Dragon Ball DAIMA Slows Down (While Promising Big Stuff Ahead)

Key Takeaways

• Episode 4 of
  Dragon Ball DAIMA
  slows down the adventure, focusing on negotiating prices and buying bugs.
• Despite the slow pace, the episode picks up in the third act with a revealing conflict and fun battle.
• The trio must navigate obstacles like heavy air and plot twists, hinting at a more exciting path ahead.

The following contains spoilers for Dragon Ball DAIMA episode 4, “Chatty” available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix.

Despite the strong first two episodes, the previous episode of Dragon Ball DAIMA started to show some cracks as the adventure seemed to grind to a slowdown. With the fourth episode now upon us, does the series pick up some steam and regain some of the excitement from the first two episodes, or are viewers in for another slow slog?

The answer is more complicated than you might expect, so let’s discuss the latest episode of Dragon Ball DAIMA.

What Happened Last Time?

Our heroes – Goku, Kaioshin, and Glorio – have begun a journey through time and space using a space capsule that Bulma fixed (she promised her and other longtime favorites would be joining them later), and the three of them enter another dimension by talking to a god of space and time known as Warp-sama (just barely though: Goku almost torpedoed that plan by telling the time god that he looked like a fish). The three eventually find themselves on another planet, where they are hoping to track down Dende and his kidnappers.

The Lost Capsule

Because they are strangers and Goku doesn’t have the best table manners to begin with, the three ultimately get themselves into a bar brawl during dinner, where Goku discovers that he is getting used to his tiny body a bit more, and is thus able to move around more freely than he was previously able to. It seems that they picked the wrong gang to fight though, for when they woke up, they found their space capsule stolen (though the thieves were at least kind enough to leave a note behind).

What Now?

Without the space capsule, our heroes are unable to return to Earth (or do much else that requires long-distance traveling). They start walking as they contemplate their next move. Goku suggests that maybe they should all fly to make further progress, but Glorio points out that the air on this planet is heavier than it is on Earth, and as a result, they would tire quickly. Goku not only finds this out very quickly, but when a monster attacks him, he finds his reflexes are still slower than usual (likely due to the double negative of not being used to his new body AND dealing with heavier air).

It’s Time to go Shopping

With air too heavy to fly around, the trio find a shop that may be able to sell them a plane. However, the plane costs much more money than they have on hand, and instead contemplate buying bugs that will restore stamina (something the Senzue Beans would have done…if everyone hadn’t forgotten to bring them along for the ride). Will our heroes buy the bugs or try their luck at negotiating for a plane? Does anyone care? This is all so…oh look, Dragon Balls!

The Adventure is Slowing Down

So far, this is the slowest episode of Dragon Ball DAIMA we’ve gotten yet. Negotiating plane prices and deciding how many bugs to buy is the sort of thing that made that other Dragon Ball space show so darn boring. Though not confirmed, there will apparently be at least 20 episodes in Dragon Ball DAIMA. If that is all there will be, it seems foolish to be wasting time on things like this. Thankfully, the episode does pull itself out of the hole it’s digging itself in with a much better third act.

While this is the portion of the episode that will be kept a secret to avoid spoiling too much, the rules of this planet’s Dragon Balls are revealed in more detail (with the most interesting revelation being that there are only three on this planet as opposed to seven). Despite having little interest in the Dragon Balls before (Goku only sought them out to help people he cared about), for some reason in this case he wants to put the mission of saving Dende on hold to go find them (though this desire may have more to do with the fact that he would have to fight the guardians to obtain them, which certainly IS in character).

The episode also ends with the trio’s first real conflict with a new character that is likely to be VERY important in the upcoming episodes! Ultimately, this is far from a great episode. Truthfully, it’s a little boring. It’s not terrible though, and at least new elements are still being introduced to keep the intrigue going. It also ends with a battle that is fun to watch, reminding us of how talented Akira Toriyama was at staging a good fight sequence. Hopefully, this is a sign that the exposition is coming to an end, and we can continue with the adventure on hand.