The Late Akira Toriyama Planted Mysteries in the New Demon Realm Just For Dragon Ball Daima

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Image via Dragon Ball franchise’s official Twitter account© BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION

While the New York Comic Con Dragon Ball Daima panel launched with whoops and cheers, it must have also packed an emotional gutpunch for the Dragon Ball fans. The passing of mangaka Akira Toriyama on March 1 has left a hole in the hearts of the franchise’s acolytes. On Dragon Ball’s 40th anniversary, many of them assembled at New York Comic Con to get a sneak peek into one of Toriyama’s final contributions to his sprawling Dragon Ball Saiyan saga: the Dragon Ball Daima anime chapter. It was all smiles and “Kamehameha-HAAAAA.”

Last New York Comic Con, Toei Animation announced Toriyama provided his story and character designs for Dragon Ball Daima (“Daima” vaguely referring to “evil”), the latest anime in the franchise. Devout fans have followed Goku’s coming-of-age since Dragon Ball’s debut in 1984, from Goku being a little strong squirt and his iconic Power Pole to a still-childish dad in Dragon Ball Z and beyond (Goku and his sons, Gohan and Goten, long-voiced by Masako Nozawa). Now fans get to relive his tyke-ish days–in a way. It’s Muppets Babies but with superpowerful, punchy Saiyans.

A fan screamed, “I love you!” at the panel’s emcee, Monica Rial, the English dub voice for Bulma (the tech wiz who happens to be married to the temperamental Vegeta). “Was that Vegeta back there?” Rial squealed back. “Hi there!”

The panel also advertised lanyards, a swag bag, a paper headset, a Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World Trial Deck 2024, ribbons, promotions cards, acrylic stands, and video games. The cream of the crop is an exclusive edition of Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta.

Photo by Caroline CaoAfter the saturation of product and video game announcements, Akio Iyoku, the executive producer of the Dragon Ball series, finally emerged, speaking through an interpreter to answer burning questions. The Daima trailer makes a big deal out of the never-before-seen Demon Realm. Did the late Toriyama create the Demon Realm from scratch? It wasn’t part of the official worldbuilding until this anime. The answer was an instantaneous “Yes” from Iyoku.

“The Demon Realm was specifically designed for Daima,” Iyoku reported. He shared some exclusive Toriyama illustrations. Take a close look, everyone.” The panel presented a novel Toriyama’s landscape: a yellowed, green-speckled, and purple-rivered desert.

“The Demon Realm is Toriyama. He didn’t just do the background; he took a lot of the settings and put them on paper,” said Iyoku. A snail-like spacecraft–also a Toriyama-patented design–hovered over the yellow vista. It’s a vehicle that Glorio, a new Daima character, rides in the background. “Toriyama-sensei, he was very particular when it came to mechs. He actually thought about how they would function, how they’d move. We got small mechs like this, all the way to really large ones that are all going to show up in the show.” I imagine that Bulma would go gaga over that tech.

A club-wielding troll wandered on the right side of the art, so the panel couldn’t resist giving us a close-up of the troll and its creepy maw, slanted ears, and belly with a spiral tattoo. “He [Toriyama] really fleshed out this world and the setting in his signature style.”

Two pleasant surprises popped at the panel. First was voice actress and musician Stephanie Nadolny, the English voice of the young Goku (at her first New York Comic Con). She gave them the career recap. She was the OG Goku in Dragon Ball and Goku’s son, the young Gohan, in Dragon Ball Z. So it’s only proper she’ll voice pint-sized Goku once again in Daima. Naturally, she also led a “Kamehameha” wave with the crowd.

Second was the arrival of Glorio’s English voice actor, Aaron Dismuke (Alphonse in Fullmetal Alchemist). “You know how Dragon warriors sense power level? I feel a lot of power [in this room],” he told the audience. When he scored the Glorio role, “I was kinda in denial. You always try to hedge your bets so you don’t get hurt when you’re auditioning.” Though he was prepared to lose the role, he thought he could be grateful for making the shortlist. “I auditioned for a few characters, but I wanted Glorio… And then I found out that I passed, and I was like, ‘Okay, well, it’s gonna be a small part. That’s great.’ And then I found out it was Glorio.” He laughed.

When Rial asked whether Glorio was good or evil, Iyoku went, “Hmmmmmm,” for a stalling amount of seconds, as if trying to hold back a secret before settling on, “I can’t get into many details.”

Dismuke added, “I’m thrilled that Glorio is going to be in the video game.” He didn’t know about Glorio’s appearances in the new games until this panel. “So yeah! I’ll get to work more!”

The tyke takeover also extended to the latest games. I mean, who doesn’t want to pinch the cheeks of the Mini Goku or Mini Vegeta in the smartphone game Dokkan Battle or Dragon Ball 2 Xenoverse?

The kind of “rules schmouls” logistics of Toriyama’s creation is part of the franchise’s appeal. If you want to ask why a demon king conspiracy would turn the leading Saiyan gang into kids, “cuteness” is not the answer–but cheek-pinching cuteness is the byproduct of the decision. In the premiere episode, a demon king steals the Dragon Balls and makes his wish. If he can’t use the Dragon Balls to extinguish the Saiyan heroes and their families, he can wish them into kids. He assumes that the Saiyan threat in kiddie form could not attack the Demon Realm. The Daima trailer hints this will reunite pint-sized Goku with his iconic Power Pole (based on the Monkey King’s staff from Journey to the West). Also new to this Dragon Ball world is the fact that the Demon Realm has its own well-guarded, wish-granting Dragon Balls, forged by the Old Namek Neva, which will come into play. If this were an open Q&A, I imagine fans would keep pestering the panel about the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls.

Toei Animation and Fathom Events will screen the English-dubbed first three Dragon Ball Daima episodes in U.S. theaters on November 10-12.

“We certainly paid a lot of attention to the visual expression that you see in Dragon Ball Daima,” Iyoku said. “So I hope you get to experience a different side or angle of Dragon Ball that we never see before.”

Dragon Ball Daima is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu with weekly episode releases.