After one episode, I know why Kid Goku from Dragon Ball Daima works when GT doesn’t

Dragon Ball Daima he’s only had a few episodes, but he’s already winning over fans for his portrayal of Goku and the Dragon ball world. That’s a big difference from how most fans feel Dragon Ball GTto the point that the latest series left fans seriously worried about Daima.

Dragon Ball GT it was the first attempt to continue Dragon ball after the original manga ended, and featured original stories that were crafted by the anime’s writers, rather than series creator Akira Toriyama himself. One of GTGoku’s most controversial decision was Goku’s aging at the beginning of the story, as it didn’t seem very narratively justified and came about due to an accidental wish by Emperor Pilaf in the Black Star Dragon Balls. This left Goku in his child form once again, heading out into the universe with his granddaughter Pan in order to retrieve these dragon balls to prevent the Earth from exploding.

Daima’s Kid Goku works much better than GT ever did

Daima has some factors working in its favor that GT did not benefit from

In GT, Goku claims to be happy to have been reverted to a child and is completely unconcerned about the consequences of this wish – at least until it is mentioned that the Black Star Dragon Balls destroy the planet where the wish was made. Goku adapts to being a child again absurdly quickly, and gets up to mischief as he would if he were actually 12 years old, not a 12-year-old with an adult’s mind. There doesn’t seem to be much narrative reason for Goku to have aged; it just happens accidentally, making Pilaf look especially stupid.

Daimahowever, there are a number of reasons for the situation Goku and the others find themselves in. Firstly, the enemies witnessed Goku defeating Majin Buu and acted against him for a reason, interpreting his power as a threat. They considered more violent desires, but eventually realized that the nature of Earth’s Dragon Balls would not allow them to harm Goku directly, and only then came up with the idea of ​​aging “everyone” who fought Buu.

Secondly, Daima it doesn’t just affect Goku; almost every named character, from the Supreme Kai to Chi Chi, has been affected by this wish, making the problem much more significant than if it were just Goku. Goku’s mission is initiated by the fact that someone used a wish against him, and aims to correct that wish by defeating the wisher. The wish is (correctly) interpreted as an attack against them, and it is shown that Goku and his friends are having difficulty adapting to their new smaller forms. There are actual negative consequences for Goku personally for this desire, rather than the complicated problem of “blowing up the Earth” GT invented.

Daima’s Birthday Celebratory Element Makes a Callback Make Sense

Daima was created to celebrate Dragon Ball’s 40th anniversary

From a metatextual perspective, there is also the fact that Dragon Ball Daima was created to celebrate the franchise’s 40th anniversary, which takes place this year (2024). If Daima intended to be a celebration of all things Dragon ballso it makes more sense to remember the origins of the franchise with Kid Goku – after all, that’s how it all started. Placing Goku back where he started will help highlight how far he’s come in the last 40 years of Dragon balland fans will get to see him grow up again in this series. A birthday is just a more appropriate time to come full circle.

The desire to reduce Goku and his friends to the size of children is also a pretty clever desire and helps establish that the new villain, King Gomah, is a proactive, underhanded, and dangerous enemy. Although many of Goku’s opponents have welcomed any fight against them, Gomah has gone to great lengths to make Goku and his friends non-threats, or at least he believes so. The Supreme Kai has indicated that Gomah is powerful in his own right, but his cunning and underhanded nature means that fighting him directly will not be a simple task as it has been with enemies in the past.

Gomah has already established himself as a very different type of enemy, one who will require a unique type of strategy to defeat. A mission to go to the Demon Realm and defeat Gomah is enough DaimaHistory is more of a direct line than GT initially did so, and his companions being more mature than Pan and Trunks ensures that Goku will remain on task. Daima is also set to see characters like Piccolo, Vegeta, and Bulma join Goku later in his adventure, ensuring the series keeps the popular characters more relevant than they were at the start. GT.

Daima is not a repeat of Dragon Ball GT

Daima is differentiating itself from GT’s mistakes

Although fans’ concerns about the similarities between Daimapremise and GT had some valid reasons to worry, the series premiere proves that Daima knows how to use a child version of Goku correctly. Goku being a child is directly relevant to the plot of Daima in a way that it really wasn’t meant to GTand he’s being treated a little differently as a protagonist as a result of this. Making Goku a child again also helps to emphasize some of what he did Dragon ball great to start with: that sense of adventure that comes with Goku’s initial quest for the Dragon Balls is back in full force in Daima.

Due to Goku’s size being more tied to the plot, and the meta-element of the franchise’s 40th anniversary, returning to Dragon ballthe origins themselves, Daima managed to justify Goku’s aging much more than GT already done. DaimaSon of Goku, brings back everything that fans loved about Goku when he was little at the beginning of the series, without compromising the things that people came to love in the series. Dragon Ball Z was. Dragon Ball Daima seems to know exactly how to use Goku to maximum effect, and that should guarantee a much better series than GT always has been.