Dragon Ball Daima

Episode 19

In hindsight, I should have immediately expected that Glorio was just gonna use his wish to turn everyone back into adults. Since Daima has tossed out a few good swerves, and last week's episode in particular escalated well past anything I could have imagined, I think I set my expectations too high for another big twist here. Thanks to that, I ended up being a little more underwhelmed by the start of this episode than I would have liked to, but as is the Daima way at this point, sometimes a great punchline and a few moments of genuine hype are all that's needed to turn things around.

With how big of a cliffhanger we got with Glorio's wish, I was a little shocked to see it kick in almost immediately and the gang are all back to being adults within the first couple of minutes. Of course, given Dragon Ball's tendency to sometimes drag these things out longer than it needs to I can't complain about getting quick results. What I am gonna complain about, though, is that for an episode called “Betrayal,” there isn't a whole lot of drama to Glorio turning on Dr. Arinsu. There's a couple of lines about her having helped pull him out of the Third Demon World and claiming he should be more grateful, but since that's the most we hear about his past, it doesn't feel like there's weight behind this decision. Plus, if anything, Dr. Arinsu actually takes the betrayal in relative stride, and lets him go with just a simple dismissal. While I guess it's fun to see that she's a lot nicer than the image she wants to present (she even smiles when Kuu reassures her he'll always stick by her side, and it warms my heart that she's come around on her less favored Majin son), this would have worked better if knew even a little more about how Glorio started working under Dr. Arinsu in the first place. I also didn't really feel much seeing Glorio returning to the gang after the fact. I'm willing to buy that he came around on them, but it was odd seeing everyone congratulating him for doing the right thing when from their perspective, he didn't really switch sides for more than a couple of minutes. Again this could have worked if we had gotten into Glorio's head a little more, instead of having the show insist on keeping him mysterious, but as is that was the weakest point of the episode.

I also can't help but call foul on having Vegeta briefly taking on Gomah by himself once he's back to adult form. Sure, we know that the gang were weaker in the child forms, but it's a little ridiculous to play at them being that much weaker considering he was slapping around Super Sayain 4 Goku of all characters.. I know that power levels in Dragon Ball are ultimately meaningless and characters only ever need to be as strong as what the plot requires, but considering how well Gomah was doing up to this point, it de-escalates some of the tension from last week's episode in a way that feels underwhelming rather than cool. On the bright side, it is cool that we get to see Vegeta whipping out Super Saiyan 3 in his adult form for this, and I can't deny that we got some extremely rad battle animation and beam clashes out of the whole deal. At the same time though, a cynical part of me can't help but feel like this fight got tossed in as a way to market Vegeta pulling of the SSJ3 transformation in his adult form, and I'll be incredibly shocked if it doesn't show up in the next round of Sparkling Zero DLC.

As mixed as I am about the Vegeta fight though, it's absolutely worth it for what comes after it. When it becomes clear that Gomah's going to outlast Vegeta's transformation, Goku and Piccolo try to convince him to tag out. However, they both know Vegeta would sooner die than willingly walk away from a fight, and they have no clue how to rein him in. That's when Bulma opts to help out and gives Vegeta an ultimatum: he either stops fighting this instant, or she'll never take another bath with him again. For as prideful of a man as Vegeta is, and how much that pride has often backfired on him expectedly, I have never seen a bigger look of horror on that man's face than in this moment and it's absolutely hilarious. As amazing as a lot of Daima's other gags have been, this was far and away the funniest thing the show has done up to now, and even better? It works, and Vegeta retreats to her side without so much as a second thought. Now we know that the only force in the universe capable of keeping Vegeta out of a fight is not being able to cuddle with his wife, and honestly? I think that's beautiful.

I also appreciate that this gag ends up leading into the coolest moment of the episode. As Gomah keeps getting up even after the beating Vegeta gave him, everyone realizes that the Third Eye is supplying him with unlimited stamina. Not only that, but since they're all running on fumes at this point, it's only a matter of time before he wins through endurance. Learning this makes Dr. Arinsu think that it must have some kind of weakness, and she discovers that it can be removed if Gomah is struck in the back of the head three times. With how strong Gomah's become though, that's easier said than done, and since there's no way he'll just let them do it, Goku decides to distract him so the others can get in a sneak attack. As part of the distraction, Goku shows Gomah all of his Super Sayian transformations and while he nearly stops at SSJ3, Goku goes one step further, and boosts up to Super Saiyan 4.

Like the earlier SSJ3 transformation with Vegeta, there's a part of me that wants to look at this cynically. Especially since we got the transformation last week, and seeing it a second time wears down some of the surprise factor. Still, I am but a simple man, and seeing cool Dragon Ball transformation turns the gears in my tiny brain, so I couldn't help but get excited anyway. Cool as last week's showing of it was, the hype factor of the transformation was kind of diminished by it only happening because Neva zapped Goku with some magic, instead of seeing him overcoming his usual limits. Having Goku invoke it willingly makes the transformation feel a lot more impressive, and also makes me feel like there's a higher chance that it won't disappear after the end of this show (though only time will tell with that). It's a great way to lead into the finale, and while this wasn't quite where I was expecting things to go after last week's escapades, I'm glad it seems like Daima is still likely to go out in style.

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Dragon Ball Daima is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.