Dragon Ball Daima delivered many crowd-pleasing moments, including canonizing several fan-favorite transformations and adding a new backstory to the universe. Even though Daima initially came across as a goofy throwback to classic Dragon Ball, the series revealed a lot of deep lore for Demons, the Kais, and Namekians. Goku enjoyed several cool fights throughout the show’s life, and Vegeta finally achieved an iconic Super Saiyan form that was never revealed in canon before. Meanwhile, Piccolo was also there and didn’t really accomplish much. He would instead fight off the occasional fodder villains and participate in the major brawls, yet his contribution to Daima was mostly just to provide some information on Namekians.
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Namekians were given extensive new lore in Daima, elaborating the origins of the species. The show revealed that Namekians come from the Demon Realm alongside the Kais, who were given the official name of the Glind. This new backstory for the Namekians puts the species closer to how Akira Toriyama originally presented King Piccolo and Kami. Nonetheless, despite all these key pieces of information revealed about Piccolo’s race and their origins, the character himself didn’t do anything noteworthy. While it is always fun to spend more time with everyone’s favorite green warrior, Dragon Ball Daima wasted Piccolo.
What Was Piccolo’s Role in Dragon Ball Daima?
Piccolo was part of the main team that went to the Demon Realm alongside Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma to rescue Dende and collect the realm’s Dragon Balls. His role was facilitating the new Namekian lore, giving viewers a better perspective on the Namekian race. He also served as a more calm foil against Goku’s impulsiveness and Vegeta’s aggressiveness. Of all the main cast in Daima, he was the one who was the most cool-headed and collected. Nevertheless, his role is overshadowed by the contributions of the rest of the team.
Goku gets the lion’s share of the main fights in the series, including back-to-back showstopping transformations in Episodes 18 and 19, whereas Vegeta also receives a few standout moments in Daima. Shin, the Supreme Kai of Universe 7 in the Dragon Ball series, is also given more to do in Daima than Piccolo. The Supreme Kai received plenty of character development and backstory throughout Dragon Ball Daima, fleshing him out more than the previous Dragon Ball shows. The new characters also overshadow Piccolo with their new, over-the-top, and loud personalities.
Piccolo is meant to be a stoic and unflinching character, that is his appeal. Yet when every other character has a bigger personality than Piccolo, the character gets lost in the shuffle. It’s especially surprising, considering he’s cited among Toriyama’s favorite characters. Piccolo needed to be part of the main team for the Namekian lore and add a specific dynamic to the group, but he feels like a non-entity in the series especially since he has no major action scene. Even with all but one of the series’ anticipated 20 episodes having aired, Piccolo has not received anywhere close to as memorable a moment as Goku or his other allies.
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Piccolo’s Role in Daima is Emblematic of the Entire Franchise
Even though Piccolo’s role in Dragon Ball Daima comes off as wasteful, he has it better than the rest of the cast. More modern Dragon Ball media has developed this habit of focusing almost exclusively on select characters, specifically Goku and Vegeta. The two Saiyans receive the most screen time and fight scenes than any other character in the franchise. Piccolo may haven’t contributed much to Daima, but he at least was part of the group that went to the Demon Realm. Every other character in the main cast chose to stay behind, including other fan favorites like Krillin and Gohan.
Goku and Vegeta get the majority of the attention in the series, taking away the spotlight from other characters. While it makes sense for the franchise to focus on the two most iconic characters, the clear favoritism has come at the cost of the rest of the characters. Fans adore the other characters and would love to see more of them. The Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie was the correct direction to take the franchise, centering more on Piccolo and Gohan rather than Goku and Vegeta. The Dragon Ball universe is filled with so much story potential and it is time for the series to explore. Piccolo deserves another chance in the spotlight after Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero if only Toei Animation could give it to him. While we’re at it, give something to do with Tien as well.
