Release information and a significant production update are revealed for the much awaited Dragon Ball Daima anime series, which marks original creator Akira Toriyama’s farewell to the brand.
The highly anticipated Dragon Ball Daima anime series, according to Mantan Web, will debut on October 11, 2024, with a special opening episode scheduled to run for an extra 10 minutes. Notably, it was also disclosed that every Dragon Ball Daima episode has been finished; Daniel Castañeda, the director of localization for Toei Animation, had previously indicated the series would consist of about 20 episodes.
Dragon Ball Daima will also be part of Fuji TV’s brand-new nationwide anime time slot every Friday at 11:40 PM JST. Director of programming Yuichi Nakajima made the announcement at the company’s Tokyo offices, adding, “All of Dragon Ball Daima’s episodes are finished. We would like a national network to screen it because it is a new work. It was also aired on Sunday mornings up until this point, although Sunday mornings aren’t a national network. We also want to schedule the show at a time that will appeal to both Dragon Ball aficionados and the intended viewership.”
Nakajima added, “I hope we can spread the image: ‘It’s anime on Fuji TV, after all.'” Daima’s choice to launch its new national anime time slot demonstrates Fuji TV’s optimism for the series, which was Akira Toriyama’s last Dragon Ball anime project after his death earlier this year. Along with other Dragon Ball Daima employees such series directors Yoshitaka Yashima and Aya Komaki, he was in charge of the show’s plot and character design. With the most recent teaser available at the preceding link, fans may get a sneak peek at Dragon Ball Daima’s world debut at Daimatsuri, which takes place on October 11, 2024, before its official release.
Dragon Ball Daima’s Plot
Dragon Ball Daima, in contrast to most of other Dragon Ball anime, is not based on an earlier Akira Toriyama manga. Rather, it’s a unique anime that presents a completely different narrative. It bears a striking resemblance to the now-canonical anime series Dragon Ball GT. Furthermore, GT was not based on a manga, with Akira Toriyama contributing very little to the designs. He hadn’t created any artwork for Dragon Ball GT since then, and he had only sporadically mentioned the series. Additionally, it featured a plot in which Goku was diminished to a child and he, Pan, and Trunks set out to retrieve the Black Star Dragon Balls by traveling to distant planets. In the new series, however, Goku isn’t the only one who’s been turned small.
Different from Dragon Ball GT, Toriyama himself was much more involved with the series, conceiving its plot and several other critical elements. When it comes to Dragon Ball Daima’s other works being considered canon, this is probably going to be the primary deciding factor. After all, the events of Dragon Ball Super officially replace the events of Dragon Ball GT, making the former no longer deemed canonical to the other Dragon Ball anime. Although a similar manga for Dragon Ball Daima was said to be in the works, it seems unlikely now that Toriyama has passed away. To leave his career on a positive note, at least, he gave fans a brand-new animation.