Dragon Ball Daima: Episode 15 - Official Discussion Thread

[AliTheZombie13]

Do you guys think those fusion bugs are going to be used on Goku and Vegeta?

I think they'll be used eventually, yes.
The Revive Bugs came into play, so the Fusion Bugs will probably come into play as well.
The original drawing was like three people fusing into one, so I assume it'll be Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo.

[Ronin]

I finally had the chance to sit down and re-watch the episode with subs and, like...yeah. I mean...come on. Just have Gokuu say, "Gettin' hit with these guns is makin' my ki all funky! I can't even transform!" It's the easiest piece of dialogue to slip into the script in the world.

This alone would've made the episode different. Or have some magic grenade that makes it where they permanently can't use ki at all without getting electrocuted and the electrocution is proportional to the amount of ki they try to use; so more ki would result in stronger electrocution. Then they could've made the fight about surviving the Gendarmarie while also trying to overcome/get rid of the effects of the grenade.

[IntangibleFancy]

Do you guys think those fusion bugs are going to be used on Goku and Vegeta?

I think they'll be used eventually, yes.
The Revive Bugs came into play, so the Fusion Bugs will probably come into play as well.
The original drawing was like three people fusing into one, so I assume it'll be Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo.

I didn’t really get the drawing, because it shows 3 people fusing, but the lady says to feed the halves to two people and they’ll fuse for a while. Plus the closeup of the bugs show that there’re only two of them per cluster.

[TechExpert2021]

But neither Toei, nor Toriyama want to move on and forget about Goku and Vegeta, despite their arcs already being long done.

Because Goku and Vegeta are far too synonymous with the Dragon Ball franchise.

Imagine we get a new Dragon Ball anime series without Goku and Vegeta. Would it work from a financial perspective?

[IntangibleFancy]

I was just thinking about ways the episode could have been done differently.

My first and immediate thought was making it episode 13 lol. Like Gomah having his forces flood the second demon realm right before he turns off warp, and then placing his special force at the entrance spot in the first world and Neva taking down the shield and the heroes facing those guys can be episode 14.

My second thought was the forces having more than just generic lasers and tasers. Give them nets that can zap their energy away, or machines that can absorb energy and send it right back, bring some giant mechs because the heroes seem to be having trouble with that, or have a few of the soldiers spot the noncombatants like Bulma and Hyubis and then have the fighters get caught off guard trying to protect them. I could go on.

But the point of my list was that they’re realistic ways the heroes could be taken down or caught off guard without them being taken out of commission or the soldiers being written unrealistically too strong.

On a semi-related note, Daima did a good job showing us that King Gomah was a bastard and making a mess of the third demon realm, which made King Kadan showing up all the more satisfying (pretty much the only part of ep 15 I enjoye), but if this show was a little longer, I would have appreciated that scene way more if they were able to meet fighters like the Minotaur and they showed up to help Goku and fight Gomah’s troops. I’m a sucker for scenes like that.

But yeah, to reiterate, my problem isn’t that they’re struggling with these guys. It’s that they’re struggling so close to the climax and that it’s completely boring too. If they don’t just push the special force out of the way then that’s ep 16 wasted right off the bat and an extra week until the conflict finally gets to the point it needs too

[AliTheZombie13]

Because Goku and Vegeta are far too synonymous with the Dragon Ball franchise.

Imagine we get a new Dragon Ball anime series without Goku and Vegeta. Would it work from a financial perspective?

Unrelated, but a dub teaser for Daima was released here in Brazil.
It was narrated by AI.

I mean, they could hire a professional voice actor, but does it make sense from a financial perspective?
No, but it does mean Dragon Ball is artistically dead.

[Blade]

When was the last time that Supreme Kai said or did anything? Maybe I am forgetting something minor but I feel like it has been 3 or 4 episodes.

I really hope there is some big pay off in the last few episodes to warrant all of the exposition about his past and the glinds.

Right now the focus seems, however, around the all powerful 'third eye' maguffin that only just cropped up in the narrative.

[JulieYBM]

I hope that Shin is the one to save the day and defeat Degesu and Gomah. That would be so unexpected, especially after the events of the Majin Buu arc where he was nothing but a punching bag.

[Koitsukai]

Definitely not a fan-fave of mine.
An entire episode seemed way too long, for the strongest people in the universe, to deal with some random goons, specially if they are fighting together. It was not entertaining to me, it was repetitive and the moments where tension seemed to be building up meant nothing. I thought that massive zap was going to end with them KO and being taken into custody, but no, they got up.

I know they are weaker, unlike others who believe it was just a cosmetic change, but I don't like to have to headcanon my way to the "they are saving their energy by not using SS, a form they've mastered a decade ago, to prevent it from doing that, but since they are children now it's back to square one" station. I mean, that's the only explanation I can come up with, and it's mine, it could be wrong. A simple exposition could've gone a long way... and Daima loves exposition. Or blame it on the special guns fucking up their ki.

I just can't buy them getting zapped over and over, with Bulma in danger hiding somewhere, and them just not trying to get this over with, even they were in danger!
They were trying to save SS for later? too bad a SS-level like Piccolo wasn't there with them to do something for the first time after 15 episodes, right? whatever they are saving Piccolo for better be good, because they just let the best moment to use Piccolo pass. Apparently he doesn't even qualify to be a decent meat shield.

Glorio is a mole, ok, but what about Shin? he once fought Majin Buu, he can't step up and fight some mooks, throw some blasts? his magic cannot come in handy? he wasn't even shown protecting Bulma, he was just... not there.

I actually liked the narrative device of stopping the episode and explaining the Third Eye, however the exposition was lame. So, Dabura stole it and lost it just to overthrow his father? nice expansion for Dabura's character, but did we need that extraordinary halt for it? nothing that couldn't have been told by Gomah to us, "Dabura stole it and then lost it". There. If we are breaking the fourth wall then I want to know where this eye came from, who's face was it on, not just what happened to it in the last few years nor how vaguely stronger it makes the user.

This whole episode seemed like it was stalling, the fight took way longer than it should, the exposition was longer and fancier than it had to be, the King's part on this was more than I was expecting...

Hybys remains the goat, Degesu definitely was the girl that took the Eye.

TL,DR: All in all, it has problems that wouldn't be a big of a deal and could've been waved away with one stupid line or two. Yet it was 20 minutes of pew-pew, pew-pew, zap, pew-pew. If these goons took over an entire episode, then how many Duu, Kuu, Arinsu, Gomah or whoever is the final villain should get?

[LoganForkHands73]

The technique of the narrator barging into the story to provide an exposition dump reminded me of Tarantino suddenly narrating a small part of The Hateful 8, I guess because he could find no more elegant way of conveying that information. And I guess he feels he's been in the game long enough that he can get away with that sort of thing, if it's the quickest way to get the whole audience up to speed on a convoluted plot point. I interpret the narrator as not a character per se, but Toriyama (not his literal voice, of course) specifically. He uses the exact same flippant tone as in the 2D animated intro to the Super Hero movie.

I will say that using this technique at such a late and random stage in the story, midway through an episode at that, is certainly a choice. And probably not a great one. Like Tarantino and other veteran writers, Toriyama probably felt like he earned the right to use some "lazy" techniques every now and then. I don't necessarily mind occasional blunt reminders that we're watching a fictional story and all the info we're given is decided at the whims of the storyteller - in this case a goofy old man named Akira. God, don't you miss him? Anyway, the flashback itself was cool. The Hybis hat joke was great, no need to keep going on about that.

It's times like these that I empathise with people who say that this series should've been a movie because Gomah declaring all-out war on the Dragon Team could have been an epic action setpiece to rival the Broly movie. With a stretched-out TV budget, they did the best they could. However, moments like Vegeta standing around to huff with his arms crossed, and the gang inexplicably refusing to use a fraction of their power against stormtrooper fodder, they don't sell the tension at all. King Kadan and the cavalry arriving could have been a really cool moment, but the simple fact is that the heroes should have this whole situation well under control already.

The threat level of the Gendarmerie has been so low throughout the show, but this episode was a good opportunity that sheer numbers and superior firepower can turn the odds of a battle, even when Saiyans and Namekians are involved. I agree with the suggestions that a few lines of hokum about the heavy atmosphere and the laser guns interfering with the heroes' chi, perhaps stopping them from transforming at all, could have made the sense of danger more convincing. As it stands, it just seems like Goku forgets to go Super Saiyan until he suddenly remembers at the very end.

I can potentially buy that they all want to conserve their stamina for the Tamagami/Gomah/whoever battles that are to come, but it's long been established that Super Saiyan is not remotely taxing for them to use and there's been no indication that their smaller bodies somehow inhibit their transformations at all. After all, Vegeta went Super Saiyan 3 and thrashed Tamagami No. 2 without showing any tiredness. The animators must love the visuals of kid Goku in base form pummelling mooks with the Nyoibo, I really don't think it's deeper than that, but it's still weird and distracting.

[Retan]

Let’s not forget they’re using a rock to protect themselves, a rock they could’ve destroyed or moved with ease in the first saga of db; what a powerful army they’re up against.

[Zephyr]

Rewatched the episode today, and it struck me as odd that Dabra had that scheme to "hide" the eye instead of just using it himself. I'd be worried the bug man might use it against me, or that someone could find its hiding spot.

This also felt as much like a filler episode as Episode 13; Panzy's dad joining the attack is the obligatory "Warp-sama gets deactivated"-type plot beat that keeps it from being 100% skippable. Unpopular opinion freshly gleaned from hindsight: I enjoy the vehicle trouble filler much more than "the gang holds back and has a tough time because of it" filler.

The technique of the narrator barging into the story to provide an exposition dump reminded me of Tarantino suddenly narrating a small part of The Hateful 8, I guess because he could find no more elegant way of conveying that information. And I guess he feels he's been in the game long enough that he can get away with that sort of thing, if it's the quickest way to get the whole audience up to speed on a convoluted plot point. I interpret the narrator as not a character per se, but Toriyama (not his literal voice, of course) specifically. He uses the exact same flippant tone as in the 2D animated intro to the Super Hero movie.

I will say that using this technique at such a late and random stage in the story, midway through an episode at that, is certainly a choice. And probably not a great one. Like Tarantino and other veteran writers, Toriyama probably felt like he earned the right to use some "lazy" techniques every now and then. I don't necessarily mind occasional blunt reminders that we're watching a fictional story and all the info we're given is decided at the whims of the storyteller - in this case a goofy old man named Akira. God, don't you miss him?

I'm not sure Toriyama would have been the one to decide to use this "technique". That seems more like the showrunner's call, or the script writer, or the storyboard artist, right?

I can potentially buy that they all want to conserve their stamina for the Tamagami/Gomah/whoever battles that are to come, but it's long been established that Super Saiyan is not remotely taxing for them to use and there's been no indication that their smaller bodies somehow inhibit their transformations at all. After all, Vegeta went Super Saiyan 3 and thrashed Tamagami No. 2 without showing any tiredness.

Yeah, it being too exhausting for them to use Super Saiyan forms never worked as an explanation for me. Not a good one, at least. Like you said, it really shouldn't be exhausting (especially after the Cell arc). And like all of the post-Boo stories, Super Saiyan 3 seemingly doesn't prove exceptionally taxing on living bodies. But even if neither of these were the case....they have the senzu bugs! Vegeta needed to use (read: waste) one because he didn't transform. Meanwhile, Goku (who did transform) seems to have not needed one at all?

[LoganForkHands73]

I'm not sure Toriyama would have been the one to decide to use this "technique". That seems more like the showrunner's call, or the script writer, or the storyboard artist, right?

I may be wrong, but from the beginning, I've been under the impression that Toriyama has had close involvement in the writing and scripting process. To an even greater extent than Super, you can tell all the gags, lore and quirky scenes are coming ungarnished from him. Of course, there are other writers and directors involved here, but most of the key moments seem to come from the big man himself. My hunch comes from how uncannily similar in tone this flashback feels to other pieces of Toriyama narration in recent projects:

When recapping the Red Ribbon Army arc onwards, the narrator is all like "Don't suppose y'all remember those Red Ribbon guys? Well, here's what happened..."

When explaining the Third Eye, the narrator's all like "Woah, hold the phone, let me just explain this Third Eye thing while I still can. So, there was this guy named Dabura..."

I'd be very surprised if Toriyama didn't have a large hand in this whole diatribe and the decision to place it at this specific point in the story.

Yeah, it being too exhausting for them to use Super Saiyan forms never worked as an explanation for me. Not a good one, at least. Like you said, it really shouldn't be exhausting (especially after the Cell arc). And like all of the post-Boo stories, Super Saiyan 3 seemingly doesn't prove exceptionally taxing on living bodies. But even if neither of these were the case....they have the senzu bugs! Vegeta needed to use (read: waste) one because he didn't transform. Meanwhile, Goku (who did transform) seems to have not needed one at all?

Indeed, if Goku and 'Geets have a problem with Super Saiyan in their mini bodies, it simply hasn't been established at all in the series.

You know, I've been meaning to make a post, maybe in the "non-thread-worthy" thread, about the most pointless senzu uses in the franchise. This must rank up there with both Goku and Vegeta taking them before fusing in in the Future Trunks arc. I never saw the point of that, like shouldn't the fusion basically restore their stamina anyway, at least to a level where they can fight Zamasu evenly? Oh, and Yajirobe stuffing himself with them and inflating like a balloon.

[JulieYBM]

Rewatched the episode today, and it struck me as odd that Dabra had that scheme to "hide" the eye instead of just using it himself. I'd be worried the bug man might use it against me, or that someone could find its hiding spot.

This also felt as much like a filler episode as Episode 13; Panzy's dad joining the attack is the obligatory "Warp-sama gets deactivated"-type plot beat that keeps it from being 100% skippable. Unpopular opinion freshly gleaned from hindsight: I enjoy the vehicle trouble filler much more than "the gang holds back and has a tough time because of it" filler.

Just adding in a line where the Narrator says, "Dabra knew that he could not handle the power of the Third Eye—nor destroy it—so he sent for it to be taken far away" would have made so much more sense of this bit.

I'm not sure Toriyama would have been the one to decide to use this "technique". That seems more like the showrunner's call, or the script writer, or the storyboard artist, right?

This depends on whether or not Toriyama personally checked every single script or if he did any uncredited re-writes. Every script is written by Kakahara Yuuko (she's credited as such in the Ending Credits, but in the Opening she's credited specifically as シリーズ構成・脚本, which is used when a writer is both in charge of the series composition and writing every episode personally). The series composition process begins with meetings with the series director (kind of the equivalent of the US television 'showrunner') and producer, Kakihara would then go off and assign which episodes to which writer she had on hand to work with and convey the wishes of the director and producer to them to write the script. Since Kakihara is the only writer, she's just writing everything based on what was discussed in the story meetings. The scripts are then approved by the series director, who is also involved in storyboard checks for the entire series.

This is to say, that Yashima Yoshitaka would have been well aware of the decision to use a Narrator to explain this lore. The idea could have originated from anyone at the story stage, of course, but it was nevertheless used in the episode itself and passed through everyone involved.

Yeah, it being too exhausting for them to use Super Saiyan forms never worked as an explanation for me. Not a good one, at least. Like you said, it really shouldn't be exhausting (especially after the Cell arc). And like all of the post-Boo stories, Super Saiyan 3 seemingly doesn't prove exceptionally taxing on living bodies. But even if neither of these were the case....they have the senzu bugs! Vegeta needed to use (read: waste) one because he didn't transform. Meanwhile, Goku (who did transform) seems to have not needed one at all?

Yeah, the lack of inserting lines of dialogue to explain anything was a bad move. I would assume that Yashima might have felt that the audience could figure it out, but...well, it's still just not good lol.

Like, it's pretty simple to set all of this up: Gokuu and friends decide to play it safe any don't transform incase they wind up rushing in, but this backfires because those hundreds of soldiers with magic weapons that can fuck up their ki...doing just that. Boom. There. Lovely. Nice, dramatic, episode-long battle of attrition that the gang just barely makes it out of thanks to magic having an advantage over ki.

[Zephyr]

I may be wrong, but from the beginning, I've been under the impression that Toriyama has had close involvement in the writing and scripting process.

As per Julie's very helpful link (didn't know the site already had a section for his contributions to Daima), yeah, he was "majorly-involved" and was "putting a lot more into this than usual"; he "created not only the story, but the world, the characters, the mechs, all sorts of things", and "came up with the story and settings, as well as a lot of the designs."

But they don't get much more specific than that outside of a handful of character designs. We don't actually know how much input he provided, in what areas, and we don't know what of the show's original premise is still there. For the most part, we don't know what stuff he saw and thought was good, what stuff he corrected, and what stuff he came up with all on his own. If I remember right, the footage from the initial trailer had Nakatsuru's original Goku (Mini) character design, prior to it being corrected by Toriyama into the design that's in the final show. That seems to me like "Goku (Mini) goes on an adventure in the demon realm" was there before Toriyama got involved, because it's evidenced prior to the one correction we know Toriyama made. If that makes sense.

Consequently, the phrasing of "creating/coming up with the story" in the marketing comes across as a little hyperbolic. I don't hold it against them, new thing has to be promoted, and Toriyama's name (and involvement) gets attention, so of course you want to emphasize that as much as you can. But it doesn't allow us to extrapolate anything terribly specific, especially as specific as this bit of narration and exposition. I think that to an extent there's also a placebo effect of sorts going on with Toriyama's involvement with this show; I've seen people switch from categorizing this as "a Toriyama thing" and downplaying the role of others involved with the project (like Kakihara), to instead emphasizing the role of those others (like Kakihara) now that Daima's turned out to be more of a stinker than they'd hoped.

All that said, I don't really see the comparison with his other narration, but fair enough. The actual content of the lore is the main thing that feels like it's 100% from Toriyama; it's often stuff nobody asked about or for, at odds with previously-established lore, and shrinks the world quite a bit in service of making the new thing seem really important. Completely akin to the stuff from the Full Color Q&As, Battle of Gods promotional interviews, and the like. (To be clear I am a fan of most of the new lore that Daima has added)

[Mr Baggins]

Indeed, if Goku and 'Geets have a problem with Super Saiyan in their mini bodies, it simply hasn't been established at all in the series.

1. Goku visibly struggled to maintain Super Saiyan the first time he was shown using it. Even conceding the point that he overcame that issue later in Daima, you can't say it's not an indication that the form is comparatively more taxing as a kid.

2. You mention Vegeta's battle with the Tamagami, but Goku literally offers him a Revive Bug right after the fight. If that doesn't imply the forms consume a fair amount of stamina, I'm not sure what does. The argument here isn't that Super Saiyan completely exhausts them per se, but that there's plenty of rationale for why they'd want to conserve as much strength as possible.

Also, I'm not buying these arguments that the episode just needed some explanatory dialogue to spoonfeed people. It would have been negatively viewed regardless because of the actual issue with this fight, which is, as Cipher mentioned, that it's just transparently filling in runtime because Toei (for whatever reason) didn't want to mix the subject matter about the third eye with whatever's going to happen in the next episode.

But they don't get much more specific than that outside of a handful of character designs.

Uhh, how much more specific did they need to get? That's a pretty clear-cut statement, and it's obvious to me (particularly from the show's first half) that Toriyama was indeed majorly involved with the story direction and script – right down to granular details such as the character interactions and comedic timing.

We're never gonna have super detailed nitty gritty insight as to how specific story decisions were made. I'd argue we still don't have enough of it for the original manga, let alone Toriyama's modern work.

[LoganForkHands73]

1. Goku visibly struggled to maintain Super Saiyan the first time he was shown using it. Even conceding the point that he overcame that issue later in Daima, you can't say it's not an indication that the form is comparatively more taxing as a kid.

Against Kadan’s guards? He used it very briefly but I didn’t interpret that as a particular struggle for Goku.

2. You mention Vegeta's battle with the Tamagami, but Goku literally offers him a Revive Bug right after the fight. If that doesn't imply the forms consume a fair amount of stamina, I'm not sure what does. The argument here isn't that Super Saiyan completely exhausts them per se, but that there's plenty of rationale for why they'd want to conserve as much strength as possible.

Was that specifically due to Super Saiyan 3 draining him, or because it was a very difficult fight for Vegeta before he busted out the transformation and he needed a stamina boost regardless? I thought it was more the latter.

Besides, I swear you or someone else made a point that Super Saiyan 3 is never supposed to be portrayed as physically taxing in Toriyama’s works after the Buu arc?

Also, I'm not buying these arguments that the episode just needed some explanatory dialogue to spoonfeed people. It would have been negatively viewed regardless because of the actual issue with this fight, which is, as Cipher mentioned, that it's just transparently filling in runtime because Toei (for whatever reason) didn't want to mix the subject matter about the third eye with whatever's going to happen in the next episode.

I mean, I think we’re all basically in agreement that the battle had issues, so I don’t get why there always has to be an “actual” issue that somehow invalidates the other related criticisms (with this one in particular, there’s a whiff of “look at these surface-level fanboys complaining about this when they should be complaining about *this*”) . If they really wanted to do a big battle scene between the heroes and Gomah’s forces, it could’ve been handled a bit more gracefully.

Uhh, how much more specific did they need to get? That's a pretty clear-cut statement, and it's obvious to me (particularly from the show's first half) that Toriyama was indeed majorly involved with the story direction and script – right down to granular details such as the character interactions and comedic timing.

We're never gonna have super detailed nitty gritty insight as to how specific story decisions were made. I'd argue we still don't have enough of it for the original manga, let alone Toriyama's modern work.

Agreed on this point.

[Mr Baggins]

*snip*

I'm too lazy to address this quote-by-quote, so I'll do most of it here.

You're right that it's a matter of interpretation. But between Goku initially using it in such a brief burst against Kadan's guards and Vegeta being offered a Revive Bug despite not seeming worse for wear, I don't see any interpretation holding up outside of some energy expenditure when using these forms. I'd find the conservation reasoning (and likewise, those two scenes) harder to swallow if they were adults, but it's repeatedly made clear in the show that their new bodies hamper them in some way. Seems like a safe bet to me, and not one that we can easily write off.

My statement elsewhere about Super Saiyan 3 is that it's probably no longer a major issue for them, not that it doesn't consume stamina at all. Every stage of Super Saiyan is progressively more taxing. The relativity here is important.

I mean, I think we’re all basically in agreement that the battle had issues, so I don’t get why there always has to be an “actual” issue that somehow invalidates the other related criticisms (with this one in particular, there’s a whiff of “look at these surface-level fanboys complaining about this when they should be complaining about *this*”) .

My point is less that any complaint about fake tension is meritless or invalidated by another complaint, and more just casting doubt on the notion that inserting some line of text "explaining" things would have even remotely alleviated why people view the fight as a waste of time. I don't mean to police what they should be criticizing, but I'm definitely not all that convinced it's the culprit behind why this didn't work, personally.

But also, nothing in Daima is going to be genuinely tense. That ship sailed way back when they decided to once again sandwich the story between Buu and EoZ.

[kemuri07]

Honestly, I think it's a losing battle to try to explain the in-universe context over "why can't they just turn Super Saiyan" because, well, yeah this is an issue that has been problematic for DB for decades. We are so over the power creep that it's always going to be an issue when trying to wring drama or tension from any given seen. So you either have two choices: You either go the "Super" route an make the stakes so outrageous, that they are no longer of consequence, or you have to nerf everything just to make everything an even level. And that's kinda what GT starts out before it abandons that to try to be more like DBZ.

While I normally side with you, Baggins, I think this is the episode that made me concede on many of its issues. I gave Daima a pass since I genuinely do enjoy the adventure tone, especially within the first half of the show. But I think all of the issues that I have kept in the back of my mind coalesced with this episode. And I think it is the fact that we're in the final five episodes of this series that makes what I would have been okay with no longer the case. I agree, and even have argued that because Dragon Ball is an institution, I no longer really expect it to the have the quality of storytelling featured in Dragon Ball or DBZ because it can't. However, I do think there are still plenty of issues abound in simply telling an entertaining story. The fact that it's episode 15 out of an 20 ep anime and Goku and Co are still fighting mooks for an "entire episode." The fact that the show has to go out of its way to create reasons why Goku and Vegeta can't brute force their way pass these guys (though the imagery of them literally using rocks as shield and going *pew pew pew* back at these guys is pretty funny in how absurd it is), kind of makes for a stale fight scene. At the very least, if they are going to not give a shit about the power creep then yeah make the fight scene actually fun to watch. If the battle was fun and filled with little scenes of characters getting a chance to shine, I think it'd make things more forgiveable than what we got, which was PIccolo and Vegeta doing *pew pew pew* behind shields.

But obviously it's not just that. It's suddenly now the show literally does a "oh by the way" and reveals that that thing that Hybis carries is actually something that is super duper important and will no doubt come into play in the climatic battle. And it's weird how the show introduces it and also how Hybis gives it away. Like, I agree with you Baggins, that Hybis literally trading this ultra powerful weapon for a hat is both in line with Toriyama's humor as well as something Hybis would absolutely do. The problem is how it happens: during a fire fight, and a demon lady that we have not seen before is introduced and disappears the moment her scene is done. That doesn't feel right; and unfortunately, a lot of this episode doesn't feel right.

This is not me saying DAIMA BAD NOW, but it is me worrying about whether or not this show can stick the landing. Or at least not shit the bed so much that it makes what came before kind of pointless.

[JulieYBM]

I'm honestly not expecting the series to stick the landing. We'll probably get fighting up until the last half of Episode #20 and the need to resolve everything in the back half, but then there won't be any real drama or earned teary goodbyes or anything, because the series—like other Toriyama stuff—has been pretty determined to never actually make you feel any real emotions.

Well, whatever. Hopefully there's a chance for all the action animators to go all-out.