Dragon Blog DAIMA #31: True Strength

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. the Mini Animeister.

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And if you haven't seen the twelfth episode of Dragon Ball DAIMA yet (or the countless reaction videos and editorials about it on the internet), then get out of that Weird Al video you've been living in under that rock up your ass (as I've no doubt mentioned, I like to take my pureed metaphor smoothies to a level even further beyond), and go support the official release because it's the best episode of DAIMA so far, and I'm not just saying that because it's ninety-five percent fighting, three percent not fighting, and two percent credits.

I'm saying that because the fighting is creative, beautifully animated, and stitched together like a Fashion Week masterpiece of editing.

Titled "True Strength" (for a few reasons I will get to shortly), the final DAIMA episode of 2024 picks up, as many cliffhanger-resolving episodes do when a character's life is in peril, with a reframing of the "OMG! Vegeta got swallowed by that giant monster that looks like Majin Buu if he absorbed the Universe King! He's definitely dead now and not being used as fodder for cheap engagement bait! How will our heroes win now?" ending from the "Legend" episode. There's a little bit of redundant writing in this to the effect of "Vegeta got eaten, but actually he didn't because editing and Super-Saiyan, but now he's totally been eaten so Super-Saiyan 2 and Star Wars reference and because he escaped, the kraken just gives up so the real fight can keep happening."

Said fight between Vegeta and Tamagami #2 is incredibly quick (especially by Dragon Ball anime standards), but beautifully animated and dripping with attitude, spectacle, and nostalgic references that don't feel cheap.

After trading energy blasts and blows on fairly even footing, the two warriors are once again forced to take things up a notch. Neva decides to "help them out a little" because "they said they wanted to fight" by empowering the Second World Dragon Ball and giving Number Two a bluish-purple palette-swap boost.

As I mentioned last time, this fight is also seamlessly intercut with the fight between Majin Duu and Tamagami #1, where Duu continues to dominate the fight with his unpredictable fighting style and amorphous, elastic body, doing things that we hadn't really seen Buu do, given all of the forms he's taken and the deep bag of abilities he has (though there's plenty of room in the fight for Duu to reference those, as well).

Even though there's some more time wasted on having Duu run away and dodge Number One's attacks because he childishly refuses to fight without chocolate (I like to think this is a Marvel reference to when they tried to make Venom a hero by having him eat chocolate so he didn't have to bite people's heads off anymore, though it's also a known Buu trait), and Number One pulls out a fire-red palette-swap boost. This seemingly happens without Neva's direct influence, so it could be insight into the Tamagami's character as a stoic fighter because he can maybe channel the First World Ball's power on his own, Neva empowered both Tamagami at once (we're led to believe that "they" refers to Number Two and Vegeta, but could just as easily refer to the two Tamagamis or to all four combatants)...or this is just some Rule Of Cool nonsense to drum up hype and escalate the fight), a chocolate-fueled Duu emerges victorious by firing a giant ki/magic ball that disarms Number One and forces him to submit.

But as with Tamagami #3, combat strength isn't the only metric for worthiness, so after the thematic masterpiece that was Goku proving his honor and observation skills with a shell game, we have Majin Duu being asked to do some Rainman-meets-Suits-meets-Good Will Hunting, rapid-fire eidetic memory addition. It's weak by comparison, but provides the first surprising instance of the titular "True Strength," as Majin Kuu just so happens to be able to do said math in his head and feeds Duu the answer (because Duu has Namekian super-hearing, I guess).

Sadly, this implies that Kuu and Duu won't be alive in Super, otherwise Buu wouldn't have failed out of the written exam for the U6 Tournament if Kuu was there to tutor him. I just think it would be warm and fuzzy to see Buu, Kuu, and Duu as a family unit; how about you guys?

Also, the fight causes enough of a commotion for Gomah to finally realize that Arinsu and her Majin have claimed a Dragon Ball, and Degesu seems viscerally disturbed that she would resort to creating Kuu and Duu after what Buu did long ago, though I could be reading something into his reaction that isn't there.

Equally thematically underwhelming is the math puzzle that Tamagami #2 poses to Vegeta (who realizes it's an "As I was going to St. Ives..." trick question because snakes don't eat biscuits). But the fight before this goes even further beyond the Tamagami's power-up because Vegeta reveals (in a scene that almost eclipses Goku's transformation in terms of palpability and scale, but is better for the character and ultimately more effective than any of Goku's uses across the franchise) that he can go Super-Saiyan 3 - his "True Strength" moment. Thereafter, he casually styles on Tamagami #2 (using only his legs to fight, like Freiza, cutting the ocean in half so it looks like the backdrop of when he got washed by Final Form Freiza on Namek,

and deflecting Number Two's trident with his finger, like when Goku sparred with Future Trunks, before shattering the weapon into pieces and finishing the fight with a Galick Gun/right hook combo and letting Number Two fall into the ocean, also mirroring Goku's actions from his fight with Number Three).

There's also a moment in the fight where Super-Saiyan 3 Vegeta gives Tamagami #2 a withering look, and though the look itself causes Number Two to hesitate as shown below, his earlier reaction to the Super-Saiyan 3 transformation suggests that the Tamagami might be a rare case of someone from the Demon Realm being able to sense ki.

This was the most hype I've been since the "Tamagami" episode, and it didn't leave me feeling like I wanted it to be longer or pack in more meaningful story beats; there are the few moments of wasted time and sacrificing thematic storytelling for subversive nerd jokes that the characters can figure out just because. But "True Strength" as an episode is just so damned pretty and spectacular and stuffed with non-stop, well-choreographed action for as long as that pace lasts (even the repetition and stalling during the fights, while noticeable, flow with the action more than they interrupt it).

After the heroes and villains have secured their respective Dragon Balls, Vegeta rejects Goku's offer of a Revive Bug (the Senzu-like insects from the "Chatty" episode), saying he would never eat a bug

(except for the alien species we saw him eating in his first manga appearance, when Nappa calls Gohan a Super Saiyan),

Number Two apologizes to Neva for failing in his duty (but it's okay because things happened as they should, according to the Demon Realm Elder), and the group start their journey to the First Demon World, where they (with the exception of Neva because it's getting rather obvious that he knows everything that's happened) expect to fight Number One for the final Dragon Ball.

The problem, as it has repeatedly been throughout this series, is that someone (probably Neva or Glorio) sabotaged their plane, which Panzy fixes by plugging a wire back together, but the plane is shown to be smoking as they take off.

We won't see the next DAIMA episode, "Surprise," until the second week of January, which is also when the English Dub is said to begin airing, though whether it will be a batch release to catch up for a simul-dub or come out weekly is unknown at this time.

But according to the preview, it looks like Neva and the Dragon Team will be stuck in the Second Demon World for awhile (the sky is green), contending with hostile vegetation and giant rodents. You know that my stance on having the characters explore new worlds is largely positive, but you also know by now how I feel about this series falling back on theft and engine trouble every other episode, so instead, I'd like to close things out this year by speculating about belts.

Just as the Saiyan and Freiza Sagas were about Scouters and armor, the Cell Saga was about the Red Ribbon logo and making Super-Saiyan even more Super-Duper, and the Buu Saga was about having the main characters steal Mr. Popo's wardrobe, DAIMA's design focus seems to be on belts. Tamagami #1 has his Dragon Ball embedded at the waist, in a vaguely belt-shaped strip of color variance.

Both the Good Supreme Demon King and Super Majin Rymus from the "Ocean" lore dump have distinct belt designs that reflect their character (or straight up say a syllable of their name, in Rymus' case). And even the Tertian Oculus, assuming that's what is around Hybis' waist, is a belt. I don't have anything concrete to derive from this observation, other than to say that maybe we should pay attention to characters wearing distinctive belts in this series.

Like Japan, I will also be taking next week off, and perhaps the entire month of January depending on how things develop for me financially. Come back tomorrow for the annual State Of the Ticketmaster Address, where I recap the year and talk about what plans I have for 2025. You can also expect another GFT Retrospective on Wednesday and the '25 continuation of TBT.

Happy New Year, and please continue to give me your energy and grant my wish by clicking the Follow button to Become A Ticketholder for real, commenting at the bottom of this post, helping out my ad revenue as you read so I can afford mass quantities of chocolate, and following me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.

Mini Animeister,

Out.