Like many others, some of my favorite moments in Sangatsu no Lion involve the Kawamoto sisters.
I mean, for one, just look at them!
They absolutely ooze warmth and kindness, and are a very necessary component in Rei’s
life.
And there’s a noticeable presence among their scenes if you keep an eye out for it.
Can you guess what it is?
(Okay, the title kind of gives it away).
If you were to fast forward any episode of Sangatsu and pause it at the first appearance
of Akari, Hinata, or Momo, there’s likely to be food somewhere in the scene.
Whether it be sharing a family meal with Rei, coming up with new ideas for their sweets
shop, or being as pampered as possible; food is an integral part of March comes in like
a lion.
And this focus on food is something that greatly informs the series, as well as resonates particularly
strongly with my own personal experience.
But, before we get into that, why this focus on food?
I mean, Akari and Hina are constantly inviting Rei over for dinner, multiple episodes begin
with food preparation, and in truth, if you were sneaky enough about it, you could probably
convince an outsider that Sangatsu was somehow a cooking anime.
It seems a little out of place in an anime about a depressed shogi player.
Take a look at it this way though, food is much more than just sustenance.
In Sangatsu, it’s often a form of communication, a sort-of sign of solidarity.
Hina panics over the bento she prepares for Takahashi because it’s a delivery vessel
for her feelings.
Kyouko showcases her balance of toxicity and vulnerability while (rudely) scarfing down
Rei’s food, and Rei himself invites the sisters to the flowing noodle event as a means
to show his gratitude.
The act of eating together is a message in-and-of-itself.
When people share food, researchers found that levels of oxytocin, the hormone associated
with love and bonding, increased significantly.
Eating with other people signifies trust and caring—something that Akari and Hina desperately
want to communicate—to the point of kidnapping a sick Rei and stuffing him full of rice porridge.
Families that eat together are happier on average, increase communication skills, and
lower teenage deviancy such as school truancy.
But there’s another reason as to why food is so important to the Kawamotos, and that’s
because it has to be.
Because well, they’re poor as hell.
The show presents this matter-of-factly, rather than trying to force it as some sort-of dramatic
talking point.
Their bathroom is one thin wall away from their living room, their living space is cramped,
and money is a consistent constant factor in Akari’s mind.
She freaks out about the cost of the bento Hina wants to prepare and is seemingly obsessed
with grocery store sales.
If you pay close attention, you’ll see that every bit of food packaging she presents has
some sort of discount tag.
When Rei decides to treat the Kawamotos out of his pocket, instead of buying them a material
gift—he treats them out to a luxurious dinner instead.
To me, this careful depiction of Akari’s mentality towards food was extremely resonant.
You see, my family never had much money growing up.
We were never close to the struggling that many families go through on a daily basis,
and I don’t mean to trivialize their experience.
Still, I remember scraping soap scum off of our bathwater so that we could reuse it, and
subsequently save a bit on our water bill.
All of the money my sister and I got for Christmas and New Years went towards our bills.
All of the food we ate for dinner was whatever happened to be on sale that day.
But, you know what?
I never once felt like I was poor.
And I have to thank my dad for that.
He understood the importance of eating together, and while most families ate around 5 to 6,
we stayed up to 9 to eat as a family.
Just like how all of the food on Sangatsu looks absolutely incredible, it didn’t matter
if we were eating stuff that was slightly old, my dad worked hard to make sure it tasted
damn good.
In many ways, the Kawamotos’ grandpa reminds me of my dad.
Towards the end of the series, Hina begins to get anxiety over wanting to go to Rei’s
expensive private school and asks herself if it’s truly okay to be so selfish.
She begins to fixate on how she can help the shop the best, worrying about money more than
her studies.
And like the mind-reader he is, grandpa reaches out to her to let her know it’s okay.
Unlike other households, he acknowledges that money should be something that kids think
about.
But he reassures Hina that he’s still got some fight left in him.
And just like Hina’s grandpa, my dad put effort into making sure I didn’t have to
obsessively worry about money.
On that note, I’d just like to leave off on what I think is an amusing anecdote.
It was the start of my second year at an expensive private university, and I had just lost a
good portion of my scholarship.
I mustered up the courage to tell my dad in our native language that I’d need another
two thousand dollars per semester.
He sat down and thought intensely for what seemed like forever, when he finally said
he’d have to take up a second or third job, or even withdraw some of his life insurance
policy.
Confused, I repeated it in English which resulted in a large sigh and a slight chuckle.
It seems as I had said twenty thousand dollars the first time.
And to this day I’m astonished that his first reaction was “what can I do to keep
my son happy.”
I love you dad.
Happy father’s day.
Thanks for watching and be sure to like and subscribe for more content.
If you’re on good terms with your dad, be sure to reach out on today of all days.
And of course, if anything I said was wrong, I’m sorry.
I must’ve stuttered.