Summary
Dragon Ball DAIMAhas beenan interesting explorationof an aspect of the series created by Akira Toriyama that hasn’t been given much attention over the course of the story, but now that Goku’s on a whole new adventure, we can finally learn more about the infamous Demon Realm. In the fourth episode, it is revealed a few handy tools and items found in the “outside universe” have equivalents in the Demon Realm, like Senzu and even the Dragon Balls themselves.
Among the items shown is a type of bug that, when consumed, enables two users to fuse together temporarily and create a new warrior;a method of fusionthat has never been seen before in theDragon Ballfranchise.
The Wonderful World of Medi-Bugs
Something Like Item Capsules
In episode 4 ofDragon Ball DAIMA, Goku, Supreme Kai and Glorio find themselves without transportation because Glorio’s plane was stolen in the previous episode. They eventually come across a little shop where they can eat and re-up on supplies, and that’s when we are presented aDAIMAoriginal concept: Medi-Bugs. While Glorio asks the shop owners about possible means of air travel, Supreme Kai and Goku poke around the shop and find a lot of interesting elements, like barrels full of dead bugs encased in an amber-like substance. The shopkeeper tells them all about Medi-Bugs, items that are used to address various health and status effects in a manner comparable to the item capsules seen in variousDragon Ballvideo games.
There are various kinds of bugs, like Achichi Bugs for burns, Zutsu (literally “headache”) Bugs for headaches,Beaut Bugs for cosmetic improvements, and of course, the most interesting of the lot: Join Bugs. When the halves are fed to two individuals, these bugs enable them to become a single individual for a yet to be determined amount of time – a fusion. The concept greatly excited Goku, who eagerly asked Glorio to buy a few bugs from the nice old couple. Seeing Goku excited about the strange and colourful treats made it look like he was a kid in a candy store, and we get to see his haul of Medi-Bugs, which interestingly includes two Join Bugs.
What Does This Mean For the Series?
Are We Getting a New Fusion?
Given the fact that each kind of fusion inDragon Ballhas various pros, cons and outcomes, it isn’t far-fetched to assume that the Join Bugs give rise to a completely different kind of fusion to the ones we’ve seen. They also have an eye-catching shade of jade-green reminiscentof the colour of the Potara earrings that were a key feature of the Majin Buu saga. WhenGoku and Vegeta used the Potara inDragon Ball Z, the Supreme Kai’s ignorance made us all believe that the resultant fusion is permanent; however, this was changed inDragon Ball Superto it being a permanent fusion solely for divine beings, and even then, Supreme Kai and his close attendant Kibito managed to become separate individuals once more.
In the case of the Join Bugs, the fusion is temporary. The Metamoran fusion method that gives rise to Gotenks in the Buu Saga (and Gogeta in various movies andDragon Ball GT) comes with the Metamoran traditional clothing for the resultant fighter, while the Potara fusion creates a composite outfitcombining elements from both fighters. It is not yet known what kinds of characteristics will arise from the use of the Join Bugs, but looking at the evidence left by previous instances of fusion, even if characters who have fused before use them together, it will most likely give rise to a whole new fighter, which is an extremely exciting possibility for the series. What’s even more exciting as a possibility is the fact that the instructions for use depictthreeindividuals becoming a single powerful individual, so if that’s anything to go by, fusion via Join Bug may not even be limited to just two people as fusion materials.
Dragon Ball DAIMA
Dragon Ball Daima is the latest anime in Akira Toriyama’s legendary franchise. After being transformed into a child, Goku must travel to a new world to try and turn things around.
