Dragon Ball Daima

Dragon Ball Daima (ドラゴンボールDAIMA), stylized as Dragon Ball DAIMA, is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. It is the sixth televised animated installment in the Dragon Ball media franchise, and the second and last to have been written by franchise creator Akira Toriyama, who died in March 2024. Featuring a storyline set after the events of Dragon Ball Z, the series aired on Fuji TV and its affiliates from October 2024 to February 2025.

Summary

One year after the defeat of Majin Buu and the death of Dabura in Dragon Ball Z, Gomah (ゴマー), the new Supreme King of the Demon Realm, kidnaps Dende and uses the Dragon Balls of Earth to turn Son Goku and his friends into younger versions of themselves. Goku, Shin, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Bulma are aided by the demons Glorio (グロリオ) and Panzy (パンジ) as they journey through the three worlds of the Demon Realm to gather the native Dragon Balls, revert Gomah's wish, and save Dende.

Voice cast

Production

Toei Animation announced at their New York Comic Con panel on October 12, 2023, that a new anime titled Dragon Ball Daima would be released in Q4 2024.[14] Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama was said to be "deeply involved beyond his usual capacity" and is credited in the accompanying teaser trailer with the original work, story, and character designs.[14] A press release also credited him with creating the designs for many of the vehicles, monsters, and background characters, and coining the title.[15] Toriyama provided a message to the Comic Con panel explaining that although "DAIMA" is a made-up term, it is written in Japanese as "大魔".[14] Akio Iyoku, executive producer of the Dragon Ball franchise, said that the series had been in the works for the last five years, but the title was decided less than a month ago.[16]

It was while working on the 2022 film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero that the staff began considering a new series and asked Toriyama to look at it.[17] According to Iyoku, Toriyama became very enthusiastic about the project and wound up "crafting the entire story", which Iyoku described as having a "strong sense of adventure and lots of action".[17][18] Aiming for viewers who watched Dragon Ball GT as children and were now adults, Iyoku consciously tried to make an anime that they could watch with their own children.[17] Like GT, Daima depicts an adventure. It also has a different feel than Dragon Ball Super, where Goku is constantly striving to become stronger.[17] The staff aimed to appeal to a wider audience and, looking back on Daima in retrospect, Iyoku felt that Toriyama's unexpectedly making everyone in the cast small aided them in this.[17] They worked on the story so diligently, that production of the anime began before it was completed.[17]

In November 2023, the January 2024 issue of V Jump announced the main staff members of Dragon Ball Daima and confirmed that Masako Nozawa would reprise her role as Goku.[19] Yoshitaka Yashima, animation director of Dragon Ball Super, and Aya Komaki, director of One Piece, both served as directors of the anime, while Yūko Kakihara, Urusei Yatsura, is credited with series composition and scenario.[19] Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, who previously worked on Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT, adapted Toriyama's character designs for animation.[19]

A second trailer focusing on Goku was released as part of the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour event on January 28, 2024.[20] Character illustrations that Toriyama created for the anime, including some new characters, were shown during a livestream of the event.[21] Toriyama died on March 1, 2024.[22] A week later, the message he sent to the 2024 Tokyo Anime Awards Festival in acceptance of their Lifetime Achievement Award was publicly displayed at the event. In it, he revealed that Dragon Ball Daima was originally planned to be an original anime series without his involvement, "but as I gave advice here and there, I ended up getting deeply involved with the project without realizing it."[23][24]

A key visual featuring multiple characters with the tagline "Welcome to the Great Adventure!" and a third trailer were both released on July 19 and revealed that the show would debut that October.[25] On September 2, Fuji TV announced the specific broadcast details, including the start date of October 10, and that all episodes of the show were completed.[26] Two days later, a fourth trailer and a second key visual, featuring two more characters than the first visual and changing the tagline to "Welcome to the Demon Realm!", were released. The former revealed cast members Yumiko Kobayashi as Kaioshin, Koki Uchiyama as Glorio, and Fairouz Ai as Panzy, and also teased the show's theme song.[27] The roles of Showtaro Morikubo as Gomah, Junya Enoki as Degesu, and Yoko Hikasa as Dr. Arinsu were announced by the franchise's official website on September 10.[1] Daima is the first production not to feature Tōru Furuya as Yamcha, as it was announced that he would be replaced by Ryōta Suzuki on October 4.[6] Without any prior announcement, the second episode of the series aired on October 18 and featured voice actor changes for nearly all of the franchise's major characters due to them being turned into children.[28]

Release

Dragon Ball Daima had its world premiere at Tokyo Big Sight on October 6, 2024, during the Dragon Ball Daimatsuri event, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the original manga series. The first episode was screened three times throughout the day, with cast members in attendance during the first two.[34] The series began its television broadcast on Fuji TV on October 11, 2024, and continued to air on Fridays at 11:40 p.m.[34] The first episode is ten minutes longer than normal.[34] The anime ended with its 20th episode on February 28, 2025.[35] The entire series was released on home video in DVD or Blu-ray box sets on July 2, 2025.[36]

Crunchyroll began streaming the series worldwide outside of East Asia, Europe and Middle East on October 11, 2024.[37] The company would release the series on Blu-ray set in standard and limited editions on March 3, 2026.[38][39] However, on February 7, 2026, it was revealed, via a press release, that the release date for the Blu-ray set was delayed and will be released at a later date.[40] Hulu also streamed it on the same day in the United States, while Netflix began streaming it in Asia on October 14, then globally on October 18.[41][42] Toei Animation and Fathom Events screened the English dub of the first three episodes in United States theaters from November 10–12, 2024.[43] The English dub premiered on Crunchyroll on January 10, 2025.[2] In the United States, the series made its broadcast television premiere on Adult Swim's Toonami programming on June 15, 2025.[44]

Episodes

Reception

Legacy and impact

Dragon Ball Daima was announced in October 2023. However, due to Akira Toriyama's death in March 2024, the series effectively became his swan song, and released on the series' 40th anniversary with a focus on returning to its roots.[73] The accidental finality of the series was often mentioned in coverage, with Toriyama's brand of juvenile comedy being praised as a positively distinct feature of the anime.[74][75] Easter eggs referencing his earlier works were also frequently noted, such as Duu greeting people in a similar manner to Arale Norimaki from Dr. Slump, and Neva singing the opening theme of the original Dragon Ball anime.[76]

External links

• at Crunchyroll
• at Netflix
• at Hulu