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Information

Title (English) Bistro Recipe

Title (Japanese) Kakuto Ryori Densetsu Bistro Recipe

Advertising
Fantasy Novel

Notes = "Fighting Foodons"
This 26-part series, which started on December 11, 2001, is by Group TAC ( http://www.g-tac.co.jp/bisutoro/bisutorotop.html )

Classification -

Synopsis You know, there are some anime out there with really strange premises, and the newest NHK anime, "Bistro Recipe" certainly fits into that category. This 26-part series, which started on December 11, 2001, is by Group TAC ( http://www.g-tac.co.jp/bisutoro/bisutorotop.html ) and is a magic card anime set in a mystical ancient China where chefs fight by releasing the "strength" in food.
Yes, what we have here is a fighting card game crossed with a cooking anime, similar in some ways to 1997's "Chuka Ichiban".
The story starts out with a prolog about a king who wanted to know which of two dishes was "stronger", a roasted bird or a soup with some tofu in it. A magician/chef came along, flipped two magic "recipe" cards onto the plates of food and two magic food-beings appeared and started to fight each other. The scene then shifted to a place where a giant statue was being built by slave labor. Three shadowy figures sneak into the statue just as a cloaked figure approaches a covered dish on an alter within the statue. The shadowy figures are 10 year old Zen, his 8 year old sister Karin and a strange, orange-striped floating "thing" called Omuresa. Zen and Karin release their father from a cell within the statue and, finding their father's magic food vending cart, escape.
In the meanwhile Zen's father tries to stop the ceremony, but fails and a pink furred cat girl called Mya Mya pops from under the cloak and flips a card on a dish of gyudon, releasing a giant gyudon beast that looks like a cross between a cow and Godzilla. The Gyu-do trashes the town for a while until Zen is given a magic card of his own, cooks up a rice dish and creates a fighting dish of rice. The rice-dish man defeats the Gyu-do beast, the kid's father goes off on a quest and the kids go off on their own, al la "Karakuri Kiden Hiou Senki". (Dave Baranyi)

Review The animation in the first show wasn't very good - there were lots of frames that were repeated over and over, and the general feel was very "stiff". There was some subtle CG used in some of the scenes, particularly for non-character animation but overall the show was pretty static. My guess is that they had a limited budget to work with. Also, since the show is very tongue-in-cheek, they may not have cared as much about how it looked.
All-in-all, the first episode was okay, but not terribly promising. I'm not sure where they are going to take this once they introduce the main characters, particularly since the main characters are kids, so they can't introduce the "sex and food" theme of the movie "Tampopo", for example. Never-the-less, I'll watch it for a while just to see what happens.
Dave Baranyi

Credits

Episodes 26

Release

TV Showing See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.

Date 2001 December 11 -

Production Group TAC

Broadcaster NHK

Animation

References & Help Look up the latest data on this title at:
Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or
Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) ,
or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001).
Help & further information.

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Information
Title (English)	Bistro Recipe
Title (Japanese)	Kakuto Ryori Densetsu Bistro Recipe
Advertising Fantasy Novel
Notes	= "Fighting Foodons" This 26-part series, which started on December 11, 2001, is by Group TAC ( http://www.g-tac.co.jp/bisutoro/bisutorotop.html )
Classification	-
Synopsis	You know, there are some anime out there with really strange premises, and the newest NHK anime, "Bistro Recipe" certainly fits into that category. This 26-part series, which started on December 11, 2001, is by Group TAC ( http://www.g-tac.co.jp/bisutoro/bisutorotop.html ) and is a magic card anime set in a mystical ancient China where chefs fight by releasing the "strength" in food. Yes, what we have here is a fighting card game crossed with a cooking anime, similar in some ways to 1997's "Chuka Ichiban". The story starts out with a prolog about a king who wanted to know which of two dishes was "stronger", a roasted bird or a soup with some tofu in it. A magician/chef came along, flipped two magic "recipe" cards onto the plates of food and two magic food-beings appeared and started to fight each other. The scene then shifted to a place where a giant statue was being built by slave labor. Three shadowy figures sneak into the statue just as a cloaked figure approaches a covered dish on an alter within the statue. The shadowy figures are 10 year old Zen, his 8 year old sister Karin and a strange, orange-striped floating "thing" called Omuresa. Zen and Karin release their father from a cell within the statue and, finding their father's magic food vending cart, escape. In the meanwhile Zen's father tries to stop the ceremony, but fails and a pink furred cat girl called Mya Mya pops from under the cloak and flips a card on a dish of gyudon, releasing a giant gyudon beast that looks like a cross between a cow and Godzilla. The Gyu-do trashes the town for a while until Zen is given a magic card of his own, cooks up a rice dish and creates a fighting dish of rice. The rice-dish man defeats the Gyu-do beast, the kid's father goes off on a quest and the kids go off on their own, al la "Karakuri Kiden Hiou Senki". (Dave Baranyi)
Review	The animation in the first show wasn't very good - there were lots of frames that were repeated over and over, and the general feel was very "stiff". There was some subtle CG used in some of the scenes, particularly for non-character animation but overall the show was pretty static. My guess is that they had a limited budget to work with. Also, since the show is very tongue-in-cheek, they may not have cared as much about how it looked. All-in-all, the first episode was okay, but not terribly promising. I'm not sure where they are going to take this once they introduce the main characters, particularly since the main characters are kids, so they can't introduce the "sex and food" theme of the movie "Tampopo", for example. Never-the-less, I'll watch it for a while just to see what happens. Dave Baranyi
Credits
Episodes	26
Release
TV Showing	See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.
Date	2001 December 11 -
Production	Group TAC
Broadcaster	NHK
Animation
References & Help	Look up the latest data on this title at: Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) , or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001). Help & further information.