The Complete Main Dragon Ball Anime Timeline

Dragon Ball is a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon—to the point that calling it one of the most popular anime of all time feels like an understatement. From the first episode of the original series to today, there have been hundreds of episodes and over 20 feature films—not to mention the several OVAs, TV specials, and web series. It can be a lot to keep track of—hence the creation of this timeline.

However, when it comes to making a Dragon Ball timeline, things get a bit complicated. There are more than a few parallel realities going on—some that interact with the main story and many more that don't. Instead of attempting to make a convoluted, complex multiverse timeline of every single Dragon Ball anime ever made, I have instead decided to focus on the main Dragon Ball story that has continued throughout the various TV anime for nearly 40 years.

Now, to be clear, “canon” in Dragon Ball is a hotly debated topic (and likely will continue to be until the heat death of the universe). Some believe if it's not directly adapted from an original, Akira Toriyama-penned manga, it doesn't count—thus ignoring several filler arcs and even complete TV series. Others believe that only the actual TV series—and the few movies, OVA, and specials that explicitly tie in with them—are canon.

For this timeline, however, I have opted for an even more liberal approach. Rather than have those anime that are explicitly part of the main story, I have also included any anime that could have potentially happened. As long as they feature no major contradictions (like dead people being alive or events that simply couldn't happen given when they are supposed to take place), I have decided to overlook things that could be chalked up to human error, like slight changes in character design or minor continuity errors. (And to be fair, even just looking at the main TV anime in a vacuum, retcons, midquels, and the like have inadvertently created their own share of continuity issues—and ones of far more weighty than the length of someone's hair or characters inexplicably forgetting that they've met before.)

However, this still means that anything that clearly occurs in one alternate universe or another—namely, the vast majority of the films, OVAs, and anything even slightly connected to Dragon Ball Heroes—has been left out.

The dates for this timeline come largely from 1996's Daizenshuu 7: Dragon Ball Encyclopedia and other official sources (like the Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission official website). Other dates were either extrapolated from in-universe information or from context clues. (Also, a big shoutout to those who have contributed over on the Dragon Ball Wiki timeline with their sourced and cited information.)

Lastly, as Dragon Ball shows no signs of ending, this timeline will be regularly updated whenever a new mainline anime or story arc is released. Such updates will be listed below.