Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol's Timeline Explained

Akira Toriyama's legendary creation "Dragon Ball" is a worldwide cultural institution. Indeed, it's a franchise that has gradually become synonymous with the entire medium of anime. In the same way, Son Goku has evolved into the archetypical anime protagonist over the last 40 years, inspiring countless characters with spiky hair, a cheerful attitude, and an affinity to eat everything on sight. Watching it these days, you'll also quickly come to realize that the original "Dragon Ball" run is even better than its legacy suggests.

Now, "Dragon Ball Super" is finally coming back. It's an interesting part of the franchise since it wasn't wholly created by Toriyama, yet it only came to pass with his close involvement. He wrote the script for two of the previous "Dragon Ball" Super movies and even some chapters of the manga adaptation. And yet, the anime abruptly stopped in 2018, and we've only got two non-continuation movies since then (the last one in 2022). Thankfully, that will change with the newly announced "Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol," which has fans the world over buzzing.

"Galactic Patrol" is an adaptation of the original manga's "Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc," which sees Goku and Vegeta tasked by the Galactic Patrol with capturing an evil magician named Moro. Yes, the focus of this series will be the greatest rivalry in all of anime. Expect lots of bickering and in-fighting but also some incredible action and mutual respect.

As for where it will fall in the "Dragon Ball" timeline? The "Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc" itself takes place after the events of "Dragon Ball Super: Broly," the 20th film in the franchise. ("Broly," for those who are not aware, is a canonical reimagining of the character Broly, who was first introduced in the non-canon "Dragon Ball" movies from the 1990s.)

The entirety of "Dragon Ball Super" is an in-between-quel, as it takes place during the 10-year timeskip at the end of "Dragon Ball Z." All of the action happened somewhere between Goku defeating the evil Majin Buu and the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament (when Goku abandons his family to go train a little kid). That means we know where the plot is headed, but that hasn't stopped Toei Animation from delivering some kickass stories with epic stakes. Indeed, in those 10 years, as seen in "Dragon Ball Super," Goku has faced multiversal threats and even literal gods, all the while increasing in power and gaining new Super Saiyan forms (but not the most powerful one possible).

That means "Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol" takes place after the events of "Dragon Ball: Daima," the most recent anime entry in the franchise and the last project supervised by Akira Toriyama. That show took the property back to basics, focusing on comedy and martial arts rather than superpowers and otherworldly beings (even if the action took place in another realm).

So, there you have it. Despite its popularity and influence, "Dragon Ball" somehow hasn't received a proper sequel to date, yet we continue to get new adventures with Son Goku and his friends. "The Galactic Patrol" is just the latest manga arc to make it to the screen( though, hopefully, it will not be the last).