Has the hype for Daima died down?

[JulieYBM]

At some point in the production, somebody decided that Dragon Ball Daima was not going to be structured into scripts like a standard anime and that is, I think, part of the major issue at hand. Having a first-time series director—Yashima Yoshitaka—combined with only a single writer—Kakihara Yuuko—and some decision to havs the scripts closely monitored by Toriyama Akira and Iyoku Akio and only Toriyama's ideas being catered to, is ultimately why Dragon Ball Daima is as bad as it is. That's a run-on sentence lol

That's because Daima was not written or produced as a standard anime, it was originally going to be a streaming show with less, but longer episodes. Things changed once he passed away, as Fuji TV decided they wanted it last minute as a result of it being the last work of his. Daima's structure works better as ten episodes with forty minute run times; that's how I did it on my re-watch and it flowed much better.

The episodes don't flow properly even as ten double-length episodes, though. The structure is all over the place and episodes don't have proper plots, even when viewed combined. Other anime have done double-length episodes and actually functioned properly as such. The problem as play is more than just, "its only half an episode" because barely anything is happening across two episodes at a time.

[Vegard Aune]

The episodes don't flow properly even as ten double-length episodes, though. The structure is all over the place and episodes don't have proper plots, even when viewed combined. Other anime have done double-length episodes and actually functioned properly as such. The problem as play is more than just, "its only half an episode" because barely anything is happening across two episodes at a time.

It's still funny to me that probably the best paced and directed episode of Daima... was the completely irrelevant tangent where they spent an episode on a planet filled with giant rodents. Nothing of consequence happened in that episode other than Degesu shutting down the portal at the start, which was completely disconnected from everything else... Yet that episode actually managed to feel like a nice self-contained mini adventure with a pretty solid atmosphere, and it was one of the few episodes of the show that felt like it actually ended, whereas most other episodes were just "Oh no, we've hit the 21 minute mark, CUT TO CREDITS RIGHT NOW!!!" It was an odd episode to even have in such a short series, and there were no other episodes quite like it, but... the show honestly could have used more stuff like that.
(Another example of an episode with an actually effective ending was them cutting to credits as Glorio made the wish, but before we got to see what it was. Like, that was an effectively delivered cliffhanger, even if I think we all called it that he'd wish to turn Goku and the others back to adults rather than give Arinsu her wish.)

[Kenji]

Kuu and Duu.

I had completely forgotten about Koo and Doo lol
But yes, their interpersonal relationship with Arinsu was by far the best thing about Daima, they're lovely characters.

Expanding on this point a bit: I wish they had explored more the interpersonal relationship between Arinsu and Glorio.
I can definitely see what they were trying to do with them, but it was so poorly done that the twist came out of nowhere.

"How could you have forgotten my kindness when I saved you from the Third Demon Realm?"
OK... What did she save him from, exactly?
What was Glorio's life before Arinsu came into it?
What was his life like after she came into it?
What was the relationship between them like after the fact?
Was Glorio just another jaded resident like Panzy and those shopkeepers, or was it something more deadly?
Was Glorio's situation before really that awful that Arinsu would've felt so hurt by his betrayal?
Or was it so light that Glorio really didn't have any issues betraying the person that "saved him and showed him kindness" for the sake of random people he only knew for a few days?

You get where I'm coming from with this?
This show doesn't have half an episode to explore important details about a main character's story and motivations, but it has entire episodes dedicated to repeating irrelevant information and dragged-out non-stop fighting.

This is what makes me feel like the writers were definitely not on their A-game during this.

[The Dark Knight]

I wish they had explored more the interpersonal relationship between Arinsu and Glorio.
I can definitely see what they were trying to do with them, but it was so poorly done that the twist came out of nowhere.

"How could you have forgotten my kindness when I saved you from the Third Demon Realm?"
OK... What did she save him from, exactly?
What was Glorio's life before Arinsu came into it?
What was his life like after she came into it?
What was the relationship between them like after the fact?
Was Glorio just another jaded resident like Panzy and those shopkeepers, or was it something more deadly?
Was Glorio's situation before really that awful that Arinsu would've felt so hurt by his betrayal?
Or was it so light that Glorio really didn't have any issues betraying the person that "saved him and showed him kindness" for the sake of random people he only knew for a few days?

You get where I'm coming from with this?

I definitely agree with you that more could've been done, which is why I wish they either had more episodes to work with, or cut out some of the more filler-like material.

This show doesn't have half an episode to explore important details about a main character's story and motivations, but it has entire episodes dedicated to repeating irrelevant information and dragged-out non-stop fighting.

This is what makes me feel like the writers were definitely not on their A-game during this.

When I say A-game, I'm comparing it to what came before it, like GT and Super. If I was to compare Daima to the original manga's arcs, then it would be more in the B range.

[Koitsukai]

I agree it feels rushed at times, I don't know if it's how the episodes were drafted, but I sure felt it in certain situations.
Like the Glorio-Arinsu relationship, they forgot to make us see why he would choose Arinsu over the guys that he's been fighting alongside.
They briefly mention, almost in passing, that she freed him… but that’s it. Not even a flashback. We never actually see them share a scene together. They forgot to develop the story behind the "she freed him" note Akira wrote on a napkin.
There's no inner conflict happening, it's a no-brainer. For Glorio and for the audience.

Degesu's demise also seems rushed. His final attempt at survival just made no sense. Kidnapping a baby, going rogue, instead of waiting for and stealing the damn object they were trying to get. They just needed to get rid of him pronto.

The so-called genius Arinsu delegating the key part (learning the DB language) of her plan to a spy? I wouldn't call that rushed, just plain dumb and convenient for the plot.

[PhantomSaiyan]

So rushed, yet so dragged out at the same time, Daima really has some weird pacing

[Kenji]

It kinda feels weird to me saying Daima is rushed?
It's such a short series with several years of pre-production, they could've straightened out all the important details during that time, and yet...

[JulieYBM]

The episodes don't flow properly even as ten double-length episodes, though. The structure is all over the place and episodes don't have proper plots, even when viewed combined. Other anime have done double-length episodes and actually functioned properly as such. The problem as play is more than just, "its only half an episode" because barely anything is happening across two episodes at a time.

It's still funny to me that probably the best paced and directed episode of Daima... was the completely irrelevant tangent where they spent an episode on a planet filled with giant rodents. Nothing of consequence happened in that episode other than Degesu shutting down the portal at the start, which was completely disconnected from everything else... Yet that episode actually managed to feel like a nice self-contained mini adventure with a pretty solid atmosphere, and it was one of the few episodes of the show that felt like it actually ended, whereas most other episodes were just "Oh no, we've hit the 21 minute mark, CUT TO CREDITS RIGHT NOW!!!" It was an odd episode to even have in such a short series, and there were no other episodes quite like it, but... the show honestly could have used more stuff like that.
(Another example of an episode with an actually effective ending was them cutting to credits as Glorio made the wish, but before we got to see what it was. Like, that was an effectively delivered cliffhanger, even if I think we all called it that he'd wish to turn Goku and the others back to adults rather than give Arinsu her wish.)

I forgot about this episode. It is the one that feels most like a traditional episode of an anime, which is why it works so well. Well, that and Series Director Komaki Aya's directing. More episodes should have been like this, structuring the series around plots based one the series' bible, rather than episodes that were just literally regurgitating the series' bible.

[YamiGoku]

What makes me hate Daima the most, is the way it waste time in the most random and stupid shit, and rush over evrything that should matter.


Is comical how Arinsu goes from "I'm going to become the Demon King Mhuahaha" to "Oh guess not, whelp, I'm going to help them then".

But noooo, we had to have an entire episode of Goku and co getting shot by lasers, why are lasers doing damage? why they dont use the super speed that they have to go to the goons shooting them and shove the lasers up their ass? why Goku dont use IT on them? nah that would be too smart, we cant have common sence in Daima.

[Mr Baggins]

As someone who had been waiting to see the demon realm since Toriyama got back into the franchise 12 years ago, I do appreciate the emphasis on its lore, even if it wasn't handled perfectly.

I had no issues with the lore.

Daima's main theme is authoritarian oppression of the weak by those in power, and how those at the top will betray each other and take shortcuts to maintain their grip on that power. That is almost exclusively what the worldbuilding throughout all 20 episodes emphasizes by design. It's pretty conspicuous about it.

Daima's thesis statement is that the above is inherently self-destructive. That's why every single setback that happens to Gomah, including his defeat, can be traced to his incompetent decisions as the Demon Realm's inept ruler. The same was ultimately true of his predecessors Dabura and Abura. There's a reason the upbeat ending has Kuu becoming the next king, whose arc is defined by helping others and seeking approval.

Said lore also clearly establishes the Majin characters' motivations. I don't think our pal Gordito was ever supposed to be particularly close to Arinsu – he's just grateful to her for moving him from a dangerous caste filled with injustices to a more privileged one, so he worked as her spy in exchange. It says a lot that Panzy, probably the most pampered person in the third world, still desperately wanted to change it. We understand these characters not because of their backstories, but specifically because of the shared history and politics of the Demon Realm. No denizen living there isn't greatly impacted by them.

Conversely, I find that Super's worldbuilding is far less integrated into the story as a whole than Daima's. The multiverse exists only insofar as it provides a believable excuse for why characters like Jiren can oneshot characters like Frieza, and that's about it. Unremarkable stuff.

_________________

To answer the thread's topic, I am not and will never be invested in fandom "hype" levels or whatever. That's such a silly thing to care about that I haven't bothered to open this thread until now.

Even if I did care, I'd say that premise doesn't seem very accurate at all. I see almost daily discussion of this show (and things related to this show) on Twitter. GT gets about as much traction, and Super is getting the most of it because of rumors.

[M16U3L2015]

With today's announcements, I think it's safe to say that the hype for Daima is officially dead.

[The Dark Knight]

With today's announcements, I think it's safe to say that the hype for Daima is officially dead.

It's time for Daima to step aside for the main event.

[mecha3000]

With today's announcements, I think it's safe to say that the hype for Daima is officially dead.

It's time for Daima to step aside for the main event.

Definitely. But Daima served its purpose well. Like an appetizer before the main course. I'm still just grateful we got SSJ3 Vegeta and SSJ4 Goku as handled by Toriyama before he died. To me, THAT is Daima's legacy. But yeah, Super returning definitely puts an end to any relevancy Daima had. I kept telling people who thought Daima might get a season 2 or a movie that it was just a MINISERIES and a SIDE PROJECT. It's a one-off story. Nothing more, nothing less.

But hey, I'm still picking up that Daima Crunchyroll release coming in March, but after that, Daima is dead to me.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm still just grateful we got SSJ3 Vegeta and SSJ4 Goku as handled by Toriyama before he died. To me, THAT is Daima's legacy.

Definitely; those two forms were long overdue. We could theoretically still revisit the demon realm in Super sometime later down the line. As of now though, Daima is indeed finished.

[JulieYBM]

Who cares about bringing in new forms for characters if there's no real character arc to them? Dragon Ball Daima offering Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Gokuu in the most junk food kind of way without any real narrative going on makes their introduction a complete waste, just like the series in general is.

[mecha3000]

Who cares about bringing in new forms for characters if there's no real character arc to them? Dragon Ball Daima offering Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Gokuu in the most junk food kind of way without any real narrative going on makes their introduction a complete waste, just like the series in general is.

That's a fair take. But hey, I'd rather have the forms than not, especially directly from Toriyama so I'm fine with them. When it comes to Daima, though, I'm actually looking forward to rewatching it in March when I get my Blu-ray sets (standard and collector's). There's just something about watching Dragon Ball on a DVD or Blu-ray that is just nostalgic to me. And with Super's big announcements, it's kind of made me want to go back and revisit Daima one last time before we move on with Super: Beerus later this year. And like everyone's already said by now, I think binging Daima quickly in like a week at most (or however fast I get through the episodes) is better than how it was released week-to-week. Because Daima DRAGGED.

[Grimlock]

With Dragon Ball Super returning and "taking over" for the next forseeable future, yeah, Dragon Ball Daima is dead. But it will live on in games, you can expect to see content from that series popping up all over games going forward, obviously.

And seeing that it's a remaster of Dragon Ball Super, I highly doubt they are going to make any kind of connection. Like, we already see that Goku is just using Super Saiyan 3 and Vegeta his Super Saiyan 2 in the trailer, so if you were expecting any kind of "course correction" between those two series, forget it. The earliest I can see Dragon Ball Daima content coming back is after they finish with Dragon Ball Super (after Granola saga is adapted, more precisely).

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'm actually looking forward to rewatching it in March when I get my Blu-ray sets (standard and collector's).

Come to think of it I wonder how much of an effect Super's return will have on home video sales? I guess not as much in the US as a lot of fans like yourself had already pre-ordered the Blu-Rays, but in the UK and Ireland its a different story as our release hasn't even been announced yet.

There's just something about watching Dragon Ball on a DVD or Blu-ray that is just nostalgic to me.

Couldn't agree more. Physical media is so much more rewarding than any other way of rewatching content.

[kiarasuraru]

Died down? There was never any hype to begin with.

There's a reason why the only remembered and spoken about things about Daima are the plot, character and lore inconsistencies and how they clash with everything before it, the "Z"-like moments, or as the kids say nowadays, hype moments and aura, rather than the "OG" moments aka the oh so fabled adventure, since, frankly, it didn't even do that right.

Nothing of what was supposed to be Daima's appeal stuck or caught fire.

It's funny. After yesterday's announcements, now you see the same Daima fans who decried Super, and even GT, the actual inspiration for Daima, that they were in denial of it being so at first until that one interview dropped and had to eat their own words, and went and said things about how now Daima is now the new "real canon" and how Super is not canon anymore and on the same level as GT, are going "How will this connect to Daima", "surely this they will add Daima to this", "they will fix all the inconsistencies between Super and Daima here now with the Remake, right" and so on. The last one is specially funny since there was so much denial about there being any inconsistencies to begin with but now they magically actually do exist and need to be addressed.

[The Dark Knight]

Died down? There was never any hype to begin with. Nothing of what was supposed to be Daima's appeal stuck or caught fire.

I think the reception would've been far better than it was had Daima released after the conclusion of Super (Specifically Moro, Granola, & Black Freeza). It's worth noting that Daima was written the way it was because of the legal issues behind the scenes, otherwise it either wouldn't have been made at all (as Iyoko initially wanted to animate Moro), or it would've been written as part of the overall Super story line.

After yesterday's announcements, now the same Daima fans going "How will this connect to Daima", "surely this they will add Daima to this", "they will fix all the inconsistencies between Super and Daima here now with the Remake, right" and so on.

Connecting Daima to Super is actually a lot easier than fans are making it out to be, as all you have to do is watch it between Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. Vegeta doesn't use Ssj3 anymore because he has the superior SsjB, and Goku can't use Ssj4 because he needs Neva's magic to unlock it; Problem solved. Do I personally think they will do anything with the demon realm moving forward ? probably not, at least not anytime soon, as despite loving Daima myself, I can't deny that the show just didn't land the way I think everyone behind the scenes thought it would.