Dragon Ball 30th anniversary timeline: what counts as canon?

The official Dragon Ball 30th anniversary website posted what it presented as the series timeline. My verdict is that it doesn't make sense. Instead of simplifying the story of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, it confused many people. It mixes manga events with some anime filler, leaves out the movies that filler ties into, and contradicts things Toriyama himself has said.

I've said many times that "there really is no point in arguing canon in Dragon Ball." With the more recent material, including the movies Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F' and the Dragon Ball Super series, canon is out the window. There's a manga, there are movies and there's an anime, which gives you three different versions of the same story. The anniversary site seemed to be trying to make that simpler, and it ended up doing the opposite.

The anniversary timeline is a condensed version of the Chōzenshū 4 timeline

I don't read Japanese, but the translator Herms at Kanzenshuu translated the timeline, and that translation is what I worked from here. As Herms points out, this isn't the first time Toei and Shueisha have done this. The new timeline is a smaller, more condensed version of the one found in Chōzenshū volume 4.

I saw that Chōzenshū timeline years ago, and it made no sense. It took the events from the movies, the events from GT, and everything most of the community considers non-canon because it isn't in the manga, and put it all in one place. The new version tries to streamline that. It includes material like Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, and of course the Dragon Ball Super and Battle of Gods material is there. GT and the movies were taken out. The problem is that the filler that ties into the movies is still there, so the whole thing is a mess. Even on an official website, I don't think the Dragon Ball timeline makes sense, and I don't think it ever will.

The pages run from the pre-Dragon Ball era through the early Dragon Ball arcs, the tournaments, the Piccolo arc, the arrival of Raditz, the fight with Vegeta, the battle with Frieza on Namek, the Cell arc and the Buu arc. Then comes the Dragon Ball Super and Battle of Gods period, and finally the end of Dragon Ball Z with the arrival of Uub, Pan and Bra.

Dragon Ball Super takes place before the end of Dragon Ball Z

It's humorous to me that some fans still haven't figured out that Dragon Ball Super takes place before the end of Z. Eight months in, I kept hearing people ask where Uub was. Super takes place after the death of Kid Buu and before the end of Z. That's why Uub isn't there. At that point he's three, four or five years old, and he's not going to be fighting in Dragon Ball Super unless the series goes past that time period.

Majin Buu's origin contradicts what Toriyama said later

The problems start right at the beginning. Herms' translation opens with the timeline stating that five million years ago, the wizard Bibidi created Majin Buu. In the original manga, Toriyama did say that Bibidi created Buu. But in an interview Toriyama gave about two years earlier, he said that wasn't the case. In a classic Toriyama retcon, Buu has existed since the beginning of time. So this entry already contradicts what Toriyama said in that interview.

Bardock, Jaco and the Dragon Ball Minus problem

Next, the timeline says that in Age 737, Kakarot, Son Goku, is born. Frieza wages war, and although Goku's father Bardock holds out, he's thrown into the past by the explosion of Planet Vegeta. That incorporates Episode of Bardock, which wasn't written by Toriyama. Some fans consider it canon and some don't. Toriyama did design the character Chilled, but the story isn't Toriyama's, and it isn't referenced anywhere in the manga. So how can that make sense?

Then the timeline says Jaco the Galactic Patrolman arrives on Earth. That's fair, because Jaco did arrive on Earth during this time. The trouble is the birth year. If you've read Dragon Ball Minus, you know it retconned that event as well and made Goku three years old. So either Kakarot would have been born around Age 734, or Jaco's arrival happened around Age 740, which would throw off the entire timeline. Around Age 739, the God of Destruction Beerus goes to sleep, which is based on what Beerus says in Dragon Ball Super.

Anime filler like the Bansho Fan and Garlic Jr. made the cut

Most of the following entries come from the Dragon Ball manga and anime, and there's nothing strange about them. But the timeline does mention filler. It says Goku and Chi Chi hold a marriage ceremony at Mount Frypan, the Ox King's castle catches fire, and they go find the Bansho Fan. That was only in the anime, not the manga. Those scenes don't contradict the manga, so they could be considered part of the official timeline. But what bugs me about this timeline is that they're putting in whatever they want and taking out whatever they want.

The early Dragon Ball Z entries are fine. Raditz comes to Earth and Goku dies, all of which is in the manga and the anime. Then, in Age 763, Planet Makyo approaches Earth for the first time in 5,000 years, and the revived Garlic Jr. battles Gohan and the others. The Garlic Jr. saga is not part of the manga, not part of Toriyama's vision, and not canon to many people. It's incorporated anyway.

If you're going to include that filler arc, what about the movie, which should have happened around Age 761? "You can't just pick and choose your canon," which is what everybody does anyway, and that's why we can't debate it. You can't have the Garlic Jr. saga without the Garlic Jr. movie, and there's no mention of that movie, or really any of the movies.

The driving school episode and the Other World Tournament

After Goku returns to Earth following the Frieza saga, the timeline took the time to mention the anime-only driving school episode. That made me laugh. Not only is it infamous filler, it has no purpose being listed as a major event in the timeline. The timeline also mentions Goku traveling to the Grand Kai's planet, meeting the Grand Kai, and the Other World Tournament, which covers Pikkon and the five filler episodes set in the other world.

It's as if the people behind this timeline are having an identity crisis. They don't know what to put in and what to leave out. They include some of the filler but leave out the movies that tie into it. They borrow from Jaco the Galactic Patrolman but not from Dragon Ball Minus. Again, it's a mess.

The Buu saga, Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F' in Age 778

The entire Buu saga sits in Age 774. The core of it, from the tournament and the Majin Vegeta material to the death of Kid Buu, takes place within about three days, not counting the Great Saiyaman material. After that comes what the timeline calls the Gods of the Universe arc, which is Dragon Ball Super. Bulma holds a birthday party, Beerus awakens and comes to Earth in search of the god, there's the party and the fight, and Goku becomes a god. That's placed in Age 778.

In the same year, Frieza is resurrected and invades Earth, and the warriors of Earth gather to face him. The TV series has strange time jumps that aren't explained, but we know the Frieza movie takes place roughly six or eight months after Battle of Gods. So it could still be Age 778. But if Battle of Gods takes place around spring or summer, wouldn't early Age 779 make more sense? Then again, that movie isn't set in winter either, so it's very confusing.

The timeline ends with what it calls the peaceful world arc, the finale of the Dragon Ball manga. That's the 28th tournament, where Goku meets Uub and takes him off on a journey, and the story ends. It was still an incomplete timeline at the time. There was none of the Universe 6 or Champa material and nothing with Zuno, which makes sense, because that story was still being told and putting it in would have spoiled it.

Manga panels suggest everything here is Toriyama canon

Even the timelines Toei themselves create don't make sense, because there are too many contradictions between the manga and the anime. What irritates me is that the official page uses manga panels, with no anime clips, along with Toriyama concept art of Goku. It's almost as if they're saying all of this is Toriyama and all of it is canon. But they're picking and choosing. Garlic Jr. is there, while Goku isn't three years old as he is in Dragon Ball Minus.

Super's place in the timeline is still unclear. We know it falls within the ten-year gap, and based on this timeline and the series, we have an idea that it takes place roughly around Age 778, probably ending around Age 780. But that contradicts Bulma at the end of the series, when she says she hasn't seen Goku in five years.

My safest approach to Dragon Ball canon

Even when it comes from Shueisha, Toei and the entire company behind Dragon Ball, the timeline of when things happened is a complete mess. The best canon you could come up with is the original 42 volumes of the manga. A secondary canon could be those volumes plus Battle of Gods, Resurrection 'F' and maybe Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, because Toriyama wrote that. Once you start putting in the filler, Super and things like that, it gets convoluted. So my advice is simple: "don't fight over canon, there is no canon, just enjoy the series."