For the first time in the franchise’s history, Dragon Ball Daima has actually made guns a justifiable threat to Goku and his highly powered friends. Since the early days of Dragon Ball, the number of actual formidable foes to the franchise’s main characters has been ridiculously low to the point where creator Akira Toriyama has been forced to go to great lengths to justify new villains who could actually win against them. Essentially, there was never any hope that a normal human could hurt them, because they are essentially immune to bullets.

It’s undoubtedly for that reason that Dragon Ball Z introduced the concept of aliens. It might have been a fun development at the time, but there really was no human on Earth who could actually hurt Goku, and for the series to be exciting, he needed a real threat. However, Dragon Ball Daima has shaken things up by dedicating an entire episode to Goku and friends struggling against an army using guns and other advanced weaponry.

Goku Proved That Guns Were No Match for Him Way Back in Dragon Ball

Goku Took Shots From General White and Easily Survived

General White shoots Goku

The idea that guns could actually hurt Goku always felt outside of the realm of possibility, especially when considering the fact that, as early as chapter #65, Goku has proven that guns don’t pose an actual threat to him. In that chapter, the Red Ribbon Army’s big bad General White takes several gun shots at Goku when the Saiyan is helping his friend android “8-Man” reach the top of Muscle Tower.

Goku not only sustains direct hits to his body but to the back, which is arguably much worse than the front, and yet, the young Saiyan survives with barely a scratch. From that moment on, guns have never been portrayed as any type of threat to Goku and his friends, especially after deflecting or surviving attacks that are capable of destroying entire planets.

From that moment on, not just Goku but even Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien began proving that guns couldn’t hurt them. There’s also the famous scene in DBZ when Raditz catches the bullets from the scared farmer who shot at him, and Raditz is officially the weakest main villain in the series.

Dragon Ball Daima Introduces a Gun That Can Paralyze and Even Hurt Goku

The Demon Realm Has Some Serious Weapons

And yet, Dragon Ball Daima episode #15 actually introduces a type of laser that is capable of not only hurting and paralyzing the heroes, but killing them, according to the mysterious Namekian Neva. The lasers are so dangerous in fact that Vegeta actually has to eat the Demon Realm’s version of Earth’s Senzu Bean because he got shot. There’s something almost surreal seeing Goku and the gang having to take shelter from a rain of laser blasts and trying to come up with a strategy, as opposed to just charging forward and letting the blasts just bounce off them.

It also made the entire battle actually very exciting, when it could have easily been just like most battles in Daima, where their opponents don’t really pose any real threat. More importantly, fans could actually look forward to the battle between Goku and the Gendarmerie Force, a group of Gomah’s five elite soldiers that were originally portrayed as just Daima‘s reject Ginyu Force. Unfortunately, when the battle happened in the following episode, it was highly disappointing, and the Force was quickly dispatched.

While Effective, Dragon Ball Daima’s Delivery Doesn’t Work

Daima Could Have Introduced These Lasers Much Earlier On

Dragon Ball DAIMA episode 4 Panzy with Wasabi Bomb

While unexpectedly exciting and addressing a major critique of the franchise, Dragon Ball Daima fumbled the overall delivery. A question that a lot of fans are undoubtedly asking is why the series took so long to prove the effectiveness of the Gendarmerie’s weapons. Gomah’s police forces have been around since the beginning, but they’ve never proved to be a threat to Goku. Showing how dangerous their weapons are would have made fans more excited about the various encounters Goku and friends had during their trip.

The overall series would have also felt more relevant as opposed to a random side story if the Gendarmerie were always presented as more than just fodder NPCs from the very beginning. Of course, Goku choosing to dodge the gun blasts when he was saving Panzy actually fits his personality. Goku has never been overly prideful of his own strength and has always perplexingly shown respect and been impressed by his enemies, even when they are incredibly weak and inconsequential.

Although completely welcome, the fact that fans learn about this so late in the season makes the development feel like a last-minute addition as opposed to a more well-thought-out development. Some foreshadowing or some additional setup could have helped make the situation feel more authentic.

Dragon Ball GT Explored This Dynamic First

Although Not With Guns, Random Villains Could Hurt Goku Despite Being Weak

Goku fighting the Sigma Force.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that otherwise inconsequential enemies have actually posed a threat to Goku, though the vast majority of them are from the controversial Dragon Ball GT series. Probably the strongest example that can be more easily compared to the Gendarmerie’s guns in Daima is the Sigma Force, who were able to put Goku and Trunks to sleep after shooting them with sleeping gas. Although a more prominent enemy than Daima‘s Gendarmerie, GT‘s Mutchy-Mutchy is another example. Mutchy-Mutchy was basically just the entry villain to Lord Luud, and yet his whips could shock Goku out of his Super Saiyan form.

Even though many fans undoubtedly think that the effectiveness of Gendarmerie’s guns was introduced much too late in Dragon Ball Daima, it’s just another case where it’s better late than never.



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