Dragon Ball Super saw plenty of highs and lows throughout its original anime’s run, not unlike Dragon Ball DAIMA. Both series were criticized for different reasons: Dragon Ball Super for its questionable animation quality during the early arcs, and Dragon Ball DAIMA for its unfortunate pacing even with only 20 episodes planned. Nevertheless, both series ended up coming together toward the finales, solidifying them as memorable due to the impressive combat and transformations in their climaxes alone.

Dragon Ball DAIMA’s Supreme Demon King Gomah has proved himself to be an overwhelming threat very reminiscent of Super’s Jiren. Both characters require multiple fighters to combine their strength to stand a chance against them, and both bring out the series’ best in terms of fight choreography and animation, breaking the internet with a new Goku form in the process. However, there’s also a much more obvious, more surface-level way that Jiren relates to Gomah, and it could have profound consequences on Dragon Ball Super upon its inevitable return following Dragon Ball DAIMA’s conclusion.

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Demon King Gomah’s Outfit is an Exact Replica of Jiren’s

Jiren’s Pride Troopers Could Have a Surprising Connection to the Demon Realm

While Gomah initially looks nothing like Jiren in the first few episodes of Dragon Ball DAIMA, after he takes on the power of the legendary Evil Third Eye, that instantly changes. With a major bulk-up and the removal of his characteristic white cape and staff, it quickly becomes clear that Gomah is wearing the same exact uniform as the Pride Troopers. In fact, Gomah’s significantly muscular physique makes him a nearly one-to-one replica of Jiren in every way but his face. This is far from coincidental.

Both outfits share an overwhelming number of similarities, from their coloring to their designs. It’s as though a new head was placed on Jiren to create a different character, but that’s too simplistic an explanation. Sure, Akira Toriyama is known for reusing prior character designs, especially from non-canon entries in the series. This has happened numerous times in Dragon Ball DAIMA alone. Dragon Ball DAIMA‘s Glorio and Arinsu, are themselves one-to-one replicas of Dragon Ball Heroes’ Mira and Towa, respectively. And of course, Super Saiyan 4 Goku brought Dragon Ball GT’s most iconic idea into canon for the first time. But Jiren’s connection with Gomah is a very different case.

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While Gomah’s outfit was always the same as the Pride Trooper uniform, it wasn’t until Gomah activated the Evil Third Eye to become King Gomah and removed his cape that the similarities were truly apparent. This suggests that the connection to Jiren was always intended by Toriyama as a surprising twist, rather than as just a “lazy design decision” as some in the Dragon Ball fandom have suggested.

It’s only during the series’ climax that Gomah’s Pride Trooper connection becomes most apparent, indicating Akira Toriyama wanted to keep this aspect of Gomah’s backstory hidden until the latter parts of the story. Unlike with Mira, Towa, and Super Saiyan 4, Jiren was a part of the canon Dragon Ball storyline before Gomah was introduced. If anything, Gomah’s outfit could just be a very overt Easter Egg reference to the Tournament of Power’s final villain, but Jiren isn’t quite obscure enough to warrant such an obvious reference as an “Easter Egg”.

Jiren and Gomah’s Similarities Aren’t Coincidental

Gomah Could Be a Key Aspect of Jiren’s Backstory in Dragon Ball Super

Beyond it just being a strangely specific coincidence, there are several possible reasons as to why Gomah and Jiren’s outfits look exactly the same. It’s possible the Pride Troopers are connected to the Demon Realm. This is especially convincing when considering that Belmod, Universe 11’s God of Destruction, wears clown makeup similar to how Gomah does. This deepens the connection between Universe 11’s strongest fighting force and the Demon Realm.

Belmod was even once a member of the Pride troopers himself, at least according to a one-off sketch Toyotarou drew of Belmod’s past. While not confirmed canon, Toyotarou’s comments on the drawing seemed to suggest that this was genuinely a realistic interpretation of Belmod’s past. As Toyotarou put it:

Vermoud (Belmod) in his younger days. He appears in Super too, but to make a bit broader an interpretation of this series’ concept, his past self didn’t show up, so I figured even this pattern of wild imaginings would be allowed. (laughs) “I’m quitting.”It’s that sort of scene. Just what was it that took place before he became a God of Destruction…?

Because Super Majin Rhymus created the outside universe, it’s likely the entire concept of Gods of Destruction and Angels ruling over the multiverse was always connected to the Demon Realm, as well. That’s certainly the case insofar as the Kai are concerned. After all, the Glinds are originally from the Demon Realm, making every Kai in Dragon Ball a Demon by default. With the Namekians now confirmed to be from the Demon Realm, it only solidifies the idea that the most powerful, upper-ranking individuals in the Universe originated from the Demon Realm. Belmod could even be of the same demonic race as Gomah was, which would make the similarities between the Pride Troopers of Universe 11 and King Gomah even clearer.

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While Jiren himself is almost certainly not a demon due to his round ears, he does have a particularly tragic connection to demons. According to Jiren’s backstory in the manga, his master, Gicchin, was killed by a demon, which is why he can’t be revived by the power of the Angels. It was Gicchin who actually suggested Jiren join the Pride Troopers in the Dragon Ball Super manga, in order to teach Jiren the lesson of how to work as a team.

In fact, in the anime version of Jiren’s backstory, Gicchin even has pointed ears, potentially indicating he himself was from the Demon Realm. While the order of events is different in the anime (Jiren joins the Pride Troopers after his Master’s death), Jiren being a Pride Trooper could’ve been his way of infiltrating the mystery of the Demon that killed his master – especially if he was aware that the Pride Troopers had some special connection to the Demon Realm.

Dragon Ball DAIMA May Be Setting the Stage For a Jiren Comeback

Gomah’s Pride Trooper Connection May Lead Directly Into Dragon Ball Super

While he joined the Pride Troopers to learn the lesson of teamwork, Jiren still chose to fight as an individual in the Tournament of Power, showing that he had never actually taken his master’s lesson to heart. It wouldn’t be out of character for Jiren to have only joined the Pride Troopers under the recommendation of his master, but then stayed with them in order to infiltrate the mysteries of the Demon Realm with which the Pride Troopers are connected. It’s entirely possible the Pride Troopers were even created by descendants of Gomah, or by Gomah himself. After all, Dragon Ball DAIMA seems to take place years before the start of Dragon Ball Super, so it’s not impossible that the finale of DAIMA could set up this major Dragon Ball Super plot thread.

Although Jiren is still quite fresh in fan’s minds due being the final villain in most consequential arc in the Dragon Ball Super anime, it’s been quite a long time since he was last seen in the manga. Not counting the Broly Saga, which didn’t get much attention in the manga, Dragon Ball Super has gone through three full Sagas since Jiren was last seen: the Moro, Granolah and Super Hero Sagas. These three Sagas amount to 61 chapters, which is more than the entire series up to the Universal Survival Saga that contained the Tournament of Power, which ran from chapter 27 to 42. Jiren’s absence for so long makes him long overdue for a comeback, and Gomah’s not-so-subtle connection to the Pride Troopers could be Toriyama’s way of setting up a future storyline for Toyotarou.

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While it would be easy to write off King Gomah’s similarity to Jiren as a mere coincidence or laziness on Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation’s part, this is highly unlikely to be the case. Jiren is too major a character for neither Toriyama nor the entirety of the staff at Toei to recognize those similarities and point them out, making a mere coincidental oversight out of the question. While Toriyama’s character design philosophy remained consistent throughout the years, that’s more a result of him drawing in a recognizable and comfortable art style, rather than laziness.

Akira Toriyama could be called a lot of things, such as poor at planning (he infamously wrote the entirety of Dragon Ball according to his whims from week to week) or forgetful (he has himself admitted that he has forgetten entire plot threads and characters), but Dragon Ball‘s legendary mangaka was the furthest thing from lazy. It’s quite obvious the connection between Jiren and Gomah is an intentional one, even if the reason behind it is still mysterious. Between the grand finale of Dragon Ball DAIMA on February 28th, and the return of the Dragon Ball Super manga on February 20th, the answer to that mystery may not be as far off as most probably expect.

Dragon Ball DAIMA is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Dragon Ball DAIMA

Release Date

October 11, 2024

Writers

Akira Toriyama