Dragon Ball Daima 1×17 Review: “Gomah”

Dragon Ball Daima anime episode 17, titled ‘Gomah’, had the big bad of the series appear to fight the Z-Warriors even though his entrance interrupted the much-anticipated fight between Goku and one of the Majin bros.

With the Z-Warriors finally standing before Dr. Arinsu and the Majin bros in the previous episode, ‘Gomah’ continued their interaction. I liked how the writers allowed some of the characters to have a conversation instead of everyone rushing in to land a punch or two. Shin tried to reason with his sister and asked for the First Demon Realm’s Dragon Ball. Of course, she refused to hand it over and we finally got to learn about her goal.

Turns out that her aim was different from Degesu’s. She didn’t want to become the ruler of the Demon Realms. What Dr. Arinsu wanted was more chaos. She wanted the three Demon Realms to become even more dangerous than they already were. In a sense, her motivations were valid. Due to beings like Goku and Vegeta, the First Demon Realm was understandably afraid of being overpowered. It’s the entire reason Gomah decided to travel to Earth to retrieve the Dragon Balls and make the wish to turn Goku and the rest into their current kid-like forms.

Dr. Arinsu using the Dragon Balls of the Demon Realms would mean achieving enough power to deal with threats like Goku and the Z-Warriors that might pop up down the line. So, yeah, Dr. Arinsu was thinking about her universe as a whole instead of only focusing on becoming the new ruler.

The writers have consistently shown Dr. Arinsu to have a sensible head on her shoulders. She’s supposed to be the smart one and it shows. After refusing Shin’s request, she proposed her take on how the opposing teams should acquire all three Dragon Balls. Dr. Arinsu wanted a 1-on-1 battle between a representative from the Z-Warriors and her two Majin. Even though she only had one Dragon Ball to give away and was called out for that, if the Z-Warriors refused her terms, she had no qualms about destroying the Dragon Ball she had.

I liked how Dr. Arinsu stood her ground knowing how OP Goku and Vegeta were. The Dragon Ball franchise severely lacks female villains and I’m glad DB Daima introduced someone like Dr. Arinsu to the lore.

I’m also very interested in seeing how the Z-Warriors will react when the fact that Glorio’s been working for Dr. Arinsu all this time comes to light.

Of course, Vegeta and Goku got into an argument over who would get to fight one of the Majin first. Bulma had to step in and state how it was Goku’s turn to battle. Though she was right, I think Bulma chose Goku to represent the Z-Warriors in the first fight because she knew Goku’s stronger than Vegeta.

While I was excited about Goku battling Majin Duu I was kind of wondering how the writers would continue the confrontation for an entire episode knowing that Gomah had planted the Third Eye into his forehead in the previous episode. I didn’t want Gomah to interrupt a much-anticipated battle. But unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

As for the short fight itself, I liked how Goku was choreographed as he countered Majin Duu’s stretchy body with his trusted Power Pole. Though Majin Duu was able to (kind of) keep up with Goku, the difference between their battle experience was quite obvious. Goku had fought a Majin before.

The giant-sized Gomah appeared to stop Goku vs Majin Duu and immediately everyone turned their attention to the King of the Demon Realm. I liked how Bulma noticed how the Third Eye matched the creepy eyeball on Hybis’ belt. Bulma asking Hybis about where his belt was and his trying to change the subject made for a fun little moment.

The power Gomah had obtained from the Third Eye was quite a lot. The beings who already knew about the Third Eye due to living in the Demon Realms were understandably concerned. The Z-Warriors were concerned because they could see that the aura surrounding Gomah was no joke. Things were made complicated due to Gomah’s newly acquired telekinetic abilities. He used them to create a battle arena because he didn’t want to destroy his palace.

I think the fandom will agree that Goku and Vegeta should have been able to handle someone like Gomah on their own if they weren’t stuck in their kid forms. However, due to their current predicament, it made sense for even someone like Goku to ask everyone to fight Gomah together. Also, in my opinion, the very short solo fight between Gomah and Vegeta likely allowed Goku to gauge Gomah’s strength.

Seeing Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Shin, Glorio, and even the Majin bros and the First Tamagami attacking Gomah together was cool. There were a whole lot of energy beams, counters, and blocks on the screen. The camera work was quite impressive and added a lot to make the battle appear as dynamic as possible.

The Z-Warriors and the rest unleashed what they could against Gomah but their attacks weren’t doing enough damage to the OP threat. From what I can remember, telekinesis has always given the Dragon Ball fighters trouble and it wasn’t any different when they faced Gomah, who was now capable of redirecting energy beams and creating force fields via telekinesis.

The big moment in ‘Gomah’ occurred when Gomah telekinetically bound Goku and our iconic Saiyan had to tap into his Super Saiyan 3 form to continue fighting Gomah. I mean, Goku could gone Super Saiyan 3 earlier but anime is gonna anime.

I don’t think Super Saiyan 3 Goku will be able to easily take down Gomah in the next episode, but it will make for an awesome fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gomah gets defeated not because of a clear knockout but by having the Third Eye removed from his forehead.

Even with Gomah defeated, the Z-Warriors will still need to deal with Dr. Arinsu. Due to how Majin Duu and Majin Kuu teamed up with the Z-Warriors, I wonder if the brothers will agree to follow Dr. Arinu’s orders to fight Goku and the rest once Gomah’s been dealt with. We only have three more episodes left. Let’s see what the writers have planned.

What did you think of Dragon Ball Daima episode 17 ‘Gomah’?

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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