Dragon Ball Daima’s Spiritual Successor to The Ginyu Force is Hilarious

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Daima, Episode 14, “Taboo”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.

The Ginyu Force, Frieza’s elite squad of mercenaries, may have just met their match with the Gendarmerie Force from Dragon Ball Daima. With every episode, Daima feels more and more like a love letter to the entire Dragon Ball franchise, with all the references and callbacks it’s been making, and the way the story is written.

In Dragon Ball Daima episode 14, “Taboo”, King Gomah is slowly being backed into the corner by Goku’s group, who have now collected two of the three Demon Realm Dragon Balls. To stop them from getting to the First Demon World to claim the last ball, King Gomah ordered the shutdown of Warp-sama, the main mode of transport between the Demon Worlds. Still feeling uneasy, King Gomah also ordered Degesu to assemble their most elite fighting force: the Gendarmerie Squad.

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Who Are the Gendarmerie Force?

King Gomah’s Last Line of Defense

The Gendarmerie is the Supreme Demon King‘s military force that enforces his will throughout the Demon Realm. The Gendarmerie Force is basically the Gendarmerie’s version of the Special Forces, a small group composed of the military’s most capable individuals. To distinguish them from the regular members, the Gendarmerie Force have red vertical rectangle markings on their faces between their eyes.

Fun Fact: “Gendarmerie” is the name of a military force that deals with law enforcement in civilian populations. They are commonly active in European countries like France and Italy.

The Ginyu Force’s Influence on the Gendarmerie Force

The Gendarmerie Force is very evidently influenced by the Ginyu Force, who, in turn, were heavily influenced by Super Sentai teams like the Power Rangers and Kamen Rider. Both squads are very eccentric and flamboyant, with nearly identical introductions. Like the Ginyu Force, the Gendarmerie Force has a little routine where each member introduces themselves with a flourish, and in the end, they pose as a team. The members are also all very buddy-buddy with each other in a way that’s reminiscent of the Ginyu Force banter.

Differences Between the Gendarmerie and Ginyu Forces

Of course, the Gendarmerie Force isn’t a complete copy-paste of the Ginyu Force, as some significant traits set them apart. The first is that they don’t seem to be purely evil people. They encountered Majin Kuu and Duu, who they didn’t know, at a convenience store and offered to pay for the snacks they were buying. Another difference is that the Gendarmerie Force seems to rely on weapons rather than fighting with ki, unarmed martial arts, or even magic. Every member has their own special weapon, from assorted firearms to swords and daggers.

The Ginyu Force might have looked silly, but they knew how to be threatening when they wanted to, and almost put the Z Fighters down before they even got to Frieza. The Gendarmerie Force, on the other hand, look like they might not even be a threat to Goku and the others. They immediately got fidgety when they heard their opponents beat Majin Buu and the Tamagami, which implies that they probably aren’t anywhere near that strong. This makes sense, because if they were, then Gomah would’ve used them to gather the Dragon Balls long ago. So, unless they have a secret weapon or technique, the Gendarmerie Force are more likely than not just going to be comedic relief like how Majin Kuu turned out.

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The Gendarmerie Force’s Members

So That’s It Huh? They’re Some Kind Of…

Like the Ginyu Force, the Gendarmerie Force is made up of five members. However, unlike the Ginyu Force’s assorted cast, the Gendarmerie Force’s members all belong to the same race of purple-skinned Majin. They kind of look like Beerus or Dyspo’s species, but possess smaller ears, though their ears are larger than the average Demon Realm Majin’s.

• Kadem – The Gendarmerie Force’s leader. Kadem is the buffest member of the group and presumably its strongest. As the leader, Kadem seems to be the voice of the Gendarmerie Force and does most of the talking with Gomah for them. His weapons are a pistol and a greatsword with a ball-shaped tip that electrifies people.
• Danima – This member looks the most battle-hardened, with an eyepatch on his left eye and half of his left ear missing. His main weapon is a laser minigun.
• Hillia – The tallest member of the Gendarmerie Force. Hillia is a lanky Majin with ears pointed downwards, unlike the other members. He sports a weapon that looks like a rocket launcher with spherical ends, but instead of rockets, it fires bolts of electricity.
• Mashim – Mashim sort of just looks like a shorter Hillia with ears that point up. He has a pistol on his right waist and a dagger on his left.
• Gaimoi – Gaimoi is built like a slightly more muscular Champa, Universe 6’s Destroyer. Weirdly enough, his weapon seems to just be the standard Gendarmerie staff that shoots electricity.

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Dragon Ball Daima is now available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix. The release date for Dragon Ball Daima, episode 15, is set to be January 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM PT.

Release Date

October 11, 2024

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Akira Toriyama

MyAnimeList Score

7.86