I’ve Been Saiyan’ This Show is Good

I’ve spent much of our reviews pontificating on the tone of Dragon Ball DAIMA, especially our review of episode 4. As I’ve repeated many times, DAIMA has thus far showcased a much stronger focus on adventure as opposed to intense technique-oriented combat, hailing to the series origins in Dragon Ball.

“Episode 5: Panzy” is the first of the bunch to make me question that notion. It instead suggests that we might be in for something splendid, that does not align itself entirely with the style of Dragon Ball or the sequel series Dragon Ball Z. Instead, it may offer something in-between, that takes the best of both worlds.

The episode still felt like an adventure first and foremost, but this episode’s moment of conflict saw Goku utilize a number of techniques from the Z and Super eras, including his Instant Transmission technique, and momentarily going Super Saiyan to overpower a group of enemies.

That in addition to a focus on Panzy, who is a delightfully refreshing new character, made this a very strong episode.

The following review contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Dragon Ball DAIMA.

Plot Summary

The episode opens with the masked vigilante, named Panzy, revealing herself. She makes quick friends with most of the group, as she admires the strength of Goku, and Shin admires her bravery in return. Glorio has little interest in her accompaniment, but the moment she hands a rice ball to Goku, they are friends for life. 

Glorio may be distrusting of Panzy, but she immediately proves her worth, as she leads the group to Kadan Castle through a series of shortcuts. When they are barred from entry by the guards, she reveals herself as the daughter of King Kadan, ruler of the Third Demon World, making her the realm’s princess.

Kadan is a fierce, burly man who is immediately suspicious of Glorio having wasted his time bring children forth, but his tone changes when Panzy advocates for them. I am always a sucker for the “gigantic man who has a sweet spot for his tiny daughter” trope.

Kadan tries and fails to arrange a marriage between Goku and Panzy (harkening to the Ox King’s successful attempt to arrange marriage with Chi-Chi) and expresses shock when Goku reveals he is married with kids. After explaining the context of the scenario, Kadan still doubts the ability for Goku to defeat the Tamagami in his childlike form, and requests to test Goku’s abilities against veterans from the army of the Third Demon World. 

Goku singlehandedly dispatches the entire army, and Kadan is blown away by his strength, agreeing to assist them immediately. He offers a plane and supplies, and sends the flamboyant demon Hybis to aid Bulma and the others in making it past Warp-Sama.

Pansy loads an excessive number of belongings into the ship as she informs everybody she is coming along. After all, this is an older ship, and she is a mechanic, so she’ll be of use. Goku promises Kadan that he’ll protect Panzy if things get hairy, and the two of them seal their newfound friendship with a fist bump.

The episode ends on two ominous notes. First, Shin voices his distrust of Glorio to Goku, as the former has lied about some of the specifics of his arrangement with Kadan. Second, the overburdened ship craps out minutes after taking off, Panzy’s comical amount of luggage being too much for the old ship to handle. The episode ends as we see the ship crash in the distance.

Good thing they have a mechanic now! 

Analysis

Dragon Ball has a tendency towards a very specific type of female character, one that is strong-headed, prone to conflict, and likes to yell. Just about every female character in Dragon Ball feels like some gradient of tsundere. Bulma and Chi-Chi, have significant differences in their character of course, but “yelling at Goku” is a favourite pastime for them both. Even Videl shares the same hotheadedness as the other female characters. 

Panzy is a delightful new character, who avoids this pitfall. Her and Goku strike up an immediate friendship, and while there is no doubt she grows exasperated with some of Goku’s moronic moments (as do we all), she doesn’t follow it up with thirty seconds of exaggerated scolding as Bulma might. She also seems to share Goku’s wanderlust and desire for adventure, and has a keen interest in learning from the journey. I really look forward to seeing more from her. 

I am keenly interested to see where the action in DAIMA develops to, after this episode. Up to now, the fight scenes have consisted of Goku beating enemies into submission with his Power Pole, and hitting them with his hands and fists. This harkens strongly to the days of Dragon Ball, where even after certain techniques like the Kamehameha were learned, battles were still primarily martial affairs.

This is in contrast with Dragon Ball Z where martial prowess was still an important part of fights, but the duels were decided by special techniques, new transformations, and beam attacks. Neither style is better than the other, but it has always been notable how different the two eras felt. 

While the return to a martial focus with DAIMA was exciting, even more thrilling was to see the return of select Z-era techniques like Instant Transmission and Goku briefly going Super Saiyan. They were worked into the fights beautifully.

In Z, most techniques see the episode momentarily slow down to remark on it, whether it is a side character or the opponent. In DAIMA, Goku weny Super Saiyan to escape a grapple, used Instant Transmission to teleport behind an enemy, and the entire thing was worked into the choreography without slowing down or cutting away for reactions from the peanut gallery, aside from a wordless reaction from Shin.

This is delightful, and I think Z-era techniques being used in conjunction with Dragon Ball-style combat will lead to some truly incredible combat scenes.

Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)

This episode did a lot of heavy lifting. It introduced a bunch of new characters, including properly meeting Panzy, King Kadan of the Third Demon Realm, and the comic relief Hybis. Additionally it progresses the story in a huge way with the gang finally in the clear to fight the first Tamagami, while also giving the cast still stuck in the Outer World a clear way to enter the fray.

It does so while still managing to have lots of humorous and enjoyable character moments, and a grade-A fight scene. These plot-advancing episodes tend to not be fan-favourites because they spend so much time setting up for later episodes to have a payoff, but I think they did a great job of it here.

I look forward to seeing Panzy’s dynamic with the party develop, I really look forward to seeing the first one-on-one fight scene between Goku and the Tamagami, and I am enjoying this series tremendously. There has yet to be even a mediocre episode. 

How did you feel about “Episode 5: Panzy?” Did you love the first moment of baby Super Saiyan? Are you still feeling the pace is too slow? Or are you loving the ride? Let us know in the comments below!

Featured Image: Toei Animation

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