dragon ball daima (📺 8/10)
after getting their friend kidnapped and risking the earth's dragon balls for good, goku and friends go after demon king gomah to his rescue by gathering the dragon balls of the demon world!! also they're babies. [8/10]
i wouldn't exactly say i'm a fan of dragon ball as much as i'm just a casual enjoyer. a funny little outsider. i've watched the broly movie with my partner (who i love very much) and then a few episodes of the very original series - except i didn't really get that far ahead. probably just the first arc where goku meets bulma and yamcha and that weird pig guy and they look for the dragon balls together. and that goku said he's out to train with that bald old guy. all that to say that i barely know anything about it!!
but this was nice!! as an outsider, i didn't find it too overwhelming to get into!! maybe because i was lucky to have my partner (who i love very much) fill me in on the stuff i probably missed - but that was pretty much just in the beginning episode or so. i'd say that daima does feel like a tribute to that very first series, where the stakes are pretty high, sure, but at the same time it doesn't take itself TOO seriously and too action-y. maybe that's the way it's always been, i don't know, but i actually found lots of comfort in watching it :) goku is so silly that i forget that that is a grown ass man at times LOL
despite being clueless, i also really loved the cast!! the ones they've introduced as new characters, at least.i assume that the demon world people are all new, but i enjoyed them as much as the classic characters!! i'm biased in liking arinsu most out of the demon crew, because she's an evil science lady that goes "ohohoho!" and yet i found it very nice that she was willing to give up her dream in being a supreme leader to help take down gomah in the end. AND HER GOONS!! HER GOONS ARE VERY FUNNY. i feel very parental towards majin kuu and majin duu. they are literally just a day old. just born yesterday. i enjoy their sibling duo so much, that the ending was probably the best thing about it for me. like YEAH piccolo sucked at his job but it was so nice seeing kuu land those final hits against one of the strongest beings the team has faced. especially seeing him get sidelined over duu - kuu even helped him solve that math problem to get that darn dragon ball!! let that baby be supreme ruler!! what the hell let everybody be minister too!! except for hybis. oh but i do love hybis too he is absolutely funny looking. but my god would that mess be avoided if he didn't trade the eye for his stupid hat. i'd like to think that in that whole gomah fight he was sitting in the corner and thinking about what he's done.
oh!! the gomah fight!! THAT ROCKED TOO god the animation of this whole series was absolutely fantastic!! i'll start here since i already brought it up, but it was soo good... my partner's favorite form (or one of them) is super saiyan 4 and i agree that the red just looks soo nice. i've understood since the broly movie. however, i also understand why they had to turn him from deep red to... pinkishy magenta-y... it's because it contrasted too much with the red demon world!! sad, but it's bot a HUUUGE complaint of mine ss4 is so beautiful. and some of the scenes where arinsu visits the witch who made majin buu were pretty - the scenery is soo nice and magical... and when nevah unseals the light barriers oh my gosh that was SO pretty too. you can just tell they poured love into every frame!! it is SO good. apart from the gomah fight, the fight with goku and the third tamagami is my favorite out of the three because it looked like goku was having so much fun :) !! the tamagamis in general are VERY awesome by the way - love that they represent the three elements (earth, water, fire) AND the ultraman vibe they have going on. i don't watch ultraman (yet?) but i like their cousin, the humble kamen rider...
FUCKK watching this was so fun that i get giddy just thinking back on it!! i am incredibly sad that this was one of toriyama's final projects before he passed. i learned that the final episode was released on the anniversary of his death, literally marking an end of an era... still, i think daima couldn't be a better project to end things on funnily enough. kind of poetic and beautiful, and daima is just a very fantastic show overall :)
... the opening is STILL stuck in my brain days after we finished watching it!!