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Timeline 001
Timeline
A continuous reading of the universe: in-story markers, real broadcast dates, and above all the points where the continuities split apart.
Legend
Main continuity
Written or supervised by Akira Toriyama
Parallel continuity
Built by Toei with no source manga
Spin-off
Promotional story, outside continuity
37 markers
The branching point
After Majin Buu ends, two sequels exist and they rule each other out. The timeline shows them as two distinct tracks rather than one line.
Shared trunk
From the first quest to the end of Majin Buu. Every continuity shares this stretch.
Âge 737
The fall of Planet Vegeta
The Saiyans’ world is destroyed by their own employer. An infant is sent to Earth with a mission he will forget after a fall.
Âge 749
Broadcast 1986
The story begins: the first quest
Bulma meets Goku, the radar is built, the seven balls are gathered for the first time and the first wish is spoken by mistake.
Emperor Pilaf sagaEpisodes 1–13
Âge 750
Broadcast 1986
21st Tenkaichi Budôkai
The martial arts tournament becomes the series’ backbone. Progress stops being a collection and becomes a ranking.
21st Tenkaichi Budôkai sagaEpisodes 14–28
Âge 750
Broadcast 1986
The Red Ribbon Army
Goku sets out for his grandfather’s four-star ball and runs into an army that wants all seven for its commander. Muscle Tower, a snowbound village, the secret base: the quest becomes a hunt again, and the series’ first criminal organisation falls to a child.
Red Ribbon Army sagaEpisodes 29–83
Âge 750
Broadcast 1987
Fortuneteller Baba’s palace
To locate the last ball, five fighters serving a fortune-teller must be beaten. The last is a dead man back for a single day: Grandpa Gohan, who judges his grandson by fighting him.
Fortuneteller Baba sagaEpisodes 84–101
Âge 753
Broadcast 1988
22nd Tenkaichi Budôkai
The Crane School sends Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu against the Turtle students. The tournament crowns a rival who is not an enemy, and closes on a murder backstage: Krillin is killed, and the ball he was guarding is gone.
22nd Tenkaichi Budôkai sagaEpisodes 102–122
Âge 753
Broadcast 1988
King Piccolo
A demon sealed for three centuries is freed by Pilaf, removes the tournament’s fighters one after another and makes the balls vanish along with their creator. Goku drinks the Ultra Divine Water, Master Roshi dies, and the story shifts to a graver register it never leaves.
King Piccolo sagaEpisodes 123–139
Âge 756
Broadcast 1989
23rd Budôkai, the end of Dragon Ball
The first series’ last tournament. The cast is grown up and the hinge into the Z era is in place.
23rd Tenkaichi Budôkai sagaEpisodes 140–153
Âge 761
Broadcast 1989
The Saiyans arrive
Raditz reveals Goku’s origin, then Vegeta and Nappa land a year later. The Earth side loses four fighters and its guardian.
Saiyan sagaEpisodes 1–35
Âge 762
Broadcast 1990
Namek and Frieza
The story leaves Earth for the balls’ home planet. Frieza becomes the franchise yardstick and the first Super Saiyan transformation appears.
Namek and Frieza sagaEpisodes 36–107
Âge 764
Broadcast 1991
A visitor from the future
Trunks arrives from a ruined timeline with a date and two names. Time travel enters the story as a problem, not as a fix.
Androids and Trunks sagaEpisodes 118–165
Âge 767
Broadcast 1992
Cyborgs and Cell
The Red Ribbon Army’s research branch delivers its weapons. The tournament staged by Cell shifts the hero’s burden onto Gohan.
Cell sagaEpisodes 166–194
Âge 774
Broadcast 1993
Majin Buu and the 25th Budôkai
A reunion tournament awakens a weapon sealed for millions of years. Fusions and the Supreme Kai hierarchy enter the story.
Majin Buu sagaEpisodes 200–291
The branching point
The branching point
From here two sequels exist and rule each other out. Dragon Ball GT is a parallel continuity written by Toei with no source manga. Dragon Ball Super is the canonical sequel, written from Akira Toriyama’s material, and it ignores GT. Both are watchable, but they do not tell the same story.
The tracks after Majin Buu
Each column is a distinct continuity. They share one trunk and never meet again.
Overview
One shared trunk, then tracks that pull apart. Select a branch to unfold its markers in detail.
Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Z
Super track
9 markersÂge 778
Broadcast 2015
The God of Destruction Beerus
Canonical track. A god wakes up looking for an opponent he saw in a dream, and the map of the universe widens a notch: twelve universes, angels, a divine administration. Toyotarō’s manga condenses this arc into four chapters.
God of Destruction Beerus sagaEpisodes 1–14Chapters 1–4
Âge 779
Broadcast 2015
The return of Frieza
What remains of his army brings him back with Earth’s balls. Frieza trains for the first time in his life, returns in a golden form and loses for lack of stamina; Goku and Vegeta unveil the Super Saiyan God form turned blue. The manga only recaps this episode in a few pages.
Frieza’s resurrection sagaEpisodes 15–27
Âge 779
Broadcast 2016
The Universe 6 and 7 tournament
Champa, Beerus’s twin and God of Destruction of Universe 6, proposes a five-on-five tournament with his own universe’s Earth as the stake. Hit, Cabba, Frost and the Super Dragon Balls enter the story, and Zeno, the king of everything, ends it with a word.
Universe 6 tournament sagaEpisodes 28–46Chapters 5–13
Âge 779 (futur : Âge 796)
Broadcast 2016
Future Trunks, Goku Black and Zamasu
Trunks returns from a future laid waste by an opponent wearing Goku’s face. Behind Black stands an apprentice Supreme Kai of Universe 10 who has decided to erase mortals; the fusion of the two Zamasu overflows the universe, and Zeno erases that entire timeline. Super’s darkest saga.
Future Trunks sagaEpisodes 47–76Chapters 14–26
Âge 780
Broadcast 2017
The Tournament of Power
Eight universes, ten fighters each, one arena, forty-eight minutes, and erasure for the losers. Goku touches Ultra Instinct against Jiren, and Android 17’s wish restores the erased universes. The high point of the main continuity, and the end of the animated series.
Universe Survival sagaEpisodes 77–131Chapters 27–42
Âge 780
Release 2018
FilmBroly
After the tournament, the story moves to the cinema. The film writes Broly into the continuity: the fall of Planet Vegeta told from Bardock’s side, exile on Vampa, Frieza as recruiter, and a fusion — Gogeta — to finish it on the ice.
Broly saga
Âge 780
Publication 2018
Manga onlyThe Galactic Patrol prisoner: Moro
A manga-only story. A ten-million-year-old sorcerer breaks out of the galactic prison and devours the energy of planets. Goku and Vegeta become patrolmen: one learns Ultra Instinct from Merus, the other Spirit Fission on Yardrat, and it is the Earth itself that ends up swallowing Moro.
Galactic Patrol Prisoner sagaChapters 42–67
Âge 780
Publication 2021
Manga onlyGranolah the Survivor
A manga-only story. The last Cerealian wishes to become the strongest in the universe to avenge a people wiped out by Saiyans in Frieza’s service. Vegeta learns Ultra Ego from Beerus, Bardock returns in flashback, and Frieza closes the saga in a black form that outclasses everyone.
Granolah the Survivor sagaChapters 68–87
≈ Âge 780
Release 2022
FilmSuper Hero
The Red Ribbon Army is reborn around Dr. Hedo and his Gamma androids while Goku and Vegeta train far from Earth. Piccolo and Gohan carry the film up to Cell Max; the manga frames it with a prologue and an epilogue, the last chapters published in Akira Toriyama’s lifetime.
Super Hero sagaChapters 88–103
