The Genki Dama Explained - Reveals the Cultural Connections

[Kamiccolo9]

Well if Superman ends up spending time in the Sun due to energy loss, Goku would have time to charge it then. However like Derek said we don't know if Superman absorbs sunlight at a sub cosmic level.

Superman can go days with no sunlight and still be strong enough to move the planet. He won't be running out of power in a fight with Goku.
And in a no-holds barred match, he would just blitz Goku at the beginning. Goku wouldn't have a chance to gather energy.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Fantastic piece, first off. Very glad you covered specifics like how Gohan could have reflected the ball, and giving the Android 13 movie a fair shake, if only how unbelievable it was that Goku could do what he did there. I'm actually surprised how Goku does it overlaps with the actual daoism; I would have thought Toriyama would have simplified it. Well, he did, but not to the point where it was unidentifiable.

For the question of the Death Battle and other cases where Goku absorbs the Genki Dama, could it be that he's somehow reverting the Genki into ki? Just to fire it off more easily, since in every instance he is using what are normally ki-based techniques? Because going by how it is explained here, Goku did not do that against Android 13, he simply swamped 13 with Genki then punched him. For Vegeta and Freeza's taking the attack, I'm just going to chalk it up to the bomb's lacking power to break the usual Ki-induced resistance- which is to agree their own energy somehow blocked the Genki from tearing them apart. Vegeta takes it because the ball that hits him is a fraction of what Goku considered sufficient, Freeza because Freeza hadn't really exerted himself enough by that point that his ki was fading. He was AFTER the attack, but not before. Particuarly when Freeza first words are an angry version of "I don't know how I'm still alive right now".

The other question is, what of Cell? I would imagine he could only do it "half way", in that his knowledge of the technique would let him open his mind to feel out the Genki, but then he either could not draw or fail to control it because of his fundamentally selfish nature and purpose.

[DerekPadula]

Fantastic piece, first off. ... I'm actually surprised how Goku does it overlaps with the actual daoism; I would have thought Toriyama would have simplified it.

The other question is, what of Cell? I would imagine he could only do it "half way", in that his knowledge of the technique would let him open his mind to feel out the Genki, but then he either could not draw or fail to control it because of his fundamentally selfish nature and purpose.

Thank you. Yeah, sometimes it surprises me when I do the research and it shows up like it does, but pretty much everything traditional or spiritual in Dragon Ball is inspired by Buddho-Daoist concepts. The idea for this article started about 10 years ago when I began practicing Falun Gong and saw the correlation to Daoist concepts. Then it gradually became more clear. Just took a bit of time to write.

For Cell, I agree. He would be able to use the technique part way, but as the Genki made contact with his body it would start to eat away at him, and if he didn't cancel the technique it would eventually destroy his entire body at the sub-cellular level.

I also like to think that in the face of his impending death he would have been forced to attain sudden enlightenment, and would instantly turn into a good guy. haha.