Dragon Ball has always been a marathon, not a sprint, and if that pattern holds, then Daima’s premiere, titled “Conspiracy,” is essentially the warm-up lap before committing to the journey ahead. Considering that the late Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama himself had a heavy hand in the conceptualization and production of Daima (a word he coined that kind of translates to “evil”). I think the nuggets of character building and plot were carefully nurtured, which the rest of the series will feed on and grow into its own funeral pyre, but it doesn’t exactly start with a bang.

The most striking thing about Daima’s premiere is the animation. Sure, it only gets a few flashy CG-enhanced moments in the second half of its somewhat bloated 32 minutes, but it mostly sticks to the Dragon Ball house style. There was no need to reinvent the wheel; Toriyama’s distinct art style is iconic, revered by mangaka (manga artists) and loved by fans. There’s a battle training montage between Goku and Vegeta that feels like it exists purely as fan service; I could practically hear the cheers from the theaters when the first three episodes are shown together in mid-November.

As is fitting for a series reset on its 40th anniversary, Daima begins by introducing its concept as many after-school shonen anime might – though it regrettably chooses to drop its solid traditional opening theme and waits to the announcement of “Here comes a new story”. until the credits. Here is our main man, Son Goku, his crazy powers and the unusual circumstances he faces in his life to achieve the ultimate goal: collecting the Dragon Balls and summoning the magical dragon Shenron to ask for three wishes ! It’s undoubtedly a retro move that harkens back to a certain time, but I appreciated it as a direct line to the history of the series, executed without withholding any relevant information from potential new viewers who might be more familiar with pronouncing it correctly by Al Roker “Super”. Saiyan” like a giant balloon, Goku floats through the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade then with 40 years of Dragon Ball lore.

Daima does its best to welcome those completely unfamiliar with Dragon Ball, but the vast majority of the episode felt like it was speaking directly to existing fans – and winking. In fact, so much time has been spent rehashing old battles that I’m not yet sure exactly how Daima plans to differentiate itself from the rest of the canon.

Case in point: Exactly half of the episode takes place in one room where Daima’s new (and classically crazy) villain Gomah watches the play-by-play footage of the iconic Dragon Ball Z battle against Majin Buu. This entire scene in the Demon Realm viewing setup pulls several levers without being painfully obvious. First, it’s throwing red meat at people like me, for whom watching that fight as a child was a formative memory; second, it gives the TL; DR of a major storyline for those who don’t know what a Majin Buu is; and third, it serves as an inciting moment in the story for Gomah as the newly crowned Supreme Demon King, even if it’s not very convincing. He is downright intimidated by how strong Earth beings are, so Gomah decides he must find a way to destroy their power, despite them being entire dimensions apart; of course means his best idea Tap to reveal.

Still, it takes half the episode to go through all those settings; I won’t accept criticism for my real-time impatience, when all I really wanted to know was why everyone had “gotten small,” according to Daima’s trailer. (So ​​petty!) Even as Gomah leaves the Demon Realm for a seemingly urgent mission to destroy the power of the Earthlings, the action remains measured and methodical, casually introducing a few of the series’ new characters with questionable backstories and goals. ‘Who cares about all that?‘, Daima seems to say, ‘when there are still so many episodes ahead?(While the exact number of episodes has not been confirmed, it is speculated that 20 episodes are planned for this first season.) We’ll get there when we get there.

Dragon Ball Daima Images