So is Battle of the Gods confirmed canon?

[hleV]

As long as by canon you mean a true continuation of the events in the manga, then BOG is not confirmed as canon. People may interpret BOG being a part of the official history and Toriyama coming up with BOG's story by imagining as if the manga serialization had continued as implications to it being true to the manga, but that's about all. There's no official confirmation from neither Toriyama nor anyone else about how exactly BOG relates to the original (manga's) story.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Some? He changed almost everything!

I'm talking rough, larger concepts here, like "God of Destruction" and "Super Saiyan God". He didn't come up with those himself.

Even those got changed!

Spoiler:

He made the story from dark to happy, he made Beers from an evil lizard to a selfish cat, he made Super Saiyan God from bulky with lots of golden hair & a cape into skinny with red base hair, he made Kuririn's wedding into Bulma's birthday party, he took away the whole concept of Beers infecting people into evil beings, he created Whis.

[VegettoEX]

Well, and beyond all that, we have a couple key dates (namely Bulma's age due to her birthday) that literally DO NOT WORK AT ALL with what's been established before, sooooo...

Do mathematical contradictions like this affect your final decision(s)?

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Well, and beyond all that, we have a couple key dates (namely Bulma's age due to her birthday) that literally DO NOT WORK AT ALL with what's been established before, sooooo...

Do mathematical contradictions like this affect your final decision(s)?

Did I say that the movie was completely consistent?
But yeah, these small errors don't affect me, since I can either explain them for myself (Shenlong granting 1 wish instead of 3, Kaio's Planet), or I can ignore them since they don't affect the plot if they get changed (all the date errors) or omitted (Satan forgetting about who Dende is).

[demonmist606]

Well, and beyond all that, we have a couple key dates (namely Bulma's age due to her birthday) that literally DO NOT WORK AT ALL with what's been established before, sooooo...

Do mathematical contradictions like this affect your final decision(s)?

Not really. Just to throw a theory out there, Bulma was killed by Buu and we don't really know how much time was spent outside of Earth after Buu destroyed it. Could that possibly be why?

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Not really. Just to throw a theory out there, Bulma was killed by Buu and we don't really know how much time was spent outside of Earth after Buu destroyed it. Could that possibly be why?

No, we know that Bulma was dead for less than a day. Just change the wrong numbers with the correct numbers in your mind. Works for me, at least.

[The Monkey King]

Sounds pretty canon to me :

Toei Animation’s Press Release for the upcoming film - July 17, 2012:
“The global phenomenon Dragon Ball is being made into a movie using Toei Animation’s latest technology, consistently realized as a Toriyama work, with the original author Akira Toriyama himself deeply involved from the script stage for the first time."

Toriyama interview:
I tried thinking up an original story, imagining it as though [the manga’s] serialization had continued. What’s more, the God of Destruction Birus, who I drew the design for myself (something I don’t usually do), is a terrifying opponent so overwhelmingly strong that he surpasses the dimension of the previous enemies. But it’s my trademark to not let things get too dark. At the very least, I’m satisfied that it’s been finished up as a very entertaining piece of work.

Toriyama interview:
What are your thoughts on having participated in the movie?
It was fun~! This time, I devoted myself exclusively to creating the story, so I was happy most of all at how it became several times more enjoyable by other people’s hands. In particular, the climactic battle exceeded my expectations by far!!

Toriyama interview:
It’s rare, or rather, it’s the first time, that I’ve been deeply involved with the animation from the scriptwriting stage.
As it had been a while, there was a lot I’d forgotten, but as expected of the creator of the original work, I was soon able to remember the tempo of things, at least.
For this film, while leaving the atmosphere of the original intact, we’ve added just a little bit of modern flavor, so I think it will be an enjoyable piece of entertainment, just like old times!

Toriyama interview:
Q: Why is Kaiō’s planet so small?

A: The fact is, it was destroyed by the God of Destruction!!
It used to be so big that its diameter was about 100 times that of Kai’s current planet. Apart from the size it was completely the same as it is now, with nothing but grassy fields and roads. Kai-sama enjoyed his hobby, driving, but then one day Birusu, the God of Destruction, stopped by and they played a video game together (it was a car racing one). Birusu lost, and so the planet was destroyed by the peeved God of Destruction. Kai then took a large leftover fragment, whittled it down to a sphere, and built a road on it so that he could have fun driving there. This became Kai’s current planet.

I heard that this is the first time you’ve been deeply involved with the script of a movie; please tell us the reason.

The catalyst was that, first of all, when the script originally came to me, there was a lot of the sort of dialogue that only the creator would know, so I thought, “that bothers me”, and then this and that also started to get on my mind, and so rather than telling them to revise each individual thing, I thought it might be faster if I just wrote the script myself.

But you know there's the whole "There's no established DB canon" thing.

Yay 100th post!

[demonmist606]

Not really. Just to throw a theory out there, Bulma was killed by Buu and we don't really know how much time was spent outside of Earth after Buu destroyed it. Could that possibly be why?

No, we know that Bulma was dead for less than a day. Just change the wrong numbers with the correct numbers in your mind. Works for me, at least.

Just to be clear though, aren't there different things in the manga as well that contradict each other and doesn't really work or make sense?

[sintzu]

That's why I said story. As far as I am aware he had nothing to do with the story in any of those. At least that's what I heard.

He came up with the characters that the stories are based off of (Broly, Super 13, Cooler, etc.).

[demonmist606]

He came up with the characters that the stories are based off of (Broly, Super 13, Cooler, etc.).

Yeah but he really had nothing to do with the plot. Besides I don't really see a problem with accepting movies as alternative universe like the whole Future Trunks angle.

[sintzu]

Not really because a lot of their stories contradict other stories. (For example,) in Batman it is stated that Tim Drake was Robin. In the New 52 then a year later in Teen Titans it says he has never been Robin, only Red Robin, and I'm sure there is a lot of stuff like that (which) I don't know of.

If it doesn't have big plot holes with the manga or contradict it in a big way than it can be but till now we haven't seen anything that doesn't do one or both.

Alternative universes are what a lot of fans and Toriyama think of them, or like other fans like myself look at them as side stories.

[dbzfan7]

There really is no perfect Canon. I consider several canons into Dragon Ball. But I do include Battle of Gods into Manga canon.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Just to be clear though, aren't there different things in the manga as well that contradict each other and doesn't really work or make sense?

Kaio's planet is somehow back, Shenlong grants 1 wish instead of 3 for some reason, and Mr. Satan doesn't remember Dende for some reason. But they can be explained with theories.

[VegettoEX]

Kaio's planet is somehow back, Shenlong grants 1 wish instead of 3 for some reason, and Mr. Satan doesn't remember Dende for some reason. But they can be explained with theories.

There's always the big "Trunks first names them as #19 and #20, but it's #17 and #18 that show up and he recognizes." We have an out-of-universe explanation for it, but it's still an in-universe plot hole.

Also, folks: "Toei" and "Toriyama".

[Hellspawn28]

Seeing that AT work on the story unlike the other DBZ movies then I do think it's canon to the manga. Unlike GT and the other movies which are viewed not canon to the manga.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

There's always the big "Trunks first names them as #19 and #20, but it's #17 and #18 that show up and he recognizes." We have an out-of-universe explanation for it, but it's still an in-universe plot hole.

Yeah, it's the same with the dates in BoG for me.

[demonmist606]

Not really because a lot of their stories contradict other stories. (For example,) in Batman it is stated that Tim Drake was Robin. In the New 52 then a year later in Teen Titans it says he has never been Robin, only Red Robin, and I'm sure there is a lot of stuff like that (which) I don't know of.

If it doesn't have big plot holes with the manga or contradict it in a big way than it can be but till now we haven't seen anything that doesn't do one or both.

Alternative universes are what a lot of fans and Toriyama think of them, or like other fans like myself look at them as side stories.

The New 52 is a complete reebot of the DC Universe with only stories they have personally said and referenced counting from the past. That's a totally different thing. Alternative universe is something like Batman Beyond.

I see no reason why it can't be the same with dbz movies. Alternative universe theory actually comes from the manga itself from the Cell saga.

[demonmist606]

Just to be clear though, aren't there different things in the manga as well that contradict each other and doesn't really work or make sense?

Kaio's planet is somehow back, Shenlong grants 1 wish instead of 3 for some reason, and Mr. Satan doesn't remember Dende for some reason. But they can be explained with theories.

In meant holes in the actual manga itself that doesn't work or make sense. Not from the movie.

[FoolsGil]

It contradicts GT. It's better than canon.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Just to be clear though, aren't there different things in the manga as well that contradict each other and doesn't really work or make sense?

Kaio's planet is somehow back, Shenlong grants 1 wish instead of 3 for some reason, and Mr. Satan doesn't remember Dende for some reason. But they can be explained with theories.

In meant holes in the actual manga itself that doesn't work or make sense. Not from the movie.

Ah, sorry. Let's see:

• The Dragon Balls got activated after 8 months instead of 12.
• Goku believes that he can bring Kami back to life with the Dragon Balls, but later, he reveals that if Kami dies, Shenlong dies.
• Future Trunks warns Goku about Artificial Humans #19 & #20, instead of #17 & #18.
• Cell's head gets blown away (along with his whole upper body) by Goku's Kamehameha & regenerates from the rest of his body, but later he reveals that he can't regenerate if his nucleus in his head is destroyed.
• Super Saiyan Gohan manages to pull the Z-Sword, a feat that none of the Kaioshin were strong enough to achieve. However, South Kaioshin is implied to be much stronger than SS Gohan much later.

There should be more, I think.