Kenya Inspired Anime
There’s this thing with Anime and food.
“It’s amidst this intricate setup that our disbelief is suspended — that the unbelievable becomes not just real, but that we actually take the surreal seriously.”
There’s this thing with Anime and food. Oh and I’m not really knowledgeable in Anime, I’ve just happened to watch a few and really like it. Plus I have had the privilege of having friends who know way more about Anime than I do.
I think I got introduced to Anime when my sister gave me a folder of movies one time. Yes, what was the name… Princess Mononoke.
That was the first ever Anime I watched.
I can’t remember if I know exactly what it’s about, but I have a feeling it has something to do with a never ending railway in the ocean — or something like that?
PS. Please tell me if you know, it would be way more authentic to hear it from you than just Googling it 😉
So anyways, the reason I can’t remember if I remember exactly what happened in that one is because I feel like all the anime I’ve watched have been part of one long story.
I honestly can’t recall which names go with which images.
It’s like I get hypnotized — the amazing colour and drawings. The realness of the characters’ emotions and just the overall intense creativity and skill of these productions. Then, whenever there’s a chance provided amidst the overarching melancholy*, there’s always this lightheartedness that comes out and immerses me even more into the story world.
*Oh, by the way, I say ‘melancholy’ because of the presence of death in a lot of anime films and series I’ve watched.
One I recall that was so beautiful I will never forget it, was ‘Children Who Chase Lost Voices’,
But overall I would say that Anime teaches me mostly.
Think about it, the stories are serious even though the world is animated.
There is just something about that mixture — the exact balance of serious and surreal…
It’s amidst this intricate setup that our disbelief is suspended; that the magic is created. That the unbelievable becomes not just real, but that we actually take the surreal seriously. I feel like it is in this realm that we feel safe to explore possibilities beyond our daily lives.
Yes, anime helps us forget about what we see reality really as.
It transports us to a world where people and creatures with similar emotions than us, go through exaggerated experiences in extraordinary worlds. Above, below or amidst, these worlds always coexist with the world as we know it.
So that being said, I am currently inspired to create some kind of world like that.
I got the idea when Superbike_Z and I moved around Kisii (Zacck’s hometown). At that point I was officially a tourist in Kenya for 2 days only.
Which brings me back to my opening sentence — “There’s this thing with anime and food.” I dunno, maybe it’s a Japanese thing, or maybe it’s just the things I notice, who knows.
But in a lot of anime I’ve watched. I always notice how beautiful and detailed the food is drawn.
I feel like food features a lot, it is also given a lot of meaning — nostalgia, family, safety, home. There is so much significance actually, I am scared to ramble on about this too much, because the reason I brought it up is related to another point.
So let me move on rather.
The point I am trying to make:
Referring to the significance of food in anime, I feel like food in Kenya is also a big thing.
Just yesterday Zacck’s sister explained to me that they, Kenyans, like cooking on a ‘jiko’.
“The Kenya Ceramic Jiko is a portable, charcoal-burning stove used for cooking, found primarily in urban homes in Kenya.” — Wikipedia
She mentioned that “people will tell you it is the more economical way of cooking things like beans, ugali, sweet potatoes [and things that take long to cook it seems] but it’s not really cheaper than using electricity.”
“Ugali (also known as ugali pap, nsima and nshima) is a type of maize flour porridge made in Africa. It is also known as ngima, obusuma, kimnyet, nshima, Mieliepap, phutu, sadza, kwon, isitshwala and other names.” — Wikipedia
So it seems that even though cooking with the Jiko isn’t cheaper, people still prefer using it for certain meals.
“It gives the food a specific taste,” Vanessa said.
Vanessa explained that that ‘specific jiko taste’ is really important for some Kenyans. So much so, she said that —
a) They would spend more on cooking with the jiko and
b) Young people like her use it even if they are cooking for 1 only.**
So I feel like the ‘food is important for Kenyans too’ point is settled then.
Now perhaps you are curious as to the whole deal with what I mean by ‘Kenyan Anime’?
To explain the idea I need to go back to where I started.
When Zacck and I were in Kisii that first week I came to Kenya I really had this overwhelming inspiration.
- I consistently noticed all the kids going to school, walking next to the roads. They wear very distinct school uniforms. Also schools are very prominent and stood out for me from the rest of the buildings.
- There are these little magical moments that I still notice around kids here.
Like yesterday, we cycled through a small suburb/town (a bit outside the capital city Nairobi) and past a mixed herd of sheep, goat and cattle. Adults, shepherds and a few townsfolk were out and about.
It’s a very rural semi-rural little setting.
Probably with Corona virus in the midst it was a bit more quiet than usual and made it very intimate for those of us who were travelling by each other. It’s always like you meet everyone you pass by, however you don’t physically meet — if that makes sense?
So as dusk started setting in, we just happened to pass by this jovial little scene that played out next.
It really just stood out so quaintly in the already outstanding golden sunlight.
I was looking at the sheep stuttering across the lush grass on the left hand side of the thick-orange-dirt road. I had to concentrate to not cycle into one, as well as find my way across the muddy road, so I didn’t notice it at first.
Suddenly I saw, on the patch of grass next to me, there were three boys running around the sheep. I smiled and kept going. Then I heard the sound of kids being naughty, playing, on a mission.
I looked again.
What saw next was so special I hope I never forget it.
Three best friends, these boys, were nagging a sheep — all 3 of them trying to get on its back and hitch a ride.
Two of them were already on the move with the poor ewe, who was struggling to get going, bleating slightly every now and then.
The third boy running after the sheep, hopping, trying to get on too.
This was just too cute. I had to stop and stare.
Zacck said the 3rd boy was yelling at his friends in Swahili to ‘simply move forward’. To him they were being stupid and unnecessary. Like “Duh!” there’s space for all three of them on the sheep.
This was just wow.
The other day too! I was cycling up a muddy hill, Superbike_Z about 500 meters ahead around the bend, and I saw this little boy, maybe 5 years old. He was absorbed in his own world, playing with a bicycle tire, pushing it forward and running as the wheel gained momentum.
The mud, the overgrown bushes, grass, trees and the blue sky turning to gold as the sun started to set.
Some cows in the fields around and an old man making his way to the neighbors.
It’s little magical moments like this that keep reminding me of anime scenes.
There is an innocence, there is nature, there are old people and then there are kids absorbed in their worlds of infinite possibility.
The first time I knew that this place is perfect for an anime was at Zacck’s family’s farm.
At this point we have been bustling around an open field for two days already. Everyone was working on arranging the funeral.
It had gotten dark before we knew it and Superbike_Z and I walked around the edges of the field, just to take a small break and catch up. Things were very overwhelming up till then and we discussed how we were coping with the busyness, what still needs to get done and so on.
Suddenly I saw a flicker on the other end of the field.
Strange, I thought to myself. I’m wondering what the person was looking for (since I assumed the light must have been a flashlight).
Then another flash ahead of us.
I looked around, intent on figuring out what was going on.
Yep, another one, and another.
“Zacck…” I murmured. “What are these little lights?”
Suddenly it struck me — “Are they -”,
“Fireflies, yes.” Zacck answered nonchalantly —
I think because he grew up there and somehow didn’t understand my fascination.
Aah, I just felt blessed. I was so ecstatic, I still am.
Kisii is a magical place. Rolling hills, greenery everywhere, grass, little butterflies, bright sun everyday, did I say it’s green?
Oh and don’t forget the fireflies!
It’s so hard to explain really. I guess that’s why I felt the urge to create some kind of expression of what I was experiencing — hence the anime, right?
Life for a lot of people here is very hands on. Nature is in your face all the time.
You step out of the house and immediately the red, orange, deep brown mud or dust cling to your feet. And in the house there is a fire from the jiko. The food is so fresh you need to peel the peas from the pods and wash the dirt off the potatoes.
I know it’s not real magic — duh. But to me these little things add up to a whole lot of special somethings, that make for a significant setting.
How beautiful would it be to make an anime here. The animals can talk, the kids can dream and the adults, missing in action, busy with their hustles, come in and out of their children’s lives like food — there to bind them to the inevitability of growing up and facing reality head on.
Coming back to my point about anime and death…
Having been at my first African funeral, I must say, death is given a very specific space and a lot of time that’s for sure. Maybe not in the every day, I dunno, but from my little experience here I’d offer a penny and say that life is important (I’d hope everywhere on earth, though I haven’t been there) and dealing with death seems to be an important part of it.
What I saw was that kids are not shunned away from the casket. They are given flowers to put on the grave. Graves are not hidden, they are close to the house where the person lived.
I feel like death is not shied away from. Death is dealt with. I feel that’s good. But it’s about more than I feel though isn’t it…
Death is for everyone to deal with in their own way.
Perhaps that is why anime give children these stories. Maybe the stories act as tools to categorize death, not as something that should be brushed aside and never dealt with, but rather as something to face on your own terms, but face nonetheless.
On that note, what do you think about a Kenyan anime story?
Something Murakami right?
**Vanessa asked for a readjustment of that statement, she said most young people find the jiko a bit old skool, and that she uses it simply because she is an ‘old soul’.
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