Fans have patiently waited for more Super and while Dragon Ball Daima isn’t what many wanted, it’s a positive step for the franchise as a whole!

Five years after the final episode of Dragon Ball Super‘s Tournament of Power Arc, fans have finally received a new trailer for a confirmed new season of a Dragon Ball anime. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly the series everyone was hoping for after such a long wait.

This newly confirmed anime is none other than Dragon Ball Daima, a brand-new series that isn’t part of (but is apparently related to) what has been shown in the Dragon Ball Super manga so far. Instead, Daima takes the series’ beloved characters on an entirely new journey, one that sees them being transformed into children and seemingly having the majority of their god-like powers stripped away. This is a far-cry from the new season of the Dragon Ball Super anime that many fans have been waiting for, which would have featured celebrated manga villains like Moro, Granolah, and Gas, but this may not necessarily be a bad thing.

While not as popular or groundbreaking as Dragon Ball Z, many fans have still come to love and appreciate Dragon Ball Super for what it is, as a more canonical continuation of Z than what was previously provided in Dragon Ball GT. There are some genuinely great moments in Super, plus Goku’s Ultra Instinct and Vegeta’s Ultra Ego transformations have provided a much-needed change to the Super Saiyan formula that was beginning to become stale with Super Saiyan Blue. Dragon Ball Super has gotten its fair share of criticism, but many fans have come to consider some of the series’ most recent manga story arcs to be its best material to date. Dragon Ball Super‘s Moro Arc, in particular, has come to be beloved by many and has created even greater hype around Super‘s potential return.

Unfortunately, Super‘s intense battles largely consist of Gods of Destruction and universe-ending threats, which are vastly different from the childish look and vibe of Daima that’s seen in its trailer. Even though Dragon Ball is by definition a shonen series, it’s no secret that its audience has gravitated more and more towards an older demographic. Those who grew up with the franchise have matured alongside the series. That being said, Daima seems like the type of series that might potentially appeal more to a younger audience. The fear for many fans regarding Dragon Ball Daima isn’t just the fact that it’s very different from what they were hoping for in a new season of Super. For many, this frustration also stems from Dragon Ball Daima‘s potential similarity to one of the most polarizing entries in the Dragon Ball franchise: Dragon Ball GT.

Dragon Ball Daima won’t be the first time Goku has been shrunk back down to the body of a child. The infamous Dragon Ball GT is well known for making this exact concept its main driving force, much to the dismay of many Dragon Ball fans. In fact, Kid Goku’s presence in GT was so off-putting for audiences that his Super Saiyan 4 form has been rumored to be the result of the series’ producers trying to come up with any way possible to bring adult Goku back without an early ending for the series. Whatever the case, it’s clear that the idea of making Goku a kid again hasn’t always been a popular one among the Dragon Ball fandom.

Daima‘s decision to take this route once again has fans understandably anxious, but there are a few ways that this time could be different, and better, than Dragon Ball GT. The most obvious difference between the two is that Goku isn’t the only one who’s beind made into a kid again in Daima–the entire cast of Z-Fighters gets reverted to their child states this time around. As underwhelming as this transformation was in GT, Daima‘s choice to turn the entire cast into kids is an interesting story that’s very befitting of Akira Toriyama. The result is a humorous look at characters who fans never expected to see as children, such as Master Roshi and Hercule Satan. Vegeta as a little kid is sure to lead to some hilarious one-liners from the ornery Saiyan Prince and one can only imagine the types of antics this will cause for Bulma.

Another positive difference between GT and Daima is how involved Akira Toriyama is with Daima‘s production. Toriyama had minimal involvement in GT other than providing character designs and the sequel series’ initial ideas. However, according to Toriyama’s statement following the release of Dragon Ball Daima‘s trailer, Toriyama came up with the story, settings, and many of the series’ designs. Such heavy involvement from Toriyama is good news for Dragon Ball fans, since they can rest assured that they’re in good hands as far as the overall storyline is concerned.

In his statement following the release of Dragon Ball Daima‘s trailer, Akira Toriyama explains that Daima will “close in on the mysteries of the Dragon Ball world.” This makes it fairly clear that Daima‘s story will not only be canon to the rest of the series, but that it will also have some grand impact on the main story.

Despite its conceptual similarity to Dragon Ball GT, it’s clear that Daima isn’t just another random side-quest with the same characters that fans know and love, like Super Dragon Ball Heroes. Dragon Ball Daima is a story that is happening in the same Dragon Ball universe where Super and Z take place.

In terms of where and when Dragon Ball Saima takes place, that gets a little more complicated. Due to the Daima trailer’s glimpses of Majin Buu and Babidi on a screen, it’s very clear that Daima at least takes place sometime after Dragon Ball Z‘s Buu Saga, but likely before the actual end of the series where Goku leaves to train Uub.

Dragon Ball Super is known to take place between this condensed time period, too. Toriyama has elaborated on this window and stated that the Super Hero film occurs very close to the events at the end of Z. This has led some fans to speculate that Daima must take place either sometime during the events of Super, or just before it.

While some have expressed concern that Daima‘s creation could mean that Super isn’t getting an anime sequel series, Daima might actually benefit Super more than it hurts it. In terms of the timeline itself, Daima could provide added context that draws from or even enriches Super‘s story.

More abstractly though, Daima‘s very existence as a series that is ongoing at the same time as Super could have potentially interesting consequences for the latter. For example, Daima‘s more childish, upbeat setting, and styling could free Super up to take an even more adult-oriented direction thanks to Daima alleviating some of Super‘s pressure to appeal to kids.

With Daima attracting a new generation of fans, Super can worry less about appealing to younger audiences and possibly even move into new territory. Goku and Vegeta have been Dragon Ball‘s stars for a while, but making them the stars of Daima could conceivably help ease the two Saiyan warriors out of the narrative more in order to make way for new characters.

Goten and Trunks would be perfect for this upgrade and this transition could be handled in a manner that isn’t as jarring as having Goku and Vegeta completely disappear from the series altogether.

Goku and Vegeta certainly have more story left to explore in Super with Black Frieza’s recent appearance, but it might be best for Super‘s longevity to more seriously explore the rest of Dragon Ball‘s iconic cast of characters. A series like Daima still gives Goku time to shine, but could ease fans into a version of Dragon Ball that features less of him in Super‘s narrative.

Source: Screenrant.com