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Warning: Contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Dama episode #18.Dragon Ball Daimahas been filled with one incredible highlight after another, and episode #18 took that even further with the big reveal of a canon Super Saiyan 4. Fans have been waiting decades for Super Saiyan 4 to become canon, and with the organic way it was executed, combined with another incredible fight scene, there couldn’t have been a better debut.
Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4is a great one, especially from a design perspective. Naturally, the overall design of Super Saiyan 4 is largely the same as what was presented inDragon Ball GT, but there are some major differences, most notably in the way the form is colored, and with that change,Dragon Ball’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 makes it the perfect blend ofDragon Ball GTandDragon Ball Super’s lore. Whether that was intentional is unknown, but regardless, it makes an already stellar development even better to see play out.
How Dragon Ball Daima’s New Super Saiyan 4 Pays Respect To GT & Super
Dragon Ball Daima’s Super Saiyan 4 Easter Egg Explained
Anyone who’s seenDragon Ball GT, or even just the original Super Saiyan 4 design, will notice that there’s far more red toDragon Ball Daima’s take on it, with Goku’s hair even being colored colored red when it originally made his hair black again. If anything, the red coloring is nearly identical to the red coloring of Super Saiyan God, soDragon Ball Daima’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 pays respect to bothDragon Ball GTandDragon Ball Superby combining the aesthetics of Super Saiyan 4 and Super Saiyan God.
That design choice is not only great visually, but thematically, as well. Super Saiyan 4 was once presented as the form of the Legendary Super Saiyan beforeSuperintroduced Super Saiyan God, so with the canon Super Saiyan 4 having so much more red to its design,Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 can be seen as a fusion ofDragon Ball GTandDragon Ball Super’s differing takes on the Legendary Super Saiyan from a visual standpoint. It’s the perfect homage to both stories, and it makes the new Super Saiyan 4 even better to look at.
Dragon Ball Daima Finally Satisfies GT & Super Fans
How Dragon Ball Daima Is Uniting The Fanbase
Overall,Daima’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 works as a perfect means of satisfying fans of bothGTandSuper. It would have been easy for Super Saiyan 4’s design to be left unchanged, but by changing the design to incorporate elements of Super Saiyan God,Dragon Ball Daimagives fans of bothDragon Ball GTandDragon Ball Supersomething to be happy about with how much Super Saiyan 4 takes from both shows. Granted,Daimawas doing stuff like that before, but it was never as prominent as it is now, and that makes it especially noteworthy.
Ever sinceBattle of Gods, fans ofGTandSuperhave constantly been at odds with one another asSuperfans repeatedly disparageGTfor its mixed quality, andGTfans, conversely, disparageSuperfor being the new canon and for its share of writing pitfalls, soanything likeDaima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 that pays tribute to bothGTandSuperdoes wonders to help bridge the gap between their respective fandoms. That’s a big part of why the Super Saiyan 4 reveal was so great, and hopefully, there are more moments like that in store forDaima.
Is Dragon Ball Daima Retconning Dragon Ball Super?
Did Dragon Ball Super Just Get Retconned?
Above all else,Daima’s version of Super Saiyan 4 begs the question of whetherDaimais officially retconningDragon Ball Super.Daima’s new take on Super Saiyan 4 does a better job of representing the pinnacle of Saiyan power than Super Saiyan God, soDragon Ball Daimacould be retconningDragon Ball Superby replacing Super Saiyan God with Super Saiyan 4. The way Super Saiyan 4 has more red to its design gives further credence to the idea, as it could be a way of emphasizing the idea that Super Saiyan 4 is now a godly technique of sorts.
This wouldn’t be the first suggestion of a retcon toDragon Ball Super, of course.Dragon Ball Daimaopened with a clear retcon to how Kibito Kai was split back into Shin and Kibito, and the series also revealed thatVegeta can use Super Saiyan 3, even thoughSupernever once suggested he could use Super Saiyan 3, even in situations where it would have been useful.Dragon Ball Daimahas been contradictingDragon Ball Super’s lore from the very start, and Super Saiyan 4 replacing Super Saiyan God would simply be the latest example of that.
That being said, a full-on retcon probably isn’t on the table forDragon Ball. Not only can every continuity error be easily explained, but with how much work was put into makingDragon Ball Superthe newstatus quofor the franchise, it wouldn’t make sense to do anything that would render its lore completely moot or even contradict it beyond some minor contrivances.Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 doesn’t suggest thatDragon Ball Superwill be retconned any more than any other story beats, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.
Shin and Kibito might fuse again for unknown reasons, Goku gaining Super Saiyan 4 thanks to Neva implies that he can only use it when magic is involved, and Vegeta never using Super Saiyan 3 isn’t necessarily a plot hole with how quick he was to unlock forms more powerful and reliable than it.
Dragon Ball Daima Continues To Be The Perfect Love Letter To GT
If there’s anything to take from Super Saiyan 4’s reappearance, it’s thatDragon Ball Daimacontinues to be the perfect love letter toDragon Ball GT. Super Saiyan 4 being canon is one thing, but between the adventure aesthetic and how many episodes and plot threads directly reference and refine elements ofGT,Dragon Ball Daimahas always positioned itself as a long-standing homage toDragon Ball GT.Dragon Ball DaimaremakingDragon Ball GTwas even explicitly stated to be intentional, and with Super Saiyan 4, that’s now impossible to deny.
As divisive asGTis, the writing and action were almost always far better than people gave it credit for, with Super Saiyan 4, naturally, being a major highlight, soDragon Ball Daima’s continued homages toDragon Ball GTare the best way theDragon Ballfranchisehas seen fit to acknowledge that there was some merit to its existence. There’s been no better time to be aDragon Ball GTfan sinceDragon Ball Superfirst took off, and with any luck,Dragon Ball Daimahas even more surprises like this in store for its final act.
