Power systems can be more than a little obtuse when it comes to anime. The best power systems have clearly defined limits and rules when it comes right down to it. Simple rules often allow for a lot of creativity and stretching of what the limits can be. Shows like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hunter X Hunter, and My Hero Academia have really concrete power systems that are easily explained and understood. The universe’s rules usually rely on truly understanding these basic principles, and narratives need a good way to convey those ideas. However, even in relatively simple systems, there can be exceptions and confusion.
Dragon Ball is one of those series that started relatively simple and then got a lot more complex as the world opened up. Dragon Ball started with martial arts with some more flashy techniques and then ended up in space with world-ending levels of power. Dragon Ball Z upped the ante when it came to different techniques and then Dragon Ball Super got a lot more cosmic. Fans would be introduced to something called God Ki, and it can be a little bit harder to understand than it seems on the surface.
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Dragon Ball is a loose adaptation of Journey To The West, meaning that there are ties to both Japanese and Chinese sensibilities around martial arts. In traditional Chinese culture, qi (or Romanized to “chi”) is characterized as the vital force of a living being. The word has a literal translation as “vapor” or “air,” as it is something intangible within the body to be used as needed in medicine and the martial arts. The belief was that qi moved through the body, making it work as a cohesive whole and that by learning proper balance and understanding the flow of qi, one could heal illnesses and gain longevity and power. In martial arts, specifically, qi is part of internal and external training systems that seem to allow practitioners the ability to achieve super-human feats of strength and endurance. These are the principles that the ki of the franchise is built upon.
In Dragon Ball, the use of ki is expanded to give people access to greater feats of manipulation. Flight, super speed, and the ever-famous energy blasts are all because of the manipulation of this energy. This is the power level that the scouter is reading and putting a number on in the show. A person’s level of ki is indicative of their ability and how close they are to death as well, being a vital source of information in Dragon Ball Z. According to the “Chōzenshū,” ki is composed of three distinct components: energy, courage, and mind. The mind portion affects the signature of the ki, allowing someone to differentiate it from the ki of another person. There are only a few different forms of ki, but the “normal” kind is the most common. Characters like the Androids have inorganic energy, and it cannot be sensed by those looking for natural ki.
The use of ki is particularly rare on Earth, as Master Roshi is originally shown to be one of the few people who could do the Kamehameha. His master, Mutaito, is one of the first humans to be recorded in Dragon Ball to be able to manipulate ki so effectively. After Mr. Satan’s rise in the public sphere, the general populous has come to think of ki as a party trick, whereas before, there was general knowledge of masters who could use ki to great effect. Alien species, on the other hand, seem to use ki quite often. The Saiyans, Namekians, and others are shown to use ki techniques at extremely young ages with very little struggle. Dende can fly far younger than Goku could, for example, and the Saiyans are naturally gifted when it comes to the use of ki. The general idea of ki, however, seems to be universal in that it doesn’t differ from species to species. There are just different levels of access. God Ki, on the other hand, has some very distinct differences from mortal ki.
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Understanding what ki actually is remains an important part of understanding God Ki in particular. Knowing that ki is the essential life force of a being, it throws up questions about whether an immortal being has life energy, as said energy can logically not be expended. God Ki exists as its own category of energy that is mainly accessible to beings like Angels or the Gods of Destruction. It comes with its own benefits and differences from regular ki. It is also something that mortals can learn to channel with some very specific training, which makes it something that cannot come as naturally. It is also unable to be sensed or read by a scouter, making God Ki incredibly hard to measure.
God Ki is exceptionally pure and impossible for those with regular ki to sense in others. God Ki exerts tremendous pressure on people, though, so those beings who cannot sense God Ki can still feel the intensity of its power. The inability to sense it but to be pressured by it is noted as being one of the reasons why it is so hard to use. Goku notes this himself as he begins training with it, and the logic makes sense. It’s almost like trying to use an invisible pen to write a message in invisible ink. You can feel the pen in your hand, but won’t be able to see what you’re writing until you’ve moved on to the next word. It’s not an impossible feat, but it is incredibly difficult. Vegeta is the one who figures out that one must contain their mortal ki — not allowing it to leak into an aura — while powering up.
God Ki vs Normal Ki
Unlike normal ki, God Ki needs to be acquired rather than being born into one’s body naturally. Goku and Vegeta both gain the ability to use God Ki during Dragon Ball Super with the Super Saiyan God ritual and training with Whis, allowing them access to the coveted state. This power is so intense that it allows Goku to fight on a more even playing field with Beerus during Battle of Gods, even when Super Saiyan 3 was nowhere near enough. There are also implications that Frieza’s golden form could be related to God Ki in particular as Frieza is shown to be able to vaguely sense God Ki after gaining the ability to use the form.
Ki is a concept with roots in many East Asian cultures and is actually something that can help in understanding a good deal of different anime, not just Dragon Ball. It is, however, one of the most important ideas to understand in the franchise to parse it all out as a whole. Ki is the one key concept that remains constant throughout the many different iterations of the series. God Ki is special and specific because it is so incredibly rare and difficult to control. This difficulty is what sets it apart from other forms of ki in the series and makes it a little bit harder to understand. Channeling that ki is much like how the audience came to know it, slowly absorbing the information over time before coming into a complete understanding of how this fun aspect of the universe works.
