When does Dragon Ball Daima take place? Timeline explained
The exact year of Daima in the Dragon Ball timeline.
Although Dragon Ball Daima is the latest show in the long-running franchise to come out, and the last made before the death of creator Akira Toriyama, the new series doesn't simply sit at the end of the timeline.
If you want to watch all of the Dragon Ball anime, you have to keep in mind that this new adventure around another kid Goku sits at a very particular year between other existing series.
Given its premise of Goku and his friends who've been turned back into children journeying into the Demon Realm, including new pals like Glorio, it becomes easier to understand its place in the timeline once you learn of the exact year, followed by connecting the dots knowing where Dragon Ball Super takes the franchise afterwards.
This quick and easy explainer on DB Daima's place in the timeline will tell you all you need to know.
Where does Dragon Ball Daima fit in the timeline?
Dragon Ball Daima takes place in Age 775, which is three years before Super and one year after the end of the Buu Saga in Dragon Ball Z in the current canon. This was confirmed during the events of DB Daima episode 1, where the group are celebrating Trunks's ninth birthday.
This could easily be brushed off as a minor line, but this essentially clarifies that it takes a year after the Buu Saga in Age 774, when he was 8. By the time we get to Super in Age 778, Trunks is 12.
Altogether, these numbers mean that Dragon Ball Daima is a prequel to Super while being a sequel to Dragon Ball Z.
The timeline has become quite tight because of this, but Daima's positioning between Z and Super makes sense due to the universe-changing events and power scaling that takes place in the latter.
In the Super series and its movies, Broly and Superhero, we not only get taken through stories concerning multiple universes with various gods and angels but various new players and transformations too.
By Dragon Ball Super: Superhero, Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and Frieza have unlocked at least one new transformation, along with big new characters like Broly, Beerus and Whiz being added into the mix.
With Daima being put before Super, it essentially keeps what's an arguably self-contained Dragon Ball story far simpler while this latest show explores new ground. What's more, Daima feels like a return to the franchise's roots where the original Dragon Ball anime focused on a young boy Goku exploring and adventuring with his friends and battling demons like King Piccolo.
Not only does removing Super's developments avoid speed bumps like having kid Goku spend time trying to achieve Super Saiyan God or Ultra Instinct again, but having fewer of their characters involved gives more room for original characters like Gomah and Glorio, keeping it far more fresh and original.
Is Dragon Ball GT canon?
While Dragon Ball GT is currently considered canon once again, due to an official timeline made by Shueisha, the company that published the franchise's manga, that fact is very shakey due to the inconsistencies made by the Super's events, and now even more so by Daima.
Be that as it may, Dragon Ball GT is meant to take place from Age 789, meaning that all of the series' events can still fit together if you ignore some minor plot holes.
However, the Dragon Ball Super manga helmed by Toyotarou is still going, the proceeding story could go on to retcon GT. On the other hand, Dragon Ball GT can always go back to being thought of as the canon timeline of another universe like before.
Dragon Ball Daima is available to watch right now on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
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