Stark700

The isekai genre is really becoming a hot new trend of recent years. From RPG game settings to being reborn into a fantasy world, it’s a genre that has attracted a lot of attention. One of the biggest shows from last year, Re:Zero really took that to a darker side. It seems these days, isekai focuses too much on fantasy adventures – the typical story involving survival, battling monsters, or forming guilds. Any fan of open world and MMORPG games knows these formulas as they make up a good deal of the gaming market as well. Then, there’s Isekai Shokudou, a show that takes onthe isekai genre but formulates it into something much more different. Also known as ‘Restaurant to Another World’, the series combines elements of fantasy, slice of life, and cooking. Coming into this show, I didn’t originally have high expectations. I would ask myself, “what’s so special about a show with cooking?” That was originally my first impression anyway as the first few episodes introduces the setting and characters. Make no mistake, the series’ title is what it is. The main setting takes place at a restaurant known as the “Yoshoku no Nekoya” (Western Cuisine Cat Restaurant). From the outside, it looks rather unremarkable. Still, it’s the inside that may surprise you especially with the delicious dishes it serves. More importantly are the characters that visits and work there. This anime consists of a very small cast of main characters. It all begins when the owner of the shop discovers Aletta, a demon girl eating discreetly at his restaurant. Having being rejected by the human world, she finds work at Nekoya and serves as a valuable asset. Joining them is Kuro, a strange black-horned elf girl who serves as a waitress to pay off her bills. Although the show consists of a small character cast, the Red Queen is one other distinguishing character to take notice as she has her own personal reasons to visit Nekoya. With a cast this small, it feels like the show is taking a daring risk to craft any story. To be honest, this show doesn’t have much of a plot as each episode is like a story of its own. The main premise is how this special restaurant brings otherworldly customers on Saturdays each week. These characters ranges from elves, fairies, animal men, and even dragons. From my perspective, the show doesn’t really need to rely on a concrete plot as it demonstrates the ability to entertain with its slice of life content. It achieves this with character interactions between the staff and patrons. While these patrons usually possesses otherworldly features, they behave just like normal human beings. It also helps that the show takes time to get us to know these characters. Some episodes gives us insight about their background stories, the world they came from, and even their origins. As a show that relies much more on its characters than story, it gives more reasons for the audience to care about them. Despite the show being very lighthearted, it still has some light drama such as fantasy discrimination. It’s why Aletta is ostracized from the human world in the first place. In addition, noble characters such as the half-elf Victoria forbids themselves to marry. On the other hand, dragons are (particularly the elder ones) are worshipped like Gods. To say the least, the cultural drama of the show is just enough to make it watchable but not enough to brew up a story. Now, how can we forget about the food? After all, it’s what the patrons are there for in the first place. Believe me, this series really knows how to craft its dishes. There’s all sorts of food introduced ranging from meat cutlets, fried shrimp, spaghetti, tofu steak, sandwiches, curry, buns, etc. As you can see, the cuisine is diverse and often adapts with each episode’s style. Each episode has new types of characters coming so each it introduces new food on the menu. I’m also surprised by the realistic details of the food as it looks very credible. The coloring, texture, and context overall make the food very convincing. Add the patrons’ reactions and you’ll quickly understand why. Adapted by Silver Link, the anime has a colorful vibe and solid visual quality with its character designs. The fantasy elements is very evident with the otherworldly characters and their different worlds. By character designs, they reflect on high fantasy traits such as with elf’s ears, demon’s horns, animalistic features of the animal men, etc. It’s very stylistic as the show makes them look convincingly as possible. The restaurant itself doesn’t look very remarkable as it has a very simple design, both inside and outside. There’s minimal fan service in this show as it really relies much more on the food to catch a viewer’s attention. Overall though, I think Silver Link got their point across when decorating the colorful style of the anime. I can’t say for a fact that the soundtrack of the show will be memorable. It’s mostly lighthearted and hardly noticeable most of the time. What did take my notice is the voice acting especially with Kuro. She’s perhaps the most unique character in the show as she communicates telepathically with others. She also has a stoic personality so stepping into the shoes of such a character is never easy. Thankfully, her role in the show is memorable for those traits thanks to the modern talents of Saori Oonishi. To be fair, Isekai Shokudou really lacks in storytelling and if you’re seeking a colorful plot, then look elsewhere. Almost every episode feels the same and doesn’t make much attempt to change despite different characters being featured. It’s also a show that can hardly make anyone laugh as its comedy side feels stale. However, I would say this show is recommendable especially if you’re more interested in a slice of life-fantasy anime. Every episode itself has a story and brings together characters to create something worth to talk about. The cooking elements is well-detailed and really offer an interesting side to culinary arts. This is a show that I didn’t regret watching as story isn’t always what matters on the menu.

Pipe

"When a strange door appears in front us, we should enter it with curious expectations, but I bet you, it won't be a restaurant." The restaurant "Youshoku no Nekoya" is known for the different dishes from the menu, but in this case, it is also known by the irregular persons that visit it on the Satur day. A magical door appears every seven days in different fantasy worlds allowing dragons, elf, dwarfs, human heroes and a select diverse group of lucky creatures to vist a restaurant from other world and taste all flavors that can not be found in their lands. Your first impression could be"the story is weak and lacks action." However, the story doesn't need action, fights, war, etc. The story's strength is in the attention to the details of the dishes, the feelings about the dishes, the taste, the flavors, the texture, and the background of the restaurant visitors. For me, it was nice seeing how the fantastic characters converged on a simple restaurant and they were able to create a small background of each one with some few minor stories or plot lines. The story has lots of characters, but they are unique and different. We can see some differences between each other. They like different dishes, they look different, and they came from different worlds. The design of each character varies. For example, there is a lion beast, and you could end seeing some drunk dwarf. The only relation that they have is a restaurant door even if they are from the same world. When they enter it, they are prepared for the worst, but they understand that is a place with fantastic food and different clients. It was excellent seeing that if a character goes to other "areas" or another kingdom, it could meet characters from the restaurant. That attention to the details of the writers is the strength of the show, call me silly, but that's how a great story is done. There isn't a principal character. Perhaps, the human Chef and the two waitresses (demon and dragon) are the most important characters for the story. They received a bit more background than the general characters. They share the same feelings towards the restaurant, the food and they enjoy working there. The sound mix is good. We aren't going to complain about it. The OP song "One In A Billion," is amazing. You will have that rhythm and lyrics inside your head for some hours. The art is great. I thought with the constant character changes the art could have a degradation of quality but no. The art and design use a vast color palette, lighting, and differs on the locations. The details of each character even if it appears a couple of minutes was outstanding and focus on the origin of the character. Those details, the combination of few plotlines, and a small story creates a character background. (Hope that the people from TROYCA and Re: Creators learn something from this animation. You can build a character with motion and few plot lines, lesson learned). Finally, the story could be boring to several spectators seeking action, but this anime isn't for everyone. Also, it isn't bad changing the genre from time to time and relax a bit while you enjoy some different short stories connected with the restaurant. I will recommend this show but with a small advice, do not expect fights, wars, etc. The animation focuses on the dishes and their description, the feeling from each character towards a different flavor and savor.