Sara Talks Anime

Something that should probably be made pretty clear before I get into the review is that I am a BIG Dragon Ball fan. Not big enough to be willing to sit down and watch the series that shall not be named. I don’t care if Crunchyroll is promoting it on their banner on their home page because this episode has been released; I’m still not going to watch it! I had better begin reviewing the episode before this devolves into a rant about anime I haven’t seen yet.

The episode begins with a brief recap of the events from the start of the original Dragon Ball series to partway through the Buu saga from a narrator. More Buu saga recap is done through the main villains (Gomah and Degesu) watching from the Demon Realm. Through their observations, they find out both that the previous king of the Demon Realm died (making Gomah the new king) and about the existence of Earth’s Dragon Balls. Dr. Arinsu is also introduced in this episode, and she heads to Earth on her own, though I don’t know how big of a plot point this will end up being.

Gomah, not willing to risk losing his throne, comes up with the idea to travel to Earth and get the Dragon Balls and use them to guarantee that he won’t lose the throne, bringing along a Namek that made the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls (as well as creatures that guard the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls) and gets on a ship to go to Earth.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Goku and the others (except Gohan) are celebrating Trunks’ ninth birthday. “Where’s Gohan?” you might be asking. The answer is that he’s studying as usual. We also see Shin and Kibito split apart due to having been absorbed by Buu, which eventually caused them to split apart like Goku and Vegeta did when they were fused together. Also, Goku and Vegeta fly off to spar at some point.

Anyway, back to Gomah and the others, they arrive where Dende and Mr. Popo are, asking for the Dragon Balls. Dende refuses, but the Namek they brought brings them out anyway (despite the Dragon Balls being in stone form), and even lets them recover early. Gomah then summons Shenron, beginning with his first wish…make Goku and his friends young! After some back and forth between Gomah and Shenron to determine how old they would become, the characters feel themselves changing, with the opening song in the background juxtapositioning the serious moment. One big “AAH!” later, and the credits roll.

I tried my best to narrow this down to the important stuff, but there may have been some things that I glossed over. Regardless, I still HIGHLY suggest you check out Dragon Ball Daima if you haven’t already, even with only the first episode being released. I really enjoyed the writing, and the animation was extremely nice. I think using more of this episode to focus on the villains was a good idea, as this is our first time seeing them, compared to the other characters we’ve had PLENTY of time to get to know. I suspect we’ll begin digging our heels into the story next week, and I’m incredibly excited! I can’t wait to see what direction Dragon Ball Daima goes in!

Additional posts about Dragon Ball Daima:

• Dragon Ball DAIMA Episode 2 – “Glorio”