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Well... that was different.

So at long last, the NYCC Dragon Ball special panel has come along and it was... honestly kinda eh from the streaming side. While we definitely got a ton of decent announcements, the problem is most of them were hampered by Toei and Bandai Namco being for some reason really damn stingy by not allowing the footage to be streamed despite them hyping up this event. This was a monumentally dumb idea and frankly I can't understand how it is that we've been through several years of streaming being a thing and these people still don't get how to use it properly to the point where a trailer for a theatrical screening of BoG's extended cut, a film that is now 10 years old, is blocked which is absolutely baffling. So, that being said, we're now getting fed more info and trailers which includes the one everyone was curious about, the next Dragon Ball series. Now all we heard before the stream was we were getting a special teaser. Most assumed correctly it would be regarding the future of Dragon Ball since with Akio Iyoku who is the editor-in-chief for V-Jump being involved in this panel and the fact that many Dragon Ball things have been teased or announced already like the new Tenkaichi? There was no way this could be anything but that. Only question was if this would be a movie or a new show and if it would be a continuation of Super or if it would be something new entirely and... you can see from the image what it is.

The series is known as Dragon Ball Daima, that last word being entirely made up though it would have the Japanese characters that basically make up "Daimaou" which he noted could translate to "evil" in English. Right away this explains why for a little while talk was swirling about a show named Dragon Ball Magic since the characters involved here can also be read as that word and... this is an announcement tailormade to piss off the general western DB fanbase and I am here for it. It's funny because at the beginning of the panel when they were still getting set up, the con guy they had up on stage asked how many in that room were Dragon Ball Z fans and that right away says a lot. On the other hand I personally am someone is an oddball out of that camp and a lot of camps because I'm someone who loves the original Dragon Ball and has been quite positive when it comes to most of the new material and most DB content... except for one which this immediately had people drawing connections to. Dragon Ball GT which was the one series where Goku ended up turned into a child by a wish which also happens here.

Thing is? I'm actually looking forward to this and personally feel like this has the chance to be GT but actually good. For one thing, this aesthetic is perfect. It is basically the perfect marriage of Super Hero's more manga-centric aesthetic with the fluid Shintani style. Everything feels so Toriyama from its colors to its presentation which I'm very glad for. See for these past couple months I've finally been reading through the Dragon Ball manga primarily through the full color releases which has left me completely over the moon with this palette. It's become in fact my go-to color scheme for these characters so anything that skews way closer to this I'm so down for. Toriyama ended a written statement he crafted for the panel with a note that the battles will be different from the usual fare and that they will be "cute and powerful" which tells me considering that Goku has the Nyoibo (Or Power Pole if you prefer.) back a return to something more akin to the days of Kid Goku which makes perfect sense since this is going to release during Dragon Ball's 40th anniversary.

Speaking of which? This allows me to get into my point about how this has the chance to basically be a good GT. One of the biggest problems that series had was its idea of turning Goku into a kid was really poorly handled and very inconsistent. Now the idea was basically by having Goku become a kid again, they'd be able to hearken back to the days of the original DB which is solid enough to be fair, that part wasn't bad. The issue was they did nothing else except say that he couldn't go SS3 and that Instant Transmission stopped working. Otherwise? Everything else was fair game. This meant for instance scenes like the one of him, Pan and Trunks sneaking around just felt pointless because without any proper establishment of why it'd be a bad idea to do so? I can't help but think "But wait, Goku's stronger than everyone here, why are we worrying about the normal police as if they can do anything?" and it keeps going like that throughout pretty much the whole show and since eventually the wish stops mattering because GT makes a hard shift to being diet DBZ? The decision to make Goku a kid just comes off in hindsight as pandering to nostalgia which to be fair this could be considered to an extent too but first, it is an anniversary project and normally anniversary series or films have a tendency to include a few more callbacks than normal and also? Toriyama seems to understand what was needed to make this work since in his statement, he notes that Goku has to make up for his tiny size by using the Nyoibo and considering the shots we get of him floating off from presumably a lack of control over his energy and how we really don't see Super Saiyan? That tells me that this wish whatever it did properly is affecting our heroes and yes, I mean heroes since this affects from the looks of things the entire Dragon Team and the Supreme Kai. Vegeta's a kid, Roshi's a kid, 18 is a kid holding a baby Maron and honestly, it's a smart move for a plot like this since it means the battles are gonna have to be fought more creatively which for me works remarkably well.

Look I grew up with Z, I love me my fair share of epic DB clashes but personally? I care about story and a sense of fun so something like this? It's right up my alley and honestly, I hope it's great. I know people are disappointed because they wanted to see something like the Moro Saga animated and sure there's some disappointment I feel with that too but honestly? I don't think it's that big a deal. Not just because we were never promised it but also I wouldn't be too surprised if that's something that's on the cards for later but that right now, this is the big new thing and honestly? I've consumed the Moro Saga, I've read through the Granolah Saga, I want new things. Would it be awesome to see those animated? Of course it would but I also have experienced the stories, meaning the only benefit I'd get from an adaptation is just seeing this stuff animated. It'd be a similar vibe to when I saw that Super was just gonna be rehashing BoG and RF which considering how they had BoG and RF noted separately in the trailer from Super in a way tells me they fully recognize that choice to rehash the films as a mistake.

The fact though we're getting a whole new tale that aims to get back in touch with Dragon Ball's more adventurous roots is something I'm excited about. To me, while this wouldn't it be my dream Dragon Ball story? This looks fun, this looks like a nice breath of fresh air in this series and honestly I can't wait to see more of it. Thank you all for reading this ramble, please feel free to comment below and have a good day.

Description
Well... that was different.

So at long last, the NYCC Dragon Ball special panel has come along and it was... honestly kinda eh from the streaming side. While we definitely got a ton of decent announcements, the problem is most of them were hampered by Toei and Bandai Namco being for some reason really damn stingy by not allowing the footage to be streamed despite them hyping up this event. This was a monumentally dumb idea and frankly I can't understand how it is that we've been through several years of streaming being a thing and these people still don't get how to use it properly to the point where a trailer for a theatrical screening of BoG's extended cut, a film that is now 10 years old, is blocked which is absolutely baffling. So, that being said, we're now getting fed more info and trailers which includes the one everyone was curious about, the next Dragon Ball series. Now all we heard before the stream was we were getting a special teaser. Most assumed correctly it would be regarding the future of Dragon Ball since with Akio Iyoku who is the editor-in-chief for V-Jump being involved in this panel and the fact that many Dragon Ball things have been teased or announced already like the new Tenkaichi? There was no way this could be anything but that. Only question was if this would be a movie or a new show and if it would be a continuation of Super or if it would be something new entirely and... you can see from the image what it is.

The series is known as Dragon Ball Daima, that last word being entirely made up though it would have the Japanese characters that basically make up "Daimaou" which he noted could translate to "evil" in English. Right away this explains why for a little while talk was swirling about a show named Dragon Ball Magic since the characters involved here can also be read as that word and... this is an announcement tailormade to piss off the general western DB fanbase and I am here for it. It's funny because at the beginning of the panel when they were still getting set up, the con guy they had up on stage asked how many in that room were Dragon Ball Z fans and that right away says a lot. On the other hand I personally am someone is an oddball out of that camp and a lot of camps because I'm someone who loves the original Dragon Ball and has been quite positive when it comes to most of the new material and most DB content... except for one which this immediately had people drawing connections to. Dragon Ball GT which was the one series where Goku ended up turned into a child by a wish which also happens here.

Thing is? I'm actually looking forward to this and personally feel like this has the chance to be GT but actually good. For one thing, this aesthetic is perfect. It is basically the perfect marriage of Super Hero's more manga-centric aesthetic with the fluid Shintani style. Everything feels so Toriyama from its colors to its presentation which I'm very glad for. See for these past couple months I've finally been reading through the Dragon Ball manga primarily through the full color releases which has left me completely over the moon with this palette. It's become in fact my go-to color scheme for these characters so anything that skews way closer to this I'm so down for. Toriyama ended a written statement he crafted for the panel with a note that the battles will be different from the usual fare and that they will be "cute and powerful" which tells me considering that Goku has the Nyoibo (Or Power Pole if you prefer.) back a return to something more akin to the days of Kid Goku which makes perfect sense since this is going to release during Dragon Ball's 40th anniversary.

Speaking of which? This allows me to get into my point about how this has the chance to basically be a good GT. One of the biggest problems that series had was its idea of turning Goku into a kid was really poorly handled and very inconsistent. Now the idea was basically by having Goku become a kid again, they'd be able to hearken back to the days of the original DB which is solid enough to be fair, that part wasn't bad. The issue was they did nothing else except say that he couldn't go SS3 and that Instant Transmission stopped working. Otherwise? Everything else was fair game. This meant for instance scenes like the one of him, Pan and Trunks sneaking around just felt pointless because without any proper establishment of why it'd be a bad idea to do so? I can't help but think "But wait, Goku's stronger than everyone here, why are we worrying about the normal police as if they can do anything?" and it keeps going like that throughout pretty much the whole show and since eventually the wish stops mattering because GT makes a hard shift to being diet DBZ? The decision to make Goku a kid just comes off in hindsight as pandering to nostalgia which to be fair this could be considered to an extent too but first, it is an anniversary project and normally anniversary series or films have a tendency to include a few more callbacks than normal and also? Toriyama seems to understand what was needed to make this work since in his statement, he notes that Goku has to make up for his tiny size by using the Nyoibo and considering the shots we get of him floating off from presumably a lack of control over his energy and how we really don't see Super Saiyan? That tells me that this wish whatever it did properly is affecting our heroes and yes, I mean heroes since this affects from the looks of things the entire Dragon Team and the Supreme Kai. Vegeta's a kid, Roshi's a kid, 18 is a kid holding a baby Maron and honestly, it's a smart move for a plot like this since it means the battles are gonna have to be fought more creatively which for me works remarkably well.

Look I grew up with Z, I love me my fair share of epic DB clashes but personally? I care about story and a sense of fun so something like this? It's right up my alley and honestly, I hope it's great. I know people are disappointed because they wanted to see something like the Moro Saga animated and sure there's some disappointment I feel with that too but honestly? I don't think it's that big a deal. Not just because we were never promised it but also I wouldn't be too surprised if that's something that's on the cards for later but that right now, this is the big new thing and honestly? I've consumed the Moro Saga, I've read through the Granolah Saga, I want new things. Would it be awesome to see those animated? Of course it would but I also have experienced the stories, meaning the only benefit I'd get from an adaptation is just seeing this stuff animated. It'd be a similar vibe to when I saw that Super was just gonna be rehashing BoG and RF which considering how they had BoG and RF noted separately in the trailer from Super in a way tells me they fully recognize that choice to rehash the films as a mistake.

The fact though we're getting a whole new tale that aims to get back in touch with Dragon Ball's more adventurous roots is something I'm excited about. To me, while this wouldn't it be my dream Dragon Ball story? This looks fun, this looks like a nice breath of fresh air in this series and honestly I can't wait to see more of it. Thank you all for reading this ramble, please feel free to comment below and have a good day.