An Italian fantasy culinary adventure: Squisito! [Jundo Original]

[This is a translation of the Italian article posted on December 19th 2022]

Cover of Squisito! n.1

Publishing house Jundo successfully reaches another goal, bringing as an exclusive for the Lucca Comics and Games -which took place last November- the first printed copies of its original works, together with famous imported works from the Korean market such as Of Machines and Beasts and All of You. After the end of the event, the volumes became available on the website’s online shop and through the main retailers such as Amazon, MangaYo!, starshop.it, POPstore and the circuit of comic book stores and bookshops. Among these we find the first issue of an exquisite adventure comic that brings together the passion for cooking with fantasy setting and creatures.

One of the colored pages
from the first chapter

Squisito! Fantastici Sapori Tradizionali Italiani (Delicious! Fantastic Traditional Italian Flavors), work drawn and written by Gianmarco Bonelli, holds different inspirations and references: its artstyle, with its thin and detailed lineart and very expressive characters, especially in comedic scenes, reminds of manga works such as One Piece; the size of the volume is quite similar to that of the classic tankōbon as well. However, it still has the western way of reading because despite its influences, the author considers it an Italian comic and preferred keeping this direction. An example of work published by Jundo that uses the Japanese reading way instead is Shaman by Shinichi Hotaka and Arisu, created to all intents and purposes to be read like a manga.

This fun culinary comic is set in a version of Italy full of peculiar creatures and incredible, difficult to gather ingredients, which require a particular type of person to pick them. These expert adventurers and seekers of delicacies are called gatherers, the majority of which is reunited in the U.R.C.A. association. In this world that revolves around cooking, cooks and gatherers are important figures and some of them can become legends! It’s clear to Pia, young gatherer and admirer of the most famous duo of the lands of Ausonia: Artemio and Nausicaa, first class gatherer and cook who mysteriously disappeared ten years ago. Entrusted to the care of innkeeper Nerone, Pia earns a living in the village of Piumanera gathering ingredients with her comically big cleaver, still looking for a clue to find the two.

Pia faces the badalischio

During one of her errands on Nerone’s behalf she bumped into a poor stranger poisoned by the most dangerous creature of the area, the badalischio. Pia rescues the boy and gathers the ingredients for the antidote, personally facing the creature. Once healed, the boy presents himself as Leo Greco, a young cook who came to Piumanera exactly to look for Artemio and Nausicaa. Leo and Pia become friends right away, talking about their favorite feats among the thousands of new discovered species and the extraordinary recipes invented by their idols. To return the favor, Leo offers to cook the badalischio meat, showing he is an excellent cook. On the other hand, Pia is more than glad to leave him the burner because she is as good of a gatherer as much as a disastrous cook!

After a joyful dinner (with an adorable scene where Pia explains how cantucci are dunked in vinsanto), Nerone decides to present to Pia a recipe book. The girl doesn’t understand the reason until, in the back cover, Nausicaa's signature stands out, and Leo finds out very quickly that the recipes trace a clear itinerary covering the peninsula. Pia leaves the room in shock, followed by Leo. The girl looked for clues for years without success, and this for her is the confirmation that she is not the right person. Leo understands how she feels and manages to convince her to follow the itinerary together. With Nerone’s blessings, the two leave for an adventure.

Dante the adorable gallonero

In this first chapter the fantasy atmosphere is expressed really well, with a great variety of interesting creatures such as “colombetti”, adorable flying mushrooms, the “gallonero” whose blood fights against venoms, the tasty “star caper” and its huge plant, or the fascinating “imprinting egg”, that can be handled only by the person who picked it until the moment of cooking. One of the perks of the printed volume is the inclusion of a delightful bestiary with the creatures featured in the six chapters. Furthermore, by removing the dust jacket we find a fun surprise: the real cover of the volume is the same as the cover of Nausicaa’s recipe book! These are the small details that show the attention given to the presentation of the comic.

Nausicaa's recipe book

In this first volume we see the progress of the dynamic between Pia and Leo, whose contrasting personalities lead them to risk interrupting the journey at the first stage. Thanks to the sweet couple of shopkeepers who cultivate the star caper, the two manage to make up and establish a relationship of trust. She’s hotheaded and bold, he’s observant and stubborn, Pia and Leo represent well the so called street smarts and book smarts: she knows well the area and the ingredients thanks to her experience on field, while he is not used to travel despite his knowledge; not preparing well his route is exactly how he risked his life with the badalischio! However it’s thanks to these differences that the two are complementary, and this dynamic makes them an interesting protagonist duo. Furthermore, beyond the differences they have in common some insecurity about their own skills. At the first incident during the gathering of the star caper Pia initially wants to go back home, but the discussion with Leo pushes her to try again and succeed. At the second stage of the itinerary we understand why the cook took the matter to heart, when he also has difficulties in picking the imprinting egg: considering his parents’ words, <<After all you’re a cook, honey! Just one call and we’ll come and pick you up, you know?>>, Leo probably wants to demonstrate he can do it on his own, even though it’s hard. Thinking about what Pia would do, the boy finally manages to pick the egg, showing the positive influence they have on each other.

The sixth chapter begins to lay down the first elements of a plot that will develop in the following volumes, with the introduction of four generals chasing the two kids, because their itinerary could lead them to Panacea! An excellent conclusion for the volume that intrigues the reader leaving a question: what is Panacea? And what ties do Artemio and Nausicaa have to what could be a legendary ingredient? We will find out following this fantastic story seeking Italian flavors!

Title: Squisito! Fantastici Sapori Tradizionali Italiani
Publisher: Jundo
Author (script, art and colors): Gianmarco Bonelli
Editing: LVCE1807 Lettering: Gianmarco Bonelli
Supervision: Matteo Vesprini
Digital platform: www.jundo.it and the Jundo app (the first six chapters are available for free)
Printed version: Tankōbon volume 16,5x12, flexible cover with dust jacket, 232 pages
Colors: B/W with the first 12 pages in color in the printed version
ISBN code: 979-12-80408-65-5

Illustration that accompanies chapter 6
(in colors on the website but black and white in the volume)

"S'Ammutadori - We are not alone" by Flora's Room: complete short film analysis

After a long wait, the animated short film S’Ammutadori – We are not alone by Sardinian studio Flora’s Room was publicly released on YouTube! We talked about the short film and the bigger story it’s part of on several occasions. To summarize: S’Ammutadori – We are not alone is an animated adaptation of the chapter “Limes” from the novel L’ultimo amore di Las, in which Las and Anna face through the night their own worst nightmares under the influence of S’Ammutadori. Completed in 2021, the short film was selected in five film festivals:

• 20th Animae Caribe International Animation & Digital Media Festival (2021)
• 37th Ljubljana LGBT Film Festival (2021)
• 28th Sguardi Altrove Film Festival (2021)
• 11th Corto Dino Film Festival (2021)
• 7th Premio Fausto Rossano (2021)

Regarding the visual elements, the characters feature a simple drawing style that allows fluid movements and great expressiveness. Using the program ToonBoom Harmony, I believe the animators applied the “puppet rigging” technique to manipulate the characters, alternating it with hand drawn animation. This technique consists in creating a skeleton and connecting it to different parts of the character model. The skeleton, commonly called rig, can be applied to a tridimensional model or a drawing. The first big wave of puppet rigging animation happened during the late 2000s, due to the rise of the program Adobe Flash.

Example of puppet rig from the video "2020 Character Rigging
Demo Reel (ToonBoom Harmony)" by Eddy Predeira

However, a prototype of this technique was already being experimented during the 1970s in the studios of the famous company Hanna Barbera. The test with the Scanimate animation system reproduced a scene from a previous production of the Scooby-Doo series, however they decided to continue the production normally with hand drawn artwork on acetate sheets. Outside of this experiment, the Scanimate system was normally used for commercials, promotions or openings of tv programs between the late 1960s and the 1980s.

Scanimation system animation test (circa 1970s)

Since then, the technique evolved, allowing more versatility and efficiency in the animation work. ToonBoom Harmony is currently the most used program by professionals all around the world when it comes to 2D animation. In the hands of competent animators puppet rigging animation can be just as nice and dynamic as traditional animation, and this short film is proof of that. The movements of S’Ammutadori in particular show skill in the scene of his appearance. The inclusion of blurred movements (also called animation smear), a typical trick of traditional animation, makes the movement more natural and not look mechanical.

Componidori mask above Anna's bed

Meanwhile the environments, although stylized, are full of details that put them between reality and Sardinian folklore. For instance, let’s look at Anna’s room. Above her bed there is a mask of Componidori, main characters of the tradition of Sa Sartiglia, hanging together with sa Pippa ‘e Maiu, the double rod of violets used to bless people during the celebration. We talked more about this in a complete article last year. Furthermore, the floor has a pattern of hexagonal tiles typical of the first decades of the 1900s.

Anna's room

Las’ room has a floor of stone tiles and a fireplace in the corner, a layout that is not unusual in traditional Sardinian homes. There is a knight mask and a Sartiglia star above Las’ bed as well. The village the protagonists live in is a mix of real features of Sardinian villages and fantasy elements, such as the big trees full of colorful lights. The world of Las seems to be a more peaceful and balanced cohabitation between human constructions and nature, as it could be already seen in the concept art for the movie presented at Cartoon Springboard 2021.

S'Ammutadori in Las' room

One of the most interesting features of this short film is the fact that its narration is non-verbal: although there are no words, the events are shown in an intuitive enough way that tells us everything we need without a word. However, this doesn’t mean that it lacks sound: Chiara Floris’ soundtrack and the sound effects picked by Beatrice Mele (obtained thanks to the Arbus Sardinian Knives Museum, the "canto a tenore" singer Giuliano Sannai and the cave of Ispinigoli in Dorgali) play on the right emotional strings and represent well the atmosphere of nightmares.

Las comforts Anna

The figure of S’Ammutadori is used as a catalyst to put the characters in front of their biggest fears, originating from their childhood traumas. Anna witnessed her father’s murder, which seems to be a premeditated action. In her nightmare she relives this tragic event and attempts to assault S’Ammutadori, which limits himself to escape and leave her alone. The tears of her silent crying slowly create a river. Meanwhile, Las relives her experience of domestic violence by the hand of her drunk father. Exiting the memory, Las finds in the woods some clothes of her father, hidden in the greenery like a beast. This scene represents how this man lost any trace of humanity in the eyes of his daughter. Las finds on a boat the child version of herself, giving her back the teddy bear she lost and sleeping with her on the boat. She wakes up alone because she reunited with her child self, and the boat is moving along the river. Las reaches the beginning of the river and comforts Anna, ending the dream. After waking up from their nightmares, the girls meet for real, with Las under Anna’s window, concluding the short film.

Even though it’s part of a bigger story, this short film can be enjoyed on its own and it’s a very interesting visual and narrative experience, clearly the product of passion and skill of all the team of Flora’s Room. And after “S’Ammutadori – We are not alone”, what else? Well, I am pleased to announce that the presentation at Cartoon Springboard 2021 was a success! In fact, it won’t be a movie like initially planned, but a tv animated series in development with Spanish company Mago Production. The archive page of Cartoon Springboard 2021 presents The World of Las as follows:

"The World of Las" tells the story of a girl who wants to get rid of a bad memory that keeps her chained to the past, in order to finally be able to move on with her life. Las lives on a planet called "Land of the Real", where the soul is defined with the name of "Sacred Body" and is treated with the same criteria with which the body is medicated. Las would like to become an artisan of Golden Scars, but she's unable to fully carry out this passion because she's conditioned by childhood trauma, due to which she doesn't have the right psychological predisposition to practice that type of profession. To overcome this trauma, Las will set off on a journey where she will retrace past events and meet magical creatures that will help her find herself.

Currently, the page dedicated to The World of Las on the website of Flora’s Room presents three concept art illustrations, with a different art style from the one used in the short film, but just as stylized and charming as the first. While waiting for more news, let’s admire the wonderful illustrations of the future tv series. A new world inspired by Sardinian folklore will soon open to European viewers!