Dragon Ball Daima releases English dub trailer, announces US theatrical screening dates

Modified Sep 28, 2024 12:03 GMT

Dragon Ball Daima releases English dub trailer, announces US theatrical screening dates (Image via Toei Animation)

Tuesday, September 24, 2024, saw Toei Animation begin streaming a new English dubbed version of the Dragon Ball Daima trailer, also confirming the dub's theatrical screening dates. In the United States, the first three English dubbed episodes of the series will be screened from Sunday, November 10, through Tuesday, November 12, 2024.

This will also be the world premiere of the English dub for Dragon Ball Daima, confirming that those fans wanting to watch in English will be waiting for quite some time. The anime’s premiere date in Japan with the original Japanese audio is Friday, October 11, 2024, at 11:40 pm Japanese Standard Time (JST).

Dragon Ball Daima English trailer features Stephanie Nadolny returning as the voice of Goku

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The English dub trailer largely features dialogue from the anime’s new villains and characters, with the lone exception being Stephanie Nadolny’s return as Son Goku. Nadolny previously voiced young Goku in the original Dragon Ball series and Dragon Ball Z, as well as Young/Teen Gohan in Dragon Ball Z. It’s unclear if she’ll also be voicing Gohan in the new series as of this article’s writing.

The anime’s world premiere will occur at Dragon Ball Daimatsuri, combining the word “Daima” with “matsuri,” which means festival. The event will be held on Sunday, October 6 at Tokyo Big Sight. Three screenings of the first episode will take place at 10 am, 2:15 pm, and 6 pm JST with cast members attending the first two screenings. The event will commemorate the Dragon Ball series’ 40th anniversary and is free, but tickets can only be acquired via a lottery system.

Yoshitaka Yashima and Aya Komaki are serving as series directors, with Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru adapting the late Akira Toriyama’s character designs for animation. Yuuko Kakihara is supervising and writing the series scripts. Toriyama, who created the franchise, is credited for the new anime’s story and character designs.

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Zedd featuring C&K (CLIEVY and KEEN) will be performing the opening theme song Jaka Jaan. Zedd featuring Ai will be performing the ending theme song Nakama, which translates to "Companions." Zedd composed the ending theme song specifically for the anime, while singer-songwriter Ai wrote the ending theme’s lyrics.

The series follows Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, and other characters who become their younger selves again thanks to the titular Dragon Balls and the new demon antagonists to be introduced. Daima’s plot is similar to that of Dragon Ball GT, but the two are distinct and unique plots.

The word “Daima” doesn’t mean anything, the kanji can be interpreted in English as the word “evil,” possibly referencing the new demon-clan antagonists. The series will be Toriyama’s final project in the franchise following his death in March 2024 at age 68, following an acute subdural hematoma caused by a blood clot in his brain.