The first episode of Dragon Ball Daima, broadcast by Fuji TV on October 11, 2024, opens Akira Toriyama's final story with a plot hatched far from Earth. In the Demon Realm, the new ruler Gomah decides to neutralize the warriors who defeated Majin Buu, and he picks the most mocking method imaginable: the Dragon Balls, turning every one of them into a child.
Summary
In the palace of the First Demon World, Gomah and his deputy Degesu, the Supreme Kai's younger brother, scroll through Babidi's invasion and the Majin Buu crisis on a magic monitor. When they watch Dabura die, Gomah becomes Supreme Demon King, and Goku's victory over Buu seems to clear his path. Then Dr. Arinsu, sister of both Degesu and the Supreme Kai, spoils the celebration by suggesting that those warriors might one day invade the Demon Realm.
Left alone with Degesu, Gomah has an idea. The Demon Realm's Dragon Balls are extremely hard to collect, Earth's are not, and since a death wish probably would not work, he will ask Shenron to turn everyone who fought Buu back into children. For a second wish he has his eye on the legendary Third Eye, lost during the reign of King Abura, Dabura's father. Someone hidden nearby hears every word.
Joining them is Neva, an elderly Namekian who created both the Demon Realm's Dragon Balls and the Tamagami that guard them. Through a Warp Lord the trio reaches Universe 7, learning on the way that Arinsu has already visited Earth. At Capsule Corporation, meanwhile, everyone is celebrating Trunks' ninth birthday: Gohan is absent, Krillin teases the birthday boy about his height and Goku needles Vegeta. The Supreme Kai and Kibito explain why they are no longer fused: a gas inside Buu's body cancels the power of the Potara earrings.
At Kami's Lookout, Dende refuses to hand over the Dragon Balls. Neva summons them with his powers, Degesu knocks out the young guardian and calls Shenron. Gomah wishes for the warriors who faced Buu and their friends to become children, and for those who already are children to become babies. The wish is granted while Goku and Vegeta are sparring in the sky.
Our take
This is a deliberately slow start that spends a lot of time recapping the Buu saga for viewers coming in cold. It works because the point of view is new: for the first time we see those events from the Demon Realm's side, and learn that somebody on the other side of the screen was taking notes. It is the same love of backstory that made Babidi and Dabura memorable.
The shrinking wish recalls Pilaf's wish in Dragon Ball GT, but here it has a precise, political motive: Gomah does not want to kill anyone, he wants rivals out of the way. And Trunks' party is a small gift for anyone who loves these characters, one last snapshot of the whole Dragon Ball family together before the story sends them elsewhere.
Trivia
- It runs ten minutes longer than a regular episode and was premiered on October 6, 2024, at Tokyo Big Sight during the Dragon Ball Daimatsuri event for the manga's 40th anniversary.
- "Conspiracy" is the official English title used by Crunchyroll and Netflix. The English dub reached Crunchyroll in January 2025 and Toonami on June 15, 2025, and the first three dubbed episodes were also shown in US theaters in November 2024.
- Written by Yūko Kakihara, storyboarded by Yoshitaka Yashima and directed by Aya Komaki, with Takeo Ide as animation director and Chikashi Kubota as chief animation director.
- The episode explains Vegito's and Kibito Kai's separation with the gas inside Buu, which differs from what Dragon Ball Super showed.
- Neva tells Dende that the Namekians originally came from the Demon Realm.
Did you know? The premiere was watched by 3.2% of Japanese households, more than the finale's 2.8%.