his self-appraisal and understand that, like a lot of Japanese people, he can be modest to a fault. There’s also of course the fact that English speaking fans tend to prioritize things like “lore” which probably weren’t as important to his writing process. I think in the broad strokes, he is excellent at certain vital aspects of storytelling, mainly the spectacle of big moments and the strength of characters that consistently feel like themselves.

But I do agree that Toriyama’s writing has a clear “mechanical” flavor to it, where stories often feel like they’re repeatedly papering over the same hole in the wall without any idea of a bigger picture. I think all writers do this to some extent, but it’s just that it is rarely is it as obvious as with him. Now, I personally like this texture to the writing at its best, when things feel freewheeling and improvisational, and the childish humor and creativity shine through. But at its worst, things can feel clunky and overly mechanical, where I wish there was somehow less concern for logical consistency. We’ll see plenty of examples in Daima, which I’ll get to. Regardless, this style of writing draws explicit attention to the jenga tower structure of the story, which invites the nitpicking fan to come in and be annoying about it.

Reading Sand Land is when it hit me that this reminds me of the writing in a video game, strategically placing “obstacles” in the player’s way so they can have fun overcoming challenges. And yeah, Sand Land essentially is just a JRPG in manga form, which is probably why they eventually made it into a JRPG (and why Dragonball Z Kakarot was so successful as well). And Dragonball Daima, which Toriyama was involved with somehow, feels an awful lot like this too.

I want to write more about the theater experience with the premiere of the first three episodes of this series as well as the previous two Dragonball movies that were theatrically released in my lifetime, but I’ll leave this as a placeholder for now.

The beginning of the series has a really comfy “adventure” vibe to it that, again, feels like Sand Land, or Dragon Quest, or one of those classic JRPGs. And if there’s one thing that Dragon Quest fans will tell you, it’s that despite how predictable those games are, they just have a certain je ne sais quoi element of nostalgia and coziness to them. At the end of episode five, as the (excellent) main motif starts playing, I felt this way too.

Nearly every episode has an excuse for a battle, usually with random police or nondescript mobs. But already, the “mechanical” writing starts to grate on me as the number of sidequests starts piling up. The ship is broken, so the gang has to go fight some mobs to take their ship. But they’re being tracked by a monitoring necklace on Panji! Luckily, the inventor of the necklace is Kaioushin’s sister, so he knows how to break it. Now Vegeta’s here, so Goku goes to meet him, but his ship gets stolen too, so now Vegeta gets his own miniboss. Each event leads logically to the next in a very linear, sequential, video gamey sort of way.

I chuckled a bit when the gang meet the first “boss”, the Tamagami. The way these bosses are set up is extremely casual. They are standing, motionless and seemingly unconscious, until they are asked to battle. The gang decides to have lunch beforehand, and Glorio even asks Goku if he wants to use a senzu bean before starting the battle (Goku declines). These guys are literally saving the game before the boss fight.

Now, none of this is necessarily a problem, per se. Like I said, it can get cozy. But there are some frustratingly anticlimactic detours that just feel odd in retrospect, especially since the production doesn’t feel rushed in a lot of ways (I’ll get to this later when I talk about the animation).

Initially, the main party’s primary objective is to save Dende, and this holds until the first boss battle. But a couple of episodes later, Kaioushin opines that if Dende was kept alive, he must be of some use to the villains, so maybe they should go straight towards the second boss battle. When we finally do get to Dende, the entire affair is over within a couple minutes, as they recover him without a fight, almost incidentally, before the final battle. I wish Dende wasn’t in the story at all, but he of course had to be, because otherwise the gang could have just used the Dragon Balls. So ultimately what ends up happening is that this extraneous story element is included only for the sake of consistency. Honestly? I don’t care about Dende. Maybe he was taking a nap. Does it matter? Piccolo and Kaioushin are also given very little to do in the story (especially Piccolo), but they similarly are “grandfathered” in for logical consistency issues.

Another one that bothered me is the Chekhov’s gun of the aforementioned senzu beans. As far as I can tell, they’re never actually used at any important juncture in the story. One is eaten by Goku when he’s just kinda hungry (which is, admittedly, really funny), and the next time they’re referenced is when Vegeta gets beaten up and asks for one (in this instance, Goku had dropped his bag… lol). I’ll admit this one is a bit puzzling. I can think of one reason why the senzu beans (and there’s even a demon world analog to the fusion rings) are included, and it’s because the item shop needed more things to sell. Why did there need to be an item shop? Well… watch the very last scene of the show and you’ll see (it’s, of course, for a gag — but a good one).

In general, a lot of the problems in the story are solved by Goku’s party in “mechanical” ways, mostly the three new characters. Goku doesn’t really move the story forward himself, which to be fair is kind of his natural state throughout the Dragonball series, but here it feels especially odd as we don’t know as much about the new characters’ to get invested in their motivations.

Anyway, my point here is that the writing in this series, while feeling quite Toriyama, just feels a little anticlimactic and cluttered. Which leads me to my second, and most major issue with Daima.

The Tone

The opening of the series begins with the singer softly cooing uhyo, hyo. This translates to something like “oh boy”, or “yippee” (I’m pretty sure Arale says this a bunch), but the way it’s delivered is completely wrong. I believe the opening of an anime is very important, because it sets the tone. And here the tone is very confused. The theme song in general is very sleepy, which is strange for Dragon Ball (though, given what happened to One Piece openings, maybe everyone is just too tired to belt anison like they used to). At first, I hated it, but I’ll admit it really grew on me. The whole thing took on a new color when Toriyama died. It’s very quiet, comfy, nostalgic, almost soothing. It feels oddly fitting for a low-key epilogue, one last adventure with Goku and his friends, and sometimes this thought made me emotional. But this doesn’t change the fact that this is not the correct tone for a gag-filled adventure story.

As funny as a recurring gag that this show has is Goku consistently pronouncing Glorio’s name wrong. In a baffling scene, Glorio asks Goku to say it correctly, just once. And he does. That’s it? No punchline? Very weird, I guess it’s worth a chuckle? This finally comes into play at the end, when Glorio has his big moment (which is itself extremely anticlimactic) and Goku finally gets it right. I get the idea here, but the execution was not where it needed to be.

I do think there are great gags, but they are funny in a more understated way. I love the vain, oblivious character of Haibisu, who is introduced when the king asks him to go accompany Vegeta’s party, to which he replies that (despite the one singular hair on his head) he was planning on going to the hair salon. At some point, he says he’ll let Bulma “be his wife”. He’s always up to shit like this.

There’s also the excellent character of Majin Kuu, a hilariously pragmatic but endearing “villain” character who, after a lengthy battle with a Tamagami, gives up and admits that although he’s pretty strong, he’s not strong enough to win. How his character eventually comes into play in the climax of the story is just brilliant. He's just a lovable guy.

Maybe the issue with the tone is that no one is allowed to tsukkomi when there are some truly flagrant bokkes going on. Overall, though, the humor has a strangely lethargic tone to it. I’ve heard people complain that this is an issue with Toriyama anime adaptations in general, and that honestly may be a little true. Toriyama’s manga is famously extremely quick to leaf through, and anime has to be twenty minutes an episode. But I think it’s just glaring here in a way that it isn’t always.

I think the comedy also might have worked better with more interactions between old characters. I loved what little there was (there’s an especially great gag with Vegeta and Bulma in the climactic battle which killed me), but the early part of the series mostly had Goku bounce against new characters. I did like Panji and Glorio, they both had great voice acting performances (shoutout Fairouz Ai and Takehito Koyasu), but there simply wasn’t enough there. I will admit, though, that maybe it’s for the best that there wasn’t too much baby Vegeta. It’s okay to see Goku and Vegeta as rivals as adults, former enemies who grow to have a mutual respect. But it’s another thing to take our bloodthirsty former mercenary and have him be a cute kid alongside Goku. In general, Vegeta just felt weird as a kid. He is very much a Dragonball Z character, and even though he was introduced pretty early into Goku’s adult life, it’s just hard to imagine him in the context of Goku’s adventures in the earlier, more whimsical parts of the manga. It’s hard to describe exactly why.

Another major contributor, I think, is the lack of goofy faces, which is tied to my earlier point about the lack of tsukkomis. Traditionally, Toriyama manga will have guys bug their eyes out of their head or something, but not here (apart from a few mooks). The animation is very well done, and I think the character designs capture a lot of essential elements of Toriyama’ style, but a lot of the movement in the first half (which is where the comedy mostly is) is a little rigid for my liking. Transition to…

Animation

The animation in this series is, generally, very good. There are lots of little details, and seemingly every fight has actual choreography in it, in a way that seems inconceivable for a two cour anime in 2025. Goku is forced to use his Nyoibo in all sorts of interesting ways, and since he is so small he moves around acrobatically around his opponents in a matter that is simply fun to watch. There is a strange issue earlier on in the series where the storyboards are “zoomed” in a bit too much, and I don’t know what that was all about, but that was pretty minor. The animation is also extremely consistent, which is also extremely surprising. The characters never (that I noticed) looked poorly drawn. And again, this is really impressive for a show that has an extended (unique) fight scene every single episode.

I do think the colors are pretty unappealing. We don’t have the super shiny bloomed modern anime look, but I don’t think the pink and orange skies really work here, and it still feels just a little too digital anime for me in its compositing. After Broly, I’m a bit disappointed to see this regression, but it is what it is.

Anyway, here’s more animation talk…

Sakuga Nonsense

The first flashy bit of animation was the first long Naotoshi Shida fight sequence in episode 8. I really enjoyed Goku’s battle with the Tamagami and I thought this was a great climax. I do understand some people get overwhelmed by Shida’s style that can sometimes feel like it’s devolving into nonsense. But the choreography wasn’t too hard to follow here, in my opinion.

This neat bit of character animation by Osamu Sakata in episode 9 is exactly the kind of thing I’d have liked to see more of. The anime-ism of a giant head, delightfully rendered here, stands out because it’s so different than the rest of the series. There’s plenty of fun expressions from Degesu too, who doesn’t really get this kind of pathetic, sycophantic characterization elsewhere in the series (it’s there, but it’s not sold as much as it is here).

Episode 15 had some cool action cuts by Korean (?) animator Jonghyun Jungboix. I love how the smears are used here for Goku’s Nyoibo, exactly the kind of thing that you could only have with that weapon.

Starting in episode 16, the pieces all start falling into place. I’m a big Toei fan, partly by choice and partly because I’m held hostage by my childhood obsessions, and so recognizing a lot of the star animators from Digimon, Precure, or One Piece was really cool.

Ryo Onishi (one of my favorite of the new generation) has this stunning extended cut in episode 16. His characteristic bouncy, living animation style really sells this gag, which is I think the only satisfying Chekhov’s gun in this whole series (Haibisu had picked up the super-powerful demon eye and put it in his belt for decoration). I’m glad there was a non-action scene animated by him, since where he really excels is character animation like this. Also, I’m not sure who came up with the gyaru demon, but I really liked her design and character.

In the very next episode, Onishi handles a lengthy battle scene. I have mixed feelings about the CG background and I think it made the motion feel a bit floaty at times, but there’s some good stuff here. Onishi’s trademark smears have this extreme, violent quality to them that I like. The fight overall was really cool, and it was one of the few episodes in the show where I was really disappointed when it ended. That said, I do wish the context was more interesting, because all this spectacle for a villain that wasn’t very compelling felt like a bit of a waste.

Hiromi Ishigami, I think, handles CG in a much better way here, and I think it snaps into place with some classic Dragon Ball-esque compositions here, but I think I prefer their more “classic” animation from One Piece. Maybe these new techniques are still in an experimental phase at Toei. I think there’s some great looking stuff in Super Hero which is all CG, and I’ve seen some impressive cuts from Slam Dunk too, although I’ve not yet seen the film myself.

I thought this scene by Ken Otsuka had some cool use of perspective, maybe it was someone at the storyboarding level who set this up but it’s really cool.

The extended SSJ4 transformation by Sanda is really cool, and it harkens back to the sort of mystical journey that is Goku’s original SSJ3 transformation. It’s some of the most “abstract” imagery in the entire show, and I wish there was more stuff like this.

Alex Torres handles a really cool Kamehameha, with genuinely some of the coolest ground explosions outside of Yutapon that I’ve ever seen. What I especially like about this scene, though, is the inspired directing choices. The slow-motion monochrome (with only Goku’s pupils remaining red) is exactly the kind of thing this show needed more of instead of maintaining the same color palette and fairly straightforward directing throughout. I can’t find the scene, but there’s a bit around here (also Alex Torres?) where Goku and Goma are highlighted in blue and red, one of the rare instances of the show using color to express something other than… what colors the characters are.

In this scene by Anno, Goku moves around like a monkey, which is really cool! Honestly, this made me feel like I was watching Luffy, though, especially in the way he bounces and maneuvers around the environment. In fact, a lot of the action animation in the climax of the series comes from people who cut their teeth on One Piece, and I think it’s poetic in a way that the One Piece anime comes back and influences Dragon Ball.

And similar to the highlights of the Wano arc, I really liked seeing the kinds of names that showed up in this final battle. Mehdi Aouichaoui… Olivier Lescot… Levent… Alex Torres… these aren’t Japanese people! Animators from around the world grew up inspired by Dragon Ball and got to fulfill their dreams by contributing to it, and I think this really shows in every one of these cuts.

I will admit, I have to side with some of the more annoying Dragon Ball Z fans in saying that some of my favorite scenes happen in the brief period where Goku returns to his adult form. Check out this scene by Yuya Takahashi, for example. I think Takahashi is great in general, no matter what kinds of character designs he is working with. But in the rare instance where he is allowed to deal with the super detailed, muscley character designs like this, I just think it looks so cool. Look at those damn shadows! The hair! This is what Dragonball Z looked like in my head. It’s awesome.

And check out this scene by Shida animating adult Goku in SSJ4! Some of the best stuff I’ve seen from Shida in a long while, a mostly static scene (in terms of staging) where the cool poses and buttery smooth animation is allowed to shine.

By the end, just like in a lot of these movies (especially Super Broly), you kind of zone out and enter into a fugue state as the battle moves into some really abstract setups, and I just loved that.

One last bit of animation I wanted to highlight is the whole last scene, a nearly minute long tour de force by Takashi Kojima that sells one final, hilarious gag from Toriyama. I think this was a wonderful way to send out the series and the characters. Check out those expressions! Look how Bulma squashes and stretches!

Overall, I really liked the animation in Daima. I think the sometimes weak storyboarding and always weak compositing / colors detracted from my enjoyment quite a bit, and nothing will ever look as good as Broly, but I of course enjoyed what we did get on many levels. Any time you want to animate a Dragon Ball fight scene, you get serious inspiration from the people who show up to fulfill their childhood dreams, and it rarely disappoints.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

Some more random thoughts:

• I watched the dub in the theater, which was serviceable, I suppose (I don’t watch dubs). But it sure was nice to hear Masako Nozawa again. I think she needed to be Goku, to express how after all that, he’s still the same character. She’s also just really fun and cute, I mean she’s an all-time legend, of course no one could replace her. I mentioned before that I think Toriyama really loved and understood his characters and imbued them with distinct voices. Nozawa is that distinct voice for Goku. But she does sound old… when Vegeta and Piccolo aged back up, man did they sound old… it made me feel a bit emotional…

• I’m pretty sure the episode where Degesu absconds with Dende is a reference to Future Boy Conan, as the inside of the castle (and even the buildings outside) look just like the fortress in Industria.

• Another reference is when Majin Duu is born and says “ncha”, Arale’s catchphrase. When he asks for chocolate, Majin Kuu runs off Arale-style to retrieve it.
• Dragonball has been a zombie for so long that it’s influenced by its influences. I liked episode 13, where the gang have to survive in a planet full of giants, but the whole thing felt more like a One Piece episode than Dragon Ball. I loved the massive sense of scope, which again felt very One Piece inspired. A more explicit reference occurs when Majin Duu mimics Luffy’s desperate Gomu Gomu no Jet from Enies Lobby in the climactic fight against Goma.

On Zombie Franchises

It’s a bit difficult to complain about Dragon Ball being a zombie franchise, because that’s been the case for longer than it ever was alive (and almost longer than I’ve been alive). But I wanted to briefly revisit how we got to this specific point. I think it all started with Yo! Son Goku and his Friends Return!, the OVA from 2008, the first Dragon Ball film in twelve years, and the first one to be animated digitally. I remember when this came out, and I really enjoyed it. I still think some of the drawings here are the best that Dragon Ball has ever looked in the digital era. What really stands out about this OVA is that it feels like it’s a chance to hang out and catch up with these characters that we’ve known for years and followed throughout their lives. Less important is the “plot”, and more important is the character interactions. I think if we are to bring Dragon Ball back, it should look something like this — a low stakes, slice of life adventure. I really enjoyed Dragon Ball Super Super Hero for the same reason. And as far as bombastic action goes, nothing can beat Broly.

What bothers me is everything else. Stuff like Battle of Gods, or Dragonball Super, feels way too enamored of the lore of the series and trying to achieve the same heights as the original manga — which, narrow-minded as these revivals are, they can never truly achieve. The best parts of Super are stuff like the baseball episode, where we can just relax and get to spend more precious time with the characters.

I think what I would have liked from Daima is something more like that. I don’t want to see Goku going on any more adventures, really. I don’t want any new characters, or worlds. And I don’t think anyone really wants that, because the first half of Dragon Ball Daima felt like everyone was just out of energy. In its old age, if Dragon Ball is to continue, I would just want a quiet afternoon with Goku and his friends. Honestly, now that Toriyama’s gone, the man who knew those characters better than anyone, maybe it’s best to just let it rest.

#anime