Highlights
- Dragon Ball Daima has the opportunity to create a deeper story with a more meaningful overarching narrative that resonates with fans.
- The series should move away from repetitive stories and transformations to introduce new elements and avoid diluting the impact of new forms.
- Permanently killing off major characters would add consequence and emotional impact to the story, making it more meaningful for fans.
Ever since its first trailer dropped in October 2023, Dragon Ball Daima has been met with quite a lot of criticism and negativity from much of the fan base. This is mainly because, after going off the air in 2017, fans have been greatly anticipating season 2 of Dragon Ball Super, which is now set to cover 2 fan favorite arcs that see great character and story moments for many of the Z-Fighters.
However, despite the fans wanting to see the continuation of manga into the anime, Dragon Ball Daima does have the elements of making a good show, especially if it fixes the biggest mistakes of the previous series. As loved as Z and Super are, there still exist massive problems that both series have and if Daima can learn from and improve these mistakes, it could do really well.
Switching to an Overarching Narrative Could Give the Franchise New Life
The biggest criticism that the entire Dragon Ball franchise gets is the lack of an overarching narrative. Ever since the start of Z, the series has been structured into an arc or saga format, where whenever one major event happens in an arc, the series just transitions to a new one, only keeping the same characters and very little semblance of a singular, main plot.
Due to this structure, every arc sort of feels like a standalone story and, while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can make a story feel disjointed and aimless at times. In the case of Dragon Ball, there isn’t much of an overarching narrative and each arc just starts with a new adventure that the heroes go down and eventually come across a new enemy that they have to get stronger to defeat.
Though many would argue that this is because Dragon Ball is a pure shonen series, it doesn’t mean much as some of the most incredible stories in the entire industry come from shonen, such as One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen. Daima has the perfect opportunity to tell a deeper story that can resonate with fans and have lasting implications for the world.
The best way to do this is by making the story mean more than simply just getting stronger. Though Super starts to tell a more layered and intricate story with the introduction of Granolah and the past sins of the Saiyans, it ultimately falls upon Daima to show viewers that this world has much more to give.
Ditch the Repetitive Stories & Transformations For Something Different
As loved and iconic as the many Dragon Ball series are, the various arcs seem to get repetitive and predictable. Jumping off from the last point, the overall story needs more cohesiveness, in a way that an event would matter for far more than just that one arc that it happens in, having implications for further events that take place years down the line. The way that most of Z is structured shows that there is a new villain who is just stronger than all the ones that the heroes have faced before.
The end point of this kind of storytelling always plays out the same way; the villain is stronger than all those before it, it defeats the heroes, the heroes unlock a new form, become the new strongest and then defeat the villain. Earlier on in the series, this was incredible due to how little it used to happen. Goku’s transformation into Super Saiyan against Frieza remains the most iconic anime transformation of all time, as well as Gohan’s transformation into Super Saiyan 2 being many fans’ favorite moment in the series.
However, new forms are introduced far too often now, especially in Super. This leads to the new and stronger transformations becoming diluted as they are made useless in the very next arc, as seen with Super Saiyan 3 and Super Saiyan God. Daima does seem to be going in this direction though, as it has been shown that the main cast has been turned into children, who have seemingly been de-powered.
Presenting the heroes with a problem that requires more than just getting stronger mixes up the formula and allows for there to be a new element to the series. Like this, Dragon Ball would also have deeper storytelling because of how the arc system has been changed, so there is more to the story than simply getting stronger and out-muscling the opponent.
Permanently Killing Off Major Characters Would Be Huge
Dragon Ball has one of the most beloved and iconic cast of characters in not just anime, but in all of fiction. Throughout the years, Goku and friends have always fought together and have defeated many opponents from all corners of the universe, but one thing that has always put a damper on things is the impermanence of death in the franchise.
The Dragon Balls themselves exist as the ultimate crutch for the heroes to rely on, due to which death is removed as a lasting problem in the world. Due to this, there is no feeling of consequence for the characters. This can greatly bring down the effectiveness of a story, because it would be known that no matter what, at the end of the day, the heroes will be okay as there always exists a way to bring them back to life.
As tough as it would be to see a character from the Z-Fighters die forever, it would have a massive impact on fans and would evoke emotions like the best stories do. An example of a character’s death greatly impacting the world was when Majin Vegeta gave his life in an attempt to kill Buu in the ultimate redemption arc in one of the greatest moments in the history of the franchise. However, much like Goku’s demise, Vegeta would then come back to life, reducing the impact of his death.
Dragon Ball Daima can bring an element of GT into the fray to deal with this issue, so that the time spent with the main characters is even more meaningful as it could end for good at any moment. The final arc of Dragon Ball GT showed how the overuse and mistreatment of the Dragon Balls led to them being corrupted, so they couldn’t grant wishes anymore.
Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
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