Plenty of action, not much substance. 

After enjoying peak DAIMA in “Episode 8: Tamagami” it was perhaps fate that the following episode would be much slower. What was not a guarantee was how non-impactful it would be. I’ve been an ardent defender of DAIMA’s slow pacing, and I still believe it is not the wrong way to approach telling this story. But I guess I have my limits, and this is apparently it.

If the entire series was shortened and this episode never happened, just about nothing would have changed. It starts with Goku losing the Dragon Ball and it ends with him finding it. Vegeta and the gang lose their ship, then get it back.

There was never any doubt that either of these things would happen. Nothing was truly at stake, aside from viewer retention. The regular dudes who stole the Dragon Ball were obviously never going to keep it from Goku, and there was little pleasure in watching him effortlessly dispatch them. Likewise, while it was a pretty sight to watch Vegeta and Piccolo annihilate a pack of talentless goons, DAIMA is rapidly approaching the point of repetitiveness in watching Saiyans punk on groups of, I emphasize again, regular guys.

Here’s hoping the next Tamagami fight is soon.

Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for Episode 9 of Dragon Ball DAIMA.

Plot Summary

The episode begins with Goku and the gang, Dragon Ball in tow, basking in the glory of their victory over Tamagami Number 3.

They decide to risk sleeping at an inn, disguising Goku with a bunny hat. He successfully wears the hat for a couple minutes before getting too itchy and taking it off. This immediately sets off the suspicion of some nearby ne’er-do-wells who instantly peg Goku and the Dragon Ball.

They create a distraction in the lobby, and as Goku and friends come out of their room to investigate, one of the goons breaks through the window and snatches the Dragon Ball. They don’t get very far before Goku is upon them, and in conjunction with Panzy and Glorio, steal the ball back in relatively short order.

Vegeta, Piccolo, and Bulma are meanwhile waiting for Goku at a village near Warp-Sama. Reflecting Goku’s own fate in the early episodes of DAIMA, they had a ship stolen from them after Vegeta effortlessly pummeled a handful of goons during a bar fight. They are left with no choice but to wait for Goku’s crew to arrive. When they do arrive, the reunion is brief, and the news is not what Vegeta wants to hear.

Goku’s ship is too overloaded to carry any additional people, and they are in too much of a rush to wait for Panzy’s father to send Vegeta’s crew a new ship. Goku and friends leave as quick as they came, much to Vegeta’s consternation.

Luckily for Vegeta, Piccolo, and Bulma, a gang of Majin approaches, assembled by the thieves who stole their ship. Vegeta and Piccolo make quick work of the group, who cough over the stolen ship. With that, both groups are now basically together again, albeit in separate ships.

Finally, we check in with Dr. Arinsu and the Great Witch Marba, who are adding the finishing touches to their Majin mixture. Burying a Saibamen seed deep into the soil, Arinsu then waters the soil and activates it. Before them stands their creation, Majin Kuu. He is clearly Majin in nature, and yet has the distinctive body shape and facial structure of a Saibamen.

Feeling confident in the creation’s power, Arinsu orders Kuu to go directly after the first and most powerful Tamagami, of the First Demon Realm. With a cocky smile, the Majin agrees, and the episode comes to an end.

Analysis

Before I take considerable time to whinge, I want to pay due to the highlights. 

I love DAIMA‘s willingness to visually experiment, and it was on full display in Vegeta’s bar fight. Toriyama’s Dragon Ball visual style is a committed mixture of verdant fantasy mixed with retro futurism, so when characters are bathed in neon lights as they explore a modern-style club with techno pounding in the background, it stands out.

The only other time I can remember Dragon Ball experimenting with neon lights was during the Lord Slug movie. It is a visual style that is distinctly un-Toriyama, and yet it works fantastic in small doses, as it did in this episode.

Majin Kuu seems to be a promising villain. We’ll see if he remains the “ultimate” Majin, but his character design is strong. Kuu is obviously touched by Toriyama, he looks like he stepped right out of the pages of Dragon Ball’s “Buu Saga.”

I’ve always loved the concept of the Saibamen, and I thought it was a shame the show never did anything further with them. Seeing the Saibamen serve as inspiration for a new Majin villain is some great design, and while Majin Kuu might not be an all-time villain visually, the design is unique and serves the role perfectly.

Majin Kuu is such a cool development and I am thrilled that he is here and ready to wreak some havoc! I look forward to seeing how he fares against the Tamagami. 

Alright, time to complain.

My qualm with this episode is that, aside from the developments with Majin Kuu, it felt pointless. Like canon filler, Goku having the Dragon Ball stolen is an interesting development when there is some question as to how he will get it back. When the answer is, “Goku casually flies outside and takes it from them,” it makes you wonder if the question should have been asked at all.

Was that really worth dedicating 10 minutes of television to? We didn’t learn anything, no interesting new abilities were showcased. Aside from a cute moment of character development between Panzy and Glorio, the entire sequence offers nothing aside from watching Goku trounce a couple of weaklings for the umpteenth time. At least Vegeta and Piccolo’s fight scene offered a chance to see the two of them in action, but it suffers from the same issue. 

That in addition to the continuation of my least favourite aspect of DAIMA, that is the forced and artificial separation of Goku and Vegeta’s groups. I certainly understand wanting to give Goku some time to shine with the new characters. However, I would rather have the other characters not come at all, because the “will-they-won’t-they” game the show is playing with the two groups joining is maddening.

I let out the world’s biggest groan when the two gangs finally met up only for Goku’s group to immediately abandon them.

Thankfully, it was a ruse and Vegeta’s group got their ship back momentarily, meaning at the very least they are now close behind Goku, but boy oh boy I could have done without that entire scenario.

Final Score (2.5 out of 5)

My favorite episode in the series thus was was the prior one, “Episode 8: Tamagami,” and my least favourite episode is this one.

It isn’t bereft of merit. I enjoyed Vegeta’s neon-bathed bar fight, and the proper introduction of Majin Kuu. However we’re talking a cumulative 2 minutes of runtime, and the rest of it is dedicated to watching Goku solve a problem with zero stakes, using very little effort, that ends with him at the exact place he started.

DAIMA has thoroughly established that Goku is capable of clowning generic Majin goons, and every episode that revolves around that idea is wasting time. Following up a Tamagami fight with “Goku vs. two guys at a hotel” is not exactly cutting edge television, and it doesn’t feel like any stakes are being raised.

Truly I hope this was the last of these kinds of episodes, and things pick up going forward.

Featured Image: Toei Animation

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