Dragon Ball Daima

, stylized as ''Dragon Ball DAIMA'', is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. It is the sixth televised animated installment in the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, and the second and last to have been written by franchise creator Akira Toriyama, who died in March 2024. Featuring a storyline set after the events of ''Dragon Ball Z'' and before the events of ''Dragon Ball Super'', the series aired on Fuji TV from October 2024 to February 2025.

Premise

Following one-year after the defeat of the evil Majin Buu and the death of Dabura in ''Dragon Ball Z'', , the new Supreme King of the Demon Realm, uses the Dragon Balls of Earth to turn Son Goku and his friends into younger versions of themselves in order for them to not pose any threat to him and kidnaps Dende. Goku, Shin, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Bulma are aided by the demons and , both of whom oppose Gomah, in a journey through the three worlds of the Demon Realm to gather the native Dragon Balls to revert Gomah's wish and save Dende.

Voice cast

Production

Toei Animation announced at their New York Comic Con panel on October 12, 2023, that a new anime titled ''Dragon Ball Daima'' would be released in fall 2024. ''Dragon Ball'' creator Akira Toriyama was said to be "deeply involved beyond his usual capacity" and is credited in the accompanying teaser trailer with the original work, story, and character designs. A press release also credited him with creating the designs for many of the vehicles, monsters, and background characters, and coining the title. Toriyama provided a message to the Comic Con panel explaining that although "DAIMA" is a made-up term, it is written in Japanese as "". Akio Iyoku, executive producer of the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise, said that the series had been in the works for the last five years, but the title was decided less than a month ago.

It was while working on the 2022 film '' Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero'' that the staff began considering a new series and asked Toriyama to look at it. According to Iyoku, the manga author became very enthusiastic about the project and wound up "crafting the entire story", which Iyoku described as having a "strong sense of adventure and lots of action". Aiming for viewers who watched ''Dragon Ball GT'' as children and were now adults, Iyoku consciously tried to make an anime that they could watch with their own children. Like ''GT'', ''Daima'' depicts an adventure. It also has a different feel than ''Dragon Ball Super'', where Goku is constantly striving to become stronger. The staff aimed to appeal to a wider audience and, looking back on ''Daima'' in retrospect, Iyoku felt that Toriyama's unexpectedly making everyone in the cast small aided them in this. They worked on the story so diligently, that production of the anime began before it was completed.

In November 2023, the January 2024 issue of ''V Jump'' announced the main staff members of ''Dragon Ball Daima'' and confirmed that Masako Nozawa would reprise her role as Goku. Yoshitaka Yashima (animation director of ''Dragon Ball Super'') and Aya Komaki (director of ''One Piece'') both serve as directors of the anime, while Yūko Kakihara (''Urusei Yatsura'') is credited with series composition and scenario. Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, who previously worked on ''Dragon Ball'', ''Dragon Ball Z'', and ''Dragon Ball GT'', adapted Toriyama's character designs for animation.

A second trailer focusing on Goku was released as part of the ''Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour'' event on January 28, 2024. Character illustrations that Toriyama created for the anime, including some new characters, were shown during a livestream of the event. Toriyama died on March 1, 2024. A week later, the message he sent to the 2024 Tokyo Anime Awards Festival in acceptance of their Lifetime Achievement Award was publicly displayed at the event. In it, he revealed that ''Dragon Ball Daima'' was originally planned to be an original anime series without his involvement, "but as I gave advice here and there, I ended up getting deeply involved with the project without realizing it."

A key visual featuring multiple characters with the tagline "Welcome to the Great Adventure!" and a third trailer were both released on July 19 and revealed that the show would debut that October. On September 2, Fuji TV announced the specific broadcast details, including the start date of October 10, and that all episodes of the show were completed. Two days later, a fourth trailer and a second key visual, featuring two more characters than the first visual and changing the tagline to "Welcome to the Demon Realm!", were released. The former revealed cast members Yumiko Kobayashi as Kaioshin, Koki Uchiyama as Glorio, and Fairouz Ai as Panzy, and also teased the show's theme song. The roles of Showtaro Morikubo as Gomah, Junya Enoki as Degesu, and Yoko Hikasa as Dr. Arinsu were announced by the franchise's official website on September 10. ''Daima'' is the first production not to feature Tōru Furuya as Yamcha, as it was announced that he would be replaced by Ryōta Suzuki on October 4. Without any prior announcement, the second episode of the series aired on October 18 and featured voice actor changes for nearly all of the franchise's major characters due to them being turned into children.

Music

The music in ''Dragon Ball Daima'' was composed by Kosuke Yamashita. Nippon Columbia released approximately 70 of his tracks from the anime as the show's original soundtrack album on March 19, 2025. The opening theme song is " Jaka Jaan" by German record producer Zedd and Japanese vocal duo C&K. Zedd was offered the job of composing the song as he is an open fan of ''Dragon Ball'', and the lyrics were written by Yukinojo Mori, who has written many songs for the franchise. Mori commented that although he was worried about writing for the franchise yet again, Toriyama gave fresh excitement by changing its direction from "battle" to "adventure". Keen of C&K is credited with co-composing the music. The ending theme is " Nakama" by Zedd featuring Japanese-American singer Ai. Zedd again composed the music, while Ai wrote the lyrics.

The lyrics of the opening theme as well as visuals in both the opening and ending animations pay tribute to Akira Toriyama. The rōmaji lyrics of "Jaka Jaan" contain certain syllables that spell out his name in the first half of the song. In particular, the segment "yume wa TORI dori, naYAMAnai, AKIRA menai" is noted as being most definitely intentional due to two factors. Firstly, the word "toridori" is uncommon, with one analyst noting they had never heard a native speaker use that word before. Second, these syllables are capitalized in the official Rōmaji transliteration. Additionally, the opening and ending animations feature the recurring motif of an ethereal white bird flying near Goku, likely representing Toriyama's spirit given his name contains the Japanese word for "bird" and his company is called Bird Studio.

Release

''Dragon Ball Daima'' had its world premiere at Tokyo Big Sight on October 6, 2024, during the Dragon Ball Daimatsuri event, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the original manga series. The first episode was screened three times throughout the day, with cast members in attendance during the first two. The series began its television broadcast on Fuji TV on October 11, 2024, and continued to air on Fridays at 11:40 p.m. The first episode is ten minutes longer than normal. The anime ended with its 20th episode on February 28, 2025. The entire series will be released on home video in DVD or Blu-ray box sets on July 2, 2025.

Crunchyroll began streaming the series worldwide outside of East Asia, Europe and Middle East on October 11, 2024. Hulu also streamed it on the same day in the United States, while Netflix began streaming it in Asia on October 14, then globally on October 18. Toei Animation and Fathom Events screened the English dub of the first three episodes in United States theaters from November 10–12, 2024. The English dub premiered on Crunchyroll on January 10, 2025. In the United States, the series made its broadcast television premiere on Adult Swim's Toonami programming on June 15, 2025.

Episodes

Reception

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, ''Dragon Ball Daima'' has an approval rating of 100% based on five reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. Despite its eventual critical success, the series had a pre-release reception that was more mixed. ''Screen Rant'' stated that the attitude before ''Daima'' aired was a mix of excitement and trepidation; however, it has done well to disprove its criticisms.

Mariló Delgado's Spanish-language review for ''Espinof'' praised the series as an exercise in nostalgia, but warned viewers to be patient. Her final rating was a 4/5, but with the caveat that the story would take some time to truly begin. The pacing was contentious among some ''Dragon Ball'' fans, according to '' CBR'', as it was simultaneously leisurely and rushed. ''CBR'' had earlier reported that ''Daima'' was not what many fans wanted, who were looking forward to a return of the ''Dragon Ball Super'' anime, particularly an adaptation of the manga-only Moro Saga. However, they disagreed and sided with the fact that it was what the franchise needed. Commenting on the eighth episode of the anime, Joshua Fox of ''Screen Rant'' declared the series was what the anime fans had waited decades for. Fox praised the choreography as some of the best in any ''Dragon Ball'' series; he considered the comedy to be equally noteworthy. He also noted that an early episode of such a quality may be a sign of an even better climax.

''CBR''s Daniel Kurland considered the seventeenth episode "perfect" and the animation to be "mind-blowing." He praised the fight between Goku and Majin Duu, and commented that it contained "some of the best visuals that have been in the franchise." Of the battle between Gomah and several other fighters, he wrote that it was "cinematic" and that it felt as if the episode was showing off. Kurland concluded the review by stating that the only potential criticism is that the final three episodes may still surpass this one. He rated the following episode a 10/10, calling it "another perfect half hour of television."

Kurland tripled up on his 10/10 score for the nineteenth episode, "Betrayal", praising the showcasing and battle scenes of Vegeta against Gomah, the humor of Bulma reining in Vegeta for Goku to tag in, and the appearance of Super Saiyan 4 adult Goku. He summarized both the eighteenth and nineteenth episodes as "the best one-two punches in Dragon Ball history" and episode nineteen itself as "the groundwork for greatness" and that it "gives fans everything they want".

Following the premiere of "Betrayal", ''CBR'' reported that the episode had broken the record for the best-rated anime episode of 2025. It surpassed the sixth episode of '' Solo Leveling''s second season, and ''Daima''s own eighteenth episode, which had equaled the record set by ''Solo Leveling''.

Viewership and box office

The series reached second place in terms of non-English shows on Netflix, as well as reaching the top 10 in several Asian countries, including first place in India. It grossed $661,204 during its limited American theatrical release, which featured the first three episodes of the English dub. The dub began streaming in January 2025, and was well received but its release schedule was criticized.

The series gained high TV ratings following the reveal of Vegeta's Super Saiyan 3 transformation. Similarly, following the premiere of Episode 18, several streaming services, including piracy websites, experienced server outages. Crunchyroll's servers crashing due to a ''Dragon Ball'' episode's airing was reported as having occurred before, when Goku first attained the Ultra Instinct transformation in ''Super''. Japanese television ratings also surged following a dip in Episode 16, with ''Daima'' reaching the top three on Fuji TV. The increased viewership was attributed to hype surrounding the battle with Gomah, Goku's newly reintroduced Super Saiyan 4 transformation, and the series approaching its finale.

Accolades

At the 5th Astra TV Awards, ''Dragon Ball Daima'' won Best Anime Series while Stephanie Nadolny was nominated in Best Lead Voice-Over Performance for her work as Son Goku (Mini). The anime has also been nominated for Favorite Cartoon at the 2025 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

Legacy and impact

''Dragon Ball Daima'' was announced in October 2023. However, due to Akira Toriyama's death in March 2024, the series effectively became his swan song, and released on the series' 40th anniversary with a focus on returning to its roots. The accidental finality of the series was often mentioned in coverage, with Toriyama's brand of juvenile comedy being praised as a positively distinct feature of the anime. Easter eggs referencing his earlier works were also frequently noted, such as Duu greeting people in a similar manner to Arale Norimaki from '' Dr. Slump'', and Neva singing the opening theme of the original ''Dragon Ball'' anime.

Notes

References

External links

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{{Toei Animation

Daima
2024 anime television series debuts
Akira Toriyama
Comedy anime and manga
Crunchyroll anime
Fuji Television original programming
Japanese martial arts television series
Netflix anime