Goku’s defeat of Majin Buu has sent shockwaves across all
worlds. In the Demon World, King Gomah
succeeds King Dabura, learns of the powerful warriors of Earth and seeks to
prevent them from foiling his future plans.
Using Earth’s Dragon Balls, he turns Goku and his allies into children,
hoping it will lessen their fighting strength.
But Gomah has no idea who he has just messed with and soon Goku is on a
new journey into the Demon World to undo this spell, bringing along old friends
and encountering new possible allies in the process.
Almost 30 years after Dragon Ball Z first dropped in the
US, the franchise continues to be one of the most beloved and fiscally reliable
Anime in the world.
Dragon Ball Super’s
successful run and it’s two subsequent feature films just reinforce that little
fact.
But for anyone who thought Super
ended too soon, new Dragon Ball has arrived, the very last we’ll sadly see
written by Akira Toriyama before his passing earlier this year.
And it looks like Toriyama’s final tale to
tell might be a bit of a redemption for another failed Dragon Ball venture that
never involved him.
That said, are we
really ready for Chibi Dragon Ball that’s actually cannon?
The first episode of Dragon Ball Daima is mostly
comprised of two guy sitting in a room with a bunch of high def screens,
watching various clips from the Buu Saga of Dragon Ball Z.
Their reactions feel in line with those of
someone who has never seen DBZ before and is absolutely blown away by the sheer
scale of the action and power of the Saiyan super warriors.
It’s a fun way to revisit some of the best
moments from DBZ’s finale but at the same time it does drag on a bit,
especially for a premiere with a slightly extended runtime.
In fact, the true sell point of the entire
series doesn’t happen until the final minutes of the premiere.
One point I speculated a lot on during the premiere was
where this fits in the Dragon Ball timeline.
Considering Gomah, Degesu and Arinsu are watching clips specifically
from the Buu Saga but there’s no mention or sight of Beerus, my guess is Saima
is set in the little bit of time between the end of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon
Ball Super.
So is this a mini side story
that’s gonna be dragged out over 100 episodes then?
It might feel like a bit of a letdown for
those expecting a direct continuation from Super.
But then again, as I said above, this feels
like the trappings of Toriyama wanting a do over of Dragon Ball GT but done his
way.
Think about it: Goku turned into a
kid, having to assumedly relearn his more advanced stages and techniques, and
probably has to go to the Demon World to find their Dragon Balls to under this
mess he and his friends are now in (also they do better specify how the wish
that turns them into kids works, so it’s not a world wide thing).
Again, it’s risky given how well this premise
went last time in the universe spanning GT.
If Toriyama is involved to a degree, it could turn out better.
The premiere of Dragon Ball Daima offers a nice refresher
course while expanding the world a bit more and teeing up what the next
adventure for Goku will turn out to be.
There’s plenty of fresh action with Goku and Vegeta to spice things up
but I wish the first episode had done more with the shows gimmick of everyone
becoming kid sized (besides it apparently being super painful).
Still, more Dragon Ball is more Dragon Ball
so everyones gonna eat this up regardless.
I just hope that Goku shares some of this fun with Vegeta and Piccolo
and not just with Supreme Kai (Seriously was anyone asking for him to come
back?)
No comments:
Post a Comment