With the different series dragonball, Akira Toriyama has become one of the most recognized mangakas of his generation. This legendary saga contributed to the rise in popularity of manga and japanese anime all over the world, allowing characters like Goku Where Buu to become cult in popular culture, and end up being a source of inspiration for the following generations. This is why fans continue to study Toriyama’s work in order to make it their own, thus giving rise to certain theoriessometimes a little far-fetched.
a legendary technique
A few months ago, we introduced you to this scientist who analyzed the training of Goku and Vegeta, the latter being known to train in environments with strong gravity. And if their training remains an interesting subject for many people, it is surely because it is what allows them to deploy techniques that have become emblematic. And precisely, a Japanese “researcher” tried to find a scientific explanation for one of the most cult and devastating techniques of the Super Saiyan.
Probably among the character’s most iconic attacks, Genki Dama is Son Goku’s ultimate technique. Fans will then remember one of the most memorable moments of Dragon Ball Zwhen Goku uses a Super Genki Dama against Majin Buu. Rikao Yanagita wanted to analyze this particular technique, in order to try to provide a scientific explanation.
Rikao Yanagita, author of the Fantasy Science Reader (空想科学読本) book series, has a new article out attempting to scientifically analyze how much energy each Earthling would need to contribute to wipe out Majin Buu. Short answer: 270kcal. https://t.co/aymLTsQJRC pic.twitter.com/qw9N5qFYB0
May 3, 2022
Rikao Yanagita, author of the Fantasy Science Reader series of books, has published a new article in which he attempts to scientifically analyze how much energy each Earthling would have to provide to eliminate Majin Buu. Short answer: 270 kcal.
One user shared part of Yanagita’s explanation on Twitter, summarizing the writer’s research for fans unfamiliar with Japanese. Yanagita wanted to determine how much energy an Earth dweller should bring to Goku’s Super Genki Dama against Buu.. Here is the summary in question:
Yanagita says that the human body is composed mainly of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. If Majin Buu is the same (big if), and he weighs around 100 kg, then destroying him at the atomic level would require energy equivalent to burning 250,000 tons of oil.
Here on our planet, the population is about 7.8 billion people right now, so if the Earth [dans Dragon Ball Z] is the same (this is an important assumption), we can round to 10 billion if we take into account all the Namekians and others who also contribute. Again, this is Yanagita’s logic, not mine.
Finally, by dividing 250,000 tons of oil by 10 billion, we obtain an average energy contribution of 270 kcal. This is about the same amount of energy that a person weighing 79 kg burns while running 3.8 km. Hey, that kinda matches what Vegeta said!
Yanagita thus estimates that 270 kcal corresponds to the amount of energy that an Earthling spends when he shares his energy with Goku to power his Super Genki Dama. This energy multiplied in mass would thus be what allowed the Super Saiyan to defeat Majin Buu.
However, we understand why the user who shared the theory of Yanagita on Twitter cleared himself of the words of the Japanese writer, because this theory can be nuanced on several points. First of all, one can wonder if it is really relevant to base oneself on the laws which govern our world to try to bring a scientific explanation to a phenomenon taking place in a universe of fiction. Rather than providing an explanation based on our realityit would have been interesting to address the issue through the scientific knowledge that Toriyama provides us through all of his work.
Second, if Rikao Yanagita is known for his scientific-sounding explanations of famous characters and situations from science fiction and fantasy, including The Fantasy Science Reader, a bestseller in Japanbut also more recently with The Science of Attack on Titan, this does not prevent the scientific validity of this theory from being fully assured. Especially since Yanagita has already been wrong about some facts about the universe of dragonball in the past.
And to continue in the same theme, discover now Majin Vegeta making his return in this official work of the mangaka of Dragon Ball Superjust here.
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