Dragon Ball Daima

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox animanga/Header Template:Infobox animanga/Video Template:Infobox animanga/Footer Template:Nihongo, 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. The series premiered on Fuji TV in October 2024.

Cast

Character	Japanese	English
Son Goku	Masako Nozawa	Stephanie Nadolny Template:Small Sean Schemmel Template:Small
Kaioshin	Yumiko Kobayashi Template:Small Shinichiro Ohta Template:Small	Nia Celeste Template:Small Kent Williams Template:Small
Template:Nihongo	Koki Uchiyama	Aaron Dismuke
Template:Nihongo	Fairouz Ai
Template:Nihongo	Showtaro Morikubo	Tom Laflin
Template:Nihongo	Junya Enoki	Landon McDonald
Template:Nihongo	Yoko Hikasa	Morgan Garrett
Vegeta	Yudai Mino Template:Small Ryō Horikawa Template:Small	Paul Castro Jr. Template:Small Christopher Sabat Template:Small
Piccolo	Tomohiro Yamaguchi	Nasim Benelkour Template:Small
Bulma	Mai Nakahara Template:Small Aya Hisakawa Template:Small	Taylor Murphy Template:Small Monica Rial Template:Small
Krillin	Aki Kanada Template:Small Mayumi Tanaka Template:Small	Lara Woodhull Template:Small Sonny Strait Template:Small
Chi-Chi	Ai Kakuma	Brittany Lauda Template:Small
Kame-Sennin	Nobuaki Kanemitsu	Jordan Dash Cruz Template:Small
Trunks	Tsubasa Yonaga Template:Small Takeshi Kusao Template:Small	Celeste Perez Template:Small Alexis Tipton Template:Small
Son Goten	Masako Nozawa	Kara Edwards
Dende	Erina Goto Template:Small Aya Hirano Template:Small	Emi Lo Template:Small Justin Cook Template:Small
Mr. Satan	Toru Sakurai	Cory J. Phillips Template:Small
Mr. Popo	Kimiko Saitō Template:Small Yasuhiko Kawazu Template:Small	Trisha Mellon Template:Small Chris Cason Template:Small
Kibito	Yusuke Handa Template:Small Shin Aomori Template:Small	Aaron Michael Template:Small Chuck Huber Template:Small
Majin Buu	Shiho Amuro Template:Small Kōzō Shioya Template:Small	Dusty Feeney Template:Small Josh Martin Template:Small
Yamcha	Ryōta Suzuki	Christopher Sabat
Template:Nihongo	Hiroshi Naka	Garrett Schenck
Korin	Ken Uo	Christopher Sabat
Template:Nihongo	Tomokazu Seki
Template:Nihongo	Fukushi Ochiai

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 "Template:Nihongo2". 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. He would also later state that Toriyama "crafted the entire story", which Iyoku described as having a "strong sense of adventure and lots of action".

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.

Music

The series opening theme is Template:Nihongo 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.

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. 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, with the series airing on Fridays at 11:40 p.m. The first episode is ten minutes longer than normal.

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 is set to premiere on Crunchyroll on January 10, 2025.

Reception

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, Dragon Ball Daima has an approval rating of 100% based on five reviews, with an average rating of 7.0/10. 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 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.

Vegeta's ascension to Super Saiyan 3 in the twelfth episode received a positive reception. Many fans were previously upset with the lack of relevancy Vegeta held in the earlier episodes. His apparent defeat at the hands of Tamagami Number Two in the eleventh episode's cliffhanger was seen as a breaking point. In particular, Brett Cardaro of CBR noted that he himself had fallen into this trap, having written an article the week prior about how the anime had done Vegeta's character a disservice. However, the transformation scene and subsequent battle was praised as a highlight of the series, and many longtime fans were delighted to see Vegeta reach this level. The design was also praised, and it was noted that it drew from Akira Toriyama's original Super Saiyan 3 concept.

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.

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Anime News Network