Summary

• Dragon Ball Daima debuted in late 2024 as a new series set before Dragon Ball Super and right after the end of the Buu Saga.
• Initial skepticism was dispelled by the first episode's old-school Dragon Ball essence, hitting fans with nostalgia.
• The show's pacing issues are causing a drop in viewership, urging a need for faster progress and more of an emphasis on substantial story beats to happen at a much more frequent rate than what is currently being shown.

When the news broke of a brand-new Dragon Ball anime coming to screens in late 2024, fans were left shocked and excited at the prospect of seeing their favorite heroes on the screen for the first time since Dragon Ball Super went on a hiatus in 2017. Although most were expecting and hoping for a second season, they were still left pleasantly surprised when it was revealed that this was a new series altogether.

Although many were skeptical after hearing the premise of Goku and friends being turned back into children, the first episode really changed the minds of many detractors. This is because it felt like old-school Dragon Ball, filled with Akira Toriyama's signature blend of action and comedy. Since then, however, the viewership for the new series has experienced a notable drop, and the pacing can be a big reason for this.

Daima's Pacing Problem

Daima Needs To Pick Up The Pace

Daima is a canon story of Dragon Ball that takes place right after the Buu Saga ended, so none of the aspects of Super are included within the story. The main premise has to do with the Demon Realm itself, where there is now a power vacuum following the death of the Demon King, Dabura. This has prompted another Majin by the name of Gomah to succeed Dabura in the role of Demon King.

To consolidate his rule and prevent any forces from threatening it, he travels to Earth to use the Dragon Balls to depower all the Z-Fighters by turning them into kids, since he couldn't wish to kill them. This wish sets the series in motion, with Goku teaming up with Shin and new characters by the names of Glorio and Panzy in the Demon Realm to find baby Dende and use the realm's versions of the Dragon Balls to wish everyone back to their most powerful states.

While the plot seems very straightforward and easy to grasp, the biggest problem that fans have with it is the fact that it's taking far too long to get going. Although an argument can be made that the series is taking its time to flesh out the world and lore of the universe as much as possible, the fact of the matter is that, in doing so, it's really halting its pace, so much so that many have dropped watching it because nothing of value has happened yet.

The main thing is that Goku has to fight against each of the 3 Tamagami in order to acquire the Demon Realm Dragon Balls, which, as of Episode 6, he hasn't done so far. It has been revealed that the total episode count for Daima is 20 episodes for the first season, so many think that it is going at a snail's pace to do so, having 6 entire episodes with no substantial plot developments. If this continues, fans will have to wade through many episodes to get to the parts where something major happens.

How To Fix This Issue

How Daima Can Improve Its Pacing Issues

In defense of Daima, the world-building is actually very engaging and sets up the future of the series by expanding the lore quite a bit. The problem here isn't the quality of what's being shown, since that is great, but rather the speed at which it's being shown, so the one thing that the creators of this show can do is to have massive story beats occur far more frequently than what is currently being shown. 20 episodes is a tall order for any show, so Daima can't afford to have too many filler episodes in the middle.

Hardly anyone comes to the Third Demon World aside from on business.

Moreover, fans of the franchise are greatly anticipating the return of the current timeline with the Dragon Ball Super manga and the second season of Super as well. So, by setting small Easter eggs for that part of the universe or even sprinkling some ideas here and there, it will have a massive role once Super does inevitably return. Daima is currently going strong and with a few tweaks in different areas, it can truly turn into something quite special.

Dragon Ball Daima can be streamed on Crunchyroll.