The inclusion of Dragon Ball Daima in the legendary Dragon Ball franchise was something fans were incredibly excited about. However, the series itself was arguably never meant to work within the franchise. This is the harsh truth that Kazuhiko Torishima, Shonen Jump’s former editor-in-chief and Dragon Ball‘s legendary former editor, shared in his latest comments about the direction of the franchise. Torishima has been vocal about the franchise’s direction ever since Dragon Ball Super came to fruition. While his constant criticism of Dragon Ball may seem like bitterness to some fans, his latest statement carries a harsh truth about Daima.
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In a recent interview conducted at Comicon Napoli, held at Mostra d’Oltremare earlier this month, Torishima said he has no idea how Daima was approved in the first place. According to attendees at the event and translations shared by fans on X, including @/XMathemagician, Torishima did not hold back with his criticism, saying that “Daima betrays Dragon Ball; it’s slow, stupid, and the first episode is useless. I have no idea how it was approved in the first place.” Looking deeper into Torishima’s statement, he may have a point about Daima’s opening episode, as it struggles to justify itself within the franchise from the very beginning.
Dragon Ball‘s Former Editor Criticizes Dragon Ball Daima With a Harsh Truth That Actually Makes Sense
In retrospect, Dragon Ball Daima does not actually help the Dragon Ball franchise progress its lore in any meaningful way. Instead, it largely serves as a series built around hype moments fans had long imagined seeing in the franchise. As Kazuhiko Torishima pointed out, Daima’s premise itself is not particularly compelling and mostly acts as a gag-like excuse to send Goku and the others on an adventure to the Demon Realm to regain their adult bodies. To give the story more depth, the series places Shin at the center and establishes that individuals with pointed ears are demons, a change that effectively retcons several elements of the franchise.
However, as the series progresses, it never fully develops those nuances and instead relies heavily on flashy moments to present itself as a fan-service installment. It suddenly introduces Vegeta’s Super Saiyan 3 transformation without giving it a truly compelling reason. While the design itself is exciting, the explanation behind it feels weak. At the same time, the series’s biggest surprise, the introduction of Super Saiyan 4, also seems included primarily to capitalize on Dragon Ball’s trademark transformation hype rather than to meaningfully expand the story. With these transformations becoming one of the biggest obstacles in accepting Daima as a canon entry, it increasingly feels as though the series was created to deliver short-term hype moments rather than deepen the franchise’s lore.
This issue is further reflected in how Goku and Vegeta constantly struggle to determine whether they are actually strong enough, as obstacles fans would expect them to overcome effortlessly suddenly become major threats. Meanwhile, the series repeatedly breaks vehicles as a convenient way to slow down the adventure and spend more time exploring the Demon Realm. Altogether, these elements make Daima feel like a project designed mainly to generate excitement, nostalgia, and long-awaited “what if” moments for fans. But in practice, Dragon Ball Daima ultimately struggles to work as a meaningful addition to the franchise, echoing the harsh criticism Torishima recently directed at the series.
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