Dragon Ball Daima: Episode 14 - Official Discussion Thread

[Cipher]

I think this was my favorite episode. The atmosphere and dry humor were top notch.

[Gaffer Tape]

This was my least favorite episode so far. The fear and tension of closing off Warp is resolved without any difficulty. Another ship is broken. Those are both fairly common with the show already. But most galling to me is that the people aren't acting like people this episode. Goku has been zapped unconscious by a magic barrier and is falling to his doom. C-can anybody be bothered to care? Can we actually draw some drama out of this scenario? No, I guess not. We learn that the temperature on the First Demon World is a lethal 140 degrees Fahrenheit. That sounds like a problem. Oh, wait. No, it's not. Nobody cares. Why even have Goku fall or the temperature be that extreme if nothing is going to be done with it? If the characters don't care, why should I?

[Yuji]

This was my least favorite episode so far. The fear and tension of closing off Warp is resolved without any difficulty. Another ship is broken. Those are both fairly common with the show already. But most galling to me is that the people aren't acting like people this episode. Goku has been zapped unconscious by a magic barrier and is falling to his doom. C-can anybody be bothered to care? Can we actually draw some drama out of this scenario? No, I guess not. We learn that the temperature on the First Demon World is a lethal 140 degrees Fahrenheit. That sounds like a problem. Oh, wait. No, it's not. Nobody cares. Why even have Goku fall or the temperature be that extreme if nothing is going to be done with it? If the characters don't care, why should I?

I guess I can buy the superpowered aliens and demons surviving fatal temperatures, but you don't even have to be a power-scaling nerd to wonder what the point of bringing it up was if Bulma can survive it just fine without even so much as passing out. When they mentioned it, I thought they'd write an interesting conflict around trying to escape the ship without accidentally harming Bulma but it didn't matter.

[LoganForkHands73]

Yeah, really don't get the hype about this one. I've been pretty positive about the series so far, but this was sadly almost my

moment. It was mostly the realisation that we got to Neva erasing the light shield, and it felt like barely anything interesting had happened. People have already memed it, but Goku dramatically falls for a long ass time until he comes to his senses, and nobody except Panzy seems to care that he could be falling to his death. It's literally and figuratively weightless. Just an odd scene. It's good that we're finally in the First World, but Neva's magic spells being used as a plot device to get through without Warp-sama felt... anticlimactic, somehow.

I have to say, I already really dislike the Gendarmerie Force. I am officially sick to bastard death of Ginyu Force knockoffs in this franchise. The silly poses haven't been funny for ages. No, the other characters acting bemused by said poses isn't funny or subversive anymore either. I can happily put up with a lot of unoriginal, derivative stuff in this shambling zombie of a franchise, but for whatever reason, this crossed a line for me.

More to the point, we seem to have another group of antagonists who are clearly not set up as serious threats to our heroes and I don't get why people like that about them? Unless they actually end up having useful abilities, fighting these guys is just gonna feel like a waste of time. Even a clever cameo from Duu and Kuu (I seriously love that they basically did the Scooby-Doo/Dum/Dee naming convention with these guys, lol) didn't do much to salvage the convenience store scene. It's not so much about pacing anymore, but the sense of momentum being damaged.

Overall, this is the first episode that kinda tested my patience a lot. I'll see it through to the end of course, but yeah... let's do better next time.

The giant planet episode last week was inconsequential, but it was fun and creative, and arguably did the best job of showing how weird and wonderful the Demon Realm can be. The sense of scale was very well conveyed, and the final gag that there's apparently another planet with even giant-er giants captures that endearing quality about Dragon Ball: the sense that it's basically like two playground kids constantly trying to one up each other, as far as their big imaginations allow.

I mean, I've enjoyed the worldbuilding so far, but when I look back at the series so far, I can't say the Demon Realm has really been the most consistently interesting place Goku has ever explored. I wonder why we spent so long in the barren, Earth-like desert regions when we could've been getting stuff like this much earlier.

[Retan]

I feel like in some ways toriyama wanted to make a new series altogether, but as usual someone got into his ear and convinced him to make it db related, and have Goku and Co. go instead of a all new cast of characters. Shame in that not only does the quest seem too easy for them, but makes them look bad when they struggle.

Of course this is all just a silly theory

[Jord]

I feel like in some ways toriyama wanted to make a new series altogether, but as usual someone got into his ear and convinced him to make it db related, and have Goku and Co. go instead of a all new cast of characters. Shame in that not only does the quest seem too easy for them, but makes them look bad when they struggle.

Of course this is all just a silly theory

I don't think it's silly at all. It feels like a different show, with DB characters inserted.

[Koitsukai]

I agree that the Gendarmerie Force is a waste of time that will be disposed of without breaking a sweat, created just to stall and lose in a funny way. Maybe not, maybe they'll bug-fuse, but they seem like Toei's Z filler.

One producer said recently that the red letters on the titles mean something, so far, unless I made a mistake, it's this: BO-GU-DA-BE-JI- TSU – BI – GA –ZO –BA – DE – CHI – ZU - BU.

[nineko]

I hypothesized about that some time ago, though I dismissed it because it looked like gibberish?

[IntangibleFancy]

I’m looking forward to 15 for the Dabura flashback, but it feels like the gang is going to spend this and the following episode fighting off the Gendarmerie unless they can find a way to wipe them all out at once.

[Koitsukai]

Piccolo has done nothing at all in 14 episodes, if this is ending in 5 weeks, then he at least should get the spotlight by dealing with the Elite Police.

I'm not sure why he tagged along just yet, so far it's been just to learn about his origins. He is slowly becoming that white-dressed Yakuza guy from the Simpsons.

[AliTheZombie13]

I'm not sure why Bulma tagged along either. She's not as infuriating as her Namek self, but she's just as relevant.

[Chuquita]

I want Piccolo to do something plot relevant so much. If he's playing the long game with Neva, lied about having forgotten/actually does still remember the namekian language I wish they'd let us know somehow.

Re: Bulma, I looked up what 140'F does to the human body-- I wish they hadn't given a number because realistically she's getting hyperthermia sooner than later. 140'F is hotter than Death Valley, NV (134'F).

[Vegard Aune]

One producer said recently that the red letters on the titles mean something, so far, unless I made a mistake, it's this: BO-GU-DA-BE-JI- TSU – BI – GA –ZO –BA – DE – CHI – ZU - BU.

Unless something somehow comes to light by the end, the only pattern I've seen is that every episode has one character with a dakuten (゛) and those characters are in red. Put together I don't see anything even resembling words in there.

[Basaku]

Piccolo has done nothing at all in 14 episodes, if this is ending in 5 weeks, then he at least should get the spotlight by dealing with the Elite Police.

I'm not sure why he tagged along just yet, so far it's been just to learn about his origins. He is slowly becoming that white-dressed Yakuza guy from the Simpsons.

I'm not sure why Bulma tagged along either. She's not as infuriating as her Namek self, but she's just as relevant.

'Cause the franchise is creatively stuck in the 90s? What else is there to say, Super (and Daima) is an amalgamation and flanderization of Z, been like this for all neo-revival stuff from Toei, Shueisha, Iyoku, Toyotaro AND Toriyama woth only bits and pieces of new interesting stuff

[SupremeKai25]

Piccolo has done nothing at all in 14 episodes, if this is ending in 5 weeks, then he at least should get the spotlight by dealing with the Elite Police.

I'm not sure why he tagged along just yet, so far it's been just to learn about his origins. He is slowly becoming that white-dressed Yakuza guy from the Simpsons.

I'm not sure why Bulma tagged along either. She's not as infuriating as her Namek self, but she's just as relevant.

'Cause the franchise is creatively stuck in the 90s? What else is there to say, Super (and Daima) is an amalgamation and flanderization of Z, been like this for all neo-revival stuff from Toei, Shueisha, Iyoku, Toyotaro AND Toriyama woth only bits and pieces of new interesting stuff

It's "creatively stuck in the 90s" because Broly and Super Hero, literally rehashes of things that happened in the 1990s, are the highest grossing movies thanks to this fandom.

This is not the writers' fault. They simply know their audience. An eternally nostalgic audience that only wants to relive childhood.

This fandom always criticizes the writers for rehashing 1990s stuff instead of coming up with new ideas, yet this fandom simultaneously always talks about 1990s stuff instead of Zamasu or Moro. The writers are just doing what they know will get people to buy tickets at the movies.

Speaking of which, I'm calling this now: the final villain of this show will somehow be a Toriyama version of Janemba. The writers know their audience.

[Hellspawn28]

It seems like every new series post DB has a Sentai homage/parody

DBZ: Ginyu Force and Coola's Armor Squad
GT: Sigma Force
Super: Pride Troopers
Daima: Gendarmerie Force