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I watched Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z growing up. I read the mangas. I am familiar with the stories. I've read in wikis and articles that the GT story doesn't originate from or follow the original Dragon Ball story.

I didn't watch GT but recently I watched the final episode. There, Goku, at the end, makes the rounds and visits many characters from his childhood, before disappearing into the dragon.

Just from that episode, everything seemed like it was a continuation of the previous series and based off the original stories.

So how does it not follow the original Dragon Ball series? What is different? Are there aspects that contradict the original work?

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  • To my knowledge all of GT isn't cannon because it wasn't written by or adapted from any of Akira Toriyama's previous works while Dragon Ball Super is.
    – Memor-X
    Commented Jul 21, 2016 at 4:16
  • @Memor-X even long before super, GT was consitered NON canon by many, and the issues and low quality of parts of the story did nothing but promote that idea. It had its ups, but it had a lot of downs and inconsistencies, especially in relation to powerlevels.
    – Ryan
    Commented Jul 21, 2016 at 16:45
  • @Ryan. But the final episode was a tearjerker no?
    – Mars
    Commented Aug 19, 2017 at 5:29

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Dragon Ball GT actually is a direct sequel to Dragon Ball Z; it takes place several years after Dragon Ball Z ends. It was not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama. It was an original story created by the anime studio. As far as I know (I never finished watching it), it was completely compatible with the story of Dragon Ball Z.

Recently, Toriyama worked with Toei on the movies Battle of the Gods and Resurrection F, which as far as I know take place between the end of Dragon Ball Z's final battle with Kid Buu and its ending where Goku goes off to train Uub. These movies, like all the movies, are considered non-canon by fans, but Toriyama later adapted these movie stories into a new manga, Dragon Ball Super.

Since (a) GT was awful, and (b) Dragon Ball Super takes place after Dragon Ball Z but before GT and somewhat contradicts GT (e.g. Mai, Shu, and Emperor Pilaf are elderly in the first episode of Dragon Ball GT, while they're children in Dragon Ball Super after a bad wish on the Dragon Balls; also, there are characters like Beerus and Whis that I believe are nowhere to be found in GT, and new powers that are never seen or mentioned in GT, like the Super Saiyan God Form), most fans treat GT as non-canon. GT does actually follow the original Dragon Ball Z storyline, but it isn't compatible with Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball Super is considered more authoritative since it was written by Toriyama himself.

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In my opinion, GT is Non-Canon, but is a direct continuation of DB and DBZ. It has all the characters from the two shows, all its transformations and all the previous dragon ball's wishes had been made (the shadow dragons list them off). One of the previous answers said that GT contradicts the original Dragon Ball, but I've watched GT twice now and can say that it does not. GT Krillin even reminds Goku of their race to find Muten Roshi's rock (and its outcome), an event that was so specific, even the slightest change in the story would erase this from ever happening.

Also, Super was not written by Toriyama, the manga is written by Toytarou and the anime writers only get some notes from Toriyama about basic plot points, they are allowed to make up most of the story. In other words, the manga is like his kid that's actually the mailman's and the anime is like the child that comes from his donated sperm that he's never met.

Both shows are separate timelines, one where Beerus woke up and one where he didn't, it also has the difference of the shadow dragon concept. So that's my opinion, an educated one though.

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The previous answer is completely wrong. Dragon Ball GT is NOT a "direct sequel" to Dragon Ball Z. While it does take place several years after the ending of DBZ, Toriyama himself stated that it was nothing more than a side-story. It's basically a "what if". It is not compatible with DBZ. In fact, it constantly contradicts both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. DBGT nullified itself. It's not considered canon because A). Toriyama had little involvement beyond some character concepts. It was Toei's baby. And B). Toriyama is making Super, which is his official continuation of Dragon Ball, and it's already introduced so much content that contradicts GT. Toriyama wrote the story for both Battle of the Gods and Resurrection F. He didn't just adapt it into a new manga, it was his baby. Unlike GT, which Toriyama flat out stated that it was nothing more than a side-story, and that DB Super is his sequel to DBZ.

As far as the deviations to DB and DBZ, there are simply too many to name. As was previously mentioned, it even went so far as to negate itself. Watch Dragon Ball, then watch GT and you'll figure it out. It's not that hard to pick out.

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