Dragon Ball Daima: Episode 1 - Official Discussion Thread

[GhostEmperorX]

Which is how all great shows do it, theres something called build up, mystery, unknown etc.... maybe you just aren't for complex series that are deep, you want simple action, stuff happening all the time, which is fine, but you need to watch series like that then... Game of Thrones was very slow paced but was one of the best series in history precisely for it.

Not sure why you're talking about "raising standards" considering the series this thread is about, and who made it...

[Mr Baggins]

"Bad pacing" is just shorthand for there being nothing interesting or engaging for long periods of time. When people (including myself) opine that an episode or chapter is slow, what they actually mean is that the material failed to keep them invested in the story.

This episode wasn't that. Even all the new worldbuilding bits were intertwined organically with the characters and their interactions and motivations; a far cry from the sheer pointlessness of, say, the Super manga's Granolah arc or damn near the entirety of the Super TV anime.

I dunno, it seems a bit disingenuous to claim that any part of this was just Wiki trivia and nothing more. At no point did I feel like fast-forwarding through anything here.

[emperior]

The episode was truly excellent. Production is top notch, finally.

It doesn’t seem like it wants to replace Super but it sure does feel like more of a sequel to the original manga than Super ever was. Admittedly, though, it does seem to bridge between the manga and Super quite well.

The new lore is great and the jokes are obviously Toriyama’s, but the entire episode script seems his. His writing style really emerges and I love it.

By the way, the potara scene so far is not retconning Super, as Kibith and Shin may still fuse by the end of the show. In Super, Goku just asks Gowasu if potara fusion is really permanent, which makes sense to know beforehand - especially with normal fusion having a 30 minutes time limit (Shin doesn’t comment in the anime, but implies that it wasn’t Buu’s air that defused Vegetto in the manga).

[Yuji]

It's so nice to have weekly Dragon Ball again. A few scattered thoughts:

- I understand Toriyama likes Shin or Shin's design enough to want him defused, but this is such an odd continuity mistake to make. Nobody bothered to fact check and remind the writers Kibitoshin was present in BoG? Unless this line was included specifically to denote this is a separate continuity, but I doubt so as U7 and the new design Bardock are mentioned. Also I doubt an entire decade of new Dragon Ball lore and stories would just be discarded that way - Toriyama seemed especially fond of Beerus and Whis, if nothing else. So this just comes across as a reckless retcon, at least if only they don't fuse again during Daima. But if they don't refuse, this is just an unnecessary mistake to make. They could have defused during the wish - Shenlong bothers to specify the ages of the adults and children already present, why not just add an extra line for fused beings with the Potara too? Anyway, not a big deal.

- Love all the lore dumps. Namekians become the most developed species in the series quite easily now. They have such an interesting backstory, fitting for the importance they have. I do hope Zalama is eventually touched on.

- Pacing was indeed bad but I appreciated all the love the Boo arc got. If Superhero was a love letter to the Cell arc, then Daima is the same to the Boo arc.

- A lot of natural lore dump exposition. You can tell Toriyama had a bigger hand in the scripts. I'm excited to explore the Demon World.

- Nozawa sounds fine as adult Goku, the same as Super even, which is to say, good but not great. I wonder how she'll sound in #02 since her kid Goku and Goten voices have been iffy lately. Assuming this wasn't recorded long ago, though, at least her health seems to be fine.

- Pointy ears being from the demon world will probably make us reassess a lot of characters' designs.

[emperior]

I would guess that all Demon World people have pointy ears, but not all pointy-eared people come from the Demon World. They see Saiyans not having pointy ears and so can conclude with certainty they aren’t from that World. If they had, I am not sure they could have said with absolute certainty they would have been from the Demon World. (It’s still possible that many planets have been populated by Demon World people, and that’s why through the universes there are many Demons).

[Yuji]

I would guess that all Demon World people have pointy ears, but not all pointy-eared people come from the Demon World. They see Saiyans not having pointy ears and so can conclude with certainty they aren’t from that World. If they had, I am not sure they could have said with absolute certainty they would have been from the Demon World. (It’s still possible that many planets have been populated by Demon World people, and that’s why through the universes there are many Demons).

I assume Mr. Popo at least is, since he's a magical being.

[JulieYBM]

Maybe new generations need some tiktok speed, I don't know

There's no excuse for Daima's plot to be this incomplete in its very first episode. I still have no idea what the motivations for nearly every single character involved are, and that is a problem.

Which is how all great shows do it, theres something called build up, mystery, unknown etc.... maybe you just aren't for complex series that are deep, you want simple action, stuff happening all the time, which is fine, but you need to watch series like that then... Game of Thrones was very slow paced but was one of the best series in history precisely for it.

Game of Thrones sucked shit, so that is kind of a weird conparison to make here.

While I don't entirely agree with Ali that this was a bad first episode, at least his criticism is about making a better and tighter work. That's hardly the worst thing in the world, especially in comparison to a series infamous for amounting to nothing but torture porn for a bunch of hack trust-fund cis white guys just trying to make a name for themselves.

[Yuji]

Worth noting that they were turned into "1st graders." That's, what, 6 years old? Goku's the youngest we've seen him in action.

[anubisj]

Nice episode overall, but still weary of what's to come. I'm pretty hyped by Dragon Ball's return, but then again, so I was with Super...

The new lore dumps are some of the best bits of the episode, as usual. I would like to see the Demon Realm expanded in future eps, to see its denizens, the culture, the motivations behind their leaders...Why are they "demons"? What's a demon in Dragon Ball? Are they like evil by nature, or just like any other alien species? What makes them unique?

Nice designs for the main villains, though Degesu is basically a Kaioshin. The Doctor looks really good, like a vampiress of sorts (anyone recall Lucifer, the demon from Earth, also having vampire vibes?), but I don't like that she's a "doctor", tbh I'm fed up with scientists and experiments, we already got that rehashed with Super Hero, I want some magic now.

Although the idea of guardians defending each of the 3 Demon Dragon Balls is nice (sort of like Shadow Dragons, the z warriors will have to travel to each world and defeat each guardian for each Dragon Ball), I find the designs (the bits we saw) of them a bit lacklustre, like brought from the average designs of Super's TOP. It's true that it's just 1 ep and they might have other forms, etc, but yeah, I would like at least ledgic or Rilldo levels of designs for the villains that the z warriors fight here. I hope things turn more exciting as time passes, with new, powerful demons or enemies.

I did like the attack on Kami's lookout (though I think it was a missed opportunity for Popo fighting a bit), and I want to see more stuff like what's this Evil Eye (I hope they follow through on this) or the nature of the Makaioshins. The new namek guy must be pretty important to wield that kind of power.

The design of Gomah's palace was the best new environment design I saw in the episode and in quite a long time in this franchise, but I still felt like we have seen little yet of the realm. I also think it wouldn't make much sense to have one Demon Realm for all universes, as that would imply one Kaioshin realm or heaven for all universes, which is not the case.

Everything is clearly quite child-friendly, and yes, I know Dragon Ball was always aimed at youngsters, but there's degrees of it, and this looks like really childish territory...but I have already accepted that, I know this wont be the new "Logan" like version of Dragon Ball I'm hoping for, so I will enjoy it for what it is. I just hope there's some decisive battles and mature concepts interspersed in it.


Would have preferred for Goku Daima to have a new costume, as well as Vegeta Daima (as is tradition in every new series) but oh well, not everything can be perfect, and maybe in the future they will have new clothes.

The main, big plus for me is the complete disregard for Super (barring Bardock's design and the multiverse concept). No SSJ God, no Frieza, and finally one of the main retcons of Super, which I've always disliked (the Potaras suddenly being temporary just like a metamorian fusion, for no real reason) has been, in itself, retconned. Got really happy when I learned that. I'm pretty sure the multiverse concept and stuff will still exist, but moving on from Super is the right decision, imo. Now we have different continuities, as usual.

The one big qalm I have with the episode is, as others have said, the first half, which is just an exposition of things we already know. It's interesting to see how other characters react differently to the events (omg, they use ki blasts!) but I think it was overdone, and, as a general rule, I despise recycled and rehashed content, which is a lot of the content of Dragon Ball, so I was understandably taken aback.

I still feel like this was just an initial exposition for new audiences and that in following eps we wont see this type of recicled stuff again, and also, having watched all of that I was kinda overjoyed when the story brought us to the Z warriors again, as in, I was actually missing Goku & company, which is a good, surprising thing, caused indirectly by forcing us to be with Gomah and Degesu for like 15 min, just watching them watch dbz.

Still, too little has passed so far to even hypothetize if the series will be good, let's see what the future holds for us...

[Yuji]

I wonder if Piccolo Daimao truly was a demon king in Makai somehow centuries ago.

[ABED]

Weird to start with a big recap within the episode. I'm not digging the change in the usual structure of Recap, intro, part a, part b, ending song, NEP. Doesn't feel right.

As for the episode, I knew there would be a bunch of complaints about lore as if that matters. it felt weird that the series even felt the need to try and cover its bases. Otherwise it looks fun. My favorite part is the old Namekian. Just him taking forever to get from point a to b amused me. That's the stuff I'm here for, not lore.

[Bardock God of Time]

Speaking of the old Namekian, I'm betting he's going to be the big bad. If he gets his youth back, he could be a problem.

I think the heroes will gather the Demon Realm Dragon Balls but the Namek will bring the Dragon Balls to where he is and use them. Or he could turn them to stone, who knows.

[GTx10]

The episode was fun. If it dragged then it was only anything pertaining to Goku and gang. The fight looked almost lifted from The Broly film. Gomah, Evil Kai, Booba and muddy the Namekian were the highlights.

Demon world dragon balls, a evil eye device that grants power, evil guardians. It's got me excited! Which brings me to this: Is Daima a weekly Friday show and when are we getting the Funi English dub?

[No9tro]

Which brings me to this: Is Daima a weekly Friday show and when are we getting the Funi English dub?

It is. Next episode airs on the 18th. The dub seems to be premiering in theaters in November

[Gaffer Tape]

Weird to start with a big recap within the episode. I'm not digging the change in the usual structure of Recap, intro, part a, part b, ending song, NEP. Doesn't feel right.

As for the episode, I knew there would be a bunch of complaints about lore as if that matters. it felt weird that the series even felt the need to try and cover its bases. Otherwise it looks fun. My favorite part is the old Namekian. Just him taking forever to get from point a to b amused me. That's the stuff I'm here for, not lore.

I admit you popped into my head while I was watching this episode. I knew we'd both agree on not being impressed by the metric tons of lore being dumped out. Just please focus on telling a story and playing with characters!!! Because, yeah, that's when the show's at its best.

[DBFanGuy]

I’m bummed I liked the idea of piccolo being an alien but now he’s back to being a demon. Personally not a fan of that.

[JulieYBM]

I find the focus on the lore from the fandom really weird, mostly in that I don't feel like any of it really existed only than to just give the characters more grounding and make them easier to understand. Maybe it's just because I'm a writer myself, but it just seems weird to see so many people zooming in on that and not how the characters are characterized.

Anyway, I still hope that Gokuu gets punched in the balls again. Maybe it'll give him an interesting arc this time around?

[Gaffer Tape]

I find the focus on the lore from the fandom really weird, mostly in that I don't feel like any of it really existed only than to just give the characters more grounding and make them easier to understand. Maybe it's just because I'm a writer myself, but it just seems weird to see so many people zooming in on that and not how the characters are characterized.

Anyway, I still hope that Gokuu gets punched in the balls again. Maybe it'll give him an interesting arc this time around?

I think people are focusing on that because that's far and away what the episode seems most interested in, far more than characterizing the characters. So for people who are obsessed with lore, this gives them a lot to talk about (ie. so much to debate). And for those who aren't, this also gives them a lot to talk about (ie. how much time was wasted).

[FiReFTW]

There's no excuse for Daima's plot to be this incomplete in its very first episode. I still have no idea what the motivations for nearly every single character involved are, and that is a problem.

Which is how all great shows do it, theres something called build up, mystery, unknown etc.... maybe you just aren't for complex series that are deep, you want simple action, stuff happening all the time, which is fine, but you need to watch series like that then... Game of Thrones was very slow paced but was one of the best series in history precisely for it.

Game of Thrones sucked shit, so that is kind of a weird conparison to make here.

While I don't entirely agree with Ali that this was a bad first episode, at least his criticism is about making a better and tighter work. That's hardly the worst thing in the world, especially in comparison to a series infamous for amounting to nothing but torture porn for a bunch of hack trust-fund cis white guys just trying to make a name for themselves.

This is funny lol.

Obviously no show is for everyone and not everyone will like every show, however....

Game of Thrones ranks highly across various major TV rating platforms. On IMDb, it consistently appears in lists of top-rated shows, with an overall score of 9.2/10 from millions of users. On Metacritic, it holds a critic score of 86/100.
In a Rotten Tomatoes poll, Game of Thrones was voted the best TV show of the last 20 years.

And regardless of your personal opinion of the show, to straight up claim a show like this sucked shit... is pretty funny.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Wow long time no post!

Tbh I think ignoring DBS is a smart decision, it allows them to basically tell a story without all the baggage of DBS like shoehorning Beerus & Whis in everywhere. Plus with all the forms it's become very complicated. It also explains why the past 1.5 years Toei & Bandai's marketing of the DB franchise routinely ignored DBS like it never happened and would market DB/DBZ/GT

SUPER HERO was effectively a stand alone movie so I think Toriyama for a while probably wanted to ditch all the DBS stuff

Anyway it's looks like they properly planned this all out basically what DBS should have been, still crazy to me they had an entire year to plan out DBS while Buu Kai was filling the air and they waited what 4 months prior to airing