It’s commonly believed anything with the Dragon Ball name will be a guaranteed hit, but Dragon Ball DAIMA has thrown this into question. While not an unpopular anime, DBD has failed to achieve the same levels of success and notoriety as its predecessors, which has little to do with the quality of the series itself. Dragon Ball DAIMA is not nearly as successful as Dragon Ball Super, but the lack of a same-day English Dub is largely to blame.
Although Dragon Ball Super likewise lacked a same-day English dub when it released, it benefited from other factors that Dragon Ball DAIMA hasn’t been able to take advantage of. The fact that Dragon Ball DAIMA’s English Dub is still airing even though most fans have already stopped caring about the series is a major problem – one that could and should have been avoided at all costs, and one future Dragon Ball anime need to avoid.
Dragon Ball DAIMA's Lack of a Same-Day English Dub Has Left it to Flounder
Most People Have Already Stopped Caring About Dragon Ball DAIMA
Dragon Ball DAIMA was a moderate success during its weekly Japanese release. The anime was fairly popular for most of its run, and moments like the birth of Super Saiyan 4 Goku caused viewership to spike to the point Crunchyroll & various other streaming sites crashed. Week over week, however, Dragon Ball DAIMA was far from the most-watched anime at the time, getting destroyed in particular by Dandadan. There are multiple reasons why a Dragon Ball anime, and one promoted as the swan song of the late Akira Toriyama no less, fell short in this regard.
Among the most obvious issues it faced were the more laid-back tone of its first half, not allowing Dragon Ball fans to get into the hype cycle they love so much, and its embarrassing lack of marketing. However, the biggest blunder of all was Dragon Ball DAIMA’s lack of a same-day English Dub. Perhaps more than any other anime fandom, English-speaking Dragon Ball fans prefer to watch the franchise dubbed. The English voice cast is simply what too many people who grew up with the dub of Dragon Ball Z are used to, and there are millions of fans who will not watch a new piece of Dragon Ball media until it’s in English.
The lack of a same-day English dub not only caused viewership on platforms like Crunchyroll to not be as high as it should have been, but also rendered online excitement and discussion around the series heavily lacking. Fans who weren’t watching may have heard about the appearances of Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Goku, but no one but the most passionate of Dragon Ball fans was actually talking about an installment of the biggest anime franchise on Earth week-to-week. People were just too busy talking about a series that did have a same-day English Dub: Dandadan.
Along with the initial release of Dragon Ball DAIMA being a relative flop, the still-airing English Dub of the anime is an even bigger mess. Nearly three-quarters of the series has been dubbed, but the average anime fan wouldn’t know that. Conversation about DAIMA has completely dried up since it’s over & there’s no more coming, and because everyone who was waiting for the Dub already knows about all the biggest moments in it. Had Dragon Ball DAIMA just been given a same-day English Dub, as many popular anime are nowadays, it could have drawn a larger audience, and given fans around the world a better experience.
Dragon Ball Super Only Overcame its Lack of a Same-Day English Dub Because of Unique Circumstances
Dragon Ball Super Succeeded in Spite of its Late English Dub, Not Because of It
It’s easy to forget, but Dragon Ball Super was not nearly as popular 10 years ago as it is today. When it first premiered in 2015, same-day English Dubs were not as common as they are today, and it did not receive one. Its first several arcs were torn apart critically by the fans who were watching, and even the Future Trunks and Universe Survival Sagas were highly divisive. The series only gained the reputation it has as the second-best Dragon Ball anime, behind Dragon Ball Z, after the English Dub started airing. One might think this is an argument against the necessity of same-day English Dubs but, in actuality, it highlights the sheer amount of good fortune needed to overcome the lack of one.
Dragon Ball DAIMA was a limited-run anime, while Dragon Ball Super was an ongoing one. By the time the English Dub of Dragon Ball DAIMA started airing, the series was almost over, but Super’s English Dub started airing just a few weeks before the longest and most hype-filled arc in the series, the Universe Survival Saga. This allowed for Dragon Ball Super’s two releases to synergize,as fans watching the Dub still heard about the most exciting moments from the Tournament of Power, but that only made them more eager to catch up, and made them more invested. For that matter, the type of series Dragon Ball Super was also helped.
For all its numerous faults, Dragon Ball Super nailed the hype cycle that so many fans love getting involved with, featuring one climactic battle and game-changing transformation after another, and this is something most other anime, including Dragon Ball DAIMA, are incapable of replicating. In 2025, ongoing anime are a dying breed, and an increasing number of English-speaking fans expect same-day English Dubs from the biggest anime. If even a series like Dragon Ball DAIMA is punished under these circumstances, then it’s clear that every major anime now needs a same-day English Dub, unless they want to meet a similar fate. The anime that fail to do this will be doomed to be crushed by the Dandadan’s of the world.
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball tells the tale of a young warrior by the name of Son Goku, a young peculiar boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, when, once all 7 are gathered, grant any wish of choice.
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Dragon Ball DAIMA
PG-13 Action Adventure Animation Fantasy Martial Arts 9 10 141
Due to a conspiracy, Goku and friends are transformed into children. They intend to travel to a mysterious new world to undo this change
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Dragon Ball Super
Action Sci-Fi Animation Fantasy 78
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Sean Schemmel
Jason Douglas
With Majin Buu defeated half-a-year prior, peace returns to Earth, where Son Goku (now a radish farmer) and his friends now live peaceful lives.
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