Dragon Ball Daima Episode 13 Breakdown: Toriyama's Giants Return, and a Big GT Callback Hides in Plain Sight

Dragon Ball Daima episode 13 followed the historic episode 12, where Vegeta became a Super Saiyan 3 to defeat his opponent. Things slowed down far more than I wanted them to in this episode, but there were still a few lore bits worth digging into, including some very interesting tie ins to Dragon Ball GT and some of Akira Toriyama's other works and inspirations.

Gomah Orders Warp Disabled, But a Hidden Portal Could Get the Group to Demon World One Anyway

The most important plot point in this episode is that Gomah, afraid that Goku and the group are heading to Demon World One to collect the last Dragon Ball and save Dende, orders his subordinate to disable Warp. That subordinate says he has never heard of anyone disabling Warp before, yet he knows exactly how to do it. He heads into a mysterious chamber somewhere in the castle, pulls a lever, and literally puts Warp to sleep, which tells me that lever is somehow connected to Warp's mechanism.

The plan is to stop Goku and the others from reaching Demon World One, but Warp is not the only way between the demon realms and the wider multiverse. There are also mysterious portals within each demon realm, covered by a sacred shield. This was first shown all the way back in Daima episode 3, when Shin explained to Goku that this is how people used to travel between the demon realms before they were sealed away. It is pretty clear that is the route the group will take, and the preview for episode 14 shows the portal in the background of the scene.

Bulma Bonds With a Fellow Engineer Over Hoi Poi Capsules and a Newly Explained Power Source

Technical difficulties force the ship to land on a mysterious planet in Demon World Two, which leads to Bulma working alongside another engineer to fix the ship while the others look around. Bulma introduces her to Hoi Poi Capsules, which is what they were originally called when they were first introduced at the beginning of the Dragon Ball manga. This engineer also mentions that her father invented them, which is true, and it explains why that family is the wealthiest in the world. As I see it, if something like that really existed in the real world, whoever invented it would end up rich too, so that tracks for me.

This bonding scene between two tech whizzes is a nice touch, and it is not a new idea for the franchise. Bulma being the tech expert on Goku's team goes all the way back to the original Dragon Ball, and it carries into Dragon Ball GT with Trunks going into space alongside Goku after inheriting some of that same tech wizardry from his mother.

The episode also finally answers something Bulma raised earlier in Daima: she could not repair the demon realm ship that Shin and Kibito used because she did not know what powered it. That power source turns out to be a magically infused compound that runs their vehicles. According to the engineer, this compound reacts with acidic water to produce energy that lasts thirty years. She also explains why there is no sun in the demon realm but there is always sunlight, which is because compounds from Demon World Two and Demon World Three combine to form that same power source. It is basically beefed up solar power.

Giant Hamsters, a Schoolboy Giant, and Toriyama's Long History With Giants

The crew has to deal with an actual stampede of giant hamsters, which is not something I ever expected to see in Dragon Ball, though there is a history of the cast fighting giant creatures, from giant pterodactyls to the worms inside Majin Buu in the Dragon Ball Z filler. Shortly after, we meet our first member of this giant race, and it is just a child, with fully grown adults being even larger. This child is apparently on his way home from school, which is why he is carrying gigantic books and a giant ruler. That is classic Toriyama world building, taking ordinary real world things and applying them to a fictional world, and it works even though a giant going to giant school is fairly absurd on paper.

This giant's design is inspired by more than one earlier Toriyama creation. Going back to Dragon Quest 2, there are character designs that closely resemble this, including one member of a trio of Guardians near the end of the game, colored orange just like this giant. There is also a much more direct link to Dragon Ball GT episode 6, where Goku, Trunks, and Pan visit a planet of giants whose name is a pun on the word mammoth. For a long time people claimed Toriyama had nothing to do with GT, and that is wrong. I made a video years ago called The Truth About Dragon Ball GT covering this, and the mammoth people idea was pitched to Toei Animation based on a piece of art Toriyama actually submitted for GT. The GT 2.0 jokes really do apply to this episode.

Goku, Vegeta and Piccolo Team Up Against the Giant's Monstrous Pet

We also learn this child eats Krakens as a pet food source, which tells you something about scale. The crew ends up having to run from the giant's pet, a doglike creature that serves as this episode's primary antagonist. I will be honest, I do not find it that interesting, and I think that episode 13 is the weakest episode of Daima so far. That said, Vegeta upper cutting the dog in the jaw was hilarious, and Goku once again messes up Glorio's name, this time calling him Goolo.

Piccolo and Vegeta try firing energy blasts at the pet, and it just laughs, since they are clearly not using their true power. The three of them team up to try to confuse the animal instead, which is fun to see since Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo working together as a trio is pretty rare, especially nowadays. Goku ends up on the dog's back and runs into giant sized fleas, which had me wondering if I was still watching Dragon Ball at all.

Everyone works together to deal with the ticks and the animal itself, and Goku fires his first Kamehameha since I think episode 8, though all that does is alert the giant to their presence. Once the ship repairs are finished, Piccolo and Vegeta distract the giant to give everyone a clean escape. The giant is about to smack the ship out of the air until Goku shows up to push back its hand, with Vegeta now in Super Saiyan form and Piccolo blasting alongside him. Goku, trapped inside his own clothing, falls into his book bag, becomes a Super Saiyan, and clashes his power against the giant's ruler. I enjoyed this scene a lot more on a second watch, since it is beautifully animated, smooth, and pretty funny, even though I still think the story wasted too much time and could have been resolved in about half an episode instead of carrying the whole plot. Glorio quickly saves Goku before he gets stepped on.

An Even More Dangerous Giant World, Greek Mythology, and Echoes of Dragon Ball Super's Barbarians

Earlier in the episode, when Vegeta asks what the first most dangerous place in Demon World Two is, Neva answers that it is an even more dangerous world, home to the giants. Toriyama pulled the name for that giant race from Greek mythology, where the gigans were a race of giants who fought a war against the Olympian gods, which is why variations of the word show up so often in fiction across both the Far East and the West.

Near the end of the episode we spot a couple of full sized adult giants, and their designs reminded me strongly of the Barbarians from Dragon Ball Super, from the episode where Zamasu and Goku Black use the time rings to meet up with them and end up fighting. The episode closes on a shot that reminded me of Christmas, which had just passed a few weeks before this aired.

My Verdict: Daima's Weakest Episode Yet, But the Portal Points to What's Next

This is not my favorite episode, and I think it is the worst one of Daima so far. It dragged its feet for too long, and I think the story here should have been cut down significantly so more of the main plot could have been pushed forward. There are only about seven episodes left in Daima, and we are nearing the final battle, so the pace needs to pick up from here.

Given that we saw the portal at the end of the episode, I think that either in the middle or at the end of the next episode, the group will finally make it to Demon World One, and the pieces of the puzzle will start coming together.