We Need to Talk About Dragon Ball Daima

Toriyama is taking the franchise to strange new places…

Dragon Ball is a series of highs and lows. Z was amazing… up until the Buu saga kinda messed it all up. GT was one of the most disappointing anime I’ve ever seen. Super was a mixed bag; it had some great moments and the movies were fantastic, but the series itself, both in manga and anime form, is nothing short of a mess.

Yet this series is nothing if not resilient, and it’s fans nothing if not loyal. So on and on it went. Now, we prepare to take the next step into a bold new frontier with a brand new series.

Dragon Ball GT 2 Babies Daima. Trailer here, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Not quite the direction we were expecting. But at least it’s something new. Whether it will be good is still up in the air. But it is new.

When I first saw the trailer, I was… taken aback. Not in a good way, either. I had to step away from my computer a bit to cool down and fully process what I’d just seen. As far as first impressions go, it didn’t exactly do well with me.

Can you blame me? GT gave me legitimate PTSD and now they’re doing it again!

Let’s start with the things I’m looking forward to. For one: the animation showcased in the trailer looks gorgeous! It’s a beautiful blend of traditional 2D and Super Hero style 3D. If nothing else, this promises to be a very pretty show.

Also it’s bringing back the Power Pole. As a massive fan of the original Dragon Ball, that makes me incredibly happy. I’ve missed that magical red rod and can’t wait to see Goku mess people up with it again.

And… that’s about it. Now for my concerns and complaints.

Turning the clock back on all the main cast is nothing short of cursed. Baby Satan without his mustache makes me viscerally uncomfortable and baby Roshi doesn’t make any god damn sense. In fact, most of the aging is complete nonsense. 18 is a kid, but her daughter hasn’t aged forward or backward. Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks – who were just starting to FINALLY grow up – are reverted back to infants in diapers.

No I’m not mad about that at all, why do you ask?

I hesitate to call that a plot hole, seeing as we don’t actually know anything about the plot yet. For all we know, it could be an actual important beat of the narrative. We’ll only know for sure come Fall next year.

Regardless, I can’t help but feel a little frustrated. Super finally felt like it was getting somewhere with Super Hero and the recent manga chapters. Then wham! Toriyama hits the ‘weird shit’ button and swerves into an entirely different lane.

Will that lane lead us somewhere good? Who can say. I’ll hop aboard and give it a chance. But my expectations aren’t really all that high at this point.

But if Dragon Ball refuses to end, then we may as well get weird with it.