The 3rd episode of Dragon Ball DAIMA dives right into the Demon Realm, where fans witness Goku, Supreme Kai, and Glorio go through multiple portals that literally shake them to their very cores in order to reach the 3rd world of the Demon Realm. Sure, the second half of the episode felt a bit like Dragon Ball GT but DAIMA promises more lore drops with a lot more characters involved.
Additionally, DAIMA is rumored to end within 20 episodes so it shouldn’t be draggy as much. Dragon Ball fans haven’t seen the series explore a place this deep since planet Namek and drop revelations this big in early episodes since the Saiyan Saga. Glorio’s home world looks like a scene straight out of Star Wars, prompting fans to suspect whether Dragon Ball took a page from it once again.
Star Wars references in Dragon Ball DAIMA and the Demon Realm
The episode used several classic Space Western tropes, including the Demon Realm’s rocky, desert-like terrain with floating islands, which felt like a Western-style setting on another planet. The town they arrive in has a somewhat Western feel to it, sort of like a cowboy theme, where the gang has entered a bar filled with strange creatures eyeing suspiciously at Goku because he doesn’t have pointy ears.
That very scene is a strong reference to the famous Tattoine cantina scene from Star Wars: A New Hope, where Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan enter a seedy cantina bar and they’re welcomed by creatures who gaze at them with menacing looking eyes.
Glorio, the group’s pilot with the most knowledge of the world, works well as a Han Solo stand-alike because he’s cagey about his profession and proves himself in the bar scene. Goku may have done most of the battling, but Glorio’s efforts showed that he’s been in many fights over the years.
Just like a young Luke Skywalker, Goku is eager and doesn’t know his more experienced partner well. That would make Supreme Kai a parallel to Obi Wan, an old and wise man who knows more about the Demon Realm than he lets on and wants to help Goku on his trip. However, this isn’t the first time Dragon Ball pays a tribute to Star Wars.
Akira Toriyama’s love for Star Wars draws many of its references in his works
Series creator Akira Toriyama is a huge fan of western media like Star Wars and Jackie Chan movies. In fact, his ever one-shot manga that he gave to Shueisha in a contest was a complete parody of Star Wars, which got later rejected. Nevertheless, he continued to draw references in his works like Dr. Slump, Mysterious Rain Jack, and, of course, Dragon Ball.
One such Star Wars reference can be seen in this page of the Red Ribbon Army arc, where the device attached to Bulma’s one hover car is clearly based on R2-D2. The R2-D2 droid is in turn connected to an air car that looks like Luke’s X-34 Landspeeder on Tattoine. Other references include Korin Tower looking like Bespin Cloud City, Goku’s healing pod in the Frieza Saga matches with Luke’s in Star Wars, and so on.
Toriyama’s craze for Star Wars since childhood made him to insert various Easter eggs in Dr Slump and Dragon Ball, and even drawing a special illustration of Anakin Skywalker and a Trade Federation droid to commemorate Episode 1: A Phantom Menace. In the case of DAIMA, fans expect more space war-like battles and creatures resembling those of Star Wars to show up.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball DAIMA are all available to watch on Crunchyroll.
