Dragon Ball Daima introduced several new characters in its first episode with one of those being another Namekian: Neva. Namekians are few and far between with only a handful of them standing out throughout Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, and everything in between, so adding another to the list right at the start of Dragon Ball Daima was already a big to-do. But even though this new Namekian puts on as if he’s senile and largely unthreatening, Dragon Ball Daima viewers are onto him and think that he just might end up being the big bad of the whole series.
Neva is Dragon Ball Daima is initially introduced as a goofy character in the Demon Realm, a Namekian who is slow, smells bad, and forgets things often. In the very short time that we see him in Episode 1 of Dragon Ball Daima, King Gomah and Degesu complain about how he hasn’t showered in forever, and neither want to sit with him. Once the trio of Demon Realm inhabitants arrive on Earth, Neva seems to have already forgotten the plan involving Earth’s Dragon Ball despite King Gomah going over the plan multiple times on the way there.
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But there are a couple of giveaways from Episode 1 that indicate Neva’s probably a bigger deal than he’s letting on. For one, he’s the creator of the Demon Realm’s Dragon Balls, and beyond that, he also created their guardians: three creatures known as the Tamagamis. We only see their silhouettes, but they’re presented as Kamen Rider-like entities wielding different weapons and are presumably strong enough that people in the Demon Realm like King Gomah would rather look for Dragon Ball elsewhere than tussle with them.
Once the Demon Realm inhabitants arrive on Earth, Neva’s power becomes more evident. He was brought to Earth to summon the Dragon Ball which were just used during Dragon Ball Z‘s Buu Saga, but restoring them from their stone form to a usable state was no problem for Neva much to the surprise of Dende. His reward for doing so was that King Gomah would extend his life by 1,000 years. Neva agrees, but he doesn’t seem to care much one way or the other, so it’s clear by his reaction, his appearance, and the fact that he mentioned earlier he hadn’t seen a Namekian in “thousands of years” that Neva has been around for a very, very long time.
During the peak of his power (so far) where he calls up the Dragon Balls from around Earth, we briefly see his eyes turn red. In spin-offs like Dragon Ball Online, there does exist a red-eyed Namekian form where they can tap into a massive power source. That’s not to say that this is exactly what Neva’s doing here, but there’s precedent to support the fact that this won’t be the last time we’ve seen that glimpse of power.
Considering how the first episode had all of these subtle displays of power and longevity, it’s no surprise that people are already onto Dragon Ball Daima‘s Neva. People are already penning posts talking about how the show may have a big twist of a villain, and Neva is the frontrunner right now.
“He’s a shuffling old stinky senile geezer on the surface… but his abilities are top tier magic yielding for the Dragon Ball universe,” another viewer said in regards to Neva’s presumed facade. “And he seems pretty indifferent to Degesu decking Dende.”
The theme of Dragon Ball Daima so far is very much “youth” as well. Goku and company are getting turned back into kids, kids are being turned into babies, and even Dr. Arinsu who absconded to Earth on her own joked about having her own youth restored alongside the Z Fighters. Neva moves slowly and doesn’t look like much now, but if he were to have his youth restored somehow as well, it could mean trouble for Earth, the Demon Realm, and beyond.
