Slap Stick for the Anime Fans!

There are moments that mark ones youth, indeed moments that make our past school days memorable. Events that could not be forgotten and trends that simply had to be joined. The whole Tupac and Biggy thing was nice, but some of us missed that band wagon. I am talking about real manly stuff, a real clash between titans. Such a moment comes to mind; the first time Goku turned super saiyan.

If you are unfamiliar with this event, forgive me as I may not have had you in mind when I wrote this article. However, I will give you a quick back drop to be fair so that you can understand what all the manganje (a Malawian traditional dance) and hullabaloo is about.

Goku is the main character from a Toei Animation studio cartoon known as Dragon Ball. The martial arts/ Sci-Fi series originally aired on the Fuji TV Network and evolved from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z. The show is an action packed comedy-adventure, where anyone who fights can also fly and has superpowers. It is one of the most successful anime (Japanese animations) of all time, with sales of up to 200millions copies of the comic version worldwide.

I would like to begin by confessing to the Timve jury that I actually don’t remember where I was on the noon when the events of the freezer bout unfolded. However I recall being there when all African eyes beheld for the first time the magnificent flashes of blonde hair as Goku powered up in anger after Krilin, Goku’s best friend, had been shot in the head with one of freezer’s lasers. I recall three things; one- that it was awesome, two – that it was really awesome! The third thing I recall is that if you were watching it, you were either tuned into a terrestrial signal from within South Africa or like most of us you had illegal access to etv or SABC’s channel frequencies on your satellite dish from some other part of Africa  -just a hunch.

I unfortunately also recall that we had to wait a whole freaken week just to see him finally finish powering up. Though I might add it was worth it. We had heard of this super saiyan stage thing for months. Agonizing over unnecessary side tracks in the story line and snail paced delivery – gosh! Sometimes one fight would last an entire Iraqi invasion, just dragging on and on. The antagonist and protagonists staring each other down, ridiculing each other, threatening each other, being mad at each other, monologuing, dialoguing,  making promises, making assurances, realizing the other party is also strong, admiring each other, talking and talking and…  you get the idea. This would go on for weeks before one man’s oddly shaped fist would connect to the other man’s gut causing a weird anorak shaped protrusion in the guy’s back.

Anywho, DBZ (dragon ball Z) was huge back then, before they decided to turn Goku into a pink baboon… “Sigh!”

As I reminisce, the whole Goku freezer fight seems blurry for some reason. Oh wait, I know – that’s because in my total douche-ness I missed all of it except the last bit where freezer gets cut in half if I recall correctly. I am so ashamed I feel like I intentionally missed puberty. How could I have missed the Goku-freezer fight? (-Murmurs from anime fans everywhere). I missed out on one of the greatest moments in animation history, when the trend was hot, and till this day I have never watched the full fight. I have tried, but it feels like finally mustering up the courage to kiss a girl a year after you are totally over her and have been introduced to her better looking cousins, Naruto and Bleach.

Anyway my favourite part of the whole DBZ saga was how we would watch an episode and discuss it all week. It gave us a sense of comradery and something good to look forward to each week. It didn’t matter who you were, we were unified, we were all one under anime. I also suspect every boy had a secret crush on android 18, but that’s just me. It was a cult following I tell you, real exhilarating stuff! Though for some reason I was more seriously hooked by Pokemon, there’s something about cute furry little deadly creatures with enough voltage to braai a live cow. And I know most guys will front and act as though they didn’t watch that show…

By Talumba Chirwa