It has been 40 years since Akira Toriyama’s original “Dragon Ball” manga entered the circulation, nor the manga or Anime Has been the same since. Not only has virtually all major action manga that have been affected since in some capacity of Toriyama’s work, but “Dragon Ball Z” has become synonymous with Anime Mediumand son goku becomes Anime main character. Now the last project Toriyama worked before he went, ”Dragon Ball Daima“Has stopped. With the future of the franchise up in the air we have at least a fitting conclusion to Toriyama’s workOne that encloses everything that the Creator tried to achieve.
To take place shortly after the end of “Dragon Ball Z”, this new chapter in “Dragon Ball” franchise sees son Goku and his friends turned into children’s versions by themselves by a new Supreme King of the demon kingdom afraid of the threat that Saiyan poses. To turn back into adults, Goku begins a great adventure to the demon council to find its native dragon balls. Like the opening theme song for “Dragon Ball Daima” says very clearly, this is a new story full of “Thousands of Jabs and stupid jokes”, as well as “No-Holds-Broken Strider.” More importantly, “Daima” feels like Toriyama released, as if the Creator took one last chance to set the record straight on what his ideal version of the franchise is and delivered the purest form of a Goku story.
Sure, this is not the first time a “Dragon Ball” series turns Goku back to children’s form -it was the whole driving force for “Dragon Ball GT”, a show that did not really involve Toriyama. What makes “Daima” unique, however, is how low their efforts are and how different focus is compared to both “GT” and “Super”, the two sequel to “Dragon Ball Z.” There is no rescue of the world, no genocide madman trying to conquer new areas. Instead, this is quite literally a funny little adventure in a strange new world, a Throwback Road Trip/Compass comedy with parts of a fantasy adventure. Given that it has been three years ago “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero,” It is easy to see why some fans can be disappointed with the lack of constant superhero-suggestions in “Daima”, which mostly hold their Super Saiyan conversions to the last section of its 20 episodes. However, comparing this show with “Super” or “Z” would be to miss the point, as “Daima” is a throw to the original intention for the franchise.
You understand, Toriyama never planned for “Dragon Ball” to be what it was. While he never really had long -term goals for manganese, it is obvious that what ended up being “Dragon Ball” was not exactly what its creator meant to do. In an interview for the show’s 30th anniversary “Super History Book,” Toriyama admitted that he liked to do adventure stories more and that although he was fully aware of how the readers of the Shonen Action Manga responded more positively to combat -focused stories, he tried to fight his story to pure action. Even after introducing a martial arts tournament, he immediately followed that bow with an adventure where Goku meets Arale from Toriyama’s former manga “Dr. Random, “and walks around the world in a rather comical adventure where he opens up an Arnold Schwarzenegger Lookalike, Ninjas and even a Frankenstein’s monster -inspired Android. But eventually it became too much for the author, and as he puts it, “I decided to bite the bullet and do everything about the battles.”
Everything changed with “Daima”, which saw Toriyama involved deeper in production compared to all other “Dragon Ball” projects since manganese ended in 1995. He not only came with patterns for characters, monsters and vehicles, but also the whole story. When you look at the entire 20 section season, it feels like this is the version of the “Dragon Ball” Toriyama would do if he could start over with his iconic franchise. In a way it resembles the films “rebuilding of evangelion”, which saw Hideaki Anno restarting its own TV Series and changes things to reflect his personal opinions 20 years later.
“Daima” is as silly as the original “Dragon Ball”, with Kid Goku who is stupid, annoying his companions and constantly talking about food or having to bend. Demon Realm is a fantastic location full of imaginative views, cities and creatures, giving the story a road trip format when we explore more of this new world. Then there is the action. As good as it is to see Goku fight against gods in “Super”, there is something brilliant about the simplicity of this little guy who turns hell out of hordes of confused soldiers and demons who use nothing but a staff. In fact, Anime is a throw to the days where Goku used to channel Jackie Chan, and used plates and chairs to fight opponents bigger than himself with delightful but fantastic action animation. And even when the show provides superpowers during the last episodes of the season, and finally lets Veget achieve Super Saiyan 3 and make Gokus Super Saiyan 4 cannon, find the way to make the fights look creative and fun, while becoming triumphant and served rather than just compulsory and expected.
The original “Dragon Ball” never received the attention it deserved outside Japan, at least not compared to “Z”, which has made the Franchise’s international reputation mostly rely on escalating fights and ever greater enemies and efforts. “Daima” claims that for Dare jumping directly to “Z”, Super Saiyan Power-ups, and the world-ending threat is to miss what makes this a special franchise in the first place. After 40 years, not only “Dragon Ball” produced another fun adventure, but one that feels like the final statement from its creators – long, detailed fights are cool, but it is also stupid little road travel adventures with strange creatures.
