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The following article mentions a few key events (spoilers) ofDragon Ball Daima, and may also mention spoilers forDragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ball Daimahas sparked a lot of controversy in theDragon Ballfandom since it was announced. As the anime aired, many fans began to worry about the continuity of the franchise and howDaimaandSupercould fit into a consistent timeline.
While not everyone is concerned about what is or isn’t canon, it’s undeniable that many people are. AndDragon Ball Daimadefinitely opened up the possibility that there is more than one canon timeline in the franchise — and that could actually be great for the series.
Are Dragon Ball Daima and DB Super Set In The Same Timeline?
WhenDragon Ball Daimabegan airing, most fans believed that it was a story set betweenDragon Ball ZandDragon Ball Super, even thoughDBSobviously doesn’t mention anything about the characters ever being turned into kids(which could easily be retconned).
The thing is, except forDragon Ball GTand filler episodes or movies, the series also followed a single timeline that made sense. Thus, there wasno reason to believe thatDaimaandSuperwould take place in separate timelines.
However,asDaimaprogressed, some things began to bother parts of theSuperfandom, especially after Vegeta transformed into Super Saiyan 3, since he hasn’t done so inSuperand there was no reason to believe that he had ever unleashed that transformation. The introduction of Goku SSJ4 upset some fans even more, as most considered this form to be a non-canon transformation, since it was only shown inDragon Ball GT.
Akio Iyuko, the producer ofDaima, teased in an interview thatDragon Ball SuperandDragon Ball Daimacould be set in different universes. While he doesn’t confirm anything, he hints at the idea thatDaimais a sequel to the manga andSuperis a sequel to the anime.
Dispute Over Rights May Force The Franchise Into The Multiverse
It has been widely reported that Shueisha and Capsule Corp Japan are in a legal dispute overthe rights to theDragon Ballfranchisefollowing the death of Akira Toriyama. While there has been no news on the development of this litigation, Shueisha probably claims to have some rights to everything related to theDragon Ballmanga, but Toriyama apparently tried to distance Shueisha from the series with the establishment of Capsule Corp Japan, led by Akio Iyuko.
There are even rumors that theDragon Ball Daimaproduction could not make clear references toDragon Ball Superin order to prevent Shueisha from claiming that they have rights over it.
Depending on how this ends, it could seriously affect future productions. If Shueisha retains the rights (or part of them) to the manga while Capsule Corp Japan retains other rights, they may produce different series that are intentionally unrelated, forcing the series into “Shueisha’s universe,” which would likely include Super and its ramifications, and “CC Japan’s universe”, which would likely includeDaimaand perhaps other future productions.
While the scenario where the series is split into a multiverse due to litigations is probably the worst one,the idea of aDragon Ballmultiverse in itself is actually not a bad one. If the producers of future series didn’t need to worry about making everything fit without any major continuity plot holes, they could expand the franchise much more.
It is quite clear that the power scaling has reached a point where it is basically meaningless in the franchise. But whileSuperneeds to introduce even more powerful forms for the series to move forward,Daimadelivered a good story with something as simple as SSJ3 and SSJ4 — and without any new fusions.
You mean Super Saiyan 4? Buu was really strong, so I trained a lot after fightin' him. I wasn’t sure if it would work, though.
— Goku in DB Daima Episode 20.
With a multiverse, some creators could go back to points where transformations were not so powerful yet and develop more stories full of adventure without worrying about how Goku and Vegeta would beat the new super-ultra-hyper-perfect form of Cell, while others could just jump into power scaling and keep building more amazing transformations.
A multiverse would, of course, mean that filler content could become canon — so filler arcs and evenDragon Ball GTcould easily be considered canon. And once everything is officially canon, the fans can finally stop worrying and arguing about it.
What’s Next For Dragon Ball?
Since the end ofDragon Ball Daima,no new projects have been announced. Fans are still expecting theDragon Ball Supermanga to return from hiatus soon, and it could still nod toDaimain some way (Toroyato actuallyreferencedDragon Ball Daimarecently).
Maybe we will get some news aboutDragon Ball Super Season 2or even aDragon Ball Daimasequel in the next months.
Dragon Ball Superisavailable to read on MANGA Plus, in English and Spanish.
