Dragon Ball Daima Is the Perfect Time to Make Janemba Canon

Dragon Ball Daima will be expanding the Dragon Ball world with a new anime later this Fall, and it’s going to be the perfect time to bring the fan favorite movie villain, Janemba, into the official canon. Dragon Ball will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the late Akira Toriyama’s original manga series first hitting the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and one of the big ways things are kicking off is with the debut of a brand new anime series. This new series will send off a new version of Goku on a whole new adventure through a new region. 

Dragon Ball Daima will see Goku and Supreme Kai needing to explore the depths of the Demon Realm in order to get to the bottom of a new conspiracy that has turned them and the rest of the Z Fighters into Mini versions of themselves, and with it they will come across all sorts of new allies and foes. While this is already an exciting prospect as fans get ready to meet all sorts of new additions to the overall Dragon Ball canon, there’s one big name from the past that would be a perfect way to cap it all off in a final battle. Imagine if Janemba shows up for the final clash. 

Dragon Ball Goes to Hell

While there are still many mysteries as to what fans could look forward to seeing in the new series, it has been confirmed that Dragon Ball Daima will be exploring the Demon Realm with its new adventure. While Hell and the Demon Realm have been seen on a few occasions in the Dragon Ball franchise before (even more when considering off shoots like Dragon Ball GT and Super Dragon Ball Heroes), Dragon Ball Daima will be offering the first extensive time spent in this mysterious region. And it’s already teasing some dangerous looking demons. 

The promotional materials for Dragon Ball Daima have revealed some of the new characters designed by the late Akira Toriyama, and it’s going to introduced some new layers to the canon. Much like fans saw with the Gods and Angels introduced in Dragon Ball Super, there is already a clear hierarchy within the new Demon Realm denizens. While we’ve only seen brief glances of these new characters, Gomah, Degesu and Dr. Arinsu, one of them is in charge and likely will pose a huge threat before it all comes to an end. 

Who is Janemba? 

The building blocks for bringing Janemba into the official canon with Dragon Ball Daima are all right there in the foundation for the series as well. In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Janemba was introduced to the series as the epitome of evil that had flowed out of a broken soul cleaning machine. The evil within humanity had pooled together over a long duration of time, and formed the heart of a monster that took over a demon’s body and became the massive monster that Goku is forced to fight early on in the movie. 

This massive yellow monster then morphs into a more human-sized enemy, and the fight against this demon in Hell starts to warp reality. The film is often held in high regard with fans because of the fierce threat Janemba poses, but also because of all the potential that comes from Janemba’s origin. Because he’s from Hell, the defeated enemies from Dragon Ball‘s past begin to spill out and cause trouble all over again. It’s something you can retread with Dragon Ball Daima, but make it more intense because it’s harder for the Z Fighters to defend themselves in their mini forms. 

Why Dragon Ball Should Make Janemba Canon

As fans had seen with the release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly and the Dragon Ball Super manga materials that followed it, Toriyama was not above the idea of taking a villain formerly only seen in the movies and make them an official part of the story. It’s paid off well for Broly’s case as he’s now one of the few Saiyans left who can help defend the Earth alongside Goku and Vegeta with his own unique Super Saiyan powers, and there’s a bright future for the character now that he’s been brought into the fold in full. 

But he wasn’t the only new addition to the canon given a makeover in that movie. Importantly, Goku and Vegeta’s Gogeta fusion was not only officially introduced, but given a huge power boost with the addition of Super Saiyan Blue on top of the already strong fused fighter. This form was also a formerly a transformation exclusive to the movies as it made its debut in Fusion Reborn as a final way for Goku and Vegeta to close the gap against Janemba. The demon was then dispatched quickly afterward thanks to Gogeta’s seemingly holy power, but what’s important is that with Gogeta now in the official canon. It’s time for Janemba to join too. 

How to Make Janemba Canon

The question from that point on, however, is how to make Janemba an official part of the Dragon Ball canon. With this full dive into the Demon Realm, it’s the perfect opportunity to pull the trigger on such a vicious and literally devilish villain. Just as how Broly was incorporated into the canon with a new origin and full makeover, it can be the same case for Janemba. Just bring the demon as a final form for a character already seen in the series, and turn them into a Janemba like beast. 

In this way, you get all the benefits of bringing back such an iconic movie villain but you also avoid all of the pitfalls from the original version of the character. Janemba wasn’t the deepest villain in the Dragon Ball roster (he didn’t really talk he just made noises), and while it was perfect for the condensed runtime of a movie, but it wouldn’t run in the context of a full series like Dragon Ball Daima. If Janemba turns out to be a final form of some new villain, or is made an intelligent monster in his own right, then it would be a new villain perfect for Toriyama’s official canon. 

As Dragon Ball Daima is the final anime made with Toriyama’s guidance in the story, bringing this villain into the fold would be a perfect final stamp on the franchise. We’ll see for ourselves soon enough when the new anime premieres on October 11th, and streams with Crunchyroll for fans outside of Japan.