Today at New York Comic Con, Toei Animation announced a brand-new Dragon Ball anime series coming next fall.
The new anime’s name is Dragon Ball Daima. Unlike the Dragon Ball Super anime, Dragon Ball Daima (the latter word loosely translates to “big” or “large” in Japanese) appears to be a chibi-stylized anime that follows Goku and Vegeta’s adventures in the Dragon Ball world. Going off screenshots of the show making the rounds on Twitter, Daima appears to transform all of DBZ’s characters into itty bitty versions of themselves à la Dragon Ball GT. But unlike with the reviled GT, series creator Akira Toriyama is heavily involved with the production process of the new show.
“There are some things I can’t say but one thing I can tell you is [in] this production Akira Toriyama has been deeply involved beyond his usual capacity overseeing the original work, story, character design, and more,” executive producer Akio Iyoku said. “Additionally, [Toriyama] has planned entirely new episodes for the storyline so please look forward to the start of the series.”
Despite being fairly tight-lipped on details regarding Toriyama’s level of involvement in Daima, Iyoku revealed that the series’ name was decided days before its world premiere at NYCC and that Toriyama “meticulously” crafted various elements of the show, including the design of various characters like Bulma, vehicles, and monster designs.
Here’s Dragon Ball Daima’s trailer.
Going off the trailer, Daima does look like a refreshing entry in the long-running anime series. Folks like myself who long for the cute rounded designs of early Dragon Ball characters will get a kick out of seeing those same designs return for characters like Android 18, Krillin, and Bulma. The show’s animation, which looked an awful lot like the 2D animated segment at the start of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, looked freaking awesome too. Goku even gets his trusty Power Pole back, which is always a plus in my book.