By Dustin Cabeal

To review Twende is to first admit that I did not watch Twende on the streaming service Showmax which produced the thirteen episodes that make up the first season. I have however become obsessed with Showmax’s programming and originals and hope that they soon find themselves stream outside of the forty-four African countries they currently stream in. This is all just a way for me to say the internet is a wonderful place in which you can find things from other countries and watch them, but I have no way of legal way of recommending Twende to you and there in lies the rub. Because I desperately want more of this show, my children want more of this show.

I will save you the marketing breakdown, a simple search of the show’s name will bring that up over and over and out of some form of giving back I will link to the show’s page here. Twende is the character’s name, his best friend and navigation bird’s name is Nuru, and they drive a motorbike taxi, but in reality, it breaks from that instantly. That is one of the best things about the show, while this is the first season, it is so polished and familiar that it comes across like a third or fourth.

The first episode barely establishes what the characters do as one of the drivers for the company is preparing for a stunt jump and our main character Twende must step in for them because their allergies are too much. No one is picked up by taxi… both company’s drivers are training for the stunt, and this is never annoying or disappointing.

With their only being thirteen episodes I’m not going to recap you on all of them, but I will say that episodes like “License to Chill” with its MDMV (basically the DMV) jokes and running gap from a sub character named Jimbo whispering “MDMV” after every story beat and then finally crossing a line with Twende when he loses his comfy chair to lava and says, “Not is not the right time, Jimbo” and then stomps away. Or the Ostrich that drinks its own tears as it loses its grip on its sanity. Another stand out episode is “The Baron, The Burglars and The Ball” which features my favorite character Boss, which is a hyena and frankly the worst best character. They are using his terrible luck to break into the tech conglomerate’s party to get back their repo’d bole bole’s, which is the motorbike taxis. At one point food drops on the floor and Boss and Madam Mongoose bond of not wanting to throw it away. Him because it’s food and he can eat it, her because she’s cheap and wants to save money. Her assistant asks, who would eat food off the floor he responds by putting the assistant’s hand in his mouth while holding the food and then saying, “The smart and the brave.” It’s simple, it’s brilliant and it doesn’t rely on making fun of other movies and tv shows like so many animated shows currently rely on.

Something else that was peculiar about the story is the lack of set up. To use Futurama as an example, the entire first season sets up the structure of the jobs and the humor that follows. They’re going to make those deliveries, they’re going to keep to the rules presented by that first episode as much as possible, but when the second season hits that’s all forgotten. The characters drive the story, their responses to the situations are what make them hilarious and enduring, but even with talented experienced writers, this usually takes a few seasons and a lot more episodes. Twende does that out of the gate and just teaches you what each character does and the world they are in as the show goes on.

For instance, I pointed out that our main supporting character Nuru is a navigation bird, but that’s not established until the tenth episode and isn’t outright said. You just have to pay attention. It’s like that with most of the characters, you’re figuring out their role in the world as you’re shown but you’re never just told.

Even though Boss is my favorite character, he is the most out of place due to the fact that this show is recommended for kids 6 to 11. He owes money to shady people in the first episode and nearly has them come to collect on his life. At one point he needs to find a treasure to pay off debt and upon doing so he makes a joke about returning to living paycheck by paycheck. He is not for kids, and I struggled letting my kids watch this because of his jokes. They didn’t get his deeper meaning, but the exposure is what I struggled with. It became a bit of a back and forth with myself deciding if this was truly something for them or something for me. It’s not as if the humor is adult, but the maturity of the story settings might be. Afterall, kids don’t really understand or get DMV jokes… ever.

At the same time, there are so many episodes in which the message is to be your best person, that friendships and personal relationships are more important than phones and money. The relationship between Twende and Nuru goes back to this theme in several episodes in which one or the other must remind themselves that their friendship is bigger than whatever the plot of the episode is. There’s only one Twende, says Nuru multiple times and while it can feel like a hollow thing to hear in a kids show the way it’s presented in Twende feels anything but hollow.

There was a time in animation when the opening credits were from animation that you would see later in the show. It was part clipped out of the season that were turned into the opening. At some point, possibly due to the popularity of anime, a new opening sequence was animated, and it rarely had things that you would ever see in the show and typically the budget was better giving it a different look from the show. Twende gets a lot of respect from me in that every frame of animation in the opening is from an episode. Not one frame is just for opening and if it weren’t for my son, I would never have noticed as I’ve become so accustomed to blocking out opening sequences due to the animation shift and frankly unrelated story aspects presented in the opening. After he started to mention things like, “We haven’t seen that episode yet” I paid closer attention and realized how amazing the opening was.

In speaking of the animation, it is a rare treat. I’m not sure what company did the actual animation, but I hope at the very least they will produce more. The comedic timing is amazing, but then also the movement in general is smooth and beautiful. One of the strongest aspects is the facial expressions of the anthropomorphic cast. Boss would be an easy character to go back to, but Nuru is the most expressive as her character is full of anxiety and stress compared to Twende and she wears that on her face in every episode.

Given that the show is based in Africa the animation also keeps with a lot of traditional African iconography. Backgrounds of distinct patterns, clothing has a blend of the west and African. It’s a blend that brings the world to life and gives the show a distinct look that is refreshing and great. By no means am I saying it’s anything like Bluey when it comes to story, but in terms of iconic imagery and standout animation, I would hold it in the same vein. When you look at Bluey you say “Australia” and when you look at Twende you say, “Africa.”

While the press release will also mention that the entire cast if from Kenya, I will also mention that. It’s something worth noting, but also worthing noting is how great the voice acting is. It’s lively and fitting. Each character’s voice fits with their personality and onscreen presences. Each is distinct just like the characters and the voice directing is superb.

Again, this review is a bit of a struggle to present. I have a weird obsession with finding and watching animation from other countries and so finding Twende was a treat. I would love to see it released worldwide and more episodes produced. It’s a remarkable show with great animation and fresh writing. My only regret is not being able to support it properly so that all of that can happen, but maybe a review will help a little.

Score: 5/5