CONTENTS
This Ghibli animator has taken to Twitter to finally answer a question fans have been wondering about for ages.
So, What Is That Mystery Meat in Spirited Away?
When Studio Ghibli took the initiative to release 400 high-quality stills from their films, perhaps aiming to give fans more Ghibli Zoom meeting backgrounds or tide them over until they can finally visit the museum again, netizens were clearly excited but also… not sure what to do with hundreds of gorgeous animation stills. An iconic shot from the much-beloved film Spirited Away, however, sparked new life in a long-held debate, a topic Ghibli-lovers have been discussing for nigh on 20 years. And thankfully, this time, we actually got some new information! Former Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who worked on the very scene in question, weighed in on the subject in a handful of tweets on his personal account.
The question we've all been asking: What on earth is that thing Chihiro's dad is eating?
What is that? pic.twitter.com/JOqCwVYSmt
— 🇬🇧Name Your Hero?_ _ _🏴 (@HyruleIsEVIL) May 11, 2020
Personally, I didn't actually remember this scene that well, and when I saw the still for the first time I just assumed it was a weird hunk of chicken. But after seeing other images and GIFs being shared around the internet, I remembered the strange way the texture was animated, and realized that "chicken" definitely could not be the right guess. It's clearly a little transparent and kind of jelly-like, and maybe even a little slimey.
The thing is, before this new revelation, the most common guess for this mystery food was actually Taiwanese ba-wan, a sort of savory dumpling. Since lots of fans have already compared the scenery in Spirited Away to the Taiwanese town of Jiufen, with many assuming that Miyazaki used it as a model, this didn't even seem like such a wild guess. Some Japanese commenters even mentioned that they'd visited Jiufen and made sure to eat ba-wan during their trip just because of this scene! But Yonebayashi's tweet made no mention of ba-wan at all. Instead, it revealed that the mysterious, translucent shape that Chihiro's father is gobbling down with such relish is actually…
a coelacanth stomach!?
お父さんが食べてるブヨブヨした食べ物はシーラカンスの胃袋と絵コンテに書いてありました。
ハクはシュッと動いてピタッと止まるので原画が少なくて楽チン。千尋はビクビクしてるので原画が多くて大変。— 米林宏昌 (@MaroYonebayashi) September 19, 2020
A rough translation:
Original tweet:
Since Ghibli released these stills to use freely, I'm going to talk about my own keyframes. Spirited Away was the very first feature film I worked on, and I was very nervous about it, but I learned a lot. For the scene where Haku is fed the [medicine] ball, we all got together and spent time with a large dog, observing the way it moved.
Follow up:
The jiggly food that Chihiro's father is eating is coelacanth stomach, as was written in the original storyboard. Haku moves quickly and stops suddenly, so his animations require fewer keyframes, making him easier. Chihiro is always trembling nervously, so she requires more keyframes, and is more work.
It’s a Living Fossil, Is It Good to Eat?
The "coelacanth" that Yonebayashi is referring to is a deep-sea fish often called a living fossil, since coelacanths have existed for the past 350 million years. Once considered extinct and found only in fossils from millions of years ago, a living specimen was found in South Africa in 1938―largely unchanged. While they once lived in freshwater and shallow seas, they hid out for all this time in deeper waters, surviving until the present day.
But, can you actually eat coelacanth? Signs point to yes―the fish are technically edible―but when it comes to flavor, opinions vary. People who have tried coelacanth don't seem to be recommending it, but the way Chihiro's father slurps it up, this weird fish's stomach does look kind of delicious.
At this late hour, however, another voice entered the conversation! In the comments of Yonebayashi's tweet, a fan added another opinion, backed up by an image from the original Spirited Away storyboard (possibly taken in the studio exhibition of the Ghibli Museum). This commenter says that the text of the storyboard actually calls this jiggly item a "lamb's stomach."
絵コンテでは子羊の胃袋 pic.twitter.com/zJyYjGV2K7
— 巳蛇 (@kvD3OuPj1unQFPx) September 19, 2020
At this point, whether it's a lamb stomach or really, truly a coelacanth stomach… it's definitely not ba-wan! A sad day for Taiwanese fans everywhere. Hearing that the mystery meat was actually a coelacanth stomach was certainly a shock, especially after looking up the fish and seeing such a truly unappetizing face… but I guess the moral of the story is don't eat food of mysterious origins.
Details
NAME:Twitter
Japankuru's head Chinese editor: mid-30s, likes to write, draw, and take photos. Aiming to become an old aunty with a girlish look. ・Articles written in Chinese by Lucy Wu, and translated by Sophia Appelbaum.
COMMENT
FEATURED MEDIA
VIEW MORESee Kyoto Clearly With Your New Glasses #japankuru #kyoto #jins #교토여행 #진즈 #京都 #교토수족관 #가모가와 #kamogawa #kyotoaquarium
The First Japanese Converse Flagship: CONVERSE STORE HARAJUKU #japankkuru #conversejp_pr #conversejapan #harajuku #tokyotrip #converse #tokyoshopping #匡威 #帆布鞋 #東京購物 #原宿 #日本時尚 #일본쇼핑 #일본컨버스 #일본한정 #하라주쿠 #일본패션 #일본스트릿 #รองเท้าconverse #รองเท้าผ้าใบ #ช้อปปิ้ง #ฮาราจูกุ #คอนเวิร์ส
Japanese Makeup Shopping • A Trip to Kamakura & Enoshima With Canmake’s Cool-Toned Summer Makeup #pr #canmake #enoshima #enoden #에노시마 #캔메이크 #japanesemakeup #japanesecosmetics
⚔️The Robot Restaurant is gone, but the Samurai Restaurant is here to take its place. Check it out, and don't forget your coupon! 🍣신주쿠의 명소 로봇 레스토랑이 사무라이 레스토랑으로 부활! 절찬 쿠폰 발급중 💃18歲以上才能入場的歌舞秀,和你想的不一樣!拿好優惠券去看看~ #tokyo #shinjuku #samurairestaurant #robotrestaurant #tokyotrip #도쿄여행 #신주쿠 #사무라이레스토랑 #이색체험 #할인이벤트 #歌舞伎町 #東京景點 #武士餐廳 #日本表演 #日本文化體驗 #japankuru #japantrip #japantravel #japanlovers #japan_of_insta
Japanese appliance & electronics shopping with our KOJIMA x BicCamera coupon! 用JAPANKURU的KOJIMA x BicCamera優惠券買這些正好❤️ 코지마 x 빅 카메라 쿠폰으로 일본 가전 제품 쇼핑하기 #pr #japankuru #japanshopping #kojima #biccamera #japaneseskincare #yaman #dji #osmopocket3 #skincaredevice #日本購物 #美容儀 #相機 #雅萌 #日本家電 #일본여행 #면세 #여행꿀팁 #일본쇼핑리스트 #쿠폰 #일본쇼핑 #일본브랜드 #할인 #코지마 #빅카메라 #japankurucoupon
Odaiba's DiverCity Tokyo Plaza is home to the famous real-size 20m-tall Unicorn Gundam, and the popular shopping center has even more Gundam on the inside! Check out the Gundam Base Tokyo on the 7th floor for shelves upon shelves of Gunpla, and the Gundam Base Tokyo Annex on the 2nd floor for cool anime merchandise. Both shops have tons of limited-edition items! #pr #odaiba #tokyo #tokyotrip #japantrip #japantravel #PR #divercity #divercitytokyoplaza #tokyoshopping #gundam #unicorngundam #gundambasetokyo #anime #otaku #gunpla #japankuru #오다이바 #다이바시티도쿄 #오다이바건담 #건담 #일본건담 #건프라 #건담베이스도쿄