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All of Dragon Ball’s Timelines Explained

Dragon Ball doesn't follow a typical timeline, so this guide will explain all the series' timelines.

Published: Nov 01, 2022, 7:59 am Updated: Sep 11, 2024, 10:21 am

Before delving into each timeline, it is important to note that there are different timelines in Dragon Ball. The series does not follow the linear timeline that most anime have, so it might get really confusing for new fans. But worry not as we've come up with the ultimate Dragon Ball timelines guide for fans!

Table of Contents

Why does dragon ball have different timelines, so, how did the timelines in dragon ball start, what are all the timelines in dragon ball.

RELATED: Will Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Be On Crunchyroll? Here's the Expected Release Date

Dragon Ball does not follow a typical timeline wherein there is only the past, the present, and the future. The fantasy anime uses the concepts of alternate timelines and time travel which add complexity to the overall series.

In fact, there are some timeline rules that need to be followed and remembered for each timeline to make sense:

• New timelines are only made once there are changes done in the past that triggered a paradox
• Time Rings will only work if it goes to the future and then to the present. They do not trigger alternate timelines even if there are changes made in the future.
• The silver Time Ring only refers to the reference timeline or the main timeline while the green ones are considered alternative timelines
• Timelines can be erased, but when this happens, the Time Ring also disappears
• Each timeline flows at the same rate. No timeline is slower or faster.

The word 'paradox' is mentioned in the rules, but what is it, and what does it have to do with the whole concept of time traveling and alternate timelines in Dragon Ball ?

In the manga, a paradox was explained using an example made by a teacher.

In the example, it said that Trunks went back in time to give his mom some rice cakes. She accidentally choked on the rice cakes and thus failed to give birth to Trunks.

But how is that possible if Trunks was able to travel back in time?

A paradox is when a new timeline is created, so in this sense, there is a timeline wherein Trunks is alive and another wherein he is not.

READ MORE: Is the Dragon Ball Super Anime Returning in 2022?

In the manga, it was explained that a mortal from Universe 12 was the first time traveler in history. The time machine he or she used was confiscated, which led to time travel getting banned.

It was not explained what this mortal did but it was said that Timeline 1 was divided into Timelines 1 and 5.

In Dragon Ball Z, it was shown that Trunks went back to the past, which is 20 years ago. He gave Goku heart medicine, which led to saving his life.

The paradox then was that Goku was alive in the past and there is a Trunks in the future. This means that Timeline 1 was once again divided into Timelines 1 and 3.

In Timeline 3, Goku is dead, which means that Timeline 1 is no longer the original timeline.

Trunks made another trip, but this time, he went three years after Timeline 1.

Based on the rules mentioned above, any change in the future does not create a paradox, so no new timeline has been made as a result of this trip.

What caused a paradox was when Imperfect Cell took the time machine and traveled three years later to go back to Timeline 1, which is the year before Trunks came.

Since Cell went back to the past, he created a new timeline, which is now considered Timeline 4.

This trip divided Timeline 1 into Timelines 1 and 4, and three additional timelines have been added since then.

ALSO READ: What's Next After Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero ? Here's Everything We Know About the Future of Dragon Ball

All in all, there are a total of 7 timelines in Dragon Ball . Here is a summary for each timeline:

• Timeline 1: This timeline follows the story of Dragon Ball . It is the usual “present” time in the series. Trunks and Krillin destroyed Dr. Gero's lab, while Cell is in the incubator during this timeline.
• Timeline 2: The future Trunks resides in this timeline. He warns the Z-fighters about the androids and Cell. He goes back to this timeline to kill androids and Imperfect Cell.
• Timeline 3: While this is somewhat related to Timeline 2, what makes this timeline different is that Trunks is not aware of Cell. Imperfect Cell ends up killing Trunks and using the time machine to go back in time.
• Timeline 4: Future Trunks was able to kill the androids and warn the Z-fighters but they are not knowledgeable about Cell’s existence. However, Timeline 4 is considered vague by most fans because it is a timeline where Trunks is not around, considering that he was killed in Timeline 3.

• Timeline 5: This is considered the first alternate timeline wherein the first time traveler went back in time and time travel has been banned.
• Timeline 6: In this timeline, Zamasu learned about Goku and the Super Dragon Balls. He planned to switch with Goku’s body so he decided to kill Goku and Gowasu to be Black. He then took the Time Ring and went to Timeline 2.
• Timeline 7: Trunks and Mai created a new timeline after they traveled to Timeline 1. In this timeline, Black does not exist.

Take note that the timelines listed here are based on what was available in the manga and the anime.

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READ NEXT : Can You Watch Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Without Watching the Series? Here's a Beginner’s Guide

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How Do Time Machines Work? Asking an Expert about Time Travel in Dragon Ball

Ask the Experts

Around the beginning of Dragon Ball's Cell arc, a mysterious young man appears before our heroes. That young man turned out to be none other than Trunks, who had journeyed back to the present from the future! I'm sure many of you out there were enthralled by this revelation, begging to know more about him and the secrets behind the future's time machines! Seeing Trunks travel between past, present, and future at will left us all in awe of Bulma's incredible technology, but also wondering if travelling through time could really be so simple. So how does time travel work for us in the real world—if at all? I sat down with cosmologist Professor Toshifumi Futamase of Kyoto Sangyo University and asked him just that. We took a deep dive into the mechanics of time machines and time travel as well as the conditions required to make them possible, all in service of understanding the original series that much more! The complexity of time travel left me scratching my head, and I was struck by a new-found appreciation for the genius Bulma demonstrated by overcoming all the obstacles and creating a fully functional time machine! But let's get to all that in chronological order—for the time being, at least. Please join us on our journey through time!

Being interviewed: Professor Toshifumi Futamase Professor of Astrophysics & Meteorology at Kyoto Sangyo University's Faculty of Science. Specialist in General Relativity & Cosmology. Engaged in theoretical and observational research (using a gravity lens) of dark matter and dark matter energy. Read Jump Comics throughout Dragon Ball's serialization.

Interviewer: Nukki Technical illustrator. Makes technical illustrations and illustrations for instruction manuals. Also a proficient writer of articles that utilize her own illustration skills for websites such as Daily Portal Z.

*Interview was conducted remotely.

Table of Contents

・ How Does a Time Machine Work? ・ Negative Mass - The Ticket to Going Beyond the Speed of Light and Back in Time ・ Parallel Worlds and Time Paradoxes ・ Does Goku's Instant Transmission Function like a Time Machine? ・ Time Machines, Coming Soon...?!

How Does a Time Machine Work?

—— In Dragon Ball, Bulma made a time machine by herself in the future. Is creating a time machine in the real world theoretically possible? Prof. Futamase: We don't know yet. However, in physics we are yet to prove that creating a time machine is not possible. For now, let's just assume that creating a time machine is possible, shall we? —— So time machines are still in the R&D stage! Prof. Futamase: At this time, we've confirmed that speeding up and slowing down the flow of time is possible. We can't manipulate it to a great extent yet, but we're able to speed it up and slow it down by a tiny fraction, which involves both the speed of light and gravity. —— If you watch movies about time travel, they often say that the closer to the speed of light you get, the slower time moves... but this is the first I've heard of gravity being involved. Prof. Futamase: We'll be here all day if I go into the fine details, so I'll try to keep it brief. In General Relativity, the stronger a gravitational field is, the more warped space-time becomes around it, and the slower time moves in that area. For example, gravity on the Sun is stronger than it is on Earth, so it's believed that 1 second on the Sun is actually longer than 1 second on Earth. ——Oh, so the stronger gravity is, the slower time moves! Prof. Futamase: In the same way, gravity around a black hole is much greater than it is on Earth, so 1 second spent in the vicinity of a black hole is equivalent to 10~20 years on Earth. So in that way, the flow of time isn't constant—it varies based on your location or the planet you're on. ——I feel like our conversation is veering closer to time machines. You already said that we don't yet know if creating a time machine is possible or not, but is it feasible for humans to travel to and from the past and future? Prof. Futamase: Travelling to the future is theoretically not that difficult. Remember what we just said about the effects of spending time in a place with stronger gravity. Ignoring the impracticalities for now, imagine that you travelled from Earth to a black hole. You then spend just 10 seconds near said black hole and return home. Now, when you return to Earth, far more than 10 seconds have passed, and from your perspective, you've travelled forward in time.

The problem is travelling backwards in time—that's the one we haven't figured out yet. However, there's nothing to prove we can't. It's theorized that if you take an extremely small object, say, a fundamental particle, it may be possible to send it back in time. ——So it's possible with a tiny object like a fundamental particle. Which I guess means that sending humans back is... Prof. Futamase: It's definitely a long way off. It's thought that research will progress in stages from here with items like ping-pong balls and baseballs. So with where we are now, we can only say that we don't yet know if it's possible with humans. There are research papers that delve into the creation of time machines with the central theme being "How can we travel to the past?" ——So, we can hope that civilization on Earth continues to develop technologically to the point we can send someone to a black hole for a minute or two, then that person can come back and ask the people of Earth a couple hundred years in the future how to travel back in time. Is that sort of method at all viable? Prof. Futamase: Yes, it is. But there may already be planets that are home to civilizations far more advanced than our own somewhere in the Milky Way. So it's also conceivable that we find one such planet and ask its inhabitants about travelling back in time. ——It's just hit me all over again how incredible Bulma is for having managed to create a time machine all by herself...!

Negative Mass - The Ticket to Going Beyond the Speed of Light and Back in Time

——The time machine in Dragon Ball is a kind of egg-shaped craft with stilt-like legs attached, but what sort of shape do you imagine a time machine that humans could use would be?

Prof. Futamase: It could either be a craft that's capable of surpassing the speed of light, or a physical space that bends space-time and creates a 'shortcut' through it. ——A craft that's faster than light... But hang on, I thought light was the fastest thing in the universe? Prof. Futamase: In physics today, yes, it's believed that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Light moves as quickly as it does because it has zero mass. If you accelerate an object with a non-zero mass, its mass increases exponentially as you get closer to the speed of light, essentially prohibiting it from ever reaching the speed of light. However, if the mass is zero, then you can circumvent that issue and reach the speed of light. ——So does that mean that in order to surpass the speed of light, at the very least you need reduce your own mass below zero? Prof. Futamase: With our current understanding, that's not believed to be possible, but that may change since it hasn't yet been proved impossible. —— I see. The "physical space" option sounds a bit like the Room of Spirit & Time.

Prof. Futamase: In the real world, it's theorized that we could create a sort of tunnel to the past. There are currently people researching what type of energy would be necessary for that to be possible. ——On a related note, what type of fuel do you think would be required to power a time machine? Prof. Futamase: Our understanding today is built on the assumption that you would have positive mass. However, research has already shown that matter with negative mass also exists. So you could cancel out your positive mass with this "negative matter" to reduce your overall mass to zero, then potentially even pass through solid walls moving at the speed of light. ——So the fuel would have "negative mass". That's a little hard to wrap your head around... Prof. Futamase: It's actually not that far-fetched a concept—there are already numerous discussions being had about its existence. It's thought that around 70% of the universe is made up of negative matter, which permeates it in its entirety and is the driving force behind the universe expanding at a speed greater than the speed of light, which is something that astronomers and physicists acknowledge as fact. If we learn how to manipulate negative matter, it'll surely have a huge impact on all our lives and may be exactly what we need to unlock the ability to travel to and from the past and future. ——But how do we get to that point? Prof. Futamase: That's exactly what we're trying to get to the bottom of now. It's like how in the past, we weren't able to extract oil from the ground, but as our civilization advanced, we became able to do so, and were also able to burn that oil and harness its energy. So I don't think it's unrealistic to think we'll be able to take the same leaps with negative matter. —— Woah! Now you've got me excited for the future!

Parallel Worlds and Time Paradoxes

Now that we've all hopefully got at least a vague understanding of how time machines could work, I decided to ask about parallel worlds and time paradoxes. Time paradoxes occur when some kind of contradiction or loop is created due to your travels to and from the past and future, and in order to enable time travel, we'd have to find a way to resolve them. Even within Dragon Ball, Trunks altered his universe's history slightly by going back to the past to discover the Androids' weakness. It's this process that gives rise to multiple futures, i.e., parallel worlds.

——Could you tell me a bit about the latest parallel-world research? Prof. Futamase: The concept of parallel worlds originates from the study of quantum mechanics. It says that at this moment, there are infinite universes that exist, and each one of them contains one 'you'. So if there were, say, 10 universes, then you'd simultaneously exist in all of them. Simply by cognizing, "I'm here", the universe around you manifests. This is what's known as the many-worlds interpretation.

——So you're saying that there are multiple universes and that the universe in which you assert, "I'm here!", becomes fixed as 'your universe'...?! Prof. Futamase: We're living in a reality built on the multitude of universes that are constantly being spawned with every decision we make. Assuming you travelled to the past, you wouldn't be in the past of this universe, which is the result of the accumulation of decisions made by its inhabitants, but a completely different one—in other words, a parallel universe. That reasoning allows us to resolve the paradoxes that accompany time machines. ——So in Dragon Ball, the future where the Androids run rampant and the one where they're defeated are actually completely separate universes? Prof. Futamase: That's right. If you successfully travelled to the past then attempted to return back to the point in time you started from, the universe you arrive to would not be your original one, but a parallel world where you had travelled to the past. You'd essentially be in a new universe with a different history.

——So just to clarify, even if you never step foot in a time machine, the decisions you make from moment-to-moment spawn new universes...?! Prof. Futamase: Precisely.

Does Goku's Instant Transmission Function like a Time Machine?

——Listening to everything you've spoken about so far, I thought of something else I'd like to ask you about. After his battle with Frieza, Goku travels to Planet Yardrat, where he learns how to use Instant Transmission. I have a feeling that Instant Transmission works in a similar way to a time machine, but what do you think? Prof. Futamase: It's exactly the same. If you interpret Instant Transmission as movement faster than the speed of light, then Planet Yardrat must've found a way to overcome the gravitational restraints. ——So Yardrat's civilization must be far more advanced than Earth's! Prof. Futamase: There's a strong chance that they're successfully using negative matter. That's exactly the sort of planet that scientists like myself are hoping we'll be able to make contact with. It's currently estimated that of the approximately 200,000,000,000 planets in the Milky Way, around half of them have water and an atmosphere similar to Earth's. —— There are that many...! Prof. Futamase: However, it takes around three billion years for intelligent life to evolve. On Earth, for example, it took close to four billion years for human life to emerge. So if a given planet is younger than that, then we can't get our hopes up. It's also worth noting that even the lowest estimates predict that there are one billion Earth-like planets in each galaxy. It seems inevitable that civilizations make advancements, and so it wouldn't be strange in the slightest for highly advanced ones to exist. ——It sure would be nice of beings from those advanced civilizations or from the future to pay us a visit. Prof. Futamase: Even assuming there were one hundred million of such civilizations... if those one hundred million were spread across the galaxy, then the distance between each of them would be roughly 100~1000 light years. I suppose we can only conclude that a civilization capable of using Instant Transmission over that sort of distance hasn't yet emerged. ——So it's possible that they're making their way towards Earth at this very moment! Prof. Futamase: Don't forget there's no guarantee that they're organic lifeforms like us. Instead, they could potentially exist as data-based lifeforms. ——So perhaps signals from aliens or beings from the future are all around us, it's just that we don't have the technology to detect them... It's hard not to get swept up in all the possibilities!

Time Machines, Coming Soon...?!

I asked Professor Futamase about time machines, parallel worlds, and time paradoxes, and our conversation just kept expanding from there. Research into time machines is still ongoing, but so long as they're not proved impossible, there's still hope that one day we'll succeed in building one! With research being conducted as we speak and the ever-present chance that we'll make contact with more advanced civilizations, who knows what surprises the future—and the past—hold!

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The Time Rings ( 時 とき の 指 ゆび 輪 わ , Toki no Yubiwa ) are accessories of the Supreme Kai which enable them to travel through time. They are normally used to observe future events in their main timeline.

• 2 Time Travel Procedure
• 3 Video Game Appearances
• 5 References
• 6 Site Navigation

Overview [ ]

Goku Black's Time Ring

The Time Rings have several special abilities, unlike the Time Machines created by Capsule Corporation , the Time Ring allows for "natural" time travel, and so does not create alternate timelines when used. Additionally, in the anime a wearer of a Time Ring will be granted acausality, and so even if their personal past were to be altered by someone or something - they would not be affected. As shown with the case of the original present Zamasu , as while the Zamasu from the altered main timeline was killed by Beerus due to Future Trunks altering the timeline, the original present Zamasu still continued to exist with his unaltered history thanks to his Time Ring.

It had been said that the Time Rings were used and only worn by the Supreme Kais who often used them to travel through time. Having a Potara earring is required in order for anyone to use the Time Ring, as explained by Gowasu . Despite this, they're only used in very rare occasions, and the last time it was used prior to the "Future" Trunks Saga was in Universe 10 400 years before Gowasu became a Supreme Kai apprentice.

Green time rings represent the creation of Alternate Timelines . Thus, the number of green rings indicate how many people have traveled into the past. A new ring is created whenever another person modifies the past. Initially, there are 4 green time rings and a silver one implying there are 4 or 5 timelines, depending on how the Time Ring works. If a silver ring is destroyed, the corresponding green ones will be too, making travelling to the corresponding timeline via Time Rings no longer possible, but other time-travelling methods still work. For example, after Future Zeno had erased everything within his timeline (including its time ring box containing its silver ring), Goku and Future Trunks were still able to return to pick him up.

Goku Black's Time Ring creating a portal

In the anime, the Time Ring is sensitive to disturbances in time that has been recently altered by an individual. Once the Time Ring is activated, a warp is created in the form of a dark portal, allowing the user to travel between past, present and/or future altered destinations for a short period of time, before the distortion in time and space returns to normal, pulling the user back to its original plane, sealing off that era of time.

According to Whis, the Time Rings are only used to travel to the future and then return to the present, however in the anime Goku Black was able to use it to follow Future Trunks into the past after he had just used his Time Machine.

Six Time Rings after Zamasu's death.

According to Beerus, if a god alters history, it will affect the future of a different timeline. Goku Black is the Zamasu of the same timeline in which he was killed by Beerus in the present, but because he was wearing the Time Ring in the anime, he was unaffected by changes in the past. Future Zamasu was the Zamasu of Future Trunks' timeline, so he was not affected by present-day Zamasu's death, with a new time ring being created as a result. In the manga, the erasure of a timeline's multiverse has also been shown to lead to that multiverse's time ring being destroyed, as is the case with Future Trunks' original timeline.

In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 , as part of the Super Pack 4 DLC, Time Rings are shown to react to the presence of Time Patrollers who have travelled through time using a Time Scroll and is implied to be unable to travel to the Time Nest unless circumvented by following a Time Patroller back to it.

Time Travel Procedure [ ]

Gowasu and Zamasu travel 1000 years into the future via a Time Ring

As demonstrated by Gowasu and Zamasu, in order for one to time travel using a Time Ring, the one not wearing the ring must touch it with their fist, then both must say the number of years they wish to travel.

Alternatively, as demonstrated by Goku Black , when using a nearby distortion in time to time travel, the ring shimmers briefly before producing a thin beam of light that cleaves a portal in time (as though literally cutting through the space-time continuum) that can be used for travel (even to the past) until the distortion is corrected, at which point the wearer is forcibly returned to the era they just vacated.

Video Game Appearances [ ]

• Dragon Ball Heroes
• Dragon Ball Fusions
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
• Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle
• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• Dragon Ball Legends
• Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission
• Fortnite x Dragon Ball Super
• Dragon Ball: The Breakers
• Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
• The ring possesses an infinity symbol almost identical to that of the Time Breakers' logo.
• In Universe 12, Agu has access to the very first Time Machine created in his Universe. However, it is unknown if he is permitted to use it. In the future timeline, the time machine itself fell into the hands of Goku Black and Future Zamasu when they killed him.
• Additionally Old Kai utilizes a Time Patrol sanctioned Time Machine (which are Time Distortion free) to access a Time Fragment during the Parallel Quest Tutorial in Xenoverse 2 .
• Time Rings are the second form of Time Travel to be used by a main villain in the anime and manga the first being Cell's stolen Time Machine.
• Additionally, they can allow a user to follow Time Patrollers using a Time Scroll back to the Time Nest making their misuse a serious threat to the Time Patrol's operations and the official history of the Multiverse stored within the Time Vault.
• Due to her status as Supreme Kai of Time and her power over time and space, Chronoa doesn't necessarily require a Time Ring to travel through time. Additionally, she, and by extension the Time Patrol, has far superior methods of Time Travel, such as the Time Scrolls and time distortion-free Time Machines created by Time Patrol Trunks' Future Capsule Corporation, which were designed with her input and sanctioned by her (as Future Bulma's original design was flawed, resulting in it producing time distortions).

References [ ]

• ↑ Dragon Ball Super chapter 19, Another Zamas

Site Navigation [ ]

• 2 Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
• 3 Dragon Ball Daima

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot: The Cell Saga Timelines Explained

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Some of Dragon Ball Z 's later sagas involve a number of fairly confusing plot devices, but few are as complicated as the time travel that permeates the Android and Cell sagas . Now with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot revisiting the story of the original anime and manga series, gamers are experiencing the twisting timelines and convenient plot points.

Thanks to the meddling of Future Trunks, a number of important moments in Earth's history are altered, with consequences that wind up extending all the way to Dragon Ball Super . As a result, the timeline of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is split into at least three separate realities, with two being bleak, post-apocalyptic wastelands and the uncertain future of the present.

RELATED: Common Mistakes You Should Avoid In Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

Present Timeline

The present timeline of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is where players will spend akk of their time in, as they control Goku and his friends battling against the Androids and eventually going toe-to-toe with Cell. This timeline is only available because of the intervention of Future Trunks , the mysterious Super Saiyan who appears to quickly dispatch Frieza as the tyrant appears on Earth. However, it's what he does for Goku that changes the course of history for the present timeline.

When Future Trunks appears and meets Goku for the first time, he gives the legendary savior a bottle of medicine that is supposed to help him survive an illness that was meant to kill him in the future. As a result, Goku is able to survive long enough to join the fight against the Androids, eventually leading to a confrontation with Cell, who brings his own wrinkle in the timeline. As Goku and the others go head-to-head with Cell, it becomes apparent that Doctor Gero's most powerful creation yet comes from a timeline separate from both the present timeline and Future Trunks' timeline.

Of course this ends positively, as long as the players can beat the Androids and Cell as they play through their respective sagas in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot . However, there are now two separate timelines splitting off from the present one. Those alternate timelines are where things get complicated, as the death of Goku from heart disease pushes for the destruction of the world at the hands of the Androids and a bleaker fate for Future Trunks at the hands of Cell.

Future Trunks Timeline

Technically the original timeline of Earth, Future Trunks comes from a desolate future where the world has been decimated by the Androids. The only surviving members of the main Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot cast are Gohan and Trunk's mother Bulma. However, Gohan doesn't survive for long, as he ends up sacrificing himself in order to allow Bulma and Trunks to finish the time machine that sets the events of the present timeline in motion.

This is also where Trunks learns how to transform into a Super Saiyan after the loss of his closest (only) friend and mentor Gohan at the hands of the Androids. That is of course well after the Androids rip Gohan's arm off have already killed off the rest of the fighters strong enough to put up even the hint of a fight against Android 17 and 18.

RELATED: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Fans Think They Found Professor Oak in the Game

After these events, Trunks goes back to the past to save Goku and the present timeline, but his future remains unchanged. However, thanks to training with Vegeta in the hyperbolic time chamber, Trunks is able to return to his future and save what remains of his timeline by destroying the Androids and killing a weak Imperfect Cell. Unfortunately, this isn't the only ending possible for Trunks' time traveling adventure, as seen in alternate iterations of the franchise.

Cell Future Timeline

The Cell that the player fights in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot doesn't come from the present timeline, as Trunks and Krillin destroy it before it can fully develop. Although, Cell isn't from the Trunks future that the game follows either. Instead, he is from a future where Trunks successfully went back in time and stopped the Androids by saving Goku, then after doing some more training with the Super Saiyans of the past is able to go back to the future and dispatch the Androids himself.

Unfortunately, this version of Trunks doesn't know that Cell even exists and is caught off guard by the enemy, who kills him and takes his time machine for his own. However, with the Androids dead, Cell can never attain his perfect form in that future, so he travels back to the present timeline when the Androids are still alive and tracks them down there. All anyone knows of this timeline is from hearsay and getting the story straight from Cell himself.

Even in the original Dragon Ball Z anime and manga, all fan see of this timeline is a few quick flashes as Cell explains how he killed Trunks and traveled back in time to become Perfect Cell. However, this is clearly the bleakest timeline of them all, but thanks to the efforts of Gohan in the series, and the players in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot , Cell is eventually destroyed. If Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot ever introduces arcs from Dragon Ball Super , then we might eventually see the final consequences of all of this time travel.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

MORE: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Review

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I’ve been travelling non-stop for years – this is how I afford it

Full-time travellers explain how they keep their finances in order while they spend years exploring the world.

Dan Seymour, 33, has been travelling non-stop for the last three years as he still manages to hold down a full time job.

He has a regular paycheck from his remote role as a senior content manager and also makes about £50 to £60 a month through his blog, Dan Round The World , something that has allowed him to stay on the move.

Dan, from west London, is one of many workers who have used remote working as an excuse to live abroad for great lengths of time.

All of his team work remotely and the hours are flexible, although he says he sometimes has to attend meetings at “strange times” depending on where he is in the world.

I paid my housemate's bills - then she bought loads of clothes. What should I do?

Although travelling sounds like an expensive business, he says mostly it is easy to keep track of spending.

He said: “I’m pretty strict with keeping notes and categorising everything.

“In some countries it’s easy to do because most is spent on card so I can go over my account at the end of the day and input the amounts. In cash based countries, I enter it straight away or keep notes on my phone and enter it later on.”

He doesn’t have a strict amount on how much he can spend a month, but he takes into account his salary minus tax and what he puts into savings, ISAs and investments.

“I also know it varies by country,” he said. “In Macedonia recently I spent under £1,000 for the month on everything. But then I spent some time in the Caribbean which was more expensive so I am quite flexible with it.”

Although he once found himself with a bank balance of below $5 when waiting for a paycheck to come in, he has otherwise not faced any other major financial difficulties.

He also keeps between £1,000 to £2,000 in an emergency fund in case he ever needs to fly home.

However, working full-time while travelling isn’t possible for everyone – so some people choose to save up a large chunk to live on instead.

‘We saved up £40,000’

Megan d’Ardenne and Alex Lee have spent the past two years saving up £40,000 and will start their travel journey next month.

The couple, from London, said they moved in together to halve their living costs and also haven’t taken a holiday for two years.

When travelling in the UK, they would swap trains for cheaper coaches – and they also made everyday savings such as buying non-branded items in the supermarket, only drinking coffee at home and selling some of their clothes.

They will be heading to southeast Asia and have budgeted £1,000 a month each.

As they are planning to be away for at least 18 months, they decided to round the total to £20,000 each so they could travel comfortably and have a surplus in case of emergencies.

They are also planning to keep their funds topped up by creating freelance content on their food Instagram accounts ComeDineWithMegs and AlexsFoodieFinds .

‘I’ve travelled non-stop for three years’

“It wasn’t just like ‘hey I’m going to go travelling tomorrow and sell all my stuff’,” says Stephanie Ritz, who has been travelling non-stop for three years.

It took plenty of research to find out how much money she needed to live on each month, and also building up an emergency fund of $25,000.

Stephanie, who is from Philadelphia in the US , said she wanted to make sure she had six months’ worth of living expenses saved for both herself and her adult son, who isn’t travelling with her, just in case.

When she decided she was going to go see the world, she was working a corporate job and putting money into savings while planning her travels. She sold most of her things and keeps a small storage locker for extra clothes and other items she doesn’t want to get rid of.

She began cutting back on expenses such as going out for drinks or going on holiday, and started her own consulting and coaching business alongside her 9-5.

For her first year she travelled across the US and stayed in hotels and Airbnbs while she built up her business, but once she felt it was enough of a success she left to travel the rest of the world.

Now she’s travelled everywhere from South America to Europe to Southeast Asia, and she splits her time between exploring new places and running her consulting business.

She also runs a podcast called Wanderlust at 35+ and a travel blog called The Luxe Life Abroad .

Stephanie spends about $2,500 each month, although this can vary dramatically depending on location. This includes accommodation, transport, food and experiences. It doesn’t include things like travel insurance or other personal expenses.

She says you have to have “self-discipline” to make sure you’re keeping on top of work and making money, rather than getting caught up in seeing a new place.

She also says some people can go wrong by no longer keeping up with the financial habits they would have at home, such as paying into a retirement account or putting money into savings .

“I come from a financial background so I always have a pulse on my income and pay off my debts every month,” she says.

How can you save money while travelling full-time?

Travel expert Wayne Kask, who runs Discover West Central Florida , says travelling full-time doesn’t have to be expensive – the key is “spending wisely”.

“When I spent six months in South-east Asia, I saved a lot by staying in local guest houses instead of fancy hotels, eating street food, and using public transportation,” he said.

Another way of saving can be to slow down and spend more time in one place, he said, and to focus on making memories through photographs and writing about your adventures rather than collecting souvenirs.

Something else for travellers to factor in is how expensive their destination is.

Sarah James, deputy digital editor at Condé Nast Traveller, said places like South-east Asia (think Vietnam or South India) and eastern Europe (Lithuania, Albania) are good places to start.

However there are some “surprising” options too – the Post Office ranked Lisbon as the most affordable city break in Europe in 2023.

“Wherever you go, do your research and then make an appropriate budget and stick to it,” she said.

“If you’re travelling for extended periods of time, there’s no need for a scarcity mindset when it comes to how you’re spending your time. Spread out bigger expenses with low-key, cheap activities such as beach days or free museums.”

Don’t miss out on currency exchange

You can also boost your money abroad by being smart about how you exchange currency .

Many tourists buy currently at physical exchange offices – but Robert Blaszczyk from global fintech company Conotoxia says these offer “unfavourable rates”.

The more popular the location, the worse the exchange rates will be.

Mr Blaszczyk said you can get a better rate by using an online service – and these can be used 24/7, even while you’re waiting to check in at the airport.

If you still have a long time before you’re travelling, you can also keep track of the exchange rates and consider exchanging your pounds in several instalments – meaning you can average the purchase rate and limit the impact of any sudden changes.

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When Exactly Does Dragon Ball DAIMA Take Place?

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Dragon Ball DAIMA is one of 2024's most anticipated anime, and for good reason. DAIMA is a massive milestone in the franchise, as it is the final Dragon Ball project Akira Toriyama worked on before his passing. Because of this, fans are keen to learn how this new adventure plays out and see what's next for Goku and his friends. However, one discussion frequently arises when fans discuss the show. Where does Dragon Ball DAIMA fall in the Dragon Ball timeline?

First announced at a New York Comic-Con panel on October 12th, 2023, Dragon Ball DAIMA will see a mysterious spell transform Goku and his friends into children, forcing them to go on an epic quest to work out what's going on. During the show announcement, Toriyama described DAIMA by saying:

"Due to a conspiracy, Goku and his friends are turned small. In order to fix things, they'll head off to a new world! It's a grand adventure with intense action in an unknown and mysterious world. Since Goku has to make up for his petite size, he uses his Nyoibo (Power Pole) to fight, something not seen in a long time."

Since this announcement, a few more plot details have been revealed. The main one is that, while on their quest to return to their original bodies, Goku and his friends will travel to the Demon Realm and encounter a range of new friends and foes, including Gomah, Degesu, and Dr. Arinsu.

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A big reason for the massive fan debate is the confusing nature of the Dragon Ball timeline. At first, the story was pretty simple, with the series taking place chronologically, following Goku as he grows from a child to an adult to a father, fighting increasingly powerful foes as he does. However, things get confusing around the end of Dragon Ball Z . After the Kid Buu Saga concludes, the story jumps ten years to the final Peaceful World Saga.

A short while after the Dragon Ball Z anime ended, a new show called Dragon Ball GT launched. Dragon Ball GT starts five years after the conclusion of Z's Peaceful World saga and sends Goku on a new set of adventures. Unlike previous Dragon Ball series, GT was not based on a manga, nor was it written by Toriyama. Because of this, the series has an awkward reputation within the Dragon Ball fandom, with many debating if it counts as canon.

In 2015, Toriyama would return with a new manga, Dragon Ball Super . This series takes place between the Kid Buu and Peaceful World Sagas. This decision has confused many fans due to how much has happened in this relatively short time skip and because none of Super's events are referenced in the Peaceful World Saga (because it was written before the idea of Super was conceived.)

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On top of this, Super Dragon Ball Heroes launched in 2018. Made without Akira Toriyama's direct input, this ONA and manga series was created to promote the Dragon Ball Heroes and Super Dragon Ball Heroes collectible card arcade games. While this series has never claimed to be canon to the core Dragon Ball franchise, the sheer amount of Super Dragon Ball Heroes media can often confuse fans who encounter it without context.

However, the current Dragon Ball timeline does give three potential gaps a spin-off could slot in:

• During the four-year time skip between the end of Dragon Ball Z's Kid Buu Saga and the start of Dragon Ball Super .
• In the five-year time skip between Dragon Ball Z's Peaceful World saga and the start of Dragon Ball GT.
• After Dragon Ball GT ends.

When Does Dragon Ball Daima Take Place?

The trailers do hint at daima's placement in the timeline, 10 strongest dragon ball characters at the start of the series, ranked.

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The prevailing theory is that Dragon Ball Daima takes place after the Kid Buu Saga but before the start of Dragon Ball Super . The main reason for this theory's prominence is that several unconfirmed production leaks have stated that the series starts with Trunks' 9th Birthday Party, which would put this story right after Buu's defeat. The release of the trailer led to the alleged leaks becoming widely accepted by fans, as the trailer seems to feature the gang coming to terms with their new bodies in a party-like setting, one where mountains of presents and balloons are visible in the background, heavily suggesting that this is a party being thrown for a child.

Fans cite many details in the trailers as evidence for this timeline placement. Firstly, Goku doesn't have Whis' Symbol on his Gi , and Vegeta doesn't have one on his battle suit. Goku gets the Whis-marked Gi in the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F movie and the 19th episode of Dragon Ball Super "Despair Redux! The Return of the Evil Emperor, Frieza!," suggesting this story happens before Goku starts training with Whis. Plus, neither Whis nor Beerus are present in the trailer, implying that this takes place before the Battle Of Gods movie, as once the pair arrive, they become an omnipresent sight within the franchise. However, it should be noted that Goku does stop wearing the Whis Gi around Super's Future Trunks arc, and the Gi seen in the trailer is slightly different from all his previous ones, meaning that this isn't a full confirmation.

Secondly, in the teaser trailer , Gomah and Degesu are standing in a massive dome whose walls are covered in various clips from Dragon Ball Z . The vast majority of these clips are from the Babidi Saga or the Buu Saga , with many of them showing Dabura, Babidi or Buu. A similar thing happens in the official trailer. Near the middle, a spinning vortex of old Dragon Ball clips is shown, and once again, the majority are from the Babidi Saga or the Buu Saga, and many clips have Buu or Babidi in the center of the frame. While this could be brushed off as a coincidence or merely a hint that the new antagonists are linked to one of these two villains, the fact it happened in two different trailers can be taken as a hint to where the show slots into the timeline, as it would make sense that the new villains are studying Goku's most-recent battles before putting their plan into motion.

Setting The Story Before Super Is Good Business Sense

This would also make sense from a production standpoint. Originally, Dragon Ball DAIMA was planned as an anime-exclusive story made with little involvement from Toriyama. However, when interviewed for the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2024, Toriyama noted:

"Dragon Ball DAIMA, which will be rolled out in 2024, was originally planned to be an original anime series without me, but as I gave advice here and there, I ended up getting deeply involved with the project without realizing it. I was not only involved in the overall storyline, but also in the worldview, character design, mechas, and other aspects."

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If the series was initially planned as a stand-alone story with minimal input from Toriyama, setting the plot many years before Dragon Ball Super would make sense, as that series was still ongoing when Daima was in production. Nothing would have ruined the series' momentum and merchandise sales more than a new Dragon Ball Super chapter coming out and contradicting something that happened in the show, meaning that setting it in the past makes good business sense.

However, some details seen in the trailer go against this timeline placement. The biggest issue is that Supreme Kai Shin and his servant Kibito are seen as separate beings in the trailer. This detail confuses things as the pair fused to form Kibito Kai during Dragon Ball Z's Fusion Saga. They would remain fused until Dragon Ball Super, where they used the Namekian Dragon Balls to split themselves back into two beings. While this may suggest that Daima takes place after Dragon Ball Super , it could also be a side effect of the spell that makes the other characters become children due to the Kibito Kai form never being a child.

Dragon Ball DAIMA will likely be a massive moment in anime history. Only time will tell how the show slots into the Dragon Ball continuity, but based on what's been revealed so far, it seems likely that the show will take place between the end of Dragon Ball Z's Kid Buu Saga and before the start of Dragon Ball Super . If this is true, fans can expect a unique adventure that pushes Goku and his friends to their limits as they try to find a way to overcome the limitations of their new, smaller bodies.

Dragon Ball DAIMA

Due to a conspiracy, Goku and friends are transformed into children. They intend to travel to a mysterious new world to undo this change

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball tells the tale of a young warrior by the name of Son Goku, a young peculiar boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, when, once all 7 are gathered, grant any wish of choice.