Director Aya Komaki has revealed what sets Dragon Ball Daima apart from earlier chapters like Z and Super. In a recent interview, Komaki explained that the team worked carefully to ensure the new series didn’t “feel dated.” She noted that DAIMA was designed to maintain balance between honoring the past and giving something new.
Aya Komaki says they did not want Dragon Ball Daima to ‘feel dated’
Director Aya Komaki has opened up about the creative vision behind Dragon Ball Daima. She revealed that the team made a conscious effort to keep the new series fresh while still paying tribute to its long legacy.
In the interview featured in the Japanese Blu-ray release, Komaki explained that the series’ visuals, particularly the opening montage revisiting the history of Dragon Ball, were designed to celebrate the franchise’s legacy without appearing “dated.” Komaki said, “While evoking the past, we wanted to show a new Daima, to show a new Dragon Ball, without making it feel dated, but with that slight faded quality that brings back memories of the past… those parts were handled with painstaking care.”
Komaki was also joined by co-director Yoshitaka Yashima and executive producer Akio Iyoku. They also elaborated on the significance of the opening recap. Iyoku explained that because Daima follows the “Majin Buu” saga, the recap helped bridge the gap for new viewers. He said, “The beginning of DAIMA actually serves two purposes. The first, as Yashima-san just said, was to convey that it connects directly after the Bus saga.”
Komaki noted the second purpose was to ensure that the series would be easy for audiences to follow. He said, “If it started all of a sudden, people wouldn’t understand what’s going on; so by explaining the situation—’the state of things’—we wanted even those who had never seen anything before to be able to watch it.”
It is important to note that the discussion was shared through a fan translation of the Japanese text.
