Dragon Ball Daima's Definition Could Hint At The New Series' Villain And Plot
Though "Dragon Ball" as a franchise has been around for nearly four decades, there haven't been that many new iterations of it across all of those years. That's why the announcement of "Dragon Ball Daima" at the New York Comic Con was such a big deal.
Surprisingly, the new series, which "Dragon Ball" creator Akira Toriyama looks to be heavily involved in, appears to focus on shrunken-down kid versions of its main and supporting characters that closely resemble the chibi art style. However, what really had fans speculating with regard to the trailer for the new "Dragon Ball" series was what exactly "Daima" even means in this context.
Well, X (formerly known as Twitter) user Goresh, who happens to have a lot of experience translating between Japanese and English, may have the answers we seek. "The name "Daima" (大魔) is not an actual word in Japanese with the kanji that they used," they explained. "When literally translated, it means big or great evil. 大 = big or great [and] 魔 = evil or demonic."
Still, even with this added context, there are a lot of things to unpack about "Dragon Ball Daima." If the true definition is something along the lines of "big evil" or "great demon," who could this title be referring to in the upcoming series? Well, some fans have speculated that this means the return of Piccolo as the main villain of the franchise.
Is Piccolo set to return as the villain after all these years?
Commonly referred to as "the Daimao" or "Demon King Piccolo," there is definitely a case to be made that Piccolo (Toshio Furukawa/Christopher Sabat) could be going back to his villainous roots when the franchise makes its triumphant return. However, this could be seen as a major left turn for some fans of the series' most popular iterations.
The first episode of "Dragon Ball Z" sees a reformed Piccolo, touched by Goku's (Masako Nozawa/Sean Schemmel) great sacrifice in the battle with Raditz (Shigeru Chiba/Justin Cook), gradually turning things around, becoming Gohan's (Nozawa/Kyle Hebert) mentor and trainer. From this point on, all the way up to the most recent events in "Dragon Ball Super," Piccolo has remained a hero, and this means a big turnaround for what fans have come to expect.
Still, considering the fact that Piccolo was indeed the central bad guy of the original "Dragon Ball" series, it is possible that the character could be coming back as a villain. After all, there are clearly some large-scale machinations happening in the new series, from the overseer characters to the emphasis on a wish from the titular magical artifacts.
Add to this fact that Piccolo is not seen at all in the trailer, and a pretty compelling case could be made that he might be the center of some big reveal on "Daima." This is especially possible as the new series features characters like Goku and Krillin in their smaller, child-like bodies, just like when they fought Piccolo in the original "Dragon Ball" series.
Who are the mysterious overseers in the trailer for Daima?
Still, there is one key aspect that the trailer for "Dragon Ball Daima" focuses on that could be of vast importance to the series. Though viewers are shown a small group of overseers in the new footage, it is unclear what their motives are, and we don't see much of their features.
Being that "Dragon Ball Super" introduced the idea of multiple universes, and these figures seem to be able to see all of them on their massive screens, including one where Buu (Kozo Shioya/Scott McNeil) appears with his normal proportions, the suggestion that these could be the true villains definitely bears some weight.
On the other hand, at the tail end of the trailer, Goku seems to be facing off against Frieza (Ryusei Nakao/Daman Mills), who has also been shrunken down into a chibi version of his former self. With that in mind, these overseers may be out to test the heroes of the "Dragon Ball" franchise by facing them off against some of their greatest foes once again.
There is another thing worth noting here, however; Vegeta (Ryo Horikawa/Sabat) is on the side of the good guys from the very beginning. This could suggest that the real goal is to test out the abilities of Saiyans in particular, as they are the only main characters classified as such in the entire franchise. Either way, we'll have to wait for more details on "Dragon Ball Daima" before we know the answers.