Was Dragon Ball Daima Good?

Dragon Ball Daima has officially come to an end, so now is the best time to look back on it all and figure out whether or not it was a great entry in the anime franchise. Dragon Ball Daima released as part of the celebration for the 40th anniversary of Akira Toriyama’s original Dragon Ball manga release, and saw Goku and the Supreme Kai go on a brand new adventure through the Demon Realm. This was a brand new story crafted by the late Akira Toriyama, and ended up being a fitting tribute to the creator following his passing last year.

Although it was later revealed by those behind the scenes that Dragon Ball Daima was not crafted as a 40th anniversary celebration, and only happened to line up with it upon release, Dragon Ball Daima still felt like the perfect encapsulation of those 40 years of history. At times nostalgic, but still had plenty of fresh ideas of its own, Dragon Ball Daima is now firmly within the overall timeline of the Dragon Ball anime’s history. But at the end of the day, was it actually a good anime? The answer might be different depending on who you’d ask, but ultimately it was good because it exists.

Dragon Ball Daima Took a While to Get Going

Dragon Ball Daima had a promising opening as the first episode was an extended runtime premiere that acted as a bridge between the events of Dragon Ball Z and the new adventure coming ahead. The anime teased fans about the kind of show that would be coming ahead, but ended with Goku and the others being turned into children. This was something that had been receiving a mixed response ever since promotional materials were first revealed, but the premiere featured enough of a makeover for nostalgic events that it was ultimately received well.

It just took a while to really get going from that point, unfortunately. Because as Goku and the others were working their way into the Demon Realm, the episodic nature of the series meant that fans were going to be taken on a much slower paced adventure than the first episode had promised. This took some getting used to for fans who had been hoping for more, but it was just an adjustment period. Those hoping for something like Dragon Ball Super might have been disappointed, but ultimately these smaller adventures were reminiscent of classic Dragon Ball or even Dragon Ball GT episodes (which was a very intentional move by the staff).

For a 20 episode series, Dragon Ball Daima took a while to really kick in its full adventure. The series made sure to really shine in moments where Goku Mini was able to unleash the full slate of his abilities, so it’s a complicated matter. Without the smaller adventure moments, these brief fights would not have been as impressive by comparison. But if there were fewer episodes spending time with these smaller moments, then there might have been more time that could have been used for more prominent fights. It really just depends on what you’re looking for in Dragon Ball, but it’s hard to deny that this was a slow burn.

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Dragon Ball Daima Changed the Canon Forever, Good and Bad

Dragon Ball Daima’s core appeal wasn’t the fights, however, it was all of the new information about the Dragon Ball franchise. Dragon Ball Daima was stuck in a precarious position within the overall timeline as it was set after the events of the Majin Buu arc but before Beerus and Whis arrived at the start of Dragon Ball Super. This was a period of time left unexplored, but it also meant that for much of the anime’s run fans wouldn’t get any massive shake ups. Instead, these shake ups came from our understanding of the characters.

With every new detail of the Demon Realm, Dragon Ball fans were treated to major expansions of the lore. It was here that Namekians were confirmed to be demons (along with every other being with pointy ears), the Demon Realm created the multiverse and sent the Kais to watch over each one, and Majin Buu was created by someone other than Bibidi (and thus could be replicated further). Each of these reveals were the major treats instead of the action sequences, so it was a reward for long time fans. Soon enough, things exploded.

Dragon Ball Daima then threw all of that into chaos as it was coming to an end. While it took its time before, the final third of the series was especially quick in how it progressed and a little more reckless with the timeline. Goku debuted Super Saiyan 4 officially, Vegeta revealed his take on Super Saiyan 3, and they just had them the entire time without a regard for any of the potential developments we would see in Dragon Ball Super‘s future events. It’s just unfortunate that it ended up feeling a bit haphazard compared to how much care was paid to the first half of the series.

That’s why Dragon Ball Daima‘s finale didn’t quite hit the mark as well as fans might have hoped in the end. It was told in an uneven way across its 20 episodes, and really stacked it more at the beginning and the end. If there was a better balance each week then fans might have had a better overall time. But at the end of day, it’s still a good show. Not only is it brand new Dragon Ball, but it’s likely the final new story we’ll get from the late Akira Toriyama. And that’s reason enough for this to be good.