Autumn is the season for anime fans to get fat. ......? The 6 "Iitero anime" that will make your stomach grumble! Akiba Research Institute Writer's Choice, Anime Samurai Selection No. 7

The theme of this issue is "Cooking Anime. Even though the Corona disaster seems to have gradually calmed down, the situation in Tokyo is still unpredictable, with 100 to 200 new cases reported every day, so we cannot enjoy eating out with open arms. So, I would like to express my wish that we should at least enjoy our palates as much as we can in anime, and blow away the gloomy atmosphere by enjoying the two great pleasures of anime and eating.

It's more like "autumn of appetite. Autumn is the season of nourishing delicacies, as they say, "When the sky is high and the horses are fattened," or "When the swordfish comes out, the masseurs retreat," or "When the persimmons turn red, the doctors turn blue. This would be an appropriate theme for this time of year. Looking back on the many dishes and the various anime in which they have appeared, we would like to introduce the ultimate and supreme culinary anime.

Fushigi Dagashiya Sentendo

Looking at the anime airing in the fall season of 2020, there are unfortunately very few anime works with "cooking" as a theme. One of the few that I would like to introduce is "Fushigi Dagashiya Zentendo," which has the word "dagashi" in the title.

Based on a popular children's book, the story is about a boy and a girl who are lucky enough to wander into a mysterious candy store and have even more mysterious experiences with the candy they encounter there. The "Katanuki Mermaid Gummies," which allow you to swim like a mermaid when you eat them, the "Ravenous Beast Biscuits," which start moving when you take them out of the box, and the "Horned Ice Cream," which makes ghosts appear in your house when you eat only half of it, are all very attractive products, and as is typical of Toei Animation, which has a strong image of animation for children, the characters also have strange and The characters also eat the food with relish. This is a work that should be seen by men and women of all ages, but since it is a little different from the main purpose of "cooking," I'll stop here for now.

Golden Kamui

Another fall 2020 anime that focuses on food is "Golden Kamui. It is also the only work this season that claims "gourmet" in its catchphrase. It is a "Japanese-style dark-pot Western" with the word "hunting" in front of "gourmet" and "adventure," "history," "culture," and "romance" also in the catchphrase.

The main ingredients are wild game and wild vegetables, and the taste of bitterness is noteworthy, especially the brains of squirrels and rabbits. In particular, the part where the brains of squirrels and rabbits, and the liver of deer are eaten raw is a particularly interesting part of the film. ......

Unlike the original work, in which the food is elaborately drawn, the anime's depiction of the food can be described as Ghibli-style, with a lot of gravy and soft, rich drawings.

Nevertheless, the "chitatapu" (beat), which is a rite of passage for Ainu cuisine for the characters, and the "ohau" (soup, nabe) made with various ingredients, as if set in Hokkaido, a treasure trove of food, will warm you up just by looking at them. Itou, made famous by "Tsurikichi Sanpei," also makes an appearance, and its thick meat and skin, which softens when grilled, are something to savor (but don't try sucking on a raw eyeball that you can hold in both hands). Incidentally, speaking of "Golden Kamui" food scenes, it is tempting to mention episode 20, which is famous for its "otter stew," but since it is not a gourmet episode, I will skip it. However, the performances of Chikahiro Kobayashi (Saichi Sugimoto), Kentaro Ito (Yoshitake Shiraishi), Yoshimasa Hosoya (Genjiro Tanigaki), Kenjiro Tsuda (Hyakunosuke Ogata), and Masaki Terasoma (Kirolanke), all of whom give off an intoxicating, male-like odor, are a must-listen in this episode.

The third season of the series, this time around, will be the first since the "Karafuto Arc" of the original work, and will actually feature much fewer cooking scenes. Still, we can look forward to the depiction of northern regional cuisine that we do not usually see or hear about, such as Shiro (mountain reindeer) cooking by the Wilta people living in Karafuto and Russian cuisine such as borscht.

Fortunate Belly Graffiti

As mentioned above, unfortunately, no "cooking anime" was included in the 2020 fall anime lineup, but in recent years, cooking and gourmet anime have become a popular genre.

Following in the footsteps of "Solo no Gourmet" and "Midnight Diner" in the seinen manga series, "Hana no Zuborahan" and "What'd You Eat Yesterday? and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in the girls' manga series. These works made gourmet food and cooking popular in the manga scene, and this trend was followed by a succession of animated works featuring gourmet food and cooking. One of these works that marked a turning point in the series was "Koukibu Graffiti," which was animated in the winter of 2015.

In order to stabilize the quality of the dishes depicted in the series, the position of "Meshi Designer/Meshi Supervisor" was created for this work. This position was held by Yoshiaki Ito, who had been in charge of many of the cooking scenes at Shaft up to that point. Since a variety of dishes appear in every episode of "Koukibu Graffiti," the position was created to allow for the individuality of the staff on site.

In this work, layers were created for the different colored parts, and each was processed separately. Therefore, even though Mr. Ito created the settings and took the lead in the drawing as the "Meishi" supervisor, the dishes in "Koukibu Graffiti" were the result of much trial and error with the color designer and cinematographer, and as a result, the dishes had depth and profundity that was highly evaluated by Director Akiyuki Shinbo. The accumulation of such experience is also demonstrated in "March Lion" and other works produced by the same Shaft.

Today's Gohan at Emiya-san's

The number of animation directors specializing in cooking has increased, and in recent years, the level of animation in cooking scenes in anime has become higher, even if they are not limited to cooking anime. Compared to the improved quality of the animation itself, many may feel that particular focus is being placed on the depiction of cooking and meal scenes.

However, since these are animated films, they tend to be highly saturated and have an illuminating effect. The same is true of advertising photos and food samples, which are vividly colored because the food is to be tasted with all five senses and must be expressed only visually and aurally. Liquids also tend to be highly viscous. In terms of color, "Emiya-san's Today's Gohan" stands out from other works.

This work is part of the "Fate" series and is set in Fuyuki City, which has been depicted in "stay night" and "Zero," and is filled with familiar characters.

The main character, Emiya Shirou, cooks up a dish that brings Saber, Rin, Sakura, and the other characters closer together ....... It is a slow-paced work with an everyday anime feel, but the background art (BG) is subdued, giving the world of the work an overall light, austere impression. The background art (BG) is subdued, giving the world of the work an overall light and austere impression. The work gives a strong impression of a very calm atmosphere amidst many highly saturated animation works. At the same time, this creates a big gap from the dark and bloody image of other "Fate" series works, and contributes to establishing a unique position for this work.

On the other hand, since the cooking by Shiro and his dishes are the main point of this work, it is possible that the overall color design was determined from the color of the dishes. However, the fact that the desire for realistic texture in the dishes matched the worldview of the work made it possible to express the dishes in a way that was not exaggerated, as mentioned above.

The dishes that appear in the work are all commonplace offerings, such as "Salmon Foil Baked with Salmon" using salmon obtained at a bargain price at the fish shop where Lancer works, and "Fried Fish that Tastes Good Even When Cold," which is impressive for its unexpected point of frying the fish a couple of times after cracking it, which gives a pleasant feeling of happiness after watching it.

Another example of exquisite artwork that is not brightly colored can be found in Mamoru Hosoda's films, where the food is blended into the screen with colors that are typical of Japanese cuisine. See his latest work "Mirai no Mirai" to find out.

Otherworldly Izakaya - Izakaya Nobu in the Ancient City of Aethelia

One way to express "deliciousness" on the screen is not by drawing or coloring the food itself, but by making full use of the direction. In "Isekai Izakaya - Izakaya Nobu in the Ancient Capital of Aethelia," onomatopoeic sounds are used when eating.

First, when the onomatopoeia of eating was represented on the screen, we tried to match the textual representation of the onomatopoeia with the food. The word "shuwar" for beer is depicted as foaming, and "puchiuchi" (rounded green letters) is used when eating edamame (green soybeans) served with the meal. And the onomatopoeic characters for eating a single pickled cucumber were edged in dark green, with a light green pattern on the inside. This is a design-inspired way of expressing the food in a rather exaggerated way.

Although the onomatopoeia created to match the food does not necessarily convey a sense of deliciousness, it is an interesting method of presentation that stimulates both the sense of sight and hearing at the same time. Also, in the cooking scenes, one can see the detailed aspect of the cooking animation, such as when lemon juice is poured over fried chicken, the lemon peel is placed on the bottom.

Mr. Ajikko

However, in terms of a means of expressing cuisine, it is not only the description of the food, but also the preparation, the introduction of the ingredients, and the eating scenes, including how the characters eat, where they eat, and in what state of mind they eat ....... Needless to say, in order to express the deliciousness of a dish, it is necessary to consider the entire scene in which the dish appears.

For example, the food scenes depicted in works such as "Manga Nihon Mukashi Banashi" and the World Masterpiece Theater series may have simple drawings and descriptions, but they are delicately staged in terms of the way the characters eat and their facial expressions, and the food has always attracted the viewers. Looking at recent works, "Violet Evergarden" is, of course, not a cooking anime, but the meal scenes often appear, and they are one of the expressions that reveal the inner lives of Violet and the characters, showing the skill of Kyoto Animation, which is known for its character modeling.

To begin with, "meals" are a typical means of expressing "daily life" in anime, where only a small portion of life is cut out. In order to bring characters living in extraordinary situations, such as battles in space, adventures in the magical world, or facing obstacles to overcome in society, down to a sympathetic, flesh-and-blood existence, everyday scenes such as eating, bathing, and sleeping are effective.

Among these "non-" everyday scenes, the meal scene is the one in which the characters show their true colors.

Therefore, carefully depicting the meal scenes means carefully depicting the characters, which in turn adds depth to the meal scenes. In this respect, "Mr. Ajikko" was the ultimate and supreme culinary anime.

The original comic of this work was serialized in "Weekly Shonen Magazine" (Kodansha) in 1986, and like "Mimi Shinbo," which began serialization in 1983, and "The Chef" and "Cooking Papa," which began serialization in 1985, it was one of the works from the era of the rise of cooking manga.

The anime adaptation was realized in 1987, a year before "Mimi Shinbo" (1988), and was co-sponsored in 1990 by five anime magazines, including "Animedia" (Gakken), "The Anime" (Kindai Eigaisha), "My Anime" (Akita Shoten), "Monthly OUT" (Minori Shobo) and "Animek" (Laporte), It won the Atom Award, the best award in TV animation, of the Japan Animation Awards, of which Osamu Tezuka was the executive committee chairman. The work is still legendary for its fantastical depiction of what it means to be delicious, and as such, it was a highly acclaimed work of animation.

So why is "Mr. Ajikko" the ultimate and supreme culinary anime? This work was originally scheduled to finish airing after 25 episodes, but was extended three times in increments of 25 episodes, eventually running for 99 episodes. Therefore, the ending of the anime was different from that of the original work. What is "cooking" and what is "delicious"? The anime also hits on the essence of the questions "what is cooking" and "what is delicious?

One of the characters in "Mr. Ajikko" and the symbol of the series is Genjiro Murata, a.k.a. "Ajihito," who is the most flamboyant in expressing the deliciousness of his cuisine. He is the leader of the "Ajihito Culinary Association," a group of chefs who pursue gastronomy, and his sincere attitude toward taste and deep love for cooking lead to his excessive expressions when he encounters deliciousness. However, in the anime, Ajihito lost his memory after an incident, and for several episodes near the end of the series, the people around him cooked and fed him food in an attempt to regain his memory.

In the end, it was "a dish" by the main character, Yoichi Ajikichi, that brought back Ajihito's memory, rather than the top chefs of the Ajihito Cooking Club. The last few episodes around the final episode captured the very essence of cooking, and it was not just about the pictures of the dishes or the direction of the scenes, but about the "delicious dishes" that were depicted as the conclusion to the 99 episodes of the story.

The question is whether "deliciousness" can be described in absolute terms, or only subjectively, as it is derived from the background of each person who eats it, which is also true of the expression of deliciousness in cooking anime. The director Yasuhiro Imagawa, a genius, led the audience to this moving and meaningful finale, and although he had to cut it down for the broadcast, he had originally prepared the following line for Yoichi Ajikichi's mother, Noriko: "Mother, too, once upon a time, had a fever.

She had prepared the following line for Yoichi's mother, Hoko: "Once upon a time, my mother had my grandmother cook for me when I had a fever. I don't remember exactly what it tasted like, but it was really delicious. Even now, Mom, there are times when I wish I could try the food she cooked for me.

Mr. Ajikko" is a work that shows the significance of "anime adaptation" of a work with an original story, but it is also a work that shows one answer to the question of cooking anime. It is also a work that showed us one answer in the field of cooking animation.

(Text by Koji Shimizu)