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Dragon Ball Daimais the latest addition to the Dragon Ball franchise, but its connection to Dragon Ball Super remains a topic of debate among fans. While Daima features familiar characters like Goku, Vegeta, and Majin Buu, its premise — where characters are mysteriously transformed into childlike forms — suggests a different narrative direction.
Unlike Super, which expanded the multiverse and divine hierarchies, Daima focuses on a new adventure-driven storyline with Toriyama’s direct involvement. Does this mean Daima is a direct sequel, an alternate timeline, or something else entirely? This article explores its place in the Dragon Ball universe, analyzing clues from official statements and in-universe evidence.
Spoilers For Both Dragon Ball Daima And Super!
Is Dragon Ball Daima Connected To Super?
The short answer is no, even if timeline-wise,Daima can technically happenjust before Super(Daima happens months after the defeat of Buu while Super happens years later). However, the same can be said of GT, which happens even further down the timeline, butno one considers GT connected to either Daima nor Super.
The main argument being used to connect Daima and Super is thatboth of their stories were written by the late Akira Toriyama, but that isn’t enough to connect them. The Battle of Gods movie, the Super anime, and the Super manga also sawheavy involvement from the author, but they aren’t connected to one another.
There are two things to consider when it comes to Daima and Super being connected:the transformationsavailable to the characters, andthe way the universe is understood to workin each series.
The Transformations
Both Goku and Vegetagain new transformations in Daima, although they aren’t exactly new to the audience: Goku can transform into Super Saiyan 4 while Vegeta can transform into Super Saiyan 3. So if Daima is connected to Super,why didn’t they use these transformations?
When Vegeta gets angry at Beerus for hitting Bulma, his rage makes him go into ‘full power,’ which would be Super Saiyan 3 if Daima did happen, but he only transforms into Super Saiyan 2. Goku, for his part, decides totransform into his ‘most powerful form’when facing Beerus for the first time, and he transforms into Super Saiyan 3, not 4.
Of course,said transformationswouldn’t have made a difference, since the point of Beerus is the overwhelming power he possesses as a literal god. But those two scenes were all about characters going all out, and they put a heavy dent in the idea ofDaima and Super happening in the same universe.
The Universe
Here is wherethe main differences lie between Daima and Super, since they both expand the ideas presented in the earlier sagas but take them in different, if similar, ways. While Daima takes our heroes to the Demon Realm and Super has them meeting Angels,you’d thinkthe series would complement each other, but they tend towards contradictions instead.
Both series have an ancient one that created the first set of Dragon Balls, with no mention made to the other. In Super, the first Dragon Balls are the Super Dragon Balls created by Zalama, while in Daima, they are the Demon Realm Dragon Balls created by Neva.
Zalama is barely a myth in Super, while Goku and the gang get to interact and be helped by Neva in Daima.
In a more dramatic sense,both series introduce their own absolute ruler of the multiverse,with the childlike Grand Zeno being the one in Super and the barely shown Lord Rymus being the one in Daima. It is hard to believe that either character wouldn’t show in the other story if they existed, particularly in Super, wherethe origin and inner workings of the multiverse are explored.
Which Series Is Canon?
Neither seriesis more important than the other when it comes to canonicity, letting you enjoy both of them to your heart’s content. However, it is important to remember that they aren’t canon to one another, at least to avoid confusion when viewing them.
As far as which one is the canonical continuation of Dragon Ball Z, that is up to you to decide, since they both have an equal claim to the title. They are stories that happen separately from one another, and should be enjoyed as such.
