Dragon Ball Daima Animator Speaks Out After Akira Toriyama's Death

Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama is gone, but his work is very much still with us. In fact, 2024 was set to be another milestone year for Toriyama, as the next installment of Dragon Ball anime will begin with with the release of Dragon Ball Daima. 

Toriyama wrote the original main story and did the character designs for Dragon Ball Daima, which will see adult Goku revert back to his "Kid Goku" form from the original Dragon Ball series – with the same transformation happening to Dragon Ball Z fighters like Piccolo, Android 18, Krillin and others. Dragon Ball Daima's trailers and promos have painted the picture of the series being one-part nostalgia throwback to the original Dragon Ball series, while still retaining the updated aesthetic and animation of more recent releases like Dragon Ball Super: Broly. 

When Akira Toriyama's death was officially announced, "Sanda," a French animator who is now part of Dragon Ball Daima's creative team, posted this tribute to Toriyama:

"This is the work that saved me many times when I felt like falling apart," Sanda said in a statement. "This is the work that made me fall in love with Japan. Without Toriyama-sensei, I don't think I would have become an animator. Thank you very much. May you rest in peace."

Sanda has previously expressed the gratitude and excitement he feels for being able to work on Dragon Ball Daima, and give back to Toriyama, who inspired whom to pursue this profession in the first place: 

"Finally the new Dragon Ball series has been announced!. "I'm lucky to have been able to make a dream come true by joining the team and working on it directly at Toei Animation with an amazing staff."

What Is Dragon Ball Daima About? 

 Per Akira Toriyama himself, Dragon Ball Daima's story will be this: 

"Due to a conspiracy, Goku and his friends are turned small. In order to fix things, they'll head off to a new world! It's a grand adventure with intense action in an unknown and mysterious world. Since Goku has to make up for his petite size, he uses his Power Pole to fight, something not seen in a long time."

Yoshitaka Yashima and Aya Komaki are directing Dragon Ball Daima for Toei Animation; Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru is adapting Toriyama's designs for animation, and Yuuko Kakihara is overseeing and writing the scripts for the series. Iconic Dragon Ball voice actress Masako Nozawa will once again be providing the voice for Kid Goku. 

Dragon Ball Daima is set for release later in 2024 – and will now be getting a wider release than originally planned.