Dragon Ball Daima: What’s the Difference Between Magic and Ki?

Dragon Ball Daima has continued to shake up the Dragon Ball franchise in huge ways thanks to Goku and the Supreme Kai’s new journey in the Demon Realm, and with the newest episode is starting to raise even more questions about the differences between Magic and Ki. Dragon Ball has been knee deep in both kinds of powers since Akira Toriyama’s original franchise first began 40 years go. Magic has always been at the heart of the series, and Goku has been tapping into Ki ever since he started training with Master Roshi. But the two are completely different.

That was until things started to move into the more grey areas with Dragon Ball Daima. As Goku and the Supreme Kai are now traveling through the Demon Realm for the first real time in the franchise, fans have been learning all sorts of new information about how just important this realm actually is for the franchise. And with how much we’re learning about the demons themselves, it’s also revealing more of the key differences between the way the demons use magic versus how other fighters will use Ki for their respective techniques.

What Is Magic in Dragon Ball?

As far as Dragon Ball Daima’s episodes have revealed thus far, the Demon Realm is a lot more key to the overall foundation of the outside world. The Namekians originally came from the Demon Realm, the Kais have come from the Demon Realm, and it turns out that much of the magic we’ve seen in the series thus far has roots within the Demon Realm as well. It was previously teased that demons don’t really recognize Ki as a concept (as Dabura was already thrown off about it in Dragon Ball Z), and it’s been explained that it’s because they rely on magic instead.

Magic is entirely different in that it seems that rather than being an inherent energy that anyone can build up, it’s something that’s limited to a single kind of technique for a respective demon. While some creatures can use multiple magical abilities, the idea given in Dragon Ball Daima is that there’s at least a single unique magic technique for each demon. But as expected, this seems to clash with what we’ve seen from demonic entities in the franchise previously as well with the likes of Majin Buu turning opponents into candy, but then also having pliability with his body.

It’s also strange to see with the Namekians. Because while their magic seems to be focused on the Dragon Balls themselves, Piccolo has turned out completely different. We’ve seen Namekians with the ability to draw out latent power, and we’ve seen the kind of control they could have over the Dragon Balls with Neva, but Piccolo doesn’t have any magic of his own. His abilities seem to be Ki based as it takes time to charge them up, and he has energy like blasts.

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How Is Magic Different From Ki?

When looking at what we’ve seen from the demons in Dragon Ball Daima and the Dragon Ball franchise thus far, the main difference between the two kinds of power systems are the limits of it. While some magic seems to act like Ki such as Glorio’s use of lightning like techniques in Dragon Ball Daima Episode 6, it’s clearly limited in its scope compared to Ki. As we’ve seen with Goku and other fighters many times, they are allowed to change their respective techniques and forms through training. There are distinct levels to their amount of Ki.

It’s something that can be changed and altered. It can be strengthened or weakened. While magic might work in the same way, it seems limited to a base level of whatever a particular demon can accomplish. It’s yet another way each of the demons are classified beyond the scope of their world. We’ve seen how some demons are seen as “better” than the others just because of the world they were born in, and it seems to be reflected in the kind of magic they can use as well.

A demon with a stronger magic ability is just going to be naturally stronger, and can’t overcome their own limits like how Goku and the others are able to. That seems to so far be the key distinction between how magic and Ki works so far. Magic spells are limited to the character that learns them, but demons like Neva also throw this into question as well. He seems to have grown his magic to a legendary level, but that might be a result of his ridiculously long life span instead.

That’s basically what separates the concepts. One has its set of limits, and the other can easily break through them. It’s why we’ve seen magic users fall to Goku and the others over the years, but the Demon Realm is where that’s changing. Goku has been stunted in power in this new realm, and thus is now on the same playing field as the magic users. Hilariously enough, however, is that Goku is already breaking through his limits once more thanks to his Ki and adjusting to his new body the longer he spends time in the Demon Realm. He’ll just continue to have a much higher ceiling than anyone using just magic will.