It’s rare for an anime to connect in the way that Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball franchise has and now over 30 years since its debut it’s still a major player in the anime world. Many of the most popular and longest-running anime series fit into the shonen genre, but Dragon Ball has fundamentally influenced shonen storytelling while it’s also passionately embraced the genre’s customs.
Dragon Ball has lasted as long as it has because of its entertaining characters, hyperbolic villains, and the stunning transformations that take place, but at the core of all of this is a special force of energy called ki. Dragon Ball would be impossible without ki and it’s never a bad idea to brush up on the basics.
10 What Is Ki?
Ki may seem like a radical concept to a newcomer, but it’s just a fancy word for the life energy that’s present in all living things. Ki is what keeps things alive, but in Dragon Ball, it can also be channeled and transformed into extreme acts of power. Ki is the building block to all of the incredible things that happen in Dragon Ball and without it, there’d be zero action to celebrate. Ki is eventually so baked into everything that these characters do that it becomes a force that’s as natural as breathing.
9 Does Everyone Have A Specific Ki Pattern?
Ki is the life force energy that fills every living thing, but ki is distinct enough that every single person has their own individualized ki pattern. Ki can basically be thought about like it’s an individual’s energy fingerprint and another way to identify a target. Once characters in Dragon Ball become more powerful they’re able to track one another or sense if somebody is dead based on their ki signal. Each person’s ki energy is so specific that it can even be used as Goku’s identifier when he performs Instant Transmission. It’s somebody’s unique ki signal that he’s locking onto.
8 Are There Different Types Of Ki?
Ki can be simplistically viewed as the energy that flows through everything, but the principle gets a little more complex when the ki of specific sects of people is concerned. The majority of individuals utilize regular ki energy, but deities such as God of Destruction, Beerus, or Zeno-sama, use a more powerful variety of energy known as God Ki.
God Ki is meant for celestial entities, but it can still be achieved by mortals in rare situations, like when Goku taps into Ultra Instinct Sign. As a counterpoint, there’s also Dark Energy Ki that populates the Demon Realm.
7 Can Ki Be Stolen Or Donated?
It can be difficult for characters to understand how to embrace or control their ki, yet it’s always very exciting when it clicks in. Mastery of ki control brings with it many new skills, but it’s important to not let one’s guard down. Ki is a force that can be stolen by others and used by the enemy. It’s a tactic that major villains often employ, whether it’s against the heroes or their henchmen. Alternatively, an individual can also donate their ki to someone else to be used, which is exactly the process involved with Goku’s Spirit Bomb.
6 How Is It Different Than Magic?
The majority of characters in the Dragon Ball universe use ki energy as the power that fuels their strength and attacks. However, there are a rare group of individuals that turn to magic as their power source. Magic operates with similar principles to ki, but they’re not interchangeable and even seasoned fighters like Goku and Vegeta are rusty against this maneuver. Dark forces like Babidi and more importantly, Moro, demonstrate how magic can often be a weakness for these heroes. They can’t sense magic or defend against it in the same manner that other ki attacks can be handled
5 Can It Be Used In The Afterlife?
Survival is often paramount in Dragon Ball, but it’s also a series where death is far from the end of a character’s journey and several individuals have celebrated robust existences that are entirely within the afterlife. Ki is explained to be the energy force that powers life, so it wouldn’t be ridiculous to assume that deceased individuals are bereft of ki.
There are some inconsistencies surrounding the rules of Dragon Ball’s afterlife, but ki still seems to be on the menu. Ki is instrumental during Goku’s afterlife training with King Kai and it’s also rampant at the Other World Tournament.
4 Is It Needed For Flight?
It’s hard to believe that there was a time in Dragon Ball where characters weren’t always soaring through the sky and using flight as a helpful shortcut to either locate Dragon Balls or reach their next opponent. Flight is a skill that needs to be learned, and there’s a tender episode where Gohan goes over the process with Videl. Gohan explains that flight, like many other powers, requires at least a minimal control of ki. Videl’s ki mastery isn’t advanced, but the fact that she can fly implies that she at least has a greater capacity than other landlocked humans.
3 Do Androids Have Ki?
Dragon Ball contains such a wild multitude of characters that it's not uncommon that something new about an enigmatic species will throw everyone for a loop. Curiously, Androids function off of unnatural and unlimited ki energy that can produce similar results to the real thing, even if they're different in major ways. The biggest discrepancy here is that Android ki cannot be sensed in the same way as regular life energy. Consequently, Androids also can't naturally detect the ki of others. They require the use of enhancements. This loophole is exactly how Android 17 ultimately wins the Tournament of Power.
2 Is It Purely An Offensive Force?
Dragon Ball proves that there's far more than one way to win a battle. Characters often prioritize raw strength and attacks that can inflict the highest amount of damage. Granted, ki is used for these applications, but it can also work hard to keep its user protected or even confuse the opponent through deception. Ki can create powerful energy barriers as a defense mechanism that have saved the lives of Goku and others on countless occasions. Similarly, ki can defensively be used to create confounding after-image duplicates and other evasive strategies that don't depend on violence.
1 Can Ki Become Poisoned Or Tainted?
Dragon Ball characters use and abuse ki in every single episode and take it for granted, but there are still plenty of mysteries that surround the energy and it’s far from an exact science. Sometimes an individual’s aura acts as a reflection of their state of being. This can go one step further and in some cases, an individual’s ki can even become poisoned. Gohan’s fight against Universe 6’s Lavender features an attack named Poison Blow that taints the opponent’s ki and toxically eats away at them until they’re helpless unless something is done about it.