Forum - View topicThe Late Akira Toriyama Planted Mysteries in the New Demon Realm Just For Dragon Ball Daima
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Wyvern
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It sort of was. During the Buu Saga of Dragon Ball Z, supporting villain Dabura is introduced as "the king of the Demon Realm." We never get any more specifics on the place before Dabura is eventually killed off. So the Demon Realm remained as the one established part of the Dragon Ball cosmology that had never been explored. So for Daima, it seems Toriyama took this bit of canon he established 30 years ago and built on it to create a new world and a new series. Pretty amazing! |
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Fluwm
 Posts: 1060 |
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I believe it was actually introduced in the original Dragon Ball anime -- in a filler episode, even! Prior to the second Budokai Tournament arc, Goku spends some time wandering around aimlessly for "training" (he actually first encounters Tien and Chiaozu this way, rather than at the Budokai like in the manga). At one point, he comes across a village that's being terrorized due to demons, emerging into the world via a mystical gate -- so Goku forces his way into the demon realm and beats up the big bad demon (who I think was demanding human sacrifices or something). IIRC he even teamed up briefly with a "good" demon. I remember it as one of the better standalone episodes, alongside Goku's first time in the big city. Two arcs later, we get Demon King Piccolo. Piccolo was later retconned to be an alien, not a demon, but Daima has since retconned the retcon to make Namekians both aliens and demons. But a lot of the worldbuilding of early Dragon Ball kinda didn't fit with the revamped, more sci-fi setting introduced with Radtiz/DBZ. Plenty of demons and demon-like monsters used to roam around the world, King Piccolo himself was served by multiple demons (though it's possible he created them all himself, which I guess could make them Namekian-mutants or something). There's always been this weird tension in the setting due to the switch in genres -- both in terms of plot and setting -- that was never really resolved, even with the ultimate reintroduction of fantasy elements in the concluding arc (like Dabura). We can also probably assume, safely, that Hell (or HFIL) and the Demon Realm are the same place, and Hell's appeared in quite a lot of anime-original content -- in the Saiyan Saga, several movies, and GT, too, iirc. I think it's clear enough that while the Demon Realm was only ever implicit in the manga, most of the anime has been produced with the assumption that it's a place that exists in the setting, from very nearly the beginning of the series. (Please don't think I bring this up because I have a good memory for these things -- I don't, and may still be misremembering the details somewhat. It's just that I've been slowly making my way through the original Toei adaptations of Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon of late, so both are relatively fresh in mind.) |
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Wyvern
Posts: 1606 |
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This is all really good analysis! It's true that Dragon Ball's switch to a less magical setting at the start of Z caused some real tension, and I feel like the Buu Saga was partially Toriyama trying to get back to that original flavor: it featured a purely magical villain who was summoned by a wizard and a demon, magical elements like fusion, the Kais, and the Z-Sword, and none of the scifi stuff we'd been seeing since Raditz (aside from what had already been introduced previously.) And with Daima featuring a child Goku and promising more of a focus on adventure like the original show, it makes sense that he introduced a more fantasy-based setting for it. It feels more back-to-basics than GT did, with its outer space setting. |
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MKVarana
 Posts: 80 |
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I hate that they're calling it the "Demon Realm" in Daima.
The whole thing is super confusing, though, tbh; In Daima, they always call it the Dai Makai (大魔界). Original DB (anime-only?) had the regular Makai (魔界), and the Makai was referenced in Z as well in the Buu saga, but they also say that Daabura is from the Ankoku Makai (暗黒魔界). But in Daima, they also mention that Daabura was the former Dai Maou of the Dai Makai. Also in today's episode of Daima, spoiler[ they talk about a Dai San Makai (第三魔界)]. So are the Ankoku Makai and the Dai Makai the same place? If so, why change the name? And is there a regular Makai, or do all three names refer to the same place? To add even more confusion, the subtitles are all over the place with what they call the Makais, so the people who don't know Japanese (and probably the dub fans, too, but I don't know what names that uses) will get even more confused. Spot-checking Crunchy's subs, Makai is translated "Demon World" in the original DB, and as "Demon Realm" in Z, and Ankoku Makai is translated "Demon Realm of Darkness". And in today's episode of Daima, spoiler[Dai San Makai is translated as "Third Demon World"]. |
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