One of the greatest aspects about the Dragon Ball franchise has been its ability to innovate on itself since its beginning. While some creations are certainly due to the creator, Akira Toriyama, taking some creative workload reductions, to put it mildly, other have felt especially creative or even self-referential to decades’ worth of source material. In the case of Dragon Ball Super, as the series was progressively changing hands in terms of creative vision with Toyotaro penning the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc, this would soon be the case in more ways than one, with its own novel spin on the classic Genki-dama or “Spirit Bomb”.
Originally taught to Goku by King Kai, the Spirit Bomb has been a recurring ace in the hole able to scale its power based on how many individuals across the universe provided their energy. It was immensely helpful against Vegeta, Frieza, and even Kid Buu to close the final saga of Dragon Ball Z. But in Dragon Ball Super, appropriately, the antithesis to this attack is taught to none other than Vegeta, with a technique named Forced Spirit Fission that actively shifts the tides against their latest nemesis, Planet-Eating Moro. And for what it’s worth, it’s possibly the most fascinating power debuting in the arc.
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Debuting in Dragon Ball Super leading to the climax of the battle against Moro, Vegeta’s training on Yardrat, the same planet Goku learned his Instant Transmission, paid off immensely with Forced Spirit Fission. The ability can draw energy from a given target and also free trapped souls, or even undo certain methods of Fusion, a crucial aid against a superpowered, nigh-immortal alien wizard living off entire planets’ worth of ki. It breaks down Moro’s power advantage and can even then draw the power of others like the Spirit Bomb, to then bestow to another fighter, which Vegeta does for Goku who then unleashes an Ultra Instinct technique straight out of Naruto.
But even before the biggest climactic uses of this technique, Vegeta is shown giving Moro an absolute thrashing upon returning to the fight. It immediately defies expectations, because there should have been no conceivable way regular training alone would make up for their power difference. But Vegeta spelled it out, confirming that every hit he landed was draining Moro of more power, liberating the life energy and sending it to its rightful hosts, but not before gathering it in a ball and scattering it to its rightful owners, like a literal reverse Spirit Bomb. It’ll be a thrilling reveal in Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol, even if it’s one of the most broken abilities in the franchise.
To be honest, this never sat well with me. Absorption, Fusion and all that stuff… It doesn’t reflect one’s inherent power.
All I crave is a fair fight.
-Vegeta, Dragon Ball Super Chapter #61
Forced Spirit Fission is explained to an astonished Piccolo and Gohan by Goku who, despite also training on Yardrat, only ever knew of it without seeing it used. It was a moment in which Vegeta visibly one-upped Goku in a way only he possibly could, while ultimately performing a heroic deed, saving those Moro killed while making a five-course meal of his superiority in the fight.
Vegeta’s speech while fighting Moro carries the same signature arrogance, yet even Piccolo is immediately aware that this display of superiority is different this time around. He steers clear of seeking benchmarks of his own power, instead bringing a dangerously powerful individual to his level and forcing him to fight on normal terms. Vegeta’s more responsible and humane in this arc than when he pushed Imperfect Cell to absorb Android 18. However, Vegeta introduced one more curious trick to Forced Spirit Fission in those moments.
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One of the major revelations about Forced Spirit Fission was in how Vegeta also knew its potential to undo Namekian Fusion. It meant hypothetically separating Piccolo from Kami and Nail, with whom he fused decades’ worth of arcs ago, bringing long-dead characters back to life. It could hypothetically separate Fusions, including those established with Potara earrings. Given how much Toriyama loved to introduce ways to separate said Fusions even in recently-released projects, such as in Dragon Ball Daima, it only feels appropriate that Toyotaro had introduced an even more malleable technique before then for this purpose.
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Naturally, bringing Kami, or particularly Nail, back into the land of the living doesn’t really serve much of a purpose unto itself, but using it as a case study has far-reaching implications. Vegeta’s Forced Spirit Fission has the ability to shut down enemies empowered by absorption and fusion, and can revitalize allies whose energy is stolen. It’s a total game-changer in the Dragon Ball franchise, and the fact that only Vegeta and his teacher, Pybara, can use Forced Spirit Fission in the mainline franchise is all the sweeter.
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- Created by
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Akira Toriyama
- First Film
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Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies
- Latest Film
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Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
- First TV Show
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Dragon Ball
- Latest TV Show
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Super Dragon Ball Heroes
- First Episode Air Date
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April 26, 1989
From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku’s never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

