Dragon World Timeline

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The Dragon World Timeline is the chronology of fictional events in the Dragon Ball franchise.

Overview

Below is a table of major fictional dates and events in the Dragon Ball franchise. For a wider and more comprehensive array of dates, please reference the table at the bottom of this page.

Date	Event
Age 739	The events of Dragon Ball Minus and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman occur. Planet Vegeta explodes and Son Goku arrives on Earth.
Age 749	Dragon Ball begins. Bulma and Goku meet and begin a journey to track down seven Dragon Balls.
Age 750	The 21st Tenka'ichi Budōkai is held. Goku and friends battle against the Red Ribbon Army.
Age 753	The 22nd Tenka'ichi Budōkai is held. Goku and friends battle against Demon King Piccolo.
Age 756	The 23rd Tenka'ichi Budōkai is held.
Age 761	Raditz arrives on Earth.
Age 762	Vegeta and Nappa arrive on Earth. Goku and friends struggle against Freeza and his men on Planet Namek.
Age 764	Future Trunks travels back from the future to warn everyone against the Artificial Humans.
Age 767	Goku and friends battle against the Artificial Humans and Cell.
Age 774	The 25th Tenka'ichi Budōkai is held. Goku and friends battle a revived Majin Boo.
Ages 778, 779, 780, and possibly 781	The events of Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Super: Broly occur.
Age 784	The 28th Tenka'ichi Budōkai is held. Goku leaves to train Oob.
Ages 789 and 790	The events of Dragon Ball GT occur.

History

The timeline from the pamphlet accompanying Dragon Ball Z Movie 7.

Dragon Ball's timeline was constructed by Caramel Mama for the purpose of sorting out various clues sprinkled throughout the series to present a chronological table of events in Daizenshū 7. Prior to the Daizenshū series of guidebooks, the pamphlet for Dragon Ball Z's seventh movie included a diagram of the split timelines incurred by Future Trunks's time travel which would later be expanded upon in Daizenshū 7, revised for Dragon Ball Forever, and then ported over to Chōzenshū 4. Though this pamphlet's timeline predates the seventh Daizenshū, the guidebook's series of events is the first official attempt to assign dates to events with as much specificity as possible. In certain instances where the anime adds details which contradict the manga, the timeline allows information from the manga to take precedence. Non-contradictory anime details, however, were taken into consideration for the timeline's construction.

Age 788, the only "Age" specifically cited in Dragon Ball.

The entirety of this timeline works backwards from the only stated year in the entire franchise, Age 788, the year in which Cell left his future. Future Trunks states that Age 788 is three years after he left his own future, placing his second departure from the future in Age 785. In "Trunks the Story", Future Bulma establishes an eight month recharge period for the time machine, which Caramel Mama interprets to place his first departure from the future in Age 784.

With Age 784 established as the year Trunks first travels back from, the timeline works backwards from dialogue between Trunks and Son Goku. Trunks states that he arrived from 20 years in the future, placing Goku's return from Planet Yardrat in Age 764, and that the Artificial Humans will appear three years from then in Age 767.

After hearing that Goku will return to the living world for one day, Chi-Chi states that seven years have passed since Goku's sacrifice, placing the Majin Boo's resurrection in Age 774. Following Boo's defeat, narration establishes that ten years pass between that and the 28th Tenka'ichi Budōkai, ending the series in Age 784.

Demon King Piccolo establishes 09 May as "Piccolo Day".

For individual dates, the timeline derives its days from two primary sources, Piccolo Day and the day that the Artificial Humans appear, as well as a short gag manga. After taking over King Castle, Demon King Piccolo declares that day, 09 May, to be henceforth known as "Piccolo Day". In the story, two nights pass between the 22nd Tenka'ichi Budōkai and this date, establishing the tournament's date as 07 May. Though never explicitly stated in the story, Caramel Mama interprets 07 May as the date for every Tenka'ichi Budōkai, perhaps due to Goku knowing when to show up after his solo travels before the 22nd Tenka'ichi Budōkai. With many events in Dragon Ball tied to a Tenka'ichi Budōkai, for each year the tournament occurs, the timeline works forward from 07 May based on how many nights occur or how much time is stated to have passed.

Future Trunks informs Son Goku that the Artificial Humans will appear on 12 May.

When Trunks alerts Goku to the Artificial Humans' impending arrival in Age 767, he further specifies that they will appear on 12 May. Narration marks Goku's recovery from his heart disease as three days later on 15 May, as well as stating that about a day passes between that and right before Vegeta and Trunks confront Cell after leaving the Room of Spirit and Time on 16 May. After learning that his opponents might be able to offer a real challenge if given time, Cell announces that he'll hold the Cell Games in ten days on 26 May.

In revised editions of Dragon Ball, Cell announces that the Cell Games shall be held on 26 May.

Originally, Cell's announcement of the Cell Games had them taking place on 17 M. This date persisted into the tankōbon despite other minor changes making their way into this edition. Daizenshū 7 was the first official source to change this date, and subsequent printings of Dragon Ball following the guidebook's release use 26 May.

Daizenshū 7 assigns August 764 as a vague date for Goku's return from Yardrat, which connects to a series of clues varying in specificity to create a timeline back to Raditz's arrival on Earth. However, the specific dates for these two arrivals are seemingly arbitrary in relation to the events outside of this sequence of events. Instead, it is possible that these events draw from a gag comic created by Akira Toriyama for Weekly Shōnen Jump's 1991 #3-4 double issue, which portrays characters in the days leading up to the fight with Freeza. This comic, published 19 December 1990, shows Turtle Hermit wearing in a Santa Claus outfit alongside various Christmas decorations, and was later reprinted in Daizenshū 7's "Rare Illustrations" section.

Christmas decorations are present in the days leading up to the battle with Freeza.

Still unclear is exactly which day in December this comic portrays, but Daizenshū 7 settles on 24 December as the date for the battles with Ginyu and Freeza. Working forward from Christmas Eve, narration provides a span of 130 days for the Namekian Dragon Balls to recharge for Kuririn and Yamcha's resurrections on 03 May the following year, and another 130 days for Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu's resurrections on 10 September. In the same chapter, narration continues on to state that "about a year" passes from those wishes to the same day of Goku's return from Yardrat, which Daizenshū 7 interprets as 11 months later in August. With Goku's return taking place in Age 764, working backwards places the resurrections in Age 763 and Goku's fight against Freeza in Age 762.

Continuing in reverse from 24 December 762, Dragon Ball chapter 270 includes narration and dialogue confirming the window of time since Zarbon's defeat (four days prior on 20 December) and Goku's departure from Earth (six days prior on 18 December), the latter of which was first laid out in chapter 250. Within the narrative, Bulma and the others arrive on Namek right before Goku leaves Earth, and Daizenshū 7 treats these events as occurring on the same day. As they arrive on 18 December, narration explains that Bulma's trip to Namek took 34 days, placing their date of departure on 14 November. Daizenshū 7 determines the date that Vegeta and Nappa touch down on Earth by working ten days back from 14 November to 04 November when Bulma tells everyone to meet at Kame House upon completion of remodeling God's spaceship. This conversation occurs on the same day began in chapter 243, which narration establishes as happening the day after the battle with Vegeta, 03 November.

Also unclear is how the staff at Caramel Mama arrived at the dates for a couple of events, as they seem to break formation from statements made in the series addressing various passages of time. Moments after arriving at Kaiō's planet, Kaiō evaluates that the Saiyans will arrive on Earth in 158 days which, working back from 03 November, establishes that Goku meets Kaiō on 29 May. However, Daizenshū 7 places Goku's arrival at Kaiō's planet on 29 April, a full month earlier, which may have been an attempt to reconcile Kaio's prediction with Piccolo's assumption that the Saiyans will arrive in six months from what appears to be this same day, or close to it.

With a date of 29 April as Daizenshū 7's marker for Goku and Kaiō's first encounter, Shueisha's official timeline determines the date of Raditz's arrival by working a little over six and a half months backwards to 12 October 761, which draws from three instances of a six month time passage mentioned in narration. Perhaps because it is used multiple times, and across two chapters, that Caramel Mama decided to treat this as a slightly vague estimate and allow room for a couple of weeks in between mentions.

The date of the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budōkai takes place on 07 May 756 by way of narration accompanying Raditz's arrival, which states that it has been five years since Goku squared off against Piccolo. The 21st, 22nd, and 23rd Tenka'ichi Budōkai occur on a triennial basis, placing the 21st and 22nd on 07 May 750 and 07 May 753, respectively.

Dragon Ball's story begins in Age 749, working backwards from the 21st Tenka'ichi Budōkai by at least the eight months Goku and Kuririn spend training with Turtle Hermit. For events taking place prior to the moment Goku and Bulma first meet, Daizenshū 7 draws from various statements made throughout the entire series to flesh out various events.

Daizenshū 7's "Chronological Table of Events" covers up through the very end of Dragon Ball in Age 784, but Dragon Ball GT pushed the timeline further beyond that date. Dragon Ball GT: Perfect Files Volume 1

Contradictions and Revisions

Dr. Slump

Dr. Slump uses the Gregorian Calendar.

Despite its characters appearing in the conflict with General Blue, Dr. Slump uses the Gregorian Calendar as opposed to the Age system. Daizenshū 7 and Chōzenshū 4 account for this, stating that though "Age" is the uniform calendar system used on Earth, some regions still use the Gregorian calendar. There is currently no definite way to determine how these two calendars reconcile with each other.

Shenlong's First Two Summonings

FIXME: Guidebooks - Wish 1: 09 September, 749, Wish 2: 12 May, 750

22nd Tenka'ichi Budōkai

FIXME: manga vs. anime

Arrival of the Saiyans

Further information: Age 761 and Age 762

FIXME: Guidebooks - Raditz: 12 October, 761, Vegeta: 03 November, 762, Raditz estimates 1 year arrival for Vegeta, Vegeta arrives 1 month early. Approximately 11 months to get to Earth but the guidebooks give a spread of nearly 13 months.

Between Namek's Explosion and Future Trunks's Arrival

FIXME: Anime adds an extra year before Trunks arrives (or subtracts a year?)

Cell's Development

Further information: Age 762

FIXME: Dragon Ball Chapter 363, Conversation held in 767, Cell implies another 24 years to complete his development, 791, Dragon Ball Chapter 358 establishes that Cell traveled from 788, Daizenshū 7 emergence in 786, 24 years back from that is 762 when the Saiyans arrive. Caramel Mama interpretation of dialogue to fix impossible date.

The Cell Games

Further information: Age 767

In the original Weekly Shōnen Jump serialization and initial tankōbon printings of Dragon Ball chapter 389, Cell announces that the Cell Games will occur "nine days from today, 17 M [sic]". However, Future Trunks establishes in chapter 335 that the Artificial Humans arrive on 12 May, making Cell's announcement irreconcilable with the previously established date. In contrast, Dragon Ball Z episode 168's recap of episode 167 gives a date of 21 May with an upcoming gap of nine days for the Cell Games (despite this line of dialogue never actually occurring in episode 167), which also contradicts the flow of time set by the Artificial Humans' appearance on 12 May. Episode 174's narration reverts back to the date of the Cell Games from the manga, 17 M. Years later, when piecing together their timeline for Daizenshū 7, Caramel Mama revised the date of the Cell Games to 26 May, correcting it to fit a more accurate passage of time from 12 May. Starting with the kanzenban releases, all subsequent Japanese printings of Dragon Ball use this revised date, including the Sōshūhen, which were advertised as emulating Dragon Ball as it originally ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Viz's English translation of Cell's dialogue refers to "the 17th", as it is based off of translations prior to this alteration. Dragon Ball Kai episode 86 forgoes this issue entirely, and never mentions a specific date.

Trunks's Age

FIXME: FT in August 764: "I will be born about two and a half years from now." 7 May 774, Trunks is 8 at the 25TB. Daiz birth year of 766.

Dragon Ball GT

Further information: Ages 789 and 790

The timelines present in Dragon Ball GT: Perfect Files Vol. 1 and Chōzenshū 4 cite Dragon Ball GT as beginning in Age 789. Whereas Dragon Ball GT: Perfect Files Vol. 1 only references the beginning stories of Dragon Ball GT, Chōzenshū 4 follows up and goes so far as to fit all of GT into Age 789. A period of one year is baked into episodes 1 through 40, as Earth will explode if the Ultimate Dragon Balls are not returned within one year of a wish having been made with them. Earth explodes in episode 40, definitively pushing the timeline into Age 790. The following Tenka'ichi Budōkai in Dragon Ball GT episode 41 must then place on 07 May, 790, directly contradicting Chōzenshū 4's stated date of 07 May, 789 for this event.

Dragon Ball Super

Further information: Age 779, Age 780, and Age 781

External Links

• The Long History of "Dragon Ball"
  Kanzenshuu Forums - "DB SSSS Timeline" by Herms
• A Chronological Outline of Timelines from the Future Trunks Arc
• Kanzenshuu Forums - "The History of Ever" by Herms