Dragon Ball Super began with the arrival of Universe 7’s God of Destruction, Beerus, who came to Earth in search of the Super Saiyan God. From that point on, the franchise truly ascended to a god-level scale, naturally placing anything set before this timeline at a lower tier of power. This shift also cemented Dragon Ball GT as non-canon. With fans widely viewing Dragon Ball Super as the latest and most canonical installment, and with the anime adaptation of the Moro Arc officially announced, the series’ place in the timeline has felt firmly established. However, the franchise also released a new anime a little over a year ago that chronologically takes place before Super.
Dragon Ball Daima, which follows the Z Fighters on a small expedition into the Demon Realm, took fans by surprise by introducing lore that retconned previously held beliefs. The biggest shock came with the introduction of Super Saiyan 4, which immediately raised concerns about how it could coexist with Super. In Super, Goku clearly states that Super Saiyan 3 was his strongest form during his fight with Beerus before attaining godly transformations. With both Daima and Super being treated as canon, the inclusion of Super Saiyan 4 creates a major inconsistency. However, with a Dragon Ball Super remake now announced, there is a perfect opportunity to finally address and fix this issue.
The Dragon Ball Super Remake Can Solidify Daima’s Canon Status With a Simple Fix
Toei Animation
Fans largely consider Daima a canon installment, as it was the final project Akira Toriyama personally worked on, while Super is also regarded as canon due to its long run and the existence of its manga. However, Daima’s inclusion of Super Saiyan 4, something Super never even acknowledges, makes it difficult to place both series cleanly within the same timeline. That said, the announcement of the remake, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus, which will revisit the earliest events of the Super anime with enhanced visuals and a version said to be more closely aligned with the manga, opens the door for potential additions.
If the franchise truly intends for Daima and Super to coexist as canon within a single timeline, the remake would need to address Super Saiyan 4, either by directly featuring it or at least acknowledging its existence. Since Daima establishes that Super Saiyan 4 is awakened through Neva’s magical powers, the remake could clarify that Goku is unable to access it outside the Demon Realm due to its magic-dependent nature. Even then, this alone would not be enough to fully cement Daima as canon, as there are still other major factors at play.
Daima also introduced Rymus, a being described as the creator of the universes. The complete absence of such an entity in Super, a series that frequently highlights primordial beings, is a contradiction that cannot be easily ignored. As a result, it may be that Daima and Super were never meant to be fully bridged. The complexity of aligning both may be too great, leaving fans to consider the possibility that even if Daima is canon, it exists independently from Super, with the franchise effectively operating as its own multiverse and any continuation of Daima becoming an entirely separate anime.
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