The Kitchen, Dad and Dragon Ball
Childhood memories, afternoons watching TV with my dad, and the hope that I’ll share that experience with Kuba one day.
We were coming back from the embassy in Bern, where we had applied for Kuba’s passport. Shortly after joining the motorway, we stopped for lunch. We had KFC in mind, but ended up at Burger King, where they were running a Dragon Ball promotion. I came away with two T-shirts.
To me, it’s more than a promotion. Dragon Ball and Captain Tsubasa were part of our daily routine with Dad after school.
We watched them in the kitchen. In our old house, life revolved around the kitchen: there was no central heating, and Mum cooked on a coal stove. It was the warmest place in the house. A table, a sofa bed, later a couch and a television.
I remember a lot from those series. From Dragon Ball, the fight with Frieza. From Tsubasa, the shooting duel with Kojiro and the pitches so huge that, near the halfway line, the stands seemed to disappear over the horizon. The final three minutes of a match could last an entire twenty-minute episode. I was a child, and watching together made me happy.
When I had a month off after Kuba was born, I watched the entire first season of Tsubasa again. No deep reason—I had the time and felt like it. To me, they’re the best animated series ever made.
Dad is watching some Dragon Ball season on TV again now.
I’d like to watch them with Kuba one day.