Even going into 2024, Dragon Ball Daima was already one of the most anticipated shows of the year. As the anniversary celebration of arguably the most beloved series in all of anime, it was bound to be a headliner for the whole year, but when will we actually get to see it?
But after Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama’s sudden and tragic death in the beginning of March, Daima has taken on a more profound veneer. 2024 was very much the year of Toriyama. Sand Land, an adaptation of one of Toriyama’s post-Dragon Ball works, is currently airing on Disney+. Toriyama was also slated to give a speech for winning the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2024. But the crowning achievement of the year is definitely the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball, and Daima is the shiny new present through which that enormous milestone is being celebrated.
Dragon Ball Daima will be an all-new, original story from Toei Animation. Although many of the plot’s finer workings are still shrouded in mystery, the series will see Goku, Vegeta, and the gang getting turned back into children. Since the original Dragon Ball manga series, which started coming out in 1984, centers on Goku’s childhood, turning him back into a kid (also, notably, the concept of Dragon Ball GT) for the series’ 40th anniversary feels right. Plus, Goku looks so damn cute.
Rather bittersweetly, Akira Toriyama himself was deeply involved in the production of Dragon Ball Daima. As he explained in his final interview, he was initially planning to not be involved in Daima at all, but ended up giving more and more advice on the series. In the end, he said, “I was not only involved in the overall storyline, but also in the worldview, character design, mechas, and other aspects.” So quite bittersweetly, fans can expect Daima to having Toriyama’s fingerprints all over it.
What’s the Dragon Ball Daima release window?
Dragon Ball Daima is currently slated for the fall 2024 anime season, which means it will premiere sometime near the beginning of October. That puts Daima releasing alongside other highly-anticipated anime like Dandadan.
We’re also not yet sure how long Daima will be airing—rumors are currently swirling around that the series will be 20 episodes long, but those rumors are not substantiated. And besides, 20 episodes is a bizarre order number. October might seem far away, but in the meantime, there’s both a Sand Land series to watch and full-fledged RPG to play through.
(featured image: Toei Animation)
