The 1st episode of Dragon Ball Daima hit Crunchyroll on Oct 11, 2024, and it has already given fans huge chunks of lore dumps that made people flock to social media and discuss quite heavily. The first half of the episode revealed two new characters, Gomah and Degusu, as they watched a recap of the Majin Buu saga, which serves two purposes. One is that new fans can get to know what has happened in the past, thereby quickly getting to know what the new story is about.
Second, older fans get to see the saga from Gomah and Degusu’s POV, as they reveal new information while the episode replays scenes from the Buu saga with stellar animation quality. In addition, fans got to know the real origin of the Namekian race, which has been teased since the Granolah arc, caught a glimpse of the Demon Realm and saw Shin’s brother and sister.
While fans have been debating about Dragon Ball Daima‘s canon-status, the series acknowledges the existence of Dragon Ball Super in one subtle but crucial scene.
Is Dragon Ball Daima Canon to Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super?
Fans are already familiar with the fact that series creator Akira Toriyama was more involved in Daima‘s story writing than other projects pertaining to Dragon Ball Super. This means it cannot get more Canon than that. Furthermore, Trunks revealed in episode 1 that he is 9 years old, which means the events of Daima take place 1 year after the Buu saga and 3 years before Beerus awakens in Dragon Ball Super.
This proves that Dragon Ball Daima is connected to the original Dragon Ball manga but is it connected to Super as well? Since it takes place before the sequel, there will be no mention of Super Saiyan God, Blue, Ultra Instinct, or any of the higher Gods like Beerus or Whis. But the first episode of Daima mentions a particular anecdote that acknowledges the revelations Toriyama made in Dragon Ball Super.
After reaching the halfway point in the episode, the fish-like monster in charge of the gateway asks Gomah, Neva, and Degesu where they want to go once they leave the Demon Realm. Here, Degesu looks at some notes and asks for Universe 7, which is a clear reference to Dragon Ball Super chapter 5, where Whis tells Goku and Vegeta about the 12 universes. No other sequel to Dragon Ball introduces the concept of the multiverse so it’s easy to conclude that Dragon Ball Daima will connect with Dragon Ball Super in the future.
Furthermore, there are rumors spreading in the fandom that the creator of Dragon Ball Super manga, Toyotaro, will draw a manga adaptation of Dragon Ball Daima (albeit, no as elaborate as for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero) that will make sure to connect events from Super.
However, fans have a crucial question after watching the episode.
Dragon Ball Daima retconned Dragon Ball Super?
Shin and Kibito have demerged, and Kibito explains that their fused version went inside Majin Buu’s body and there’s a special gas that separates the fusion made by the Potara earrings. This is completely new information that sort of explains why Goku and Vegeta separated from being Vegito in Buu’s body.
However, Dragon Ball Super had its own explanation, which states that when a Potara fusion doesn’t involve a Supreme Kai, the fusion lasts for only an hour. Moreover, Chapter 4 of the Dragon Ball Super manga states that Shin and Kibito used the Dragon Balls to undo the fusion. Does this mean Toriyama literally forgot what he had established in Super?
Not entirely, one theory suggests that there’s a chance that Shin and Kibito may re-fuse again in Dragon Ball Daima. Since Shin is one of the main characters of the series, he might need Kibito’s help to aid Goku and defeat a powerful Demon. After everything’s done, Kibitokai returns to Buu, but it turns out he’s sleeping, and there’s no guarantee they’ll be safe inside his body once Buu has gone to sleep.
Therefore, they used the Dragon Balls to separate themselves, hence connecting the plot back to Dragon Ball Super. Either Toriyama might have done this already in Dragon Ball Daima or Toyotaro may do it in the manga adaptation. Either way, there’s no doubt that Daima is connected to both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball Daima are available to watch on Crunchyroll.
