I can appreciate a long, ongoing series, but boy does the creation of Dragon Ball Super make Dragon Ball difficult to keep canon straight if you are an anime fan first and not so much a manga fan. Especially when they start referencing anime things as canon, but not actually adapting them in the manga.
Alternative Titles:
- Dragon Ball Chou
- ドラゴンボール超（スーパー）
Year Anime Premiered: 1986
Animation Studio: Toei Animation
Number of Seasons: DB: 1 + 4 movies; DBZ: 1 + 13 movies + 9 OVAs; Super: 1 + 2 Movies + 1 Spin-Off
Source Material Country of Origin: Japan
Source Material Available: Manga
Is It Officially Licensed Past Where The Anime Ends?: Yes
Is It Fan Translated Past Where The Anime Ends?: Yes
Entry Last Updated: June 7th, 2026 – Expanded to include all of Dragon Ball
Where To Start The Dragon Ball Super Manga After The Anime?
Dragon Ball
If you finished the Dragon Ball anime and wish to continue the story in the manga, you can start at Volume 17, Chapter 195 of the original Dragon Ball manga
Chapter 195 is where the events of Dragon Ball Z / Dragon Ball Kai start.
There is a fair amount of anime-original filler content in the original Dragon Ball anime, but outside of that, it is an extremely faithful adaptation.
Dragon Ball Z / Dragon Ball Kai
Before we get into it, it merits mentioning what the different in between the original Dragon Ball Z anime and the Dragon Ball Kai anime. Dragon Ball Kai is essentially a remake of the original Dragon ball Z anime. It takes the original anime, recuts it so there is less time spent on two people screaming and just powering up (which legitimately does pad out the original anime more than you think), it was re-dubbed, it was given higher quality visuals, and a number of filler episodes were removed. While Dragon Ball Kai does cut most of the anime filler, it still does keep a little bit of anime-original content, but it is far closer to the manga story.
Dragon Ball Kai does give the superior viewing experience without skipping any of the canon story events.
If you finished the Dragon Ball Z anime, it adapts through Volume 42, Chapter 519 of the original Dragon Ball manga. You can pick up the story again with Chapter 1 of the Dragon Ball Super sequel manga.
The end point is the exact same for Dragon Ball Kai.
Dragon Ball GT
Dragon Ball GT is an anime-original Dragon Ball story. It was not based on any manga from the original author Akira Toriyama, and only had minimal story involvement from him. So all events in GT are non-canon to the Dragon Ball manga continuity.
Dragon Ball Super
If you finished the Dragon Ball Super anime and want to continue the story in the manga, you can start at Volume 9, Chapter 42 of the Dragon Ball Super manga.
Keeping with tradition, Dragon Ball Super makes a fun anime, but it has a sizable amount of filler content that was not in the manga, which is how the anime can be so very long, but not adapt very much of the manga at all.
Dragon Ball Daima
Very much like Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Daima was an anime-original project. The author Akira Toriyama worked on Daima more closely than he did with GT, but did pass away before it premiered.
Dragon Ball Movies
It merits mention that of all the many Dragon ball movies, only four are actually canon to the manga.
Canon movies include:
- Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
- Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’
- Dragon Ball Super: Broly
- Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
Resurrection of F is an adaptation of a three-chapter side-story manga called Rebirth of F, Battle of the Gods is the first four chapters of the Dragon Ball Super manga, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is referenced in the manga as canon in Chapter 42 but never adapted (they just went to the next arc), and Super Hero takes place around Chapter 90 of the manga.
All other movies are more alternate timeline events that are not detailed in the manga.
The OVAs exist in a similar way, though the Bardock OVAs and the Future Trunks OVAs were referencing canon events and Toriyama brought them into canon through side stories.
*You can ‘well actually’ me and others all you want in the comments about any of this information. I know how DBZ fans be when it comes to talk of ‘canon’.
Is The Dragon Ball Super Manga Over?
The original Dragon Ball manga is complete. It ended in 1995 with Volume 42, Chapter 519
The Dragon Ball Super manga is on indefinite hiatus. It went on such after Akira Toriyama’s death in April 2024. It is currently on Chapter 104.
Will There Be A Dragon Ball Super Season 2?
There has been no official news of a Dragon Ball Super Season 2 anime.
There likely will not be until they figure out what becomes of the manga.
Battle of the Gods is abridged in Vol 1 and Super Hero is adapted shot for shot with extra bits and a 3 chapter prequel. The anime and manga adapt from a broad outline by Toriyama and are VERY different so neither adapts the other.