Here's Why Dragon Ball GT Is Canon (2024)

CBR Anime Week is brought to you by HULU ANIMAYHEM

The question of canon is something that can be more confusing in anime than it strictly should be. Many different series have different alternate universes, movies that are questionably canon, and supplemental materials that may or may not factor into the canon of the main franchises. Anime has a loose grasp on canon at the best of times, and shōnen anime may be the worst offender. While there has been a recent trend toward making movie supplements canon, such as Mugen Train and (tentatively) the My Hero Academia movies, there are still plenty of anime that will throw things in that are never referenced again or quickly forgotten and become questionably canon.

One of the most infamous versions of the canon debate is Dragon Ball GT, an anime-only series that aired after Dragon Ball Z ended its run. It is very hard to find a neutral opinion out there about this particular anime. People either love it and defend it to the death, or despise it and pretend it was never animated in the first place. While there are a lot of incredibly heated discussions about the canonicity of Dragon Ball GT, there are several key pieces of information out in the universe that can put the debate to rest until a different editor or piece of supplemental material comes forward to change it all over again.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on June 24, 2024: Dragon Ball GT is a rather infamous part of the iconic franchise, namely due to its place in continuity. An anime-exclusive story, it wasn't based on a preceding manga by Akira Toriyama. Thus, many have asked whether Dragon Ball GT is canon. Now, this question is more important than ever, as the franchise is about to have another anime-exclusive series.

Dragon Ball GT Is The Black Sheep Of The Dragon Ball Family

It can be a little confusing as to why Dragon Ball GT is so controversial among seasoned fans of the franchise - especially for younger fans who may have been warned away from the show by their elders in the anime community. In many ways, GT is the black sheep of the Dragon Ball franchise for many different reasons. One of the biggest is the fact that it is one of the few mainline Dragon Ball pieces of media with no direct involvement from Akira Toriyama, the creator of the series. It was an entirely original story conceived by the Toei Animation staff at the time that used characters from Dragon Ball in new ways. Toriyama designed some new characters for the series, but it was not based on any manga. He did, however, come up with the name, as "GT" stands for "Grand Tour," referencing the journey through the universe that the main trio goes on. Dragon Ball GT might just be one of the most successful pieces of fan fiction out there.

The story of Dragon Ball GT follows a newly de-aged Goku (thanks to Emperor Pilaf), his granddaughter Pan, and Trunks on a journey through the universe to find the Black Star Dragon Balls. If they aren't collected within a year, the Earth will explode. Just a normal day in the Dragon Ball universe. The main goal of the series was to recapture the feeling of the original Dragon Ball, veering away from major fights until major climaxes and settling in on the adventure itself. There are a lot of creative locations and characters for the cast to run into, and many of the old guard characters end up as secondary as they go about their normal lives for the most part. One of the biggest issues with the show is that it kind of tries to blend the changes brought by Dragon Ball Z into the older style of Dragon Ball and doesn't always succeed.

Dragon Ball GT also has a lot of iconic pieces of Dragon Ball media that fans have embraced, whether they actually like the series. The Super Saiyan 4 form is one of the best transformations in the franchise and features in Super Dragon Ball Heroes, which shows a ton of alternate timelines and scenarios. The music is also particularly good in Dragon Ball GT, despite the flaws in the rest of the production. The series did not do well in Japan compared to the rest of the Dragon Ball catalog and was criticized for rehashing older stories rather than being something all its own. For a lot of fans, it simply fell completely flat, and the good things were too few and far between for them to endorse it. However, despite the desire of fans to forget about its existence, Dragon Ball GT has been considered canon by Shueisha and Akira Toriyama for a relatively long time.

Yes, Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT Are Both Canon

One of the easiest ways to figure out the canon of a series is to hunt down an official timeline. Granted, some are a little too convoluted to make much sense, like the Legend of Zelda spiderweb of a timeline. There have been multiple official Dragon Ball timelines in multiple different forms over the years. These include the Chouzenshuu 4: Dragon Ball Super Encyclopedia, the Akira Toriyama: The World of DRAGON BALL art exhibition, and one created for the 2017 Dragon Ball Tenkaichi Budosai, a festival in Japan specifically dedicated to celebrating the franchise. These three timelines are the biggest proponents of protecting the canon status of Dragon Ball GT, as both Akira Toriyama and Shueisha, the owners of the franchise, sign off on them as canon.

The timelines indicate that Dragon Ball GT takes place between ages 789 and 889 of the Dragon Ball calendar. For reference, Bulma met Goku in age 749 and Goku was born in age 734. The opening of the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie gives a quick, condensed look at how the years have passed for Goku right in the beginning as a visual reference. Dragon Ball Super, currently, is in age 783 and the last episode of Dragon Ball Z takes place in 784. There is, however, a lot of contradictory information that has been presented by every series within the franchise at this point. It's important to remember that the initial run of Dragon Ball was not made with a sequel series in mind. The colloquially known "End of Z" is still canon, but it is entirely unclear as to how it can possibly still make sense when considering Super.

The biggest question is honestly why Dragon Ball GT was ever considered non-canon. The answer is probably far more simple than explaining how it fits into the timeline as it stands now. People just didn't like it, and it was likewise an original story that was removed from anything Toriyama worked on. Since it never managed to capture its audience, they would rather forget that it exists at all. In the way that fix-it fan fiction exists because too many beloved characters get killed before fans are ready to part with them, denial is one heck of a tool for people to use. The other thing to remember is that GT came out in the '90s and only made it to the US in the early '00s, so much of the supplemental material that would crown it as canon didn't make it into English for a very long time. The show didn't even get a DVD release in Japan until 2005, eight years after the initial broadcast.

For those who are not ready to embrace Dragon Ball GT as canon, the reality is that the show is canon - at least, in one universe. Dragon Ball has opened itself up to a multiversal interpretation with shows like Dragon Ball Daima and Super Dragon Ball Heroes. Toriyama has long considered it a part of the franchise and the energy of Super does try to bridge the gaps in tone from Dragon Ball Z to Dragon Ball GT. For those who simply cannot accept it, they simply do not have to. That's the beauty of fandom; fans can enjoy what they love and ignore what they don't. But as for the official stance, Dragon Ball GT is 100% canon.

Dragon Ball Daima Is Repeating Dragon Ball GT In Many Ways

2024 will see the release of Dragon Ball Daima, a new anime series that isn't based on a pre-existing manga. It's meant to take place in between Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, and it involved a lot of direct creation by Akira Toriyama before his passing. Due to this involvement, many fans automatically see it as being more canon than Dragon Ball GT ever. This is despite neither of them being based on a manga, and this isn't the only way in which the new series shares elements with a show that many consider non-canon. Dragon Ball Daima involves many of the Z Fighters and their loved ones being turned into diminutive, child-like forms. It's similar to how Goku was deaged in Dragon Ball GT, though it being a posthumous work for Toriyama will give it more of a fan blessing than that show ever received.

It's unlikely that Dragon Ball GT will be made "officially" canon in the way that some fans want. For instance, the various Super Saiyan God transformations made Super Saiyan 4 somewhat redundant. Conversely, it's still a few years off before Gohan and Videl's daughter Pan is the same age as she was in GT, with several other events not lining up with that show's story, either. The only element that may work is Baby, the last of the Tuffles who seeks revenge against the Saiyan race. Otherwise, the question of whether Dragon Ball GT is canon, while it does have a facetious and official answer, will remain a debate that rages among the franchise's fans.

Dragon Ball GT

TV-PG

Action

Adventure

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

Not available

After Goku is made a kid again by the Black Star Dragon Balls, he goes on a journey to get back to his old self.

Release Date

February 7, 1996

Creator

Akira Toriyama

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

1 Season

Characters By

Elise Baughman, Andrew Chandler, Masako Nozawa

Production Company

Bird Studios, Toei Animation, Toei Company