Cha-La Head-Cha-La - Genki Dama & Lyrics question

[jpranevich]

This is a bit of a strange question, but only the folks here at Kanzenshuu can be crazy enough to answer it...

It occurred to me that "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" mentions the Genki-Dama, the "Sprit Bomb"... but that's actually quite amazing when you think about it. The opening first debuted in DBZ Episode 1, April 26, 1989. This is around the time when Chapter 221 was released of the manga with Gohan and the others still fighting Nappa on Earth.

Think about that: The opening theme featuring the Spirit Bomb appears to have been BEFORE we actually see the technique being used in a major way. It had been introduced in Chapter 212 (Feb 21, 1989) on Kaio's planet, but it could not have been clear to the writers that it would become a signature move. Why not have the song mention the Kaio-Ken instead? It seems just as likely to have been an important technique. Not to mention the fact that when Cha-La Head-Cha-La was composed, the technique they mention was barely two months old. Considering the lead time it takes to compose and record the track, you have to expect that they either threw that line in at the last moment OR pretty much had the chapter open when it was time to compose the song.

Stranger still is that Goku's Genki-Dama pose in the opening seems to be a replication of the cover of Chapter 233 which came out July 18, 1989. I'm guessing that was coincidence.

So.... was Yukinojō Mori psychic? Do we have any clues how and why this specific reference was put in the song? Or is "Genki-Dama" in this context not meant to imply the specific attack?

[Anime Kitten]

Considering how Toriyama is, he probably didn't say, "Put Genki-Dama in the lyrics as a hint." It's either a foreshadowing on the song writer's part, or they just happened to want to put in the phrase without reading the manga.

[DragonDuck]

Didn't Toei get some manga drafts in advance? Those could be the reason they knew the significance of the Genki-Dama.