CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA

This page is incomplete. Kanzenshuu wiki team members are aware that they must edit this page to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Everything.

CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA (チャラ・ヘッチャラ, Chara Hetchara) is the first opening theme song for the Dragon Ball Z TV anime series, used from episode 1 until episode 199. It was written by Yukinojō Mori with vocals by Hironobu Kageyama. As the major theme used by the program for much of its run, the animation behind CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA was updated twice to reflect the changing plot and antagonists for the series. A widescreen version was also used for the first nine Dragon Ball Z movies, with special animation commissioned for Dragon Ball Z Movie 3 to reflect the plot of that film. Fifteen years after its last use in the anime, CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA was once again used as the opening theme of Dragon Ball: Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!!, the Jump Super Anime Tour special. That version featured updated animation, as if the original has been further progressed into the Boo-arc and its characters. The song was also included in video games and other media. A recording by Flow was used as the ending animation for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.

Credits

• Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori
• Composition: Chiho Kiyo'oka
• Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto
• Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama

Opening Animation

CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA was featured as the music behind the first opening animation for the Dragon Ball Z series, running from the first episode through the 199th. During that time, it was updated twice: once at the start of the 22nd episode to add Vegeta and Nappa as the focus villains, then again in the 118th to transition to the Artificial Humans. The opening animation pays homage to Mystical Adventure!, the opening of the original Dragon Ball anime, in several ways including the focus on Son Goku riding on Kintoun, the Chinese-inspired backgrounds, and a few of the animated sequences. It expands on this to focus on Son Gohan and his training, highlighting him as the kew new character in the Z series, while hinting at the arrival of three adversaries from the sky.

First Variation Breakdown

The title page for Dragon Ball Chapter 1

Gohan flees from a dinosaur from Dragon Ball Z Episode 7. The red background and green coloration on the dinosaur are different from the version in the opening.

A flashback to a moon as Raditz explains the Great Ape transformation to Goku.

Gohan as a Great Ape from Dragon Ball Z Episode 8

Bulma rides a unicycle modeled after the one from Dragon Ball Chapter 26

Kuririn fires a kakusandan at the Saiyans.

Goku flexes before performing a genki dama

	The opening begins with an eclipse which quickly comes into focus as the One-star ball with a reverse "Z" moving over the surface. The styling on the "Z" echos the top and bottom strokes on the kame (亀) on Son Goku's gi, with the crossbar in the Z echoing in the whitespace in the kana.
	This transitions into the new series logo for Dragon Ball Z. The dragon from this logo, like that of the preceding series, is taken from the title page of the first chapter of the manga. The one-star ball gradually slides into the "O" in "Dragon"
	The logo falls away to reveal a scene in the sky. Son Goku flies on the Kintoun with Son Gohan. Gohan is wearing his yellow and green Chinese clothes with the four-star ball on his hat. His design resembles that used in the first five episodes of the series, prior to being taken away by Piccolo.
	The scene shifts to a first-person view of flying between some oddly-shaped green hills. Suddenly, the Four-Star Ball slides into view before being passed by Goku and Gohan, still riding the Kintoun. The remaining Dragon Balls appear in the sky.
	The view changes to an aerial view of the same area, featuring the strange hills as well as woods and plains. An ocean can be seen in the distance.
	The scene shifts again, this time to a view of an iceberg collapsing into an ocean. The lyrics of this section (溶けた北極の中に, Toketa kōri no naka ni) refer to melting polar ice, the likely inspiration for this scene.
	The view transitions to a brown landscape dominated by a red aura and explosion. Kintoun, too far away to see clearly, flies in front of the malstrom. This section of animation appears to be calling back to a previous lyric (火山を爆発させる, Kazan o bakuhatsu saseru) about an exploding volcano.
	Gohan, now a bit older, flees from a dinosaur. This is a recolored (or an earlier version of a) shot from Dragon Ball Z Episode 7. This relates to a lyric (恐竜がいたら 玉乗り仕込みたいね, Kyōryū ga itara tamanori shikomitai ne) in the theme referring to training a dinosaur to ride on a ball.
	A silver energy ball or comet flies towards the camera.
	Three red streaks fall towards the Earth. These may refer to the arrival of Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta, however the pods did not arrive together in the story itself.
	A moon bathed in red. This is a redder version of the moon from Raditz's flashback in Dragon Ball Z Episode 2, rather than (as you might expect from later context) Gohan's transformation in episode 8.
	A billowing red cloud.
	Son Gohan stampedes as a Great Ape during his training with Piccolo. This shot closely resembles one from Dragon Ball Z Episode 8, with some changes to the background. In that episode, Gohan is only seen firing a ki blast from his mouth when depicted from the back, but this shot shows the Great Ape stomping his feet. (It also closely resembles a flashback in Dragon Ball Z Episode 18 which shows the same scene without the ki blast.)
	Piccolo looks on in surprise and then horror, followed by depicting him looking into an explosion from the back. The strobe effect is similar to when he destroyed the moon in Dragon Ball Z Episode 8, which may be suggested by the context of the scene in the opening, but neither his eyes nor the depiction of him from the back is from that episode.
	A repeat of the previous scene with Gohan fleeing from the dinosaur, except now he is joined by the Turtle Hermit, Turtle, Pu'ar, Bulma, and Oolong. Bulma appears to be riding a motorized unicycle similar to that driven by Lunch in Dragon Ball Chapter 26. Bulma and the Turtle Hermit's designs are based on what they wore in Dragon Ball Z Episode 2, although Bulma is not wearing her overcoat or earrings from that episode. Oolong is wearing his outfit from the final episodes of Dragon Ball rather than his Z design which will be introduced in episode 18.
	Kuririn fires a kakusandan energy blast at the Saiyans after the death of Yamcha from Dragon Ball Z Episode 24, although both shots are adapted directly from a panel in Dragon Ball Chapter 215.
	Tenshinhan also fires a powerful energy blast.
	Yamcha powers up a sokidan, a special move that he first demonstrated in Dragon Ball Chapter 175. He also used the same move in Dragon Ball Z Episode 17 against the Saiyans that he fought in the Pendulum Room, however this particular image does not exactly match either of those appearances.
	Against a black backdrop, Son Goku flexes and powers up for a genki dama, using the same pose as he does when he performs that technique for the first time in Dragon Ball Chapter 212.
	Son Gohan races across a cloud-covered mountain with Shenlong emerging from the clouds behind him. He is wearing the white shirt and green pants that he wore starting in Dragon Ball Z Episode 7.
	Son Gohan, now wearing a Kame-style gi and sword, falls from a great height only to be picked up by Son Goku on Kintoun, calling back to them flying together earlier in the opening. Gohan's design was introduced in Dragon Ball Z Episode 8 and Dragon Ball Chapter 208. In the series, Goku and Gohan never interact while wearing this gi.
	Son Goku, still in his genki dama pose, is surrounded by an explosion!
	The three red pods continue descending, causing the screen to be engulfed in red when they strike the ground.
	The camera pulls away from the red explosion to show Goku's friends lined up: Tenshinhan, Kuririn, Chaotsu, Son Gohan, Turtle Hermit, and Yamcha. Both Turtle Hermit and Tenshinhan are depicted wearing their outfits from the end of Dragon Ball, rather than from their appearances in Z. (For Tenshinhan, the difference is only in the color shirt: it switches to white in Dragon Ball Z Episode 13.) Son Gohan appears, minus his sword, based on his design from episode 8.
	One more look at the one-star ball with an embedded "Z".
	A final group shot. The location from the previous group scene is changed to a natural blue background with the characters standing in midair (except for the Turtle Hermit). Goku leaps into the foreground, completely covering up Kuririn, wielding his Nyoibo. Goku is never depicted with the Nyoibo in Dragon Ball Z, although it as an iconic part of the series it continues to be depicted on chapter title pages and other external material.

Character Appearances:

Todo: Document which opening sequence scenes were taken from specific episodes

Second Version

Document second version used in episodes 22 - 117

Third Version

Document third version used in episodes 118 - 199

Homage during the Cell Games

During the Cell Games, the animators made several callbacks to this original opening theme, already nearing the end of its run. In Dragon Ball Z Episode 178, Son Goku was in the early stages of his battle against Cell. As a display of power, Goku charged up his ki and then expelled it in a lightning-backed explosion that closely mirrored the same animation in the opening, albeit with Son Goku as a Super Saiyan rather than being in his base form. In the following episode, Piccolo was hit by a shockwave caused by that continuing battle. His silhouette against the explosion called back to a similar moment in the same opening animation.

• Episode 178 Homage
• 
• 
  Episode 178 features the same flex...
• 
• 
  ...and the same lightning and aura effect.

• Episode 179 Homage
• 
• 
  Episode 179 shows Piccolo silhouetted against an explosion with the same cape movement and light effects.