It’s not everyday when you see an anime about cooking. Yeah, you’ll usually see anime characters eating, but not actually being so passionate about it. Passionate would be the best word to describe our main character, Ryou.
Our main character is an 8th grader named Ryou. We see her cooking for herself, hearing her narrate the steps she takes to cook her food perfectly. Her voice is sweet and soft, it’d actually be pretty nice to hear in a cooking show. But even when the food looks great and smells great, it actually tastes horrible. Whoops. She sulks and thinks she’ll be a shit wife for not being able to cook…okay. Whatever. Then she gets a call from her aunt saying that a second cousin the same age as her is also trying to get into the same arts high school as her, and she’ll be visiting every Sunday to take classes there. With nowhere to go, she’ll be staying at Ryou’s place just for that day.
So Ryou goes out to meet her cousin.
SHE’S CUTE. And also very tiny. She looks younger than she is, but I sadly know how that’s like. This is Kirin’s story. She wants to go to that arts school and so she wanted to go to the cram school in Tokyo, where Ryou lives. But wherever Kirin lives, it’s really far to commute, even if it’s for one day of the week. Her mother opposes the idea, but Kirin does it anyway.
The rest of the episode consists of Kirin catching a cold, Ryou cooking her for, and the girls quickly getting along with lots of talking. This whole episode is talking, not much cooking. I mean, Ryou makes a lot of food, but we don’t actually see the process. Before, Ryou thought her food tasted terrible. But when Kirin ate the hotpot she made, Kirin said it was delicious. And when Ryou tried it, she found it delicious also. Basically, what Kirin said later is the reason for the change. Food tastes a lot better when eating it with other people. Ryou lives alone because her parents work overseas. She used to live with her grandmother, but she recently passed away. She has an aunt, but she’s always busy as well so that just leaves Ryou alone. Finally sharing her food with someone else makes her pretty happy. She’s pretty young to be living by herself, but protagonists living alone is pretty common in anime.
That’s basically what happened this episode. What did I think? Even though it was just the girls talking to each other, I liked it. It’s a really calm show, there’s not too much drama right now, since it’s just starting. The moe is the right amount for me. Even if it was only one episode, I already have a good feel of the characters. Ryou is a calm and sweet girl. The way she was taking care of Kirin was really motherly, and she’s very soft-spoken. Kirin is a little childish and she loves eating, and she’s really sweet too.
Even if not much happened, I actually liked the episode. One thing about the girls that we don’t know is what they want to study at this arts school. I’m guessing it’s cooking for Ryou? This show is about cooking, so I’m guessing that’s what it is. At least I hope so. I forgot that SHAFT was animating this, and I was dreading what the art style would be, but I quite like it. They’re not doing the exaggerated zoomed-out negative space thing that they always do, and the other shit they do that I hate. So I think I’m going to stick by this show.
Possibility of watching: Moderate
Possibility of blogging: Moderate
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Hideki’s Review
Ah, looks like Berry beat me to the punch of making up the review. So in that case, I’ll throw up my own two cents about the show and my first impression.
First of all, I agree with Berry’s opinion on this show. it’s slow, but fun and calm at the same time. I like both the characters, but…there’s a few things that I picked up on that I have to address. First off, the sexuality.
The episode started up with this and it actually caught me off guard.
And then it would jump right back to the cute style. So i’m sitting here going “…what the fuck was i just watching?”
I’m actually confused whenever this sort of thing pops up. and it happens a few times. I sit here going… “Are they TRYING to be sexual?” because they run by so fast, it’s like a drive by sexual fetish.
The moe and the sexual parts jar so extremely that I don’t even know what to say when they pop up. The best way I can describe it is like the movie “Pleasantville” (for those of you who remember that). It’s like the moe part is Pleasantville and the sexual parts are well…the sex. and when those happen, instead of it changing from black and white to color, the art changes from moe to sexy when the main character eats something. But, that could just be me.
Bearing away from that, this show may not be the most action packed or interesting show in the world, but it’s….well I was going to say harmless but….
Yeah, not so sure about that.
I like the smaller character with the purple hair. She’s fun and has a personality and looks like she’ll bring the energy into the show. The main girl however…getting a little worried about her. I think she gets a little TOO into eating. I mean Toriko likes eating but this chick….maybe a little too much.
Overall it does fall a tad on the bland side, but I’m sure that’ll improve with time. I enjoyed it enough to want to see where it’s going, and I would pick this up with Berry. So yeah…not bad..
Head: well i can’t say there’s really a PLOT to speak of other than girl alone..cooking..The biggest problem is NOTHING has really happened yet. so um… 5/10?
Eye: the art is cute, but once again, the sexuality makes it a bit weird at times. not bad..but weird. 7/10
Heart: The relationships between the characters are cute, especially erotic eater and purple haired girl (please it’s episode 1. you think i memorized their names yet?) I’m interested in seeing more of them develop but as of right now it’s…okay? 5/10
Overall score 5.5/10
Not too amazing but it has promise.
Watching: Moderate
Blogging: Moderate
-Hideki
