Opinions on the Dragon Ball Daima soundtrack?

[TechExpert2021]

So, Volume 1 of the Dragon Ball Daima Sound Collection album was released several hours ago today (only one track of this Vol 1 album was released on digital music streaming platforms as of writing this post) and I would like to know what are your opinions on the Dragon Ball Daima soundtrack composed by Kosuke Yamashita.

[Ajay]

While I can't comment on the soundtrack album yet, the score in the show has been exceptionally frustrating.

Putting aside the fact that the mixing has pushed the music right down low, and the fact the placement has made it feel super sparse... I don't think it's very good? The instrumentation is painfully lacking in oomph and many of the compositions just aren't interesting. They often feel like a first pass at a track rather than finished pieces.

This most recent episode (17) is maybe the most emblematic of all of these issues. Light adventure music in the midst of battle is a weird choice, but when it does have fitting music that's attempting to be dramatic, it has all the impact of a wet fart. The visuals are operating on a 10 and the music is just plodding along, sucking all excitement out of the show.

It's frustrating and baffling, and I cannot believe it's making me miss Sumitomo of all people.

[GhostEmperorX]

While I can't comment on the soundtrack album yet, the score in the show has been exceptionally frustrating.

Putting aside the fact that the mixing has pushed the music right down low, and the fact the placement has made it feel super sparse... I don't think it's very good? The instrumentation is painfully lacking in oomph and many of the compositions just aren't interesting. They often feel like a first pass at a track rather than finished pieces.

It feels like they contacted Yamashita on short notice given their lack of an announcement on who was in charge of the OST, which is strange since they had a year to sort that out. Not that I know any specifics as to what went on behind the scenes concerning that, but it seems that way, and might possibly be the case ever since they got Zedd on to provide the OP and ED.

[Yellow Dragon]

The music looks great, but the use is very bad in general.

[dbgtFO]

Completely forgettable.
I can't recall any piece of music other than the intro and outro. With Super, Z and DB it's the opposite, plenty of memorable tracks. Even GT has some memorable tracks, though that's mostly because of how bad they are.

[Vegard Aune]

While the compositions themselves are fine enough, I think the show utilizes them pretty terribly. So many moments that feel like they should have had music just don't, and even when music does play it's too low to make much of an impact. I'm not sure if I would actually say the music is itself bad or unmemorable, or if it really is just the sound directing and editing doing it no favors whatsoever.

[GhostEmperorX]

While the compositions themselves are fine enough, I think the show utilizes them pretty terribly. So many moments that feel like they should have had music just don't, and even when music does play it's too low to make much of an impact. I'm not sure if I would actually say the music is itself bad or unmemorable, or if it really is just the sound directing and editing doing it no favors whatsoever.

At this point it's probably fair to say that sound direction will always be a skill issue where DB is concerned, even if you get names who have done stellar work in other parts of their resume.
They even fell into the hole of using a really narrow selection of BGM throughout each episode (particularly the last 5 or something).

And as we know that the directors give the menu order and set the tone for what kind of material is made (in this case it's apparently RPG-style from what many have said), it can be inferred that they only wanted one main theme and a few OP re-arrangements (the latter of which they've only used different versions in like one episode or so only to never use them again afterward). Which would explain why there weren't any distinct motifs for the likes of Gomah or Arinsu. 20 episodes is also probably not enough screen time to have those motifs plus variations.

(And if we're being honest, even original Z had one issue or the other in common, and even there a lot of people cite the OP/ED re-arrangements as favourites. Daima's might see the same reception.)

[MasenkoHA]

(And if we're being honest, even original Z had one issue or the other in common, and even there a lot of people cite the OP/ED re-arrangements as favourites. Daima's might see the same reception.)

The biggest problem with original Z is once they started using music from a movie they really liked using its score.

Like 90 percent of the music heard when Vegeta and Nappa land on earth to the end of the Saiyan arc is just the soundtrack from Z movie 1. Which isn't the worst thing in the world, I love the score but it does become a case of ...oh this track again? How many times are we gonna play the Dead Zone opening up music? when binging the show

[M16U3L2015]

Forgettable, in my opinion the only thing that Daima did worse than other DB series was that it didn't have a memorable soundtrack or any moment where the music enhanced a scene.

Even TFC had scenes where Sumitomo's soundtrack made it a highlight despite how limited or bad it was.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

Daima's soundtrack didn't have anything particularly bad that I can think of, but it was also very average and forgettable. The franchise just never managed to find anyone who understood Dragon Ball the way Shunsuke Kikuchi did. GT, Super, and now Diama's composers all tried to fill those shoes, but none have succeeded.

[Trouser]

GT, Super, and now Diama's composers all tried to fill those shoes, but none have succeeded.

I disagree. GT's soundtrack made by Tokunaga is legendary.

[Majin Man 101]

While I can't comment on the soundtrack album yet, the score in the show has been exceptionally frustrating.

Putting aside the fact that the mixing has pushed the music right down low, and the fact the placement has made it feel super sparse... I don't think it's very good? The instrumentation is painfully lacking in oomph and many of the compositions just aren't interesting. They often feel like a first pass at a track rather than finished pieces.

This most recent episode (17) is maybe the most emblematic of all of these issues. Light adventure music in the midst of battle is a weird choice, but when it does have fitting music that's attempting to be dramatic, it has all the impact of a wet fart. The visuals are operating on a 10 and the music is just plodding along, sucking all excitement out of the show.

It's frustrating and baffling, and I cannot believe it's making me miss Sumitomo of all people.

I couldn’t agree more. I feel like there is a great soundtrack here that has been wasted by incompetent placement.

In the last few episodes these moments of silence with these battles taking place makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Pretty good but weirdly a lot of them are unused in the show itself.

[GhostEmperorX]

The release has just confirmed what we now know to be a reality:

sound direction will always be a skill issue where DB is concerned, even if you get names who have done stellar work in other parts of their resume.

So many things in there that were underused or just not effectively utilized most of the time.

The franchise just never managed to find anyone who understood Dragon Ball the way Shunsuke Kikuchi did.

It's not just a matter of who the composer is. Soundtracks as they're used in-series are a function of what the directors order and how they use it. The stars just didn't align for DB the way they did back in the original run (even for whatever problems that ended up having).

[Vegeta th3 4th]

Soundtracks as they're used in-series are a function of what the directors order and how they use it. The stars just didn't align for DB the way they did back in the original run.

The original run of DB and Z was a perfect example of lighting in a bottle. Everything just clicked in a way that hasn't since then.

[TheRed259]

I liked the soundtracks. Their placement in some parts could have been better, of course.