Start Your Engines!
This episode is the equivalent to revving your engines before takeoff. This is the set-up for the final stretch.
Without the help of recently-disabled Warp-Sama, Goku and his friends must find a different way into the First Demon Realm. On the other side, they’ll need to fight their way through the Gendarmerie army to reach King Gomah’s castle. Gomah is meanwhile preparing for their arrival, mobilizing his army, and calling in Gendarmerie special forces. Will they have what it takes to put Goku down?
DAIMA’s episode count is ticking by, and if twenty episode is the number, there isn’t much room left for new plot to develop. We are on the cusp of DAIMA’s climactic finale, and this episode does a lot of work to set the stage for Goku’s showdown with Gomah. Episode 14 needed to maneuver the plot so the heroes make their way to the First Demon Realm by the end of the episode, in a way that doesn’t feel rushed, or unbelievable. It executes successfully on this premise.
“Taboo” merely suffers from the natural result of being overshadowed by excitement for the upcoming episodes. But nonetheless, this is a deft twenty minutes that does the heavy lifting required to set up for the series climax, while remaining an enjoyable episode.
For sure, though, the best is yet to come.
The following review contains spoilers for Episode 14 of Dragon Ball DAIMA.
Plot Summary
King Gomah prepares for the arrival of the heroes, mobilizing the Gendarmerie. The special forces arrive, a unit creatively named the “Gendarmerie Force.” Initially found snacking and lounging around, the commando unit does not offer Gomah a very reassuring feeling, made worse by the Ginyu-esque fanfare with which they introduce themselves. The force leader is Kadem, followed by Danima, Hilla, Mashim, and Gaimoi. None of them cut a very menacing figure.
Once Gomah and Degesu fail to convey the seriousness of the matter at hand to Kadem, and the special forces venture to the convenience store to purchase snacks. They run into Kuu and Duu, buying them chocolate, before leaving to prepare for Goku.
Meanwhile, the Saiyan and his friends arrive to find Warp-Sama deactivated, meaning they must find a way to destroy the barrier blocking the tunnel between realms. Goku takes a mean lighting jolt after smacking the barrier with his power pole, and as he loses consciousness, Neva steps to the plate. He showcases immense power as he uses a spell to shatter the barrier. In fact, it is revealed it was he who placed the barrier initially, in order to prevent raids between realms.
With nothing else blocking them, Goku and friends enter the First Demon Realm, where they are forced to abandon their ship due to overheating atmosphere. This alerts the Gendarmerie who attack en masse, and the episode ends as bullets fly.
The final act has begun.
Analysis
First I want to talk about the Giny-I mean the Gendarmerie Forces. Kadem and his men are a pretty obvious reference to Captain Ginyu and his Ginyu Force, but I don’t think the Gendarmerie Force are going to punch at the same weight narratively, or even conceptually.
The Ginyu Force worked because of the humour found in the contradiction between how silly they were, and their genuine strength. Goku clutched a win against Captain Ginyu, but it damn near killed him. Their silly dances and goofy personality work precisely because you also know they are the real deal.
I don’t think it is possible for that to be the case with the Gendarmerie Force, there simply isn’t the episode count for it. This means if they are steamrolled in a single episode, their goofy antics will ultimately end up feeling like pure comic relief. That isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it misunderstands the spirit of the Ginyu Force.
We finally got to see the convenience store that Kuu keeps running to! Complete with Kuu and Duu buying chocolate! That was a delightful little piece of fanservice. I love the idea of the fearsome First Demon Realm just having corner stores full of snacks with dead-eyed minimum wage employees just like everywhere else.
The scene set inside was an admirable attempt at fleshing out a personality for the Gendarmerie Force, before they are inevitably dispatched. However, Kuu and Duu stole the show from them immediately. The Gendarmerie offer to buy them not just a candybar, but mounds of chocolate! Only to have to default back to buying a since chocolate bar each after checking their finances. But Kuu and Duu aren’t upset, they’re just pleased to have been given a chocolate bar at all! These Majin are so precious, such polite fellows.
Neva continues to be an enigma, and I don’t think we’ve seen everything his character has to offer yet. His immense power will come out to play once more before DAIMA is through, I’m sure of it. Perhaps to deal the finishing blow to Gomah or Duu, or to avert a terrible catastrophe. It’ll be interesting to see.
I love the growth of his character. In the first episode he was a stinky old man fitting the “bumbling geriatric” cliché, but over time he’s revealed more and more of his true power, and likewise has won the respect and admiration of the entire cast. Take the moment between him and Piccolo, where he recognizes Neva openly as the true “legendary Namek,” despite that being a title he once called himself. I’m still not entirely sure what his end-game is, though I suspect he has a hidden third agenda that doesn’t entirely align with the heroes or villains.
Final Score
This was a very effective set-up episode. It successfully struck the fine line that set-up episodes must seek out, of spending most of the runtime in service of later episodes, while remaining entertaining. I can’t say I’d go out of my way to watch it again, but it got Goku to where he needs to go, and established his next course of action, without boring me in the process. Sparkle on a little intrigue with Neva, some humour with the Gendarmerie, a fun appearance by Duu and Kuu, and the promise of exciting things to come, and you have a pretty solid episode!
The next few episodes will be a wild ride, I’m sure. Everything is in place, there is no more setup to be had. From here, it is all execution. Goku’s path is clear: Defeat the Gendarmerie army, challenge Kadam’s elite Gendarmerie Force, then take down Gomah himself. The one unknown is how Dr. Arinsu, Kuu, and Duu fit into the picture, leaving just enough ambiguity to keep things interesting.
All of this is very exciting, and I cannot wait to see it in motion. However, exciting climaxes are built upon the backs of setup episodes like this, and they should be commended for doing such vital work.
How did you like episode 14 of Dragon Ball DAIMA? Was it a bit too slow for you? How did you feel about the Gendarmerie Force? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Image: Toei Animation
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