Dragon Ball Daima: Episode 1 - Official Discussion Thread

[DBFanGuy]

So are namekians demons or being that just lived in the demon realm and left?

[Koitsukai]

I can agree that there wasn't much going in terms of plot, but after almost 7 years since the anime ended, I don't mind spending an extra 10 minutes, specially if it's looking so fucking good.
I also don't need the first episode to be incredibly filled with plot progression. The conflict starting at the very end is not a problem for me.

Really liked it. I don't think the retcons are that serious, and I also enjoy the nameks being demons. I guess that race also has a different name because they aren't actually from Namek.
It makes sense that they never wished Namek back, finding a similar planet was good enough for them.

[FortuneSSJ]

This shot has been on mind in the last hours. It's the worst one (or really the only bad one) from this episode. Probably the worst group shot we had over the years:



- Goku and Gohan look stiff. Gohan overall looks terrible.
- The scale is totally off. Bulma/C18/Chichi should be taller. Krillin/Goten/Trunks/Marron are smaller than they should be too (a problem that persists in modern DB)
- Placement. They should be closer to each other. Feels like a couple of png renders put together, which probably is what really is.
- Background. Surely they could have come up with something less bland.

[Koitsukai]

That pic seems to be from SZ Custom Battle mode.

[JulieYBM]

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).

I'm just not really seeing that, though? Any of the lore that is dropped is lore that helps characterize how these characters see themselves and their world. Gomah especially comes across as a cynical and sneaky guy who can't solve his own issues directly, but still has no issue taking what he wants by any means necessary, while Degesu hides behind a veneer of being a sycophant, but is clearly smarter than he lets on. Then there's Dr. Arinsu, who lays it on pretty thick, but we know from that that she will not only try to make situations socially awkward to get what she wants, but will also lure her enemies into a false sense of security to draw more information out of them. Even Neva, who just seems like a foil for the protagonist in Gomah, is characterized well: we're told these things about him, only to have a lot of those things contradicted and written off now that he is supposedly senile.

All that was way more exciting and fun to see unfold and think about than the lore itself. Lore's just an excuse to see these characters marinate, which they did.

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.

i have better taste than all those people

But no, for real, I've watched Game of Thrones. My ultimate conclusion is that, when looking at not only the writing but the cinematography, editing, action choreography and music—all of those things are bad on their own and bad as a cohesive whole. Some skilled actors do a ton of work trying to make the series fun and enjoyable, but those are just a handful of line deliveries in an 80+ hour television series.

Like, there are story and character decisions made that are just so obviously bad and easy not to make, and yet those decisions get made anyway. Watching the series is an experience I would not want to relive.

Speaking more specifically: it's a legitimately embarrassing and cringey—and not cringey in the cute way—series to watch as a woman.

This shot has been on mind in the last hours. It's the worst one (or really the only bad one) from this episode. Probably the worst group shot we had over the years:



- Goku and Gohan look stiff. Gohan overall looks terrible.
- The scale is totally off. Bulma/C18/Chichi should be taller. Krillin/Goten/Trunks/Marron are smaller than they should be too (a problem that persists in modern DB)
- Placement. They should be closer to each other. Feels like a couple of png renders put together, which probably is what really is.
- Background. Surely they could have come up with something less bland.

I think that this is indeed just seperate character illustrations put together on a single background. I would absolutely not be surprised if this shot was designed to be separate illustrations that could be repurposed elsewhere—as opposed to being a single image.

[DBFanGuy]

So basically if you have pointed ears you’re a demon?

[FortuneSSJ]

So basically if you have pointed ears you’re a demon?

It's more like all demons have pointed ears, but doesn't mean all characters who have pointed ears are demons.
Just like not all characters who have black hair are saiyans or characters who have green skin are all namekian, for example.

[DBFanGuy]

So basically if you have pointed ears you’re a demon?

It's more like all demons have pointed ears, but doesn't mean all characters who have pointed ears are demons.
Just like not all characters who have black hair are saiyans or characters who have green skin are all namekian, for example.

Ah okay so does that mean Piccolo and the namekians arent demons but just a race from that realm?

[TRIZACK]

I must say it feels great to have Dragonball back between this and Sparking Zero.

The animation in my opinion was fantastic and I'm really looking forward to how the battles will be animated as the series progresses.

I'm very curious on how the Demon Realm dragonballs will differ from Earth's.

[Mister_Popo]

About the canceled fusion, I was surprised but I'll wait until the series is over before I draw conclusions of incoherences or even Daima being set in a separate continuity than the main one. After all, DBZ movies never happened in the main continuity either and are still enjoyable with iconic stuff.

Pretty sure this is no separate continuity than the main one (although the main one has different versions anime-manga). Every Toriyama-involved project was untill now.

[FiReFTW]

i have better taste than all those people

But no, for real, I've watched Game of Thrones. My ultimate conclusion is that, when looking at not only the writing but the cinematography, editing, action choreography and music—all of those things are bad on their own and bad as a cohesive whole. Some skilled actors do a ton of work trying to make the series fun and enjoyable, but those are just a handful of line deliveries in an 80+ hour television series.

Like, there are story and character decisions made that are just so obviously bad and easy not to make, and yet those decisions get made anyway. Watching the series is an experience I would not want to relive.

Speaking more specifically: it's a legitimately embarrassing and cringey—and not cringey in the cute way—series to watch as a woman.

Well however you may feel about it the vast majority of people love it.

I am interested tho in what way is it embarrassing and cringey to watch as a woman, that makes me very curious to what exactly you are refering to.

Btw Daima only has 1 episode out so far, some shows start slow, some fast... might be a good idea to at least watch a couple more episodes to see how it all turns out.

[FortuneSSJ]

Ah okay so does that mean Piccolo and the namekians arent demons but just a race from that realm?

Piccolo father was literally called Demon King Piccolo. What Daima seems to be doing now is confirming that all Namekians are indeed demons and not just King Piccolo and his subordinates.

As for other characters like Tapion and Monaka, only because they have pointed ears, doesn't mean they are demons

[DBFanGuy]

Ah okay so does that mean Piccolo and the namekians arent demons but just a race from that realm?

Piccolo father was literally called Demon King Piccolo. What Daima seems to be doing now is confirming that all Namekians are indeed demons and not just King Piccolo and his subordinates.

As for other characters like Tapion and Monaka, only because they have pointed ears, doesn't mean they are demons

Ah okay that’s a bummer. And Daima is canon right? I loved the alien origin.

[super michael]

So it looks like Dragon Ball Daima does take place after the Boo Saga, we now know that Trunks is 9 years old. Now it makes sense why Trunks and Goten got turned into babies.

The Potara in Dragon Ball Daima is permanent, they can use Boo body to separate any fusion from the Potara.
The Namekians might come from the Demon Realm, which is a nice twist. I like the new villains.

Overall I really enjoyed the episode.

[son_razor]

So, are we considering that Saiyans may actually have been demons since they have pointy ears whenever they transform into their Great Ape forms? Could be a complete long shot but worth mentioning, i think.

[Yuji]

I wonder if Bulma will like the wish so much this is what will motivate her Super cosmetic wishes

[Blade]

I thought it was great.

It looked fantastic - as a Dragonball series in 2024 should. Thinking back to the early episodes of Super, this is lightyears ahead. This has been planned - in terms of writing, storyboarding, animation... etc. That is so beautiful to see, and hopefully will be befitting Toriyama's final work.

In terms of the plot, it was slow to get going, but clearly was pitching to a new audience and wanted to establish a degree of lore.

I have no qualms with diving into a pre-Super pocket of time. If anything I think this opens up new opportunities for interesting plots rather than increasingly lurid God warfare.

I thought the Kibitoshin de-fusion was a hilarious nudge at the canon which is so Toriyama-like. I bet they end up accidentally fusing again at the end of the series in some gag.

The only bit that didn't quite add up to me (given the time period) is the idea of Goku and Vegeta being happy to have nice little spa session. I really think they weren't on these sorts of terms until they started training under Whis - my reading of where things ended after Kid Buu was that they were training privately to one and other.

Anyway, I watched this with my son - which was a really big moment for me as someone who has been in this random for 25 years. A really special moment.

[Koitsukai]

So, all these Zamasu looking people like Degesu, his sister, what are they actually? evil kaioshin aka Ma Kaioshin? how are they related to the actual Kaioshin? They were born on Kaioshin's planet from that cool tree too but somehow got deported? or were they born on the Demon Realm? how does that work?
I guess we'll find out how similar they are to Shin as the series progresses, but I'm asking about the existing lore of them. Are they defective Kaioshin?

[Hellspawn28]

If Nameks are demons, would that mean that Cell is part demon too?

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Well, just saw this a bit ago myself and thought it was a decent introduction for this series made to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the franchise (as we're only a month from the exact 40th of when the manga premiered in Weekly Shonen Jump back in 1984) and when comparing to previous first episodes of all the other DB series, i place this in my personal ranking ahead of Super episode 1, a little ahead of GT ep 1 and just behind ep 1 of OG and DBZ (not sure if i should count Kai as it's more or less the same product as Z produced 20 years later for the latter anniversary)

Now for some random thoughts:

- The pacing could've been a little faster, it wasn't bad but not exactly that stellar either.

- Daima seems to be set chronologically some time prior to Super therefore after evil Majin Buu has been defeated but before the time skip to End of Z (given prior to 2015 that gap in the timeline was basically uncharted territory)

- There was definitely a lot of info dumping, but i wouldn't personally recommend this be someone's first view of the franchise. Start at the beginning with the original Dragon Ball series or read the manga.

- I'm interested to see where this goes, as it doesn't really seem to be tied to Super that much given the relative lack of things connecting it to the latter. YMMV if your a chronology person who keeps track of things like that, given people said much the same about GT back in the day and it's canonical status or lack thereof.

- it's definitely interesting this is the last thing that Toriyama gave his personal touch to, and will definitely be notable for that distinction compared to whatever comes out of the franchise going forward.

- I wouldn't be surprised if Daima is branched off from the original manga and anime run and thus isn't all that canon to either any more than the Super manga and anime were.

- The anime is certainly a step up from quite a bit of Super because there you could really tell they were under a rushed production and in particular those episodic adaptations of Battle of Gods and Revival of F.