Dragon Ball DAIMA Officially Confirmed Non-Canon

Dragon Ball DAIMA was the last anime worked on by Akira Toriyama before he died and, unlike Dragon Ball Super, DAIMA was actually personally written by Toriyama himself. This led many fans to believe that the series would be canon with the main timeline seen in Dragon Ball Super, despite a few glaring plot holes that Dragon Ball Super: Beerus would need to reconcile. Sadly, the future isn’t looking too bright for Dragon Ball DAIMA.

In a cruel twist of fate, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus has officially relegated Dragon Ball DAIMA to an alternate timeline with no bearing on the main story whatsoever. Even though the anime was personally worked on by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball DAIMA is now related to the same non-canon status as its sister series like Dragon Ball GT and Super Dragon Ball Heroes. The dream of seeing Super Saiyan 4 Goku in Dragon Ball Super is deader than Krillin.

Related

Kibito Kai is Still Fused in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus

The nail in the coffin for Dragon Ball DAIMA’s canonicity is none other than Kibito Kai. In Dragon Ball DAIMA, the Supreme Kai and Kibito defuse off-screen in-between the end of the Majin Buu Saga and the start of DAIMA – this is in direct contradiction to the duo still being fused in Battle of Gods, which chronologically takes place about a year after DAIMA on the timeline. Not only that, Supreme Kai reveals they defused by making use of Buu’s bad gases.

This was the explanation Goku gave as for why he and Vegeta may have defused from Vegito inside Buuhan, but it has since been retconned as of Dragon Ball Super. The Goku Black Saga revealed that Potara Fusions only last an hour for mortals, but are permanent for Kais – which is why Kibito Kai uses the Dragon Balls before the Universe 6 Tournament to defuse. Dragon Ball Super: Beerus could have gotten around this by simply not including Kibito Kai in its remake of Battle of Gods.

Kibito Kai does not influence the storyline of the Beerus Saga at all, so he doesn’t need to be in the remake until Shin and Kibito are already separated. Unfortunately, the Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Super Surge trailer showed Kibito Kai, which means Shin and Kibito never defused, so Dragon Ball DAIMA definitely did not happen. If that weren’t bad enough, that’s not the only piece of hard evidence confirming Dragon Ball DAIMA is now non-canon.

Related

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Won’t Be Fixing the Super Saiyan 3 Paradox

Besides Kibito Kai, the other big elephant in the room is Super Saiyan 3. In Dragon Ball Super’s Beerus Saga, Goku specifically calls Super Saiyan 3 his strongest form while fighting Beerus. The Super Surge trailer shows Goku actively fighting Goku in SSJ3, and while he could possibly still turn Super Saiyan 4 in an unseen clip, things aren’t looking good. A previous trailer for Dragon Ball Super: Beerus already confirmed Vegeta will use Super Saiyan 2 against Beerus.

This is a big deal since Vegeta unlocked Super Saiyan 3 in Dragon Ball DAIMA, and can activate it whenever he wants. It makes no sense for Vegeta to trigger Super Saiyan 2 during a rage boost when he should theoretically be able to tap into Super Saiyan 3. Dragon Ball Super: Beerus will simply pretend like Dragon Ball DAIMA never happened – it’s a real shame, since the Demon Realm could have made an amazing setting for the Black Frieza Saga.