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I was trying to understand who can decide in Dragon Ball what's canon or not. You might think it's Akira Toriyama, but as long as the trademark doesnt belong to him, it isnt so. I know it wasnt so with other creators of other animes. Looking in internet, I've found this https://trademarks.justia.com/756/58/dragonball-75658049.html , which mentions Toei (Anime) Shueisha (Manga) , but it isnt clear if the trademark it is owned by Toei or Shueisha? Can anyone clarify?

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    From what I've read on the topic, the mangaka theoretically gets final say on what goes into the anime, which would make them the final arbiters of canon. In practice, the mangaka is usually too busy drawing manga to micromanage the anime, so the manga publisher appoints someone.
    – Torisuda
    May 14, 2017 at 6:06
  • I believe it was like that in the times of Dragon Ball Z, when Akira Toriyama directly drawed and wrote the manga. But he doesnt do that anymore. I see a problem with that theory. If the manga decides what's canon, then how they took an idea from a videogame, (the final kamehameha) which never existed in the manga into the anime? Then we could believe it's the anime what decides what's canon, but then, how is there a videogame which is based on GT (Dragon Ball Heroes), and a manga which is based in that Dragon Ball Heroes videogame? I think it's a mess right now
    – Pablo
    May 14, 2017 at 16:09
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    DBZ, as far as I know, pretty much has no official canon. Each medium just does whatever is convenient for it and the others ignore or acknowledge as it suits them. The movies and filler sagas from the anime are basically ignored except when they're not. That's why Toriyama felt no compunction about erasing GT when he did the newer stuff.
    – Torisuda
    May 14, 2017 at 16:26
  • "Each medium just does whatever is convenient for it and the others ignore or acknowledge as it suits them" I fully agree with that. But then, there is no real canon. Because canon means "Set of rules, precepts or principles governing human behavior, an artistic movement or a certain activity" . There isnt a set of ideas or principles governing this story or "artistic movement or activity" here
    – Pablo
    May 14, 2017 at 16:31
  • You're right, there isn't really a set of ideas or principles governing the Dragon Ball series. Strong canon is more a feature of works like Lord of the Rings or Dune where the author wanted to create a plausible, internally consistent world. Judging by what we got, that was the furthest thing from Toriyama's mind; pretty much everything in DB was either for a joke or for narrative convenience. The story was meant to be enjoyed for its quirky style and excitement, but you weren't supposed to think too much about it.
    – Torisuda
    May 15, 2017 at 0:20

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