English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Daima “Tamagami”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Goku faces Tamagami Number Three in combat for the Three Star Dragon Ball, while Arinsu meets with the real creator of Majin Buu to make her own servant.

OUR TAKE

Okay, FINALLY we are at the point where things really pick up speed. This show only has twenty episodes, so it’s hard to really split it up into “arcs”, but if we could, this would definitely feel like the end of one, as we have a big climactic (and really well animated) fight, a Dragon Ball is obtained, and the next checkpoint and fight are established. Yesterday also marked the release of Daima’s final episode in Japan, and while I’ll hold my cards about how I felt about that until we get there, I can say that this episode’s initial release was most definitely the point in which it felt like we were cooking with gas. This is the first of three fights with the Tamagami, the giant robot people who guard the Demon Realm Dragon Balls, and it’s here we see what it takes for someone in this world to obtain these. Unlike the Earth’s Dragon Balls, which just end up scattered randomly all over the planet and usually be picked up by anyone, these are specifically held by the Tamagami, who must be defeated in both physical combat AND a contest of intellect in order to be proven worthy of their prize.

In this case, Tamagami Number Three proves to be little match for Goku (oh wow, big shock that post-Buu Goku is cleaning house) but then also throws a test of the mind by doing a ball in a cup trick, which Goku also finishes on the first try. Huh, maybe they bank way too much on the fighting and don’t really expect people to be able to make it past that. Still, it’s the usual fun and whimsy that one can expect from Dragon Ball, on top of an excellently animated fight scene and Stephanie Nadolny’s first big Kamehameha in DECADES, and there will be more to come on all fronts. Meanwhile, Arinsu meets with Marba, the witch who REALLY created Majin Buu but was more than fine giving credit to Bibidi, Babidi’s father. Given that Daima is an interquel between the end of the fight with Buu and the beginning of Super, retcons are definitely going to be flying, but this is certainly one of the more interesting ones that will lead to some pretty neat lore drops. This also means we’ve got a new bad guy coming next week, and oh boy, was there a BIG stir in the fandom when they first showed up compared to where they ended in the series. But yeah, finally it feels a lot easier to write about Daima now that there’s stuff actually happening, haha.