Contains spoilers for “Dragon Ball: Daima” Season 1, Episode 4 – “Chatty”

The “Dragon Ball” world has always been one of magical mysticism, but “Dragon Ball: Daima” has taken the franchise to a whole new level. Fusing has long been a way to level up the central Saiyan characters who have won the hearts of anime fans everywhere. There are 12 different ways for Saiyans to merge their bodies together, and “Daima” has added one more: “The Join Bug,” a special kind of Dragon Ball that allows two or more beings to merge into a single entity. 

How does a Join Bug work? It’s a small pill-like item which — if you split it into two pieces — allows the beings who consume it to fuse into one. Like most forms of fusion in the “Dragon Ball” world, it’s a temporary union. In Episode 4 of “Daima,” called “Chatty,” Goku (Masako Nozawa) buys a capsule at a marketplace, which means it’s now in his arsenal. It’s guaranteed he’ll use the Join Bug to fuse with someone — but there’s a twist inherent to the story, as his typical fusion partner, Vegeta (Yudai Mino), has not been introduced to the storyline yet. This guarantees that Goku will have to fuse with another friend or foe, which brings a completely fresh possibility to the being that will result. 

Since each fusion method results in an entirely different being every time it happens, that means a new enemy or ally for the rest of the Dragon Clan is just around the corner. After years of watching their favorite characters fuse, fans of the franchise are likely ready for some new options.

Ever since it was revealed in the very first “Dragon Ball” anime that Namekian like Piccolo (Tomohiro Yamaguchi) can fuse with one another, the “Dragon Ball” franchise has gotten quite imaginative when it comes to this technique, which is often used when there are no other options in a fight that requires as much firepower as possible. 

The most prominent of theses options is the Fusion Dance, which has united Goten (Masako Nozawa) and Trunks (Tsubasa Yonag) into Gotenks (Masako Nozawa, Takeshi Kusao) and Goku and Vegeta into Gogeta (Masako Nozawa, Ryō Horikawa) or Veku (Masako Nozawa and Ryō Horikawa). It was introduced during the original “Dragon Ball” manga and anime and has been used frequently ever since.

Each of these fusions is incredibly different from the Dragon Clan members who spawned them, with unique personalities, ambitions and powers; they’re used to defeat enemies with godlike fighting abilities, such as the long-dead Frieza (Ryūsei Nakao). It results in one of the most powerful Super Sayin forms. This is a complicated dance between two willing combatants that even can be performed in the midst of battle. Goku and Picolo and Goku and Krillin (Mayumi Tanaka) have all fused this way, and it’s provided the franchise with some of its best-known combined characters.

There are even more fusions out there in the “Dragon Ball” world. There’s the Potara Earrings, crafted by the Supreme Kai, which allows their wearers to fuse and are introduced in “Dragon Ball Z.” These fusions can be permanent, if done by two Supreme Kais. The God Fusion combines more than three people into a single being, as when Goku fused with the entire audience watching the Super Worlds Martial Arts Tournament in “Dragon Ball Super: Broly.” It’s the only thing that makes him strong enough to take out the titular villain, otherwise Broly (Bin Shimada) could have beaten Goku with ease.

A variation on this, EX-Fusion requires each party be wearing Metamo-Rings and perform the Fusion Dance. While all other fusions are limited to a certain amount of time, characters created through EX-Fusion only defuse when the partners wish it. This fusion is completely exclusive to the show’s video game world, specifically the game “Dragon Ball: Fusions.” But that’s not the only way two or more fighters can merge. 

Machine Mutant Fusion happens in “Dragon Ball GT,” and is exclusive to machine mutant characters. Simple merging occurs when a character which has split into multiple characters re-fuses into a single one; the Beenz and Abo and Kado (Yūsuke Numata and Kazunari Tanaka) do this regularly. Then there’s absorption, where one character is simply absorbed into another, sometimes by forcible means, creating a new fusion. Freeform fusions can also occur — they again are the domain of “Dragon Ball: Fusions.”  The most powerful of all is a Five-Way Fusion, which can absorb multiple characters and combine all of their traits into one super-powered being. And fans can expect “Dragon Ball: Daima” to give them even more fusion possibilities as time goes on.