Dragon Ball Daima Leans Into Goku as World’s Worst Father (And The Internet is Erupting)

Dragon Ball Daima, like nearly every Dragon Ball project, has Son Goku front and center in this new anime adaptation that was one of the last from deceased creator Akira Toriyama. While Goku’s power level might make him one of the universe’s strongest combatants, most anime fans agree that the Saiyan warrior won’t be winning any “father of the year” awards any time soon. Throughout the shonen series, for one reason or another, Goku hasn’t been around to raise his children and it’s a fact that is touched upon in Daima’s latest episode. Needless to say, the new anime series is one that is more than willing to poke fun at Goku’s lack of parental influence.

Warning. If you have yet to watch the latest episode of Dragon Ball Daima, Episode 7, be forewarned that we’ll be diving into serious spoiler territory. Goku, Glorio, Kaioshin, and new member Panzy are still working their way across the Demon Realm and going through planes like candy. Encountering more of Gomah’s forces, the quartet finds themselves waylaid on their trek to encounter the Tamagami and score the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls. During a brief interlude between battles, Panzy is once again astonished that Goku has the mind of an adult in a child’s body and is more than willing to question his skills as a parent.

RELATED: Dragon Ball Daima Hints at Tamagamis’ Power Levels (And It’s a Problem)

Goku: The World’s Worst Father

In questioning Goku’s age, Panzy wonders how on Earth he was able to be a successful parent. Since Son has absolutely zero filter, the Z-Fighter is more than willing to say straight out that he wasn’t very involved in raising either Gohan or Goten. It has been a long running joke that Goku isn’t exactly “father of the year” material but to see it laid out there threw many anime fans for a loop. If you want to see the scene in question, you can click on the video below.

Goku saying he didn't raise his own child in DAIMA was not on my bingo card for 2024 pic.twitter.com/kBmDJaDbmt

— Anime Craze (@crazedanime_) November 22, 2024

The Evidence For Goku’s Deadbeat Dad Status

To start, we should examine Goku’s relationship with his eldest son Gohan. Aside from consistently putting Gohan in harm’s way, he missed a good chunk of his son’s life thanks to being dead and asking his fellow Z-Fighters to not bring him back from the dead. When it came to instances like the Cell Games, Goku was more than willing to put the world’s future on Gohan’s shoulders, even going so far as to throw Cell a Senzu Bean to make it a “fair fight.” While Gohan and Goku might be on good terms these days, it’s hard to deny that fighting and training seem to come first for the anime father.

In the cast of Goten, it sometimes seems as though Goku doesn’t know his youngest son exists. The first time they met was during the Buu Saga, with Goten already being a child before Goku returned to the land of the living. While Goku would return to life and stick around his homestead following the death of Kid Buu, it’s debatable as to how much time he actually spent in interacting with Goten.

While Daima hasn’t made it official as to whether it actually heard the internet in relation to Goku’s terrible parenting skills, the anime series certainly makes it seem like it has with this interaction. With Dragon Ball Daima still having more than a few episodes left in the tank before it comes to an end, it should be interesting to see what other knocks against Goku arrive in the new anime.

Want to stay up to date with Goku’s skills as a father? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on the Z-Fighters and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.