The announcement of the new Dragon Ball Daima anime has taken fans of the Dragon Ball franchise by storm. While the predominant feeling among the community is excitement for this new installment, there are also concerns that stem from the comparison with two other Dragon Ball sequels/spinoffs, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super. The controversy surrounding GT is well-known, and while Super enjoyed a much better reception (and significant multimedia success), there are still fans who are critical of this official sequel. However, Dragon Ball Daima is already positioned to avoid most of the criticism surrounding GT and Super.
Dragon Ball Daima was announced during New York Comic-Con as the next installment in the ultra-popular franchise. The anime, produced by Toei Animation, will see Goku and the rest of the main cast turned into kids by a mysterious villain. This premise is of course familiar to fans, who will remember Goku turning back into a kid as the starting point of Dragon Ball GT.
However, Dragon Ball Daima will see the direct involvement of Akira Toriyama, who will not only work on some character design (as he did with GT) but craft the story and the setting too. This should already be a reassurance for fans, but there is another, much more important element that will make sure Daima will be better than the much-maligned GT and even than the currently ongoing Dragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ball Daima Doesn’t Need To End The Franchise
The key difference with the other two series is quite simple: Dragon Ball Daima does not need to end the franchise. Dragon Ball GT, being set after Dragon Ball Z, had the unenviable task of ending the franchise, after the franchise already ended. This created a weird and unpleasant situation. Fans of Dragon Ball of course wanted to have more of it after the series ended, so their expectations for GT were incredibly high. When the ending of the show came around, this was even worse because not only it had to top Toriyama’s own ending of Dragon Ball Z, but it also had to close one of the most popular franchises in history. Fans know well how that went, and Dragon Ball GT‘s ending remains one of the most controversial and criticized in history.
Dragon Ball Super had a much better reception than GT, being an official sequel to Z with Toriyama directly involved, however, it also has the lingering issue of how it will end. In theory, Super takes place in the 10 years between Majin Buu’s defeat and the final chapter of Dragon Ball Z, but as the series progresses it seems harder and harder to reconcile it with the ending of Z. So the question remains of whether Super will retcon Z’s 10-years-in-the-future ending – which would enrage “purist” fans – or keep it canon – which could create plot issues and inconsistencies. Luckily, none of that will happen with Dragon Ball Daima, which appears to be (based on the little information available at the moment) a spin-off set either during Super or before its start.
Fans Will Judge Dragon Ball Daima For What It Is
This means that Dragon Ball Daima will most likely be a self-contained story, which fans will appreciate (or not) for what it is. Freed from the need to give a satisfying ending to one of the most popular franchises in history, and with the “main” storyline brought forward by Dragon Ball Super, all that Daima needs to do is tell a good story that fits within the overall franchise, and considering Toriyama’s direct involvement, this should be all but guaranteed. It will be up to fans to judge Dragon Ball Daima when it comes out in 2024, but it’s already clear that the series is free from much of the burden that hindered both Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super.
Source: Screenrant.com
