Dragon Ball Daima Marks Akira Toriyama's Final Work and Now We Know What Changes He Made
Dragon Ball Daima was the last project that series creator Akira Toriyama worked on, and now fans know exactly what Toriyama contributed to the series, thanks to a newly translated interview from Japan. Fans may be surprised to learn just how involved Toriyama was, and how the project truly bears his fingerprints.
Dragon Ball Daima was announced prior to Toriyama's death, but even at the time, his involvement was emphasized as something special, since Toriyama had rarely been too involved with the anime side of the Dragon Ball franchise. While Toriyama often provided character designs for other projects, he rarely had input in the story, as was the case for many of the classic 90's-era Dragon Ball films. For Daima, however, Toriyama had the chance to help shape the project from the very beginning, and seized upon this opportunity to create something truly unique.
Akira Toriyama Had a Major Influence on Daima's Story
Toriyama Worked Diligently at Crafting Daima's Storyline
An interview with Akio Iyoku, a former editor for Shonen Jump who now works exclusively with Dragon Ball, from the Japanese newspaper Kitanippon Shimbun, was translated by X (Formerly Twitter) User @Venixys, and the subject matter deals primarily with Toriyama's involvement with the series. Iyoku reveals that they initially didn't expect much from Toriyama, but that the series creator gradually became more involved until finally he was doing "almost everything."
"He created the entire story. He designed nearly all the characters--from those in the tavern to the various monsters appearing throughout the Demon Realm. Even the mechanical designs, like the aircraft, are his work," said Iyoku. "He even conceptualized the entire world of the Demon Realm, which consists of the First, Second, and Third Realms, each with its own unique form and history." Iyoku emphasized that Toriyama's focus was on storytelling, going back and designing characters and setting around the story he wanted to tell. Toriyama also put in great effort designing characters, such as Panzy's father, King Kadan.
Toriyama Created Everything Unique About Daima From Scratch
The Work Akira Toriyama Put In Exudes from Every Episode of Daima
From Iyoku's description, it seems that even the setting of the Demon Realm was Toriyama's creation, and that hadn't been where they originally intended to set the story. He even compared the story of Daima to a video game, where characters travel and pick up additional party members as they go along. Creating so many characters required a lot of work from Toriyama himself, but he put in tremendous effort with each and every one, as is apparent from many of the one-off and background characters, who still remain memorable.
Iyoku doesn't get into whether elements like Goku's Super Saiyan 4 or Vegeta's Super Saiyan 3 scene were explicitly Toriyama's ideas, but it can at least be assumed that Toriyama was aware of these story beats and didn't have a problem with them. Dragon Ball Daima was obviously a passion project for Toriyama, something that he enjoyed working on in what would turn out to be his final days.
Dragon Ball DAIMA
- Release Date
- 2024 - 2025
- Network
- Fuji TV, Kansai TV, Tokai Television Broadcasting, Fukui TV, Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting, Iwate Menkoi Television, Sendai Television, SAGA TV, TNC, OHK, Ishikawa TV, Kochi Sun Sun Broadcasting, TV Shizuoka, UMK TV Miyazaki, Television Shin Hiroshima System, NST, NBS, Sakuranbo TV, TSK, Ehime Broadcasting, KTS, NIB, KKT, Fukushima TV, TOS, AKT, Toyama Television, Okinawa Television Broadcasting
- Directors
- Kazuya Karasawa, Ryuta Kawahara
- Writers
- Akira Toriyama
- Franchise(s)
- Dragon Ball
Cast
Masako NozawaSon Goku (mini) (voice)- Koki UchiyamaGlorio (voice)
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