Ki vs. Genki, which is which?

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:59 pm

Okay, I've always been slightly confused about these two. You have Ki, which is the Japanese version of Chi, essentially spirit energy. The fighters manipulate this to use techniques from flying to energy blasts. They can also surpress it to hide their presence from Ki detection devices (scouters) and those who can sense Ki. Ki seems to be the variable that is effected by training and transformations...

So what is Genki exactly, just life force? I mean, Ki seems to tie into life force also (Ten's Kikoho comes to mind) in the way that one can kill themselves by overextending their power.

Would all people have an equal amount of Genki, or would it be proportional to Ki? I'm just trying to grasp the two terms so I can fully understand them.

Thanks,
Corey

*PINHEAD* · Post by ***PINHEAD*** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 12:37 am

They're the same. When you get technical into Dragon Ball, it just gets confusing. The way I see it is that there's two basic forces in DB--ki, which is the body's life force, and power, which is the body's strength based on the person's ki. So, ki (or genki) is kind of like stamina. If you view it that way, it's all very simple.
But then, when scouters and people's ability to detect ki comes into play, it gets confusing. I see the ki that they sense is the ki applied to power. That is how ki and power are sort of similar.

The S · Post by **The S** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 12:44 am

To be precise:
Ki = life force energy
Reiki = Spirit energy

laserkid · Post by **laserkid** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 9:40 pm

Genki is health, in other words if one is Genki, they're healthy, happy and energetic. If they aren't they're sickly. Its a Japananese word, not related to Ki/Chi which is a spirit style energy used to throw energy around in DB/Z

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 9:44 pm

Like the question "Ogenki desuka?", basically "Are you healthy?"
Maybe the Genki in Genki Dama has something to do with that...

SpaceKappa · Post by **SpaceKappa** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:25 pm

"Everyone! Give me your health!"

Goku manages to defeat Majin Buu, but everyone in the world got the flu.

*PINHEAD* · Post by ***PINHEAD*** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:32 pm

Well, genki could mean health...but if you're going by the ki/chi principle...your health would depend on your ki, or something like that. So Son Goku would be referring to ki being used by the body when he says Genki.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:36 pm

Perhaps it's a balance of the two principles? The thing I never got is that people in the world obviously have varying strength, and if you have people like Gohan and the rest of the Z senshi giving their power to the Genki Dama...well, a single one of them is more powerful that the earth's populous put together, so there has to be something that levels the playing field when it comes to Genki...

Perhaps, Ki can be strengthened, but Genki is the same for all living things (as long as they are healthy)? That's the only way I can really make sense of it...

Otherwise, Vejita could just give his Genki along with Gohan and the others and create a Genki Dama the size of...something...really...big?

I'm tired, I sleep now ;p

-Corey

Metrite · Post by **Metrite** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:16 am

Ki must be the sort of genki living beings have. The Genki Dama can gather from inanimate things like the sun but the thing it takes from living being is ki. When Goku was doing the Chou Genki Dama(the difference between it and the normal one is that it doesn't take a fraction from anyone who offers, it takes it all down to the threshold) against Buu, Gohan and the others all donated and Goku said "This ki is from Gohan and the others"(that's why nearly one third of the genki dama came from them, because they have way more ki then normal people).

Mattias · Post by **Mattias** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 1:11 am

Mizugi wrote:"Everyone! Give me your health!"

Goku manages to defeat Majin Buu, but everyone in the world got the flu.

Bastard...*sneezes*.

Rocketman · Post by **Rocketman** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 2:28 am

MajinVejitaXV wrote:Perhaps it's a balance of the two principles? The thing I never got is that people in the world obviously have varying strength, and if you have people like Gohan and the rest of the Z senshi giving their power to the Genki Dama...well, a single one of them is more powerful that the earth's populous put together, so there has to be something that levels the playing field when it comes to Genki...

Or maybe it was just the sheer mass of people on Earth? If you use our world's population figure of 6,000,000,000+ (probably inaccurate for DBZ Earth, but just for an example) with an average power level of 4, you get over 24,000,000,000, and that's without Gohan and the other Z Warriors.

Kaiô-sumo · Post by **Kaiô-sumo** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 4:15 am

I -think- I remember something being mentioned about everything having the energy used in the Genki Dama, even blades of grass and such. Of course, that may just be bad dubbing or my faulty memory...
Anyway, going with that, this must be some kind of life energy that naturally exists in everything. Unlike ki, it has a set range for each being (or kind of being, perhaps).
Again, memory's a bit hazy, but I believe I remember Mr. Satan at some point getting a crowd excited to donate more energy for a Genki Dama (which he did not form, of course

). So, apparently, "Genki" is altered by emotional state. I'd also like to add that, though I am not in any way a fluent speaker of Japanese, I believe the word "genki" can also apply to being in good spirits. If I'm right about that, then it really makes sense when applied to the Genki Dama... IF I'm right. ^^;
One final citation, which may (again) be simply a result of mistranslation: Cell, in Budokai 3, asking the planet for energy as he prepares his own Genki Dama. He even calls the energy "stupid" (in the dub, anyway) and still pulls the move off just fine. Well, as long as you time the button presses properly...

To summarize, "Genki":
-Exists in all living things
-Is affected by emotional state
-Can be manipulated by good and evil alike
-Is possibly affected by ki though apparently separate from ki

That last one is based on earlier statements about Ten's Kikoho. It seems to me, though, that ki can be "strained" just like a muscle or "broken" just like a bone, so to speak. Forcing yourself to produce more force (in this case, destructive force) than you can handle causes you to "rupture" somehow. The idea of punching someone or something so hard that you break your knuckles, or something like that. In this example, perhaps it would be better to compare Ki to the muscle behind the punch and "Genki" to the bone being broken as a result?

Well, that's enough for tonight! I apologize in advance for any errors I might have made.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 7:16 am

While I appreciate the comments on this thread, please note that it had not been active for a full eight months. Please re-read the forum rules... thank you!

Kanzenshuu

Ki vs. Genki, which is which?

Ki vs. Genki, which is which?

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