After the excitement of Vegeta’s Super Saiyan 3 transformation,Dragon Ball Daima’s follow-up episode on Planet Mega definitely feels like a letdown. While it’s tempting to say thatDragon Ball Daima’sMega problem could have been solved by skipping it, and while there is an understandable argument for that,Daimacould have redeemed episode #13 if Goku’s party had stayed there longer. Moreover,Daima’s blunder even makes its inspiration from a classicDragon Ball GTepisodeseem more effective.
The similarities betweenDaima’s Planet Mega andGT’s Monmaasu are undeniable. They are both filled with gigantic versions of everything. The fact thatDaimaeven has Goku devour a huge apple and a Megath giant sit down on a tree stump to eat are obvious nods toGT, since both happen inDragon Ball’sfirst anime sequel as well. However, the similarities end there. InGT, the giant accidentally eats the Black Star Dragon Ball when taking a bite out of an apple and remains oblivious to Goku until they blast the ball from his broken tooth. Meanwhile,Daima’s Megath attacks them.
Daima Needed to Actually Stay on Mega Longer
Goku’s Party Brief Encounter on the Planet of Giants Minimizes the Effect of World-Building
Even thoughDaima’s aforementioned attack feels underwhelming, the series could have salvaged the episode if Goku and his party stayed on Planet Mega longer. By having them leave early, the sequence feels pointless because there arehardly any ways for the series to justify bringing Mega or its Megaths back to the story in a believable way. No one in Goku’s party actually communicates with the Megath they fight, negating the possibility for it to leverage this connection and seek Goku’s group out in some way.
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The fact that the Megath is only a child further minimizes the likelihood of any meaningful reunion since an adult naturally possesses more of an ability to stay focused and would therefore have been more inclined to follow Goku, when a child is more easily distracted. Ironically,Daimaexacerbates the situation further when Vegeta later questions the Namekian Neva about there being a more deadly planet than Mega, leading the old Namekian to explain that there’s another planet of even larger giants called Giga.
Similar to how the child Megath likely won’t follow Goku’s party because he’ll quickly lose interest, his youth presentsless of a chance that he’ll communicate his encounter with his kind, let alone the giants of Giga. This further begs the question of how Goku’s encounter with the child Megath will connect with other Megath, let alone the giants on Planet Giga.
GT’s Planet Monmaasu Is Much More Effective
GT’s situation is much more involved and ironically explores more of the planet than Daima
The irony is that even thoughDaimais placing an emphasis on world-building, it’s actually having the opposite effect. By failing to have meaningful interactions in these worlds,Goku’s party feels more isolated and less connected to them, making their own “world of existence” seem much smaller.Daimamay be alluding to an even larger planet than Mega, but the likelihood of them going there for a meaningful reason is fading into obscurity. Compounding this is that, if such an event did happen, past precedent dictates that it would largely be inconsequential.
By comparison,Daima’s Mega might seem more fleshed out thanGT’s Monmaasu, but that isn’t the case when taking into consideration the latter’s obvious goal. The purpose of Monmaasu was to create a more involved story that eventually led to the Black-Star Dragon Ball’s discovery. In just one episode, Pan gets separated from Goku and Trunks, and each of their unique experiences explores a different conflict, which naturally comes from them being small on a planet of giants. More importantly, Goku and Trunks unwittingly stumble upon a solution to Pan’s separate problem, making their reunion more satisfying.
This isn’t even mentioning how the original scenario that separated them is then brought to its natural conclusion, which happens to involve them obtaining the Dragon Ball from a giant.GT’s episode clearly has a much more involved structure thanDaima’s, the latter of which just requires Goku’s party to escape from one giant after crash-landing there. This isn’t even the first time they crash somewhere, either. Regardless of whether fans prefer world-building, it’s clear thatGT’s episodic structure was delivered much more effectively thanDaima’s world-building.
Daima’s Rapid World Building Is Now A Problematic Trend
This isn’t the first time that Goku’s party has left a new place prematurely
Ironically, this isn’t the first time thatDaimahas repurposed a story arc fromGTbut then dropped it much too quickly just for the sake of world-building. Earlier, Goku’s much smaller party arrives in a village where the people are subjected to Gomah’s greed. If they fail to pay, then their life force is sucked from them. This is clearly a reinterpretation of the situation inGT’s Imecka, whose people are forced to cheat newcomers of their money due to their own lack of it. But within no time inDaima, Goku leaves the village, preventing viewers from connecting with what they just witnessed.
Some might argue that the emotional impact ofDaima’s situation later comes from Panzy, whom Goku meets in this village. Like the villagers, she also has a collar, which their enemies use to find them to absorb their life force, and Goku frees Panzy from hers. However, Panzy was already alienated from the villagers and even had the means to remove herself from their plight. She is royalty and chose to put herself in harm’s way. This is a far cry from the Imeckians inGTwho had no escape from the torments they endured on Imecka.
As a result, the audience is more inclined to empathize with the Imeckians inGTdue to how much more time Goku spends with them. The fact that Panzy easily drops her mission to save the villagers just to travel with Goku alienates her further from their plight, and by extension, her own.
Whether You Like It or Not, Dragon Ball Definitely Deserves Another Live-Action Adaptation
With the resurgence of anime and live-action popularity, it is Dragon Ball’s time to step into the spotlight and redeem itself.
Moreover, the big moment when Goku removes Panzy’s collar inDaimais minimized further because he did so mainly because it was helping their enemies track them. Her freedom feels secondary as a result. Regardless, the impact would have been undeniably much greater ifDaimahad let them stay in the village longer, so the series could focus more on the terrors that these collars subjected their wearers to and thus amplify their eventual liberation from them.
Of course,Dragon Ball Daimacould very well have them return to that village, or even the planets Mega and Giga. However, as more time passes, they become less of a focus in the story, especially since Goku’s party will have undoubtedly explored even more places by that time, and they, too, will have also been lost and forgotten just as quickly as they had been introduced.
Dragon Ball DAIMA
Cast
Dragon Ball Daima sees Goku and his allies inexplicably shrunk into miniature forms, prompting a journey to the Demon Realm. This animated adventure, part of the Dragon Ball franchise, explores their mission to solve the mystery and restore their original statures. Released in October 2024.
