#drake watches dragon ball daima

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima S01E10 - Ocean

The titles for Daima episodes crack me up. Like. We've been making jokes at Toei's expense for how spoiler-filled Dragon Ball episode titles are for forty years. Now they're just like, "Fine! You know what? Every title is just a context-free noun and NOTHING ELSE."

Lightning. Thieves. Ocean.

Good luck gleaning any major plot reveals from that!

Honestly, I'm kinda rooting for the Tamagami.

They had two Saibaman seeds left and only used one, which leaves the other one hanging as a plot point whose function remains to be determined. The probable purpose for the other seed is so they'll have resources to create another Majin.

Kuu isn't literally the prototype for a bigger, nastier villain. But he might end up being exactly that.

So with the possibility that Kuu gets defeated and has to be replaced at some point in mind, I just think it'd be so funny if it happened right now. Following his dramatic reveal last episode, Kuu mouths off to Tamagami One and just gets fucking splattered, and Dr. Arinsu has to go back to the drawing board. XD

I mean. Yeah. There are benefits to being magically cursed to become a child again. I certainly wouldn't mind a dramatically increased lifespan, personally.

There are drawbacks too but you'd be surprised what you can circumvent when you're a billionaire.

This conversation took a really weird turn. And also, there are other reasons that Vegeta might not be comfortable with returning to adulthood while his wife remains a child.

Very. Very good reasons.

I have no idea what Kuu is doing in this fight and I'm not sure he does either. One is handing him his golden Saiba-ass.

It's like they're trying to channel Pure Buu's unpredictable and frantic fighting style. But Buu was an eldritch creature that no longer communicated in words and fought like a feral blob of gum. Kuu's intelligence and... non-goopiness... just makes him look like a weird doof.

I wonder if Kuu can absorb the Tamagami and gain their power?

Which should also mean that we can get out and fly for long periods of time without requiring the aid of a vehicle. Planes are now optional.

Kaioshin: (thinking) I hope we can get in and out without encountering one. Goku: (thinking) I wonder how they taste....

Goku: (thinking) Not bad for a first course....

Yeah, flying is no longer nerfed. This attack squadron made mistakes. The guy who beat the Tamagami is in even more top form now, and these idiots couldn't handle him when he was holding back.

Daimakai is basically a fun vacation for Goku.

XD There is no way a creature that size is sustaining itself on the occasional plane that inadvisably flies too low to the ocean. They're definitely hunting planes out of spite, not hunger.

Ahhh. Goku can teleport, so it doesn't actually matter that the plane is now in the creature's gullet. This is a good setup. Gives the others enough time to look shocked before Goku and Panzy suddenly pop into existe--

...or I guess the gap between its teeth is wide enough that anyone capable of Bukujutsu can just leave, no problem. Being crushed in the plane was the only danger that being eaten by the kraken posed.

Mm. I'm disappointed, but this still works fine.

And now the kraken's done. Yeah, it does not care one bit about the flying people. It just wanted the plane.

Krakens just... hate planes for some reason. I wonder if the Gendarmerie are poaching them?

Bit of a mixed bag here. I said early on after we met her that I really don't want Panzy to turn into the new GT Pan. GT Pan is worse-case scenario for how she could end up being utilized by the show.

I was nervous when they all evacuated the plane, but then Panzy put herself in peril anyway so we could have a scene of Goku dramatically rescuing her. I was like, "Okay, whatever they made her go back for, it better be something good."

It was the Dragon Ball. All of these fuckers forgot the Dragon Ball when they were bailing out of the plane.

...

Yeah! Okay, fair enough. Panzy MVP and these boys better appreciate her.

Oh, the Namekians had their own world within Makai #2. I bet it's more Namek-like than this region.

Yep, I'd know those Ajissa anywhere.

You know, this does actually make sense, now that I think about it. It's a retcon, but not one that breaks continuity.

The main job that the Namekians have is to cultivate Ajissa. It's what they spend their days farming. Their crop fields are full of the Ajissa they're growing.

When we first meet the Namekians, it's in the aftermath of a climate crisis that ravaged their ecosystem and left them near extinction. They're cultivating Ajissa to try and restore Namek to the beauty it once had.

But it's just a hop, skip, and a jump from there to "Namekians terraform planets they occupy to resemble their ancestral home, and filling those planets with Ajissa is part of that terraforming."

Did Piccolo just indicate that Katattsu came from Makai #2? All we know about him was that he was among the Namekians killed in Namek's climate catastrophe. How would Piccolo even know this? We've been given no timeframe on when Namekians left Makai #2.

Well, would it surprise you to know that he didn't actually say that? Yeah, at no point did he say it was his "father" who lived here.

...

Because the word he used is 親 oya, which gender-neutrally just means "parent". It's the root kanji used in such words as 母親 hahaoya for mother and 父親 chichioya for father.

...

My "Were Namekians supposed to be gender-neutral this whole time? Should we be using they/them for Namekians?" pondering intensifies.

But yeah, he did indicate that Katattsu used to live here.

Three, actually. But Hybis is not ready for that conversation. Even other Earthlings find it weird.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. But at least for right now, I like him. Kuu is adorable and I want good things for him.

I've been back and forth on whether this is supposed to be in-continuity with Super but I think this backstory, despite sort of contradicting what we know about Zenou, confirms it.

The reason I say that is because that's Gowasu in the top left corner. He was the mentor that tried to teach Zamasu.

How exactly Rymus is supposed to coexist as a concept with Zenou, I have no idea. But I wouldn't be surprised if they're, like, Zenou's parent or something.

I mean. I thought the plan was that you guys were going to go handle things with Gomah while Team Goku faces the Tamagami.

I guess we really did ditch Team Bulma in Makai #3 just to be rude. Oh well. Gang's all together now.

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima, episode 5. Time to meet the new girl for realsies.

For like forty years.

Goku's leaving out information that's extremely relevant to the new girl's question. The reason he has the skills of a middle-aged martial arts master is because that is literally what he is.

We're still going to the castle? I thought we turned around to go chase the Dragon Ball instead. Maybe I misunderstood.

Gloom n' Doom was trying to leave her behind but we all know who the real star is, and he accepts bribes in exchange for friendship.

He also accepts friendship without bribes. He's just nice. But he's not gonna turn down some onigiri if you're offering.

We have a name! Between Glorio and Panzy, it seems the denizens of Daimakai have flowers for their name pun theme.

(Goku, you named your son after rice. You have no room to talk.)

Not sure if the exchange over whose name is weirder is meant to be a parallel to Goku's first meeting with Bulma. Very rarely do the punny names get called out as funny in-universe.

They're going the "Everyone has their own unique superpower" route for the Majin, I see. And Panzy's is....

Telekinesis.

We've seen telekinesis a few times. Chiaotzu and Guldo are the most prolific telekinetic characters. But they're also...

Like. They both kinda fall into the category of "Characters who got exactly one fight and then fucked off or died." We've never had a character who was important to the plot and had abilities centered around psychic powers.

I hope that's about to change but Dragon Ball is notoriously terrible with its female characters so I'm not taking anything for granted.

Panzy is completely ruining Glorio's vibe as our solemn guide to the demonic lands and he can die mad about it. XD

Weird thing to have a character say before cutting to a montage of everyone pleasantly sightseeing with no trouble whatsoever while happy fun-time music plays in the background.

The front gate is HUNGRY OM NOM NOM NOM

Is....

...is the plan to raise Baby Dende like an ordinary child over the course of many years so that he imprints on Gomah and comes to see this castle and its occupants as his home and family?

Is that what we're doing here?

(Wouldn't he still have his memories? Goku and the others do.)

Oh, she is definitely like the king's daughter or something. There's a reason she happens to know the most convenient way to and from the castle. Glorio needs to learn how to read a room.

You know, I really thought they were gonna tease that out a bit longer.

She's got her own distinct style to her but she's definitely a bootleg copy of Bulma. Child genius female super-mechanic who attaches herself to Goku after seeing how powerful he is and happens to be the daughter of the most rich and powerful family in the region. There's visibly a lot of Bulma in her character DNA.

Even her logo on the front of her shirt often looks like a C because of the stuff covering it.

Which is kinda making me start to wonder if Glorio is a bootleg copy of Future Trunks. Grim and serious demeanor, showing up out of nowhere in a magical fantasy vehicle, leaning on a weapon but also being able to fight without it, that jacket... Huh.

HAHAHA NO

Goku, sure, but Kaioshin is one whole Fuck No in the realm of fighting Majin Buu. It is thoroughly established that he'd be up shit creek without a paddle in a straight fight with Buu.

...

In fact, so is Goku. The only form of Buu that Goku has ever been a match for is Fat Buu. And that is strictly hypothetical, based on Goku's impression of Buu versus how strong Super Saiyan 3 is supposed to be..

Strictly hypothetically, his Super Saiyan 3 could waste Pure Buu too. We all saw how well that worked out.

"Wait but wasn't Goku holding back so Vegeta could have a turn?"

Common misconception but no. Vegeta accuses Goku of that, but Goku was sincerely giving Buu his all and getting wrecked. Super Saiyan 3 is the only form Goku has that can match Buu on paper, but Super Saiyan 3's drawbacks prevent it from being able to match Buu in practice.

So. Uh. No. There is not a single person in this room that can cash the check that Glorio's stupid mouth has written. Not counting sequel series that haven't taken place yet at this point in the timeline, the only time Goku has ever been on Buu's level was when he had Vegeta to fuse with.

Seems legit. I like the cut of his jib. We should definitely make him king.

He commodifies women as bargaining chips to be bought and sold by their fathers. I don't like the cut of his job. We should not make him king.

Goku proving himself by fighting all the royal guards at once is a fun fight, well animated, and nicely paced. But I particularly enjoyed this moment.

Goku transforming to Super Saiyan not to actually go Super Saiyan but just to use the burst of ki that comes from it as a radial attack to blow the goons away. Weaponizing the power-up itself.

Some real "Shazam hits his opponent with the transformation lightning bolt" energy going on here.

...

I legit thought this guy was going to, like, reveal some sort of power that lets him teleport directly to Earth and then bring back Vegeta, Bulma, and Piccolo in a snap.

I'm looking forward to having Panzy on the team. Especially when Bulma gets here. I can't wait for Bulma to meet Discount Bulma.

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima 01x09 - Thieves

Alright, one Dragon Ball down. What's next?

It's a perfect plan. I'm not hearing any objections. Look at those eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who likes this plan and is excited to be a part of it.

Worst case scenario, we get caught, Goku fucks up a few more cops, and then we can fall back on sleeping on rocks. He just defeated a Tamagami. It is pretty firmly established that there is nothing in Daimakai that could ever touch him.

Yeah, it's the Nyoibou that stands out here. Only nyoibou. Out of every single thing about Goku's appearance right now, the stick is the part that will make people jerk straight up in their seats and go "Holy shit, it's him."

Thank you.

These clowns were legit about to walk right in there, flashing the spoils of Goku's unprecedented and historic victory against a Tamagami around. I'm glad Kaioshin, at least, has two brain cells to knock together.

Goddammit, Kaioshin. You know better than to leave Goku unsupervised during a stealth mission! This is on you!

...from who?

Who would buy one Dragon Ball out of a set that still requires you to defeat two impossibly powerful ultra-foes to collect the others? This is a terrible plan.

The Three-Star Ball in Goku's bag is invaluable. But also kinda worthless. I can't imagine there's much overlap on the Venn Diagram of "People capable of claiming the other two Dragon Balls" and "People buying stolen goods from the black market."

These guys really want to risk an altercation with the guy who defeated the Tamagami in order to steal an artifact that no one would ever buy. They'd be better off calling the cops and asking if there's a bounty on Goku's head.

Appropriate response. You're nasty, Goku. At least ask Piccolo to teach you Clothes Beam so you can conjure fresh dogis out of thin air.

Okay, so we are now using Panzy's Not-Dragon Radar to track a Dragon Ball.

Is it weird that I'm kind of proud of them for this? Like. Someone went out of their way to contrive a new way in which Panzy could be specifically Bulma-adjacent and make it work in-universe. It was a long walk to this pier, and I don't know why they wanted to come to this pier but I'm proud of them for making it.

Is it, though, Banana Beak?

I think Goku's the one making a lot of sense here. And you should probably feel ashamed of yourself when you're losing a debate to Son Goku.

Goku has to be letting them play Dragon Ball Keep-Away for shits and giggles. He can teleport.

Spoilsport.

Aww, she won his approval. I mean, he sucks and who cares what he thinks, but still. D'aww.

The funny thing about Glorio, now that we know what his deal is, is that he thinks he's going to be allowed to betray them. He honestly seems to think that is a thing that will happen.

Sorry, my dude. Once you're in an anime nakama, there's no going back. Just ask poor Vegeta, who once made a temporary alliance to face the Ginyus together that spiraled wildly out of control, and now he's Bulma's himbo arm candy. This team owns your soul now.

"I'll stay up and keep watch" says a person whose only interest or hobby is one that physically fatigues him. Goku made bad choices.

XD It's good to know that Makai #3 is just fucking lousy with plane thieves. Bulma and Vegeta's first day in Daimakai is exactly the same as Goku and Kaioshin's.

XD That's really all he knows about it.

Why do I feel like this is going to be important?

Gomah really thought he could just go zap all the people who vanquished Majin Buu with cosmic fuckery, kidnap their deity, and then fuck off. And they'd just... let him go.

Oh, there we go. I forgot about that. That's definitely the thing on Hybis's belt.

At last, the most important characters meet.

They will either instantly hit it off or ironically hate each other.

When Team Goku was landing in the cop shuttle, I was half expecting for it to be actual cops and then there's a big mistake altercation.

Team Goku seriously just came to say, "Hi, how ya doin'. Anyways," and then fuck right off. The two parties are remaining separate even though we just reunited. XD Why is Team Bulma even in the show? Comic relief?

Oh, that's... actually a pretty cool idea. Bulma and her crew will go handle the plot while Goku's off fighting the unbeatable Tamagamis. And then, presumably, they'll come back together for whatever Next-Gen Majin Buu thing Dr. Arinsu is whipping up.

I'm here for this.

Now that he's officially part of the show for realsies, Vegeta gets an establishing fight that's basically the same as Goku's bar fight, just more.

And also Piccolo is nearby, getting to throw exactly one punch. To be fair, I made a point before of how Goku technically did defeat Majin Buu but really doesn't actually, like... He can throw hands with Buu, but he's still sorely outclassed. Gohan's the only one who can face Buu in a straight fight and win.

But on the spectrum of characters who can throw hands with Buu, Piccolo is....

...not.

Piccolo is just not. He peaked in his Android 17 fight and ceased to be a relevant fighter afterwards.

Since we're in the area of "Less than Cell" for most of the powers we're going to encounter here, excluding the Tamagamis and Dr. Arinsu's project, that's fine. Being able to throw hands with 17 makes Piccolo reasonably well-leveled to this environment. But being attached at the hip to Vegeta? ...yeah, it makes sense he only got to throw one punch.

...they're not seriously saying that Saibamen are Majin too. They can't... No, I refuse. Do Saibamen even have ears!?

Oh goddammit.

Not everything in the Dragon Ball universe has to be Majin. Can't wait to find out that Frieza and Cold were secretly Majin all along too, and their... whatever's going on there is just a fancy version of pointy ears. Somehow.

Namekians and Kaioshin, I was like, "Yeah, okay, sure, whatever. This was already kinda-sorta canon." But this one actually bothers me.

I still love that Dr. Arinsu's witch's broom is a hookah. She's just over there getting stoned while Marba works.

He looks like Golden Frieza.

Why.

Why is he Golden Frieza.

I was being sarcastic. So help me, if this does end up being somehow linked to Frieza I will throw things.

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima 01x08 - Tamagami

Here we go! It's time to throw hands with a Tamagami. I'm excited to see what they're made of. They've been hyping these things all season thus far.

The opening fight with the Tamagami is another example of how good the animation and fight choreography is in this series.

Dragon Ball has so few weapon battles, so this is a lot of fun to see.

Which makes it a beautiful portrayal of anime's philosophy on weapon combat.

This is my favorite soapbox topics, but this is Daima's first weapon duel so I haven't had a chance to gush about it.

There are major fundamental differences between the way American media thinks of weapons versus anime. This is because of differences in the philosophy of what a weapon is.

The American conception of weapons is rooted in gun culture. A weapon is power. A person is not powerful, but a weapon can bestow power upon them. Possession of a weapon grants the capacity for violence that did not, that could not exist without it.

But anime's conception of weapons is rooted in samurai culture. The weapon is nothing. It's just a thing. It has no power. It can only become powerful when it is in the hands of its wielder. It's an extension of the warrior, a mechanism through which they channel their power, their strength, their skill and ability.

In anime, a weapon can only ever be precisely as powerful as the hand that holds it. No more and no less.

This is why Trunks's sword can be strong enough to cut Frieza in half yet do nothing to Goku's finger and break against Android 18's arm. Because the sword's strength is his strength manifested.

This fight was over right here in this moment.

When the Tamagami's power, when the extension of their being, fractured against Goku's.

The fight kinda seems fairly even from there. Blow by blow, Goku and the Tamagami both struggle to land hits on the other for most of the hand-to-hand fighting that follows.

But actually, no. Goku dominates this fight. This poor Tamagami gets his clock cleaned while putting up the barest resistance.

There are two solid hits, and they're both Goku's.

The first is when Goku stops the Tamagami's punch - which, again, goes to show how much stronger Goku is than the Tamagami. He comes roaring in at full-speed for a flying punch and Goku breaks his momentum and cancels the entire attack with one hand.

Then Goku parries his arm and delivers a spin kick to the Tamagami's face, drawing first blood. Metaphorically speaking; The Tamagami doesn't bleed.

The second solid hit is this kick to the back of the knee.

The Tamagami recovers and is able to deflect Goku's follow-up ki blast, but it's still more of a hit than anything the Tamagami ever lands.

We see an interesting parallel during this fight between Goku and the Tamagami in the way they react to enemy ki flurries. The Tamagami lets off a flurry of shots here.

Which Goku deftly zips around. For his part, Goku attempts a similar flurry here.

Which the Tamagami blocks. There is a sizable mobility difference between the two fighters. The Tamagami's able to follow Goku's movements and react in time to block or parry his moves.

Even with Goku zigzagging around, the Tamagami never loses track of him. Never gets blindsided by an attack it couldn't see coming.

But there's a difference between being able to follow Goku's movements and being able to match them. Goku is light on his feet and fights circles around the Tamagami, while the Tamagami takes more of a bruising juggernaut style. A slow but unstoppable powerhouse.

That. Presents a problem. When we've already established that Goku's strength surpasses the Tamagami's. Goku is fast enough to fight circles around them and strong enough to snap the expression of their power in half. They have nothing.

We see how thoroughly Goku dominates one last time right at the end, when it seems like we're about to get one of the series's iconic Beam Struggles.

Only for Goku's ki to punch straight through the Tamagami's attack like a knife puncturing a water balloon.

It's honestly surprising how thoroughly Goku manhandles the Tamagami. These guys are supposed to be tough enough that even Dabra couldn't take them. Goku and Vegeta were shit-talking Dabra on Babidi's ship, but Gohan did have to go Super Saiyan 2 just to fare as well as he did in that fight.

Man, I guess Gohan let his abilities slide more than we thought. Which. Yeah. That check out. No wonder Vegeta was so furious.

The final test is really interesting too. Traditionally, shell games are a con. You've already lost from the moment you sit down to play. The ball is not under any cup. It's a sleight of hand trick, palming the ball to make it look like you had a chance.

And that is how the Tamagami plays it, but not exactly.

They still cheat, but in a way that's observable if you're fast enough on the uptake. Because you aren't supposed to beat their shell game by just guessing and hoping for the best. This is a test of Goku's observation, and by discarding the Dragon Ball in this fashion, they remove the element of luck from the table while preserving the element of observation.

I have so many questions about how Dr. Arinsu was able to snag a piece of Majin Buu and only 50/50 confidence they will be answered satisfyingly.

However, I am very excited that she has a piece of Majin Buu.

She rides a giant hookah like a witch's broom. Because what's better than traveling in style? Being able to do your drugs while in transit.

Loving the witchy angle we're getting here. I was expecting Dr. Arinsu to be another wicked laboratory scientist type so I am pleasantly surprised by this development.

Continuing down the road of attempting to formally canonize every piece of information Toriyama's ever given in post-series interviews. According to out-of-series interview lore, Bibidi was actually never Majin Buu's creator at all. Buu is an eldritch being of unclear origin that Bibidi merely acquired.

This one seems to have been retconned again, however, in a way that splits the difference. Bibidi still didn't create Majin Buu, but only because this other character standing slightly to his left did it instead.

They're also now pinning the new "All pointy-eared races were secretly Majin all along" lore to Majin Buu's creation. Majin Buu driving the other races away is the reason Namekians fled to the outer world, the reason Dragon Balls exist out there, the reason the whole series can exist.

Someone took it upon themselves to try and make Majin Buu more directly associated with the plot and events of the series and less just. Like. A weird thing that happened one day that has nothing to do with anything.

In the original series, Buu feels utterly divorced from all established storylines and characters. Some god we've never heard of just shows up one day and goes "OH NO A NEW VILLAIN HAS ARRIVED" and we have to go fight him, and that's it. That's the entire plot. New bad guy who dis.

Daima is doing a lot of patchwork to try and hammer Buu into the series lore better. To create ways by which Buu really is an important piece of this universe and really does warrant his status as the Ultimate Villain that it was all leading up to, the very pinnacle of everything that has ever transpired up to that point.

And at the same time to build off of Buu into a new story the way Piccolo or the Saiyans or Frieza or the Androids all springboarded off of what had come before. Simultaneously laying down retroactive connectivity for Buu while also laying down connectivity for itself from Buu.

I'm not a big fan of the way "Everything was Majin all along" shrinks the Dragon Ball universe. I feel about "Namekians and Kaios were all Majin all along" the same way I would if it was established that Saiyans, Namekians, and Frieza were all descended from ancient humans who flew off into space, and actually they were all the same species this whole time.

I liked Namekians better when they were just a cool alien race that existed in space because the universe is weird and requires no explanation.

But I'll take more connectivity for Buu. And if anyone is going to turn out to have been Majin all along, Majin Buu seems like an obvious pick.

So am I. I've been wondering since the start of the series who the Final Boss would be. It obviously can't be Gomah; That little shit is weaker than Dabra. We have a firmly established hierarchy of Gomah < Dabra < Tamagami < Son Goku that makes it unlikely that Gomah could ever have a climactic final battle with Goku.

With Dr. Arinsu now having a new and improved Majin Buu created, the pieces are falling into place. This seems much more like a "Final Boss" type of entity.

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima 01x06 - Lightning

Got: x1 Plane.

Lost: x1 Plane.

Well, that was fast.

*laughs in Daikaioshin*

I could say Beerus or Zeno, but Goku did specify that Kaioshin is the greatest of the "god-like Kaios", not of the gods. Not that he would even know anyway; This is pre-Beerus so he has no way of knowing about gods beyond Kaioshin.

Nonetheless, he's pretty close to right. However, it'd be more accurate to say Kaioshin is the greatest remaining Kaio. There is a seat beyond him. It's just. Vacant.

This is shameless Gohan erasure.

Assuming we're even in-continuity with Super (Which, given the retconning of how Kaioshin and Kibito split, is not guaranteed), Goku hasn't unlocked God forms yet. Ultimate Gohan is the strongest in the universe at this point in time, and the only person who can actually do what Glorio promised the king: Throw hands with Majin Buu and win.

You'd think Kaioshin would know that, since he was there for the whole thing.

These guards interrogating our travelers about Goku's whereabouts is trying to be tense. However, it's hard to sell tension when the only reason anyone seems to be in danger is because Goku's off taking a shit.

We all know he could merc these two guards in five seconds flat if they succeeded in finding him. We've already seen him shitstomp an entire squad of these guys.

Nonetheless, this scene is interesting for the reveal of Panzy's collar beneath her scarf.

They've talked about this before, how all the Third Worlders are collared and can be tracked by them. But there's something really dark and chilling about seeing even the princess forced to wear something like this.

Like "Namekians are actually cross-dimensional beings from another reality who migrated to this universe", "Kaioshin is part of a god-race that's born from tree fruit" is another piece of Toriyama Interview lore finally making its way into the series proper here.

I can't wait to meet the ghost of Dr. Gero's dead son who's inexplicably wandering around Daimakai. :P

You know. This line has me really thinking about Namekians and Kaios/Glinds. We tend to default to masculine pronouns for them because that's what the English translations use.

However, Japanese is frequently a gender-neutral language. It often shuns non-first-person pronouns entirely, preferring to say things like,

Krillin: Goku! We should go spar together! Goku: I would love to spar with Krillin! Krillin: Yeah, it's been so long since I've sparred with Goku and the others. Yamcha: Hey guys, are we sparring? Krillin: Yamcha! Goku came by. Do you want to spar with Goku? Yamcha: Sparring with Goku and Krillin would be great!

In fact, use of pronouns - especially second-person pronouns - can actually make you come across as rude. It can be the equivalent of verbal finger-pointing.

English translations will often insert their own pronouns into the dialogue to sound more naturalistic to English ears. Which means a lot of the pronouns you read or hear in manga and anime are made up by the translators.

It's been a Toriyama Interview plot point for a years now that the Kaios come from a genderless race. But putting a finger on it like this here has me thinking.

I sincerely wonder how much of the gendered language around Namekian and Glind characters in the original manga was actually from the source, and how much was made up in translation?

Like. Namekians have no gender, but the gender they don't have is male. They all use he/him pronouns.

But.

Do they? Or is that just how it got translated into English? Should we have been using They/Them for Namekians and Kaios this whole time?

Very curious now.

That being said, it could honestly go either way. In the same breath that Kaioshin says Glind have no genders....

...he repeatedly genders Arinsu with 彼女 kanojo, the female third-person pronoun and calls her 姉 ane, his older sister. Arinsu is unambiguously gendered with the language he uses, despite bringing up "We don't have genders" as a response to Panzy calling her a woman.

Some real

Panzy: There's that Glind woman too right? Kaioshin: Excuse you, her pronouns are she/her. Panzy: ...that's what I said, though.

energy to this exchange.

Joke's on you, Kaioshin.

You're the only one who has a problem with it. ^_^

His gun is so huge.

Things are finally moving with Glorio now that we know the truth behind who he's really working for.

Makes me wonder what the game plan here is, though. Especially since Glorio thinks he can take Goku, so it's not like they brought Goku here to have him assassinate Gomah so Arinsu could take his throne or something.

The group deliberating the Minotaur's desire to cook and eat them, while also discussing who should fight him? Funny.

That discussion turning from "Glorio should fight him" "No Goku should fight him" into Goku and Glorio stepping outside to fight each other while this poor confused predator just wants to eat?

Priceless. XD This is the best scene that Glorio's participated in yet.

I like the implication that Majin magic isn't something that can be picked up by Ki Sensing. Goku can feel how strong Glorio's ki is, something Glorio himself doesn't know about or understand, but still be surprised by the strength of Glorio's magic because that isn't detectable within his ki signature.

The best part of this fight is the emphasis it pays to Kaioshin sizing up Glorio. He recognizes something in Glorio's magic that threatens to give the game away.

I've been pretty lukewarm on the "Kaioshin investigating Glorio's secret" stuff thus far. Glorio just hasn't been an interesting enough character for me to really invest in his mystery. Finding out who he truly is working for still leaves me pretty meh on the character.

But this whole fight scene, where Kaioshin uses Goku and Glorio's unnecessary pissing contest as a prybar to wrench secrets out of Glorio he didn't realize he was giving away? Perfect.

Bulma tries to get the other ship working and then it doesn't work and fails. And we already know that a Majin is on their way to pick up Bulma and the others so it's not clear if repairing the ship even matters anymore.

It will be interesting to see if something actually comes of this scene or if it's just what I like to call Cashing the Check.

"I have absolutely nothing for these characters to do, I am not ready to advance their story in any way, but I do have some time to kill so it'd be neat if they popped in. Just to say hi and remind the audience that they exist."

That's all I'm expecting this bit to amount to, but we'll see.

Overall, this episode feels like they had one really fucking awesome scene they wanted to write: Goku vs. Glorio, finally showing the full extent of what Glorio is made of and advancing the mystery of Glorio's true agenda.

But needed to stretch it out to an entire episode, and so there's a lot of just faffing about before and after. Some of it's really good faffing about. The Minotaur is hilarious. But it's still faffing about and just counting down the clock until we get to the one important scene.

Far from the best episode we've had, but far from the worst too. And a really fun fight.

[tobiasdrake]

Well, Daima's off to a really slow start. First episode kinda sucks, but it'll hopefully pick up now that the plot's begun.

I know Toei's gonna Toei but spending ten straight minutes watching two new characters watch the Majin Buu saga of Dragon Ball Z feels like a bit much. I sure hope Majin Buu winds up being an important character in Daima because boy howdy did we recap the shit out of who he is and how he came to arrive at this point.

Toei, you're not adapting a manga; You don't need to throw in filler to pad the runtime.

Elephant in the room, Shenron can't actually do this. The wish made at the end of the episode is beyond his power. Weird how obsessed post-Z material is with reverse-aging the characters; They've done this in GT, Super, and now Daima's entirely predicated on it.

They threw in some stuff about "The Saiyans are all using white magic and reverse de-aging them is a white magic wish instead of a black magic wish so it bypasses the established rules and will work!" It's nonsense, but it's kind of necessary nonsense to make the show's premise work so it skates by.

Trying to critique the wish too hard runs afoul of the "Look do you want a show about the cast turning into kids and exploring the Demon Realm or not?" problem.

And I do, so I won't harp on it too much.

But man, it's amazing how little happens in this episode. We get a little establishment on King Gomah and Makai. I'm guessing Degesu and Dr. Arinsu are Makaioshin, a concept that up to this point only existed in supplementals.

They're evil counterparts of the Kaioshin, which is pretty self-evident in the show proper. Especially since they're apparently East Kaioshin's siblings?

Also, I caught that bit about "Dabra's predecessor, King Abra". Well played.

I hope some of the other characters get involved with Daima's plot. "Turn everyone into children and scale back all the power levels" seems like a golden opportunity to give weaker characters their time. It'd kinda be a waste of a premise like that if it still winds up just being the Goku and Vegeta show anyway.

I dunno.

This episode left me feeling about the way I felt before I watched this episode. That is to say, "Oh boy, I can't wait until Dragon Ball Daima starts."

[tobiasdrake]

Maybe if you try to team up on a Tamagami, it just kills you. The regular bouts don't seem to be to the death, so if you lose you get to try another day. But if you don't play by the rules they just go all out and merc you.

I mean. It's not not to the death.

Sounds like you have the ability to concede to the Tamagami and end the fight, but the Tamagami will kill you if you're too pigheaded to know when you're beat.

But your point is well taken. The consequence of cheating could just be the Tamagami going, "Okay, fucko, we're doing this for real." Rules of engagement are very different for a formal competition vs an attempted murder.

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima 01x11 - Legend

Here we go. The band's all here, of the characters we were promised would be. Onward to Tamagami #2.

I half-expected this exchange to end with us learning the Nameless Namekian's original name. This series is going so hard on trying to shore up as much of the lore as possible that I wouldn't be surprised to meet Dr. Gero's son before all is said and done.

(And find out the Androids secretly fled Daimakai eons ago, for that matter.)

"And his solution was to come to your world and provoke you himself into doing it. Yes, we are all well aware of what a tool our King Gomah is.

Things haven't been the same since we lost the true King Dabra in that unfortunate cookie incident. Now we secretly bake effigies in his honor. I make mine with nutmeg!"

What. You have an entire classification of warrior-type Namekians. What is that supposed to even be if not "using power for conflict"?

No, you're fine, Piccolo. It's this tool that's got his head screwed on backwards. There've been warrior-type Namekians for as long as they've existed as a concept.

Well, almost. Piccolo-Daimao was 竜族 Ryuzoku, Dragon Clan, before he reincarnated himself as 戦士タイプ Senshi Taipu, Warrior-Type. But there were also Warrior-Type Namekians in the village Frieza attacked as well as Nail, a Warrior-Type Namekian implied to have had his dormant power unlocked by Saichoro.

This clown's trying to be like, "It wouldn't be proper for Namekians to indulge in violence. That's why I went through all kinds of hoops to essentially put out a hit on my enemies. I want Gomah broken and bleeding in a pile of limbs, but my kind must be above such things. It's okay to have people killed as long as my hands aren't the ones that get bloody."

Meanwhile, he's the only Namekian in history who has ever felt that way. So I gotta say, I think it's just you being pretentious, bruh.

(Though it's possible that Neva might be playing Goku and Gomah against each other for some ulterior motive. Watch him turn out to be Canon Slug. XD This is either a bullshit excuse to disguise his true motives or a bullshit excuse to close the plot hole of why he doesn't just do everything himself. Either way, he's full of shit.)

Kuu is adorable. I love that resting goofy smile they have. They have no idea what we're doing but they're excited to be a part of it.

You know, I knew they were going to make a second one as soon as they held some components back. Kuu reeked of prototype from before they even came out. But I didn't think it would happen this quickly.

Dr. Arinsu's theory does check out, though. Just a cursory glance at Kuu is enough to conclude that they are way more Saibaman than Buu.

Neva's face like, "Yes, and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED."

Both Earth and Namek would have been demonstrably better off with Tamagamis guarding their Dragon Balls.

Kuu said 兄弟 kyodai, the gender-neutral "sibling".

I only bring this up because my mind remains blown by the possibility that Namekians and Kaios may have been They/Them this whole time and that English translators may have messed that up.

Dr. Arinsu's face like, "All twenty-seven minutes of your life, huh?"

Oh wow, Duu is somehow even less of a Final Boss lookin' motherfucker than Kuu. And is also named Duu.

Not to be channeling Toriyama's nosy former editor on main but they have a wicked looking transformation coming or something, right? This one just looks like the Nappa to Kuu's Vegeta.

But Buu also looked harmless when we first met him. They could be trying to make lightning strike twice with that.

Oh, there we go. Kuu addresses himself as Duu's onii-chan, which is the distinctly gendered "older brother". You can have half of Onii-chan's.

As a small linguistic note, he uses the -chan honorific instead of -san when he does this, implying that he wants an emotionally affectionate relationship with Duu rather than a respectful and hierarchical one.

I'm half-expecting Duu to get creamed by the Tamagami too, and that they both together wind up being the ultimate adversary.

Ooh, maybe they'll do a fusion and. Goku has faced down many things, but is he prepared for the noble fused warrior Count Duukuu?

Seriously, I adore these two. They quickly became the best part of Dragon Ball Daima. I am already more invested in them than I am in Goku's journey.

Aww, she's worried about her boys. Dr. Arinsu is undergoing the "Wicked heart slowly melted by love of family" character arc.

Hey, Vegeta, who does that remind you of? Vegeta? Hey, Vegeta! Vegeta! Vegeta! Vegeta!

Yep. He is already doing far better than Kuu. Goofy but strong, like Fat Buu.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA He's learning what his powers are mid-fight and still smoking Tamagami #1 like it's no big deal.

Weirds me out that Bulma keeps addressing it as "Tamagami-sama". The -sama honorific is a way of showing supreme respect to wise masters and venerable elders.

That's not a level of humility and reverence that I usually associate with Bulma. Does she even address Whis as -sama?

I genuinely cannot remember if she does or doesn't.

I love that Vegeta doesn't even react to this pushing of the Goku Button. After all, we're post-Vegeta making peace with Goku being the better of them in the final battle with Pure Buu but pre-Vegeta and Goku's character regression in Super.

This is Battle of Gods Vegeta, who had finally accepted a certain measure of humility and put his pride aside for the sake of more important things.

He wants to take a crack at a Tamagami. But not to prove that he's better than Goku.

And, on that note:

Goku's fight with the Tamagami was pretty well-paced, because it could be centerpiece of the episode. Not only does Vegeta's fight have to share screentime with Duu's, but they want to make a cliffhanger out of it.

So it runs afoul of the Anime Saiyan Fight problem. Which is that the anime wants to create tense moments and exciting suspense out of these characters getting their shit kicked in. They do that to set up an exciting, climactic reveal where they suddenly and dramatically unlock the ability to go Super Saiyan for the umpteenth time. Even though there is literally nothing stopping them from going Super Saiyan at any point prior to the sudden, dramatic re-unlocking.

"Goku is getting trashed in his base form. But then. Out of nowhere. His power swells up and he suddenly goes SUPER SAIYAN!?!? WHAT!?!? SINCE WHEN COULD HE DO THAT!?!? (For the 87th time.)"

This is how the anime and anime movies always treat the power-up forms. They do this so much that anime-onlies think this is what Dragon Ball fights are actually supposed to be like. But it just makes the preceding action feel hollow if it's not paced as a steady ramping up.

This fight is paced as a shitstomp-until-sudden-powerup. And when characters are getting shitstomped at 1% power, it's always impossible to get invested in 'cause. Like. Vegeta is choosing to let this happen to him. He could stop this any time he wants, but he is allowing it.

Vegeta is allowing himself to be nearly eaten.

Hell, he doesn't even transform to get out of this. He just tries harder.

"Oh, wait, instead of using 0.2% of my power and being eaten, I could use 0.5% of my power and not be eaten."

Riveting choreography there.

Vegeta is choosing to let this happen to him.

Vegeta is choosing to let this happen to him.

The episode ends on the cliffhanger of "BUT HOW WILL VEGETA SURVIVE BEING EATEN BY THE KRAKEN!?!?"

And.

You know what?

I bet he escapes.

By using the power he has free access to. Because he could just not let this happen to him and is in no real danger.

Hopefully, once this cliffhanger is neatly resolved by Vegeta just trying a little bit harder, we'll get a real fight next episode.

But at least we have Duu's genuinely fun and interesting fight for this one.

[tobiasdrake]

Oh, shit. New episode of Daima. For some reason I thought this aired on Saturdays but apparently it's a Friday release schedule?

Hahaha, what? Since when is that a thing? XD That is not a thing.

There is a bit of inconsistency with Shenron in post-Z materials. Resurrection F had a plot hole where Shenron only granted two wishes.

So, the way the rules work, Shenron will grant three wishes unless one of them is a mass-resurrection; That basically uses up two wish slots. You can also bank wishes, having him grant less than three in order to shorten the Dragon Balls' recharge time.

But a lot of people struggle to remember how this works, including official creators who work on Dragon Ball. Resurrection F had a notable plot hole where Shenron granted only two wishes despite not granting a mass-revive.

The Broly movie (the good one) only had him grant one. So this new rule Daima pulled out of its ass kinda works like a rules patch to fill in those plot holes. Oh, that's why Cheelai only got one wish!

Resurrection F is still borked. You can reason out that, because the Pilaf Gang were there and they've summoned Shenron once, the group counted as a regular. But the original problem of only getting two wishes granted remains a plot hole.

So... yeah, okay. It's a rather abrupt fix but I'll take it..

...hang on, remind me what the wish was again?

Oh! Okay. Carry on. I was confused by how people like Dende, the Muten-Roshi, Bulma, and Chi-Chi qualify as having fought Majin Buu but the "and their friends" bit covers it.

I mean, they were killed by Majin Buu. But if that was enough to qualify, the entire planet would be children right now.

So, yeah, this threw me but no, we're good. Nothing to see here. The wish was suitably broad as to cover the entire cast.

Far away, in a park somewhere, Ranger 17 is trying to figure out if spontaneous chibification is byproduct of being made into a bio-android that Gero didn't live to explain to him. Is he going to keep de-aging until he's a fetus!? Bulma's voicemail is blowing up right now.

Yamcha's date just got super awkward.

Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu are continuing to spar and refusing to acknowledge it.

We are all going to ignore the existence of Mr. Buu because this plot is not ready to deal with the fact that it just turned him back into Pure Buu. But that's okay because Dragon Ball is used to ignoring Buu. Maybe the paradox of being, himself, Majin Buu but also being a friend of the people who fought Majin Buu shielded him from the effect.

Shapner and Erasa are even worse off than 17, since they don't even have a contact to get answers from. Fortunately, the rest of Gohan's class is probably fine. Those two were the only ones he seemed to talk to.

Somewhere, deep in space, exactly one member of the Frieza Force hung out with Vegeta during off-hours way back when, just enough to be having the weirdest fucking day right now.

Piccolo has not caused a single person to be afflicted as collateral damage. Let us all take a moment to celebrate his dedication to loneliness.

I want him on the team.

...actually, I want Videl on the team, but since they obviously won't give me that, I will accept her father.

Where are Videl and Gohan, anyway? They're right on the fence where they could have gone either way with that wish.

I can't stop looking at Popo's horns. We've never seen him without his turban anymore. Are we finally about to get an explanation for what he is and where he comes from? Is that answer going to be Makai?

Oh, I'm sorry, Daimakai. Not the Demon World. The Great Demon World. Like how "Demon King Piccolo" is actually Piccolo-Daimao, not Piccolo-Mao.

Goku: Man, I wish I had a brother! Popo: Goku, didn't your brother kill you? Goku: Nah, that was Piccolo. I don't know what you're talking about. I'd remember having had a brother at some point.

Really. We're doing "Kami's Spaceship"?

(sigh)

Playing the hits.

DON'T BREAK POPO'S STUFF DON'T BREAK POPO'S STUFF DON'T BREAK POPO'S STUFF DON'T BREAK POPO'S STUFF

SIXTH RULE OF POPO'S TRAINING

Karin didn't get hit by the wish? Man, if I were him, I would feel so disrespected right now.

His godhood can't be what shielded him because Dende did get hit, and he's a higher rank of deity than Karin is. He was just protected because nobody who fought Majin Buu loves him. Awww.

He lost it to Maron (not to be confused with Marron) in a game of strip poker.

I mean, he didn't. That only happened in anime filler, so it's non-canon. But I desperately want that to be where it is, if only so we can send Chibi Krillin to talk to the woman his daughter is accidentally named after.

(By his own admission, Toriyama didn't watch the anime. Which makes that particular oversight hilarious.)

I hope we can spend as little time as humanly possible with the Muten-Roshi.

The "joke" of him being an insatiable sexual predator is generally noxious and the anime often dials it up to 11. But in this particular circumstance, where he's way too young to be hitting on adult women but also a 300-year-old man which means inflicting him on girls "his age" would be extremely gross?

Yeah. Let's just. Have as little of this guy as possible.

That said....

The other recurring Roshi gag where he is unforgivably irresponsible with ancient magical artifacts of legendary repute is put to great use here.

Piccolo: I don't even remember Namek. Do you remember Planet Vegeta? Vegeta: I remember Planet Vegeta. Piccolo: Nobody cares, Vegeta. Vegeta: :( If I wasn't chibi I'd kill you all. Bulma: That's nice, dear.

Oh, I am absolutely going to underestimate the shit out of him.

He only became king of Daimakai because Dabra was killed in action. From this, we can presume that he is less powerful than Dabra, who is equal in strength to Cell.

Also. Just. Considering the source. It was literally a running bit that people Kaioshin considers unbelievably formidable were hopeless pushovers against Goku and Vegeta. He is not a reliable judge of who is and is not a thing to be feared.

Still likely a dangerous foe but only because the post-Buu era cast have had their abilities nerfed. If Goku were at full strength he could definitely finger-flick Gomah into the sun.

Daisanmakai, or Demon World #3.

Not the same dai as in Daimakai. 大 Dai means "Great" while 第 Dai is basically a # mark. I wonder if Daimakai is the main Demon World, or a term for the collective of all Demon Worlds? I bet it's the latter.

Oh, hey! We're playing the hits with "Baby Bulma inspects Jaco's spaceship". Congratulations on making it into the Dragon Ball Referential Hall of Fame, Jaco.

It's subtle, and it's remixed very well into the plot which makes it less noticeable, but I still caught that.

Ahh, this was way better than the first episode. Judging from the credits, it looks like Bulma, Vegeta, and Piccolo will be joining Goku and Kaioshin in Daimakai, but the rest of the cast can get fucked.

That's a shame. Not really any point to casting such a broad net with the wish if we're keeping the cast trimmed down this far.

Still, looking forward to exploring Daimakai!

[tobiasdrake]

Part of me wonders if we're supposed to think Vegeta hasn't figured out how to go Super Saiyan in kid form yet. He hasn't been getting in as many fights as Goku

PMC suggested that too. I could see it. I just hope they aren't going to drag it out.

Goku reconnecting with his abilities was paced pretty well, from the bar brawl up to and through the Tamagami fight. For the Tamagami fight itself, Goku's giving as good as he gets in base form before the fight escalates to Super Saiyan at an appropriate moment.

He and the Tamagami match each other pretty well, so the transformation comes off less as "How will Goku survive this!?" and more as "Okay time to get serious." At no point does it feel like the Tamagami is effortlessly folding Goku in half over its knee while he screams in agony and does nothing to stop it.

Contrast, say, the DBS Broly movie. Which. I love the DBS Broly movie. I'd call it the best piece of Dragon Ball media ever made, honestly. But. It does have the problem.

Goku is letting this happen to him.

Goku is letting this happen to him.

Goku chose of his own volition to let Broly win this tug-of-war.

Goku is letting this happen to him.

Goku is letting this happen to him.

Goku is letting this happen to him.

Goku is letting this happen to him.

Goku is still letting this happen to him. He can scream in agony until Nozawa loses her voice and it doesn't change the fact that he could just stop letting this happen to him at any time he wants.

This is the thing I hate about how the anime handles Dragon Ball fights. They try to create fake tension out of "OH NO, How will Goku manage to prevail when 35% of his power ISN'T ENOUGH!?!?" Uh, is the answer that he'll try harder? I bet the answer is that he'll try harder.

Toei just really likes the aesthetic of the dramatic eleventh-hour Super Saiyan transformation and tries to make that lightning strike again every single time they get to choreograph a fight themselves.

The manga, by contrast, doesn't do this. There are moments of "Looks like I'll have to get serious," where the character turns the tide by trying harder. But the build-up to that isn't long and drawn out.

So far, Daima's done a good job of avoiding that too. Goku always feels like he's doing a good job of assessing how much strength he needs to use and escalating where necessary.

But Vegeta's fight, for me, just felt like doing this again. Vegeta's fight is actually easier than Goku's because he explicitly doesn't have the overbearing atmosphere of Makai #3 weighing down on him. Not to mention, we've been expressly told that Vegeta's spent all this time practicing and trying to get back in shape.

And the result is that he fights Tamagami #2 on Easy Mode and gets destroyed like a Yamcha bout? Vegeta. My guy. What the hell have you been doing all this time?

[tobiasdrake]

Alright, here we go with Dragon Ball Daima, episode 3. Onward, to Daimakai!

Hold up, hold up. The transit space is called Warp-sama? With the -sama honorific, which is meant to show respect to venerable elders and mentors and stuff? XD

...I have to know what the dub calls it. One sec.

...

...

Wait, is Daima not being... I think the word is dualcast? Where they release both the dub and sub alongside each other.

Huh. I just assumed.

*google google*

...they're not releasing the dub on Crunchyroll because they want people to turn out for a theatrical release of the first three episodes.

I. Don't know enough about Western anime releases to know if that's weird or not. But it's definitely one solid

from me. Uh. Have fun at Regal Cinema, I guess?

First portion of this episode is spent making the journey through Warp-sama in order to reach Daimakai. Which would probably be more impactful if we hadn't already spent a bunch of time watching King Gomah make the same trip previously.

Like. This would be really awesome to go through for the very first time right alongside Goku, with the same sense of wonder he has, while Glorio's explaining how it all works.

But now I'm just like, "I don't care. I've seen this. I understand what this is. You're rehashing. Get to the new stuff."

Which only reinforces my opinion that the first episode is bad. After spending half an episode watching a Dragon Ball Z clip show, they then proceeded to shortsightedly ruin the beginning to episode 3. This should have been our first exposure to Warp-sama.

I am too, mainly because the closing credits indicated that Bulma, Vegeta, and Piccolo will make it to Daimakai. But I am curious how the PIN number will play into things.

Hopefully this means Team Bulma will get to explore the bureaucracy of Warp-sama and build that out a bit while Goku's having demon adventures.

Especially since it looks like Goku now has a roadmap for getting to Makai #1 without needing to go through Warp-sama to do it. So if Team Bulma does come through Warp-sama, they can probably just meet up with him in Makai #2 or something.

Much like the offhandedly established Tamagami, these pathways blocked by light barriers that we just happen to be passing by reek of plot-building.

Glorio is ominously evasive about his work. TAKING ALL BETS!!! The true nature of his job is:

1 - Something really questionable, like an assassin or personal minion to King Gomah. He can't say it because then Goku and Kaioshin wouldn't trust him.

2 - Something really embarrassing, like King Gomah's pillow fluffer. He can't say it because he wants these guys to take him seriously as a mysterious shonen badass.

This being Dragon Ball, it could go either way.

That Kaioshin too comes from Makai retroactively adds an interesting layer to how fearful he was of Dabra back in the Buu arc. Like.

Before, the context was just that this guy is the strongest guy in all the known realities. He's the ruler of Makai and he makes the mortal realm's strongest, Frieza, look like weak-ass horseshit by comparison. Kaioshin, a legendary super god whose very existence was considered mythical by gods, knew of him by reputation. And what he knew was that this guy is the most to be feared.

But with the new Daimakai lore, Kaioshin was actually one of Dabra's subjects once upon a time. His fear of Dabra isn't reputational; He grew up under Dabra and knows what he's capable of.

And then, one day, he saw Dabra made a puppet to Babidi and brought to the mortal realm. To revive Majin Buu.

Between "Everyone's turned into children again and can't use their abilities effectively anymore" and "The air in Daimakai is super heavy and makes everything sluggish", there's a lot of nerfs in play right now.

It makes sense. They want to do a big RPG fantasy adventure starting from level 1 but with a cast who can sneeze too hard and accidentally break seven universes. There's an effort on display here to try and avoid the "Goten and Trunks are menaced by the STRONGEST SNAKE IN THE UNIVEEEEEEEEERSE" problem that DBS (and GT and often the Z anime, for that matter) had.

Characters don't need to constantly forget that they can fly and teleport and shoot galaxy-crushing super-beams if you bake in a reason why they can't do those things right now.

That said....

Kaioshin ain't kidding. This is moving slow. We're fifteen minutes into a twenty-three minute episode. Apart from the briefest possible altercation with bandits we didn't even get to fight, all we've done is sit in the plane while Glorio reads off entries from the Daimakai Fandom Wiki to us.

Toei, I said this in episode 1 and I'll reiterate: You don't need to write like you're giving the manga space to get ahead.

Riveting stuff. I am on the edge of my seat for Glorio staring into the camera and monotonously explaining Makai #3's geology.

I'm sure this is being established so that it can come up in an interesting way later down the road. I'm just saying, there are better ways to convey information to your audience than by having a character emotionlessly read worldbuilding entries from the Story Bible for 3/4 of an episode.

Robbing the hotel manager that was trying to extort them is the first interesting thing we've seen Glorio do so far. Particularly interesting is his holstered gun, which he used to abruptly cut the bandit attack short a moment ago so he could resume explaining the lore.

It's easy to overlook as an American, given that everyone and their dog seems to have seven different firearms stored under their pillow, on the kitchen table, in the baby's crib, wherever. But having a gun in Japan is a Big Fucking Deal.

So that is certainly interesting.

But at this point, this character certainly has me waiting for the other shoe to drop. He is so deadly serious. There has to be a punchline coming. The ending credits seem to imply that he's got like a little sister or something that will be joining us and I can't wait to meet her because I bet she's going to take the wind out of his sails hard.

Right now, he feels like a straight man in search of an absurd counterpart to bounce jokes off him. Goku and Kaioshin are too busy bouncing jokes off each other to do that.

Ahhh, Toei loves "Big Eater Goku" jokes.

Fortunately, we're far enough removed from everyone constantly popping a Senzu that Goku having his huge appetite back won't constitute a plot hole.

That was a big deal in the Z anime, which pretty much abandoned the "Eating a Senzu means Goku won't need to eat a truckload of food for a full week" rule immediately so they could keep doing Truckload of Food jokes.

But as long as we keep Goku an entire reality away from Senzu, Toei can do as many Truckload of Food gags as they want without adversely affecting the show's consistency.

...I want a Makai hamburger now.

What is the beef made of? Do they have cows in Makai? I bet they have demon cows. Fire-breathing demon cows.

Hey, Exposition Guy, tell me about the fire-breathing demon cows. Can we go fight one?

Oh, Goku had the same question.

...shit, it's probably people. Aww.

That won't bother Goku, though. He is entirely comfortable with cooking and eating sapient beings. I mean, he didn't eat Cymbal, but he was party to it.

YOU, SIR, ARE A WOLF

I know we've established that having pointy ears means you're from Makai. But that man is a wolf. His ear pointiness is entirely incidental and a product of being animal people.

I don't think he's from here. I think he's a fake Majin. I think Earthling animal people are sneaking over here and pretending to be locals.

Goku barfighting local thugs while trying to enjoy his demonburgers is the best part of the episode. Especially for how few fucks Glorio gives about this.

He did a little bit of the fighting to get the action scene started. But then he was just like:

"Ehh, naptime. You guys are on your own."

It's a super fun action sequence, though. Again, the nerfs really help with making a "Goku gets attacked by ruffians" not feel out-of-place. The groundwork has been laid for why Goku can't just punch the air and shockwave them all unconscious in 0.5 seconds flat.

It also helps that Goku doesn't really seem threatened at all by these guys. Instead, he treats this as a training exercise to help him acclimate his body to the thick Makai #3 atmosphere.

So this isn't just a Random Encounter. There's a legitimate narrative reason for him to be fighting them that's in keeping with Goku's personality and character - and also consequences that the episode promises for next episode, too.

But the stakes and the tension are nonetheless kept at a level that seems appropriate for a fight between Goku and some bar thugs.

This is good. More of this, please.

[tobiasdrake]

The Namekians originating in the Demon Realm clears up a lot of the incongruity between classic DB and the later Z lore when it comes to Piccolo, but I'm more excited by the prospect that that Third Eye thing the demons are after could be connected to Tenshinhan

They already connected Popo to Daimakai so I could see them roping Tenshinhan in there too. Kinda feels like Daima is interested in using Daimakai to patch the parts of early Dragon Ball that were never well explored.

IIRC, Namekians being from another reality and immigrating to the regular universe was one of those plot details that Toriyama rattled off in an interview but that never saw light of day in DBS proper.

...or maybe it did, in the Granolah arc of the manga? Gah. I can't remember. But its main purpose was to explain how Namekians can be scattered to other worlds and making Dragon Balls for everybody without having to trace an origin story for every single one of them back to Namek. Namekians are capable of spacefaring technology but is not an active participant in galactic civilization, so it'd be hard to explain why everybody suddenly has a local Namekian.

It's a little janky because. Like. There shouldn't be Namekians on a fuckton of worlds making Dragon Balls for everybody. Dragon Balls being so scarce throughout the universe as to basically be unheard of outside of Namek was an important plot point in the Frieza arc.

But DBS stopped at just having a third set of Dragon Balls and left it at that. So. That's fine. Three is okay.

With Piccolo... I don't know how I feel yet. His demonic abilities came from him being a demon. He was the evilness of God cast off into the world so that God could ascend as being of pure goodness. He was also a Namekian, but his Namekian traits were something distinct and separate from his demonic traits - which were lost following his reincarnation.

I don't know that establishing Daimakai as the really true actual origin point of Namekians for realsies is going to affect Piccolo's background much. But it might. It will be interesting to see where they're going with this.

I have, admittedly, low expectations because I'm just expecting it to be an excuse for Daimakai to have a set of Dragon Balls, and to maybe remix some Planet Namek stuff into the show.

[tobiasdrake]

Here we go with Dragon Ball Daima, episode 4. Goku is finally in Daimakai and things have started moving. Here's hoping we can ride that momentum after episode 3 finished strong.

I still like the way they're using the harsh Daimakai atmosphere to justify the very-much needed nerfs that will make the story they want to tell work.

We want the characters to use vehicles to get around for our show, so here, we'll lay out the rules and explain why Goku can't just fire up his aura and rocket across the entire length of Makai #3 in 5.2 seconds.

For another series, this sort of things might be frustrating. People turn out for, say, Iron Man because they want to see Iron Man do cool Iron Man shit.

But Son Goku is a very nerf-friendly character. His story is a journey of discovery and self-improvement. As a character, Goku isn't about what he can do today. He's about learning and growing so that he can do more tomorrow. Resetting Goku to a lower stage just gives him new mountains to climb.

He's sort of the ur-protagonist. You can plop him into anything. Make him a monster tamer or a sci-fi wizard or a magical girl. And as long as he has a path to self-improvement, as long as he has the ability to hone whatever new skills he's been given and better himself in the process, he'll always fit. It's always about the journey with Goku.

I do find it funny, however, that Goku spent a bit of time in episode 2 having to relearn how to fly and adjust to his new circumstances, but finally started to get a handle on it...

...only for the show to suddenly decide, no, Goku can't fly good for an entirely different set of circumstances and now he has to relearn again. Like. If you didn't want him to be good at flying then what was the fucking point of letting him relearn how to be good at flying two episodes ago?

We could have entirely skipped the "Goku can't fly well due to balance issues and works on getting the hang of it" bit. They nerfed his flying, had him get over the nerf, and then re-nerfed his flying once he actually arrived at the story.

I continue to be amazed at how poorly the first three episodes used their time.

But episode 4 is off to a good start.

The fight with this monster they rolled up on the Random Encounter Table lets us see that Mr. Scowly Man Glorio is more than just a shooty-gun guy, in a way that the low-stakes bar brawl he barely participated in didn't.

It also shows us that there are things living in the Sea of Darkness. We've been told that falling into the Sea of Darkness would mean instant death, so the existence of living predators within the sea implies that Glorio's statement may be more hyperbolic than literal.

Goku assesses that Glorio may be stronger than Kaioshin.

I think that's a fair place to put him. We know that Daimakai is on a different level from the mortal realm, but we also know that level isn't that different. Which is to say, the biggest and baddest guy in Daimakai was on par with Cell, so that's about the power structure we should reasonably be operating in here.

Beyond Frieza, but well below Buu-tier.

Probably except for the Tamagami, which have been suggested to be impossibly powerful foes that no one in Daimakai could possibly challenge, and thus may well be Buu-tier.

Kaioshin himself, despite being a character from the Buu arc, fits into that Android-tier power structure. He was well beyond Frieza but piss-your-pants terrified of Daimakai's very own King Dabra, who is on par with Cell.

So classifying Glorio as "Maybe stronger than Kaioshin" is a fair place to put him. In terms of consistency, this holds up.

Speaking of things holding up....

Goku's body can't move very well in this atmosphere but his mental discipline shouldn't have changed. Nor has it. Goku's ki sensing is still on point, as he detects incoming attacks purely by reading the presence of the creature about to attack.

Ki sensing is something that the anime frequently forgets the characters can do. It's inconvenient for fighters to not be able to lose track of each other and then be ambushed or hit with sneak attacks. Having a mental radar for where your opponent is at all times limits the kinds of surprises that can be thrown their way.

Consequently, Toei would often just shove that ability in a bin when choreographing action that didn't come out of the manga. As such, I'm pleasantly surprised by how much attention is being paid to it here. This is shaping up to be a very different anime.

They even take a moment to discuss, with Goku explaining to Glorio how sensing ki works.

This is interesting in its own way. Not only does it mean Glorio isn't capable of ki sensing, but in fact Glorio doesn't even know what ki is. And yet, he is capable of performing the flying technique bukujutsu. He knows some principles of ki manipulation without understanding the fundamental basis behind how he's doing it.

Not only does this set up Glorio as a character with potential to learn but it puts Goku in the position of being the experienced expert with knowledge to share.

One of the biggest problems with Super was that it deprived Goku of the mastery he's rightfully earned. He never gets to be treated as the master he should be and, if anything, is depicted as less of a martial artist than Vegeta.

So. Y'know. I'm here for this.

I can't stop staring at his hat.

I want to flick it.

Glorio. Glorio. I know you're Super Serious Grim Monotone Man. But. Just once. For me.

Flick the hat.

But without filling your stomach for a full week so we don't have to break series consistency to keep having scenes of Goku eating things. I see what you did there.

Stamina Potions have inconvenient lore attached so we're introducing Stamina Tonics.

And a new Fusion method because why not!

People have argued for years over whether Gogeta could beat up Vegetto. I am ready for Kagerota to enter the conversation.

Sky Seed transit is a fantasy demon realm version of firing people out of a cannon in the general direction of their destination. XD I love it.

It's giving me Secret of Mana meets assassin Taopaipai.

Full disclosure, I really thought that this episode would deal with having to track down the people who stole the plane or something.

That the crew went, "Well, that sucks. Guess we're hoofing it," and moved right the fuck along plane-less took me by surprise. Goku won the barfight but the skyjackers won the bar-war.

Today on "Things not to say to Fucking Son Goku". He's going to go out and collect the Dragon Balls incidentally just so he can fight the Tamagamis.

Goku: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Glorio: Stop it! Stop getting excited!

This is going to be "DO. NOT. Antagonize Beerus." all over again.

The way he said "forfeit years of your lives", my initial kneejerk reaction was that they'd literally suck the youth out of you. Which is. An absolutely horrific punishment. Holy shit.

Then I realized, no, they're probably talking about sending you away to like work in a mine or something. Years of indentured servitude. Which is still brutal and dystopian but in a more mundane way.

NOPE. SUCKING THE YOUTH OUT OF YOU.

FUCK THESE GUYS

I HOPE GOKU MURDERS THEM WITH INTENSE VIOLENCE

And this must be the girl from the credit sequences. On the scale of GT Pan to Caulifla, not great that her debut features her attempting to have a cool moment, immediately tripping over herself and flailing uselessly, then needing to be heroically saved from her own incompetence by Goku.

Definitely feeling the Pan vibe right now. However.

That taser seems to pack a hell of a punch, though. And the credit scenes suggest more of a gadgeteer Bulma-type character than a punchy-punch fighter, so I'm willing to see where this goes.

That said, the Goku fight is beautiful.

Very "Red Ribbon Army fight" meets "Rescuing Dende from Destroyed Namekian Village" while still having its own distinct identity. It's got that same RRA vibe, where you can feel the visceral difference between Goku and these shock troops. His well-trained skill and experience is on full display. His body simply moves in ways they don't know how to deal with.

Yeah, I'm nervous about how they're going to handle the new female character. Dragon Ball's women are few and far between and they have been very hit or miss with them. Their track record with the like 0.5% of their cast to have a bit of estrogen leaves a lot to be desired.

Nonetheless, episode 4 is by far the strongest yet. It dragged for three episodes but now that all of the setup is complete and we're actually doing the fun stuff, things are going strong. Hopefully, it's all uphill from here.

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima 01x07 - Collar

Well, that's an episode title. Guess it's time to talk about that collar that Third Worlders have to wear.

...hehe...

...hehehehehehe....

...a lot of time, you say?

<.< >.> There's a room for that. Right here in this temple. Room meant for just such a scenario as this.

It's a perfect solution. Take the ship into the Room of Spirit and Time! Bulma can go in there, immediately implode from the intense atmosphere pressure, and then this is all-a y'all's problem now, fuckos. Wish me back when it's done.

Don't worry, Bulma. This feels primed to become important to the story later down the road, after we've been to Daimakai once and conveniently picked up the missing element.

It could just have been a goose chase to give these characters something to do while waiting for their turn at the plot, but I'm going to give it the benefit of doubt and assume the ship's been set up as a Chekhov's Gun.

At some point we'll be back here like "But we need to get back to Daimakai! How do we do that? Oh, I brought this neat rock back with us...."

The way Vegeta takes one step to the side as he turns, with audible footstep as the only sound that breaks the silence. Moving positions specifically to shield Bulma from whatever fresh Hell this is.

He only has one job around here but he is going to fucking do it.

Bulma: If I had a nickel for every time a Majin conveniently showed up right here in a spaceship to take us to King Kadan while I was working on this ship, I'd have two nickels....

WHO'S READY FOR ANOTHER EXCITING ROUND OF DEBATES ABOUT GOKU'S FATHERHOOD LET'S GO

What. XD Why isn't Popo looking after the temple? When did it suddenly become Kibito's job to do housekeeping for terrestrial deity Dende?

Did Popo pull "Pecking Order" the second Kibito was left alone with him for the first time?

Daima is going so hard to assure the audience that it remembers all of Goku's abilities. Trafficking him through a surprise inspection by remembering that he can just fucking teleport. XD

While also once again marking itself as not existing in continuity with Super. "Goku can't sense God Ki" is not a thing in this series.

It's funny that, despite the clever scheme to avoid suspicion, we end up having to beat up the soldiers anyway. Sometimes plans go awry. That's just how it is.

And the worst-case scenario happens!

STOP. WRECKING. THEIR. PLANES.

GUYS. GUYS.

WE SHOULD STEAL ONE OF THOSE.

GOKU YOU CAN TELEPORT

WE LITERALLY JUST WENT OVER THAT YOU CAN TELEPORT

TELEPORT ONTO THE PLANE AND CLEAR IT OUT SO WE CAN HAVE IT FOR OURSELVES

no

okay

BUT NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING

Incidentally, "Gendarmerie" is a weird way for the subtitles to translate 憲兵 kenpei. It means "Military Police". Gendarmerie isn't incorrect, but it is a weird French word that nobody says so I'm not sure how many native English speakers even know what that means.

Like. Imperial Stormtroopers are a Gendarmerie. But if you said "You know the gendarmerie from Star Wars?" nobody would have any idea what you're talking about. What the fuck is a gendarmerie?

I'm pretty sure this happened because if you stick 憲兵隊 kenpeitai or "Military Police Squad" into Google Translate it comes out:

Thanks, Google. That's French, but sure.

That is probably not what they're going to be called in the dub.

You know, I was wondering about that. If you put an indestructible collar on an infant it's going to strangle them eventually. The size has to be adjustable in some way or another or else the logistics just don't work out.

I'm glad they didn't drag the collar drama out too much. Panzy had it for just long enough to establish what it is and explain how much it fucking sucks, and now it's gone.

KAIOSHIN OFFICIALLY HAS A REAL NAME

Bootleg Bulma has a Bootleg Dragon Radar. She uses it for something else but still. The audacity. They aren't even trying to hide that she's derivative.

Okay he says that, and I'm sure Goku will abide by it because Goku's an athlete first and foremost. He's in it for love of the game. He wouldn't have it any other way than a 1v1 match.

But. Like.

What actually enforces that? That's a weird thing to have as a rule. The way this works is there's a big scary robot man with a Dragon Ball in its chest, and you have to defeat the robot man to get the Dragon Ball, right?

What's to stop three guys from jumping the Tamagami, beating the shit out of it, and taking the Dragon Ball? I mean, if they can win that, then... I mean, a win's a win. You're beaten to a bloody pulp; You aren't exactly in a position to contest the victory.

What stops "cheaters" from taking the Dragon Ball? Will the Tamagami file a formal complaint with the Wish Dragon Committee?

I dunno. I get the concept of "There are these insanely powerful warriors who are so OP that no one has ever matched them, and they guard the Plot Tokens." What I don't get is how there would be traditional Rules of Engagement for challenging such entities, or why anyone not named Son Goku would abide by them.

I love how Panzy's scarf initially disguised the fact that she was wearing a collar, and now it disguises the fact that she isn't.

Oh, this is definitely related to Glorio.

Some of the lines in the subs have this weird conversion artifacting that you'd expect to see from poorly encoded fansubs but not in an official product. Between that and the Google Translating I caught them doing, I have concerns.

It's fun when characters use powerful characters as yardsticks without realizing that our protagonists surpassed them a while ago. Remember that time Kaioshin tried to convey how strong he was to the Super Saiyans by comparing himself to Frieza? Same energy. XD

Dabra's a more relevant yardstick than Frieza was at that time. But still, what Panzy doesn't know is that the only one of the Saiyans Dabra was a threat to was Gohan, and only because he was out-of-practice.

I was not prepared for these things to have personalities and I am so, so happy that they do.

This is gonna be fun.

Ahh, what a fun episode. This one kept things moving and never felt dull. We learned some interesting new details about the characters. Panzy got her collar off. And now Goku's going to fight his first Tamagami. Looking forward to the next.

Also Team Bulma is finally in Daimakai. I wonder when they'll catch up to Team Goku? It'd be kinda funny if they just remained in pursuit for the entire series. XD

[tobiasdrake]

You: Connecting all of this stuff to the demon world is getting a bit ridiculous. Not everything can be from the demon world The Show: Literally the entire universe was created by a dude from the Demon world.

I know, right!? XD

Is it weird that I'm actually more okay with that?

Like. Before that reveal, it was just like... This is actually from the other world, and that is actually from the other world, and that thing over there is actually from the other world, and they're all disconnected and have nothing to do with each other but they're fucking from the other world.

And it felt like... at a certain point, you're just grasping at straws to make the other world relevant to the lore.

But with this development, it's like... oh! Okay. It's not "the other world", it's the ancient history that predates our world. Anything that's suitably old enough would have to have roots in it.

It clicks Makai into the lore more strongly than "These people fled Makai long ago, and those people fled Makai long ago, and THOSE people fled Makai long ago, and THOSE OTHER PEOPLE...."

It's just. Oh, this is ancient? Then it remembers Makai. Got it.