Oishinbo

Back in 2020, I was lucky enough to catch the Youtube re-run of Oishinbo. At the time, I knew nothing about this anime other than that it was about gourmet food. I decided to give it a try after a friend told me that this re-run came with English subtitles. It’s pretty unusual to see an anime Youtube re-run have English subtitles, as most rarely have any, if at all. I ended up loving the almost year-long journey it took to watch the weekly-releasing episodes, which is why I was bummed out to find that Oishinbo is relatively unknown in the western community, at least ... on MAL and Anilist. There was barely any information about it on the web, with only the occasional article and a wiki. What I did find however, rather surprising, is that Oishinbo is one of the best-selling manga in Japan, selling a total of over 135 million copies out of 111 volumes. Alongside its 136-episode anime, it has two animated films, one live-action film, and a goddamn Famicom visual novel adaptation, with its popularity spawning numerous references within Japanese pop culture. Okay, let's take a step back for a moment. What even is Oishinbo? And why is it so popular in Japan?

(To preface this review, I will be referencing and occasionally paraphrasing an academic paper written on Oishinbo that I’ll link below. I recommend anyone who’s interested give it a read, as it’s very interesting.)

Oishinbo is about gourmet food. Gourmet is actually a genre of anime and manga called “Gurume” in Japan, which had an explosion in mainstream popularity back in the 1980s. Manga like Cooking Papa, Aji Ichi Monme, Mister Ajikko, and, of course, Oishinbo were all bursting at the seams due to an increased interest in fine foods and culinary dining associated with the economic bubble at the time. Oishinbo was at the forefront of this wave of popularity and thus catapulted to becoming the most recognisable and critically acclaimed of the bunch. This popularity isn’t without reason. Oishinbo took a unique approach with its storytelling compared to the Shonen Jump Gourmet manga that came before it. Instead of focusing on a character’s "Perseverance in the face of impossible odds, craftsmanship, and the quest for excellence," as described by Frederik L. Schodt in his book “Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics," Oishinbo focuses on the character’s discernment. While there are still moments where characters show off their artisan's skill, it’s less about striving to be the best but rather describing the sophisticated processes that go into the craft of making food. Compared to the Gourmet manga before it, Oishinbo had a sense of relatability, as it’s less about a character's journey and more about learning alongside the characters. This is a key difference in storytelling that helped propel Oishinbo into mainstream success, and only five years after its initial publication, Oishinbo gets its first adaptation in the form of a 136-episode-long TV anime.

The story of Oishinbo is relatively simple. A journalist and food critic named Yamaoka Shirou and his co-worker Kurita Yuuko are tasked by their newspaper company to provide recipes for an “Ultimate Menu." They set out to meet new people and learn about new foods, thus creating the episodic stories for each episode. Being an episodic drama about food, stories can range from learning how to properly fillet a massive fish to the effects of pesticides on vegetable agriculture. There are episodes that focus on interpersonal relationships between family members and marriages, and there’s even episodes like episode 18, where Yamaoka challenges a biker gang to see how fast they can drive to deliver fresh oysters in time, which causes a massive police chase and- Okay, some episodes can get pretty silly. However, a major aspect of most episodes is learning new information. Whether it be correct cooking techniques or scientific information about the food itself, most episodes are about Yamaoka teaching others about these things. This educational style of storytelling is very entertaining, which is how Oishinbo maintained a high level of popularity over multiple decades. Even after the economic bubble popped in the 90s, you can imagine that Oishinbo became a way to continue exploring culinary arts and gourmet foods for many people throughout Japan. As a westerner, Oishinbo is an incredibly captivating series to me, as it provides an insight into both Japanese and all sorts of other Asian cuisine that I haven’t even heard of before. Not only this, certain episodes feature Yamaoka travelling to different locations throughout Japan, another aspect I love about Oishinbo as someone who’s never experienced Japanese culture before. This sense of learning and relatability is incredibly captivating, and Oishinbo takes full advantage of this in more subtle ways than one might realise.

The art of Oishinbo’s manga utilises a technique known as masking, wherein the designs are kept purposefully simple yet recognisable, as a way for the reader to project themselves onto said designs. This is then contrasted to the incredibly detailed background art and, in Oishinbo’s case, the art of the food as well. This way, the realism is focused more on the food than the characters, who represent more of a fictitious element that the reader can mask themselves as. This is seen commonly throughout the earlier volumes with Yamaoka’s “gremlin” design; however, later on in the manga, he becomes much more detailed and refined. Anyway, the anime takes a much different approach to Oishinbo’s art style. While the same masking principles apply—the designs are kept somewhat cartoonish and simple—the anime designs feel a lot more detailed and personalised to the characters themselves.

Translating a masking art style into animation is possible; however, since this adaptation is within a completely different medium, Oishinbo is able to focus on other elements that produce the same effects as masking. What I mean by this is that Oishinbo is able to instead utilise animation and sound as a way to engross its audience within its world. We get to see Yamaoka actually move around and speak, so when Yamaoka starts teaching characters about culinary information, it feels as if the audience is being taught as well. Information is presented in a way that is purposefully made to be easy for the audience to understand. This is what makes Yamaoka so captivating as a main character; he purposely presents cooking as an accessible artform that anyone can master if they understand the proper techniques and facts. Not only this, the food itself is kept impressively detailed, which recreates the manga’s contrast between what is fictional and what is realism. This realism is also supported by incredible sound design, an element unique to anime. In the manga, the sounds of food and people eating are expressed through onomatopoeia, but the anime is able to utilise sound design to add another layer of realism. We hear the sound of food being prepared and served, and we hear the slight sounds of characters chewing on food. The Oishinbo anime makes the most of elements unique to its medium to create an experience unlike the manga. However, there is another important aspect to Oishinbo’s visual style that not only aids these audio-visual elements but also gives it another layer of visual flair.

The Osamu Dezaki influence is written all over Oishinbo’s visual style. This makes a lot of sense, taking into consideration the director, Takeuchi Yoshio. Prior to Oishinbo’s release, Takeuchi had worked on almost every major Dezaki production since Ace wo Nerae in 1973, joining MADHOUSE around that time. He’s listed as an assistant episode director, storyboarder and script writer, and main episode director for many anime like Gamba no Bouken, Ie Naki Ko, Takarajima, Versailles no Bara, Ashita no Joe 2, Space Cobra, and many, many more. To say Takeuchi was influenced by Dezaki feels like a bit of an understatement. His style is the most Dezaki you'll find outside of a Dezaki project (lol). The effect of Takeuchi's time working under Dezaki's influence can be seen throughout many of his directorial projects going forward, with Oishinbo being the clearest example of this. Oishinbo has many uses of Dezaki techniques, like stark lighting that uses real lighting that shines across the cels, glistening water that is very reminiscent of the water in Takarajima, extensive uses of Dutch angles to create dramatic effects, of which Oishinbo has many such moments, the use of split screens within shots that emphasise the different emotions and dramatic elements of any given scene, and most importantly, many, and I mean many, postcard memories. Without fail, every single episode ends with a postcard memory. A highlight of this visual style is in episode 131, where almost every aspect is cranked up to 100, making an incredibly well-directed episode also a visual spectacle. This brings up another important point I have about Oishinbo’s visuals: they're very consistent.

Oishinbo has a level of quality that remains consistent throughout the anime. Rarely were there episodes where I noticed the production struggling. Rather, there were episodes that blew me away with their consistency. Episode 29 is a good example of what I’m talking about. There is a long train scene as Yamaoka and his coworkers take a company trip, and throughout this scene there are many different shots and angles that rarely reuse any backgrounds. This is impressive when taking into consideration that each background is hand-painted. Oishinbo takes the extra step to make scenes like these more engaging by consistently having multiple shots of the same train car. One thing I noticed when reaching the 3rd half of Oishinbo is that the quality took a massive improvement. More episodes put a heavy emphasis on shading and unique lighting, reminiscent of the late 80s to early 90s era of Dezaki anime (e.g., Onii-sama E and the Ace wo Nerae OVAs). Even episodes with the least amount of animation utilise unique techniques to make scenes feel engaging. You can imagine a prolonged scene where a bunch of characters are sitting around a table discussing food; it wouldn’t be that visually engaging, but by utilising both interesting Dezaki techniques and a great understanding of shot composition, Oishinbo is able to maintain a level of consistent engagement and quality that is very impressive. In many ways, the art style of Oishinbo’s anime adds another layer to the already well-defined art style of its manga to create an engaging visual experience unique to itself.

With all this being said, visual style isn’t the only thing that makes a good anime. Fortunately, though, Oishinbo delivers amazingly with its storytelling, character-building, and world-building too. As I mentioned before, Yamaoka is a character who helps those he encounters by teaching them proper techniques when it comes to cooking, harvesting, and even serving customers. Yamaoka is always willing to support others and presents the culinary arts as an accessible art form that anyone can master. This creates the basis for Oishinbo’s themes, wherein relationship building and community take the forefront of each episode rather than the food itself. The food in Oishinbo only serves to aid the thematic elements of these stories, with the only exception being the occasional cooking competition episode. A good example of what I’m saying is episode 42, “Haha naru ringo," a sentimental story about a man longing to reconnect with his mother through a familiar nostalgic taste of his mother’s apple pies. After a messy divorce between her husband and losing custody over him in court and moving to the United States, her son, Aosawa, resents her mother for abandoning him. As a result of this, he struggles to commit to relationships out of fear of abandonment. Yamaoka meets up with Aosawa at a cafe and points out how he obsessively orders only apple pies and apple tea every time he goes to the cafe, insinuating that Aosawa longs for the taste that must’ve been his mother’s speciality, apple pies. However, the apple pies at the cafe are made with frozen apples, giving them an artificial taste. This is not the issue, though. Aosawa’s mother now lives in Japan after all these years, but he refuses to meet her out of his pent-up anger. Yamaoka contacts his mother in the hopes that Aosawa will try her homemade apple pies once more and invites her to bake one at a certain cafe where Aosawa will be invited. Without knowing of his mother’s presence, Aosawa’s heart is struck by the taste of the apple pies. This was the flavour he had been longing for—the flavour he tasted in his dreams. Noticing his mother leaving the cafe, he runs after her, and the two reunite with a hug after years of being apart. Yamaoka, of course, gives a logical explanation for the differing tastes, explaining that the apples used by his mother are tart baking apples, not the sweet eating apples popular in Japan. Many of the stories throughout Oishinbo use food as a thematic plot device, in which food is able to communicate feelings that words cannot. Oishinbo has many stories that focus on relationships and internal conflicts between characters. This creates a sense of community that continues to build throughout the series, as we not only get to know the characters, but many of them are recurring and have continuing plotlines. This is my favourite aspect of Oishinbo, as it truly feels like a vast community of characters that we get to know over the course of 100+ episodes. While the overarching plotline is the “ultimate menu," for the most part, it isn’t the main focus of each episode, as it continues developing in the background while the interpersonal relationship stories take to the foreground. This is similar to a lot of my favourite anime, like Ojamajo Doremi, Akage no Anne, Cardcaptor Sakura, and many more, that put a huge emphasis on relationship building. However, what's most interesting about Oishinbo's interpretation of this is Yamaoka’s rival, Kaibara Yuzan. Kaibara not only goes against all of Yamaoka’s moral compass but is also the character responsible for Yamaoka’s drive to be this way in the first place, as Kaibara is Yamaoka’s father.

Kaibara Yuzan is a perfectionist and an elitist at heart. He believes the culinary arts must always be perfect, or else it is a waste of time and effort. This is reflected in his personality and presence; he’s always looming over Yamaoka in his dignified Kimono and looks down upon him in almost every scene. This visual representation of Kaibara’s elitism can be seen all throughout the anime, complimented by split screen shots of Yamaoka and Kaibara staring each other down. Kaibara runs an elitist gourmet club where only the elite of the elite train their culinary skills to perfection. Later on in the series, he starts the “Supreme Menu'' with a rival newspaper company, which ensues a multi-episode-long battle between Yamaoka and Kaibara to find the best ingredients and recipes for their newspaper article. Throughout the series, we slowly learn more about their relationship, with the most important being an experience Yamaoka had when he was much younger. Kaibara would physically abuse his wife over her cooking, stating that what she makes is imperfect. Yamaoka’s mother gave her best effort to cook a loving breakfast meal for her husband, but she was ultimately rejected every time. This all led to a state of exhaustion, and she was bedridden and later passed away. Yamaoka understandably resents his father for his actions. He resents the values his father has towards cooking and takes the complete opposite approach by being more open and all-encompassing when it comes to food. This isn’t to say that Yamaoka isn’t an elite in the culinary arts; Yamaoka is incredibly skilled and knowledgeable about everything to do with food and agriculture. However, the key difference is how Yamaoka interacts with those around him. He isn’t an elitist perfectionist who refuses food due to imperfections; he instead values the importance of the feelings put behind a dish. He values the carefulness and attention to detail that convey not perfectionism but rather emotions. Kaibara too believes that food can communicate feelings between souls; however, he believes this is done solely through perfection and perfection alone. This is reflected throughout the episodic battles between the two, where Kaibara is on a quest for perfection while Yamaoka gives careful consideration to the ingredients and proper cooking techniques to make a meal that tastes the best. This creates a very interesting dynamic between the two that lasts throughout the entire anime. There are also some very interesting developments that happen later on in the manga (that unfortunately weren’t adapted) that the academic paper goes into great depth about, so I recommend checking it out if you’re interested. There are many more interesting interpersonal relationships in Oishinbo, however for the sake of keeping this review from getting too long I won’t get into those.

However, interpersonal relationships and food battles against father and son aside, Oishinbo does a great job exploring not only Japanese cuisine but Japanese culture in general. As I mentioned before, this is my favourite aspect of Oishinbo, as it not only provided knowledge on a culture I knew nothing about but also showed unique locations in the process. Some of my favourite episodes are when Yamaoka goes out on a trip to a different prefecture to learn about the different agriculture and tastes found only in these locations. After all, each prefecture has its own unique culture to be discovered. Oishinbo also contains a lot of social criticism that’s intertwined with the stories being told. For example, in the story in episode 3, "Yasai no sendo," Yamaoka and Kurita visit the launch of a new department store. Disappointed by the state of the stale vegetables sold in the food court and used by the restaurants, Yamaoka takes the store owner, Shuji Itayama, to a local farm where fresh vegetables are grown. He manages to convince Itayama to replace his business of stale vegetables with fresh produce, which in turn helps his business thrive.

However, as interesting as its social commentary can be at times, Oishinbo unfortunately has its fair share of episodes that haven’t aged particularly well. The most infamous example is episodes 27 and 28, which tackle the subject of whaling in Japan. In this episode, a group of foreigners plot to spread misinformation about whaling as a way to attack Japanese culture and paint them as bad people. As Yamaoka puts it, “Anti-whaling groups are also anti-Japanese.” The episode brings up some interesting points, explaining that it’s barbaric in itself to call other cultures barbaric for merely eating different things. Way back when Japanese weren’t eating meat, it was barbaric to Japanese that westerners were eating meat; it’s just that the old Japanese didn’t know how delicious cows and pigs were. But then Yamaoka goes into explaining how it's prejudiced to eat the “dumb” animals and spare the smart ones. While this is a fair argument to make, it ignores the fact that whales are dangerously close to extinction. You cannot raise the livestock of whales like you can with cows and sheep without hurting their population. The episode does actually bring up the argument that they’re close to extinction, but Yamaoka simply explains that no, actually, their numbers are growing. These episodes simply did not age well, and unfortunately, there are a couple more episodes throughout Oishinbo with either outdated politics or blatantly incorrect information. This was such a problem that the Youtube re-run of Oishinbo did not contain these episodes; in fact, almost 15 out of 136 episodes were removed from the re-run for containing controversial aspects. While I don’t agree with the removal of these episodes, it’s an understandable decision. With all that being said, these episodes never ruined the experience for me, as there are significantly more amazing episodes throughout Oishinbo that provided a more enjoyable experience. It’s just in the nature of this kind of work that there’ll be outdated information and politics, especially in a series that has over 1000 chapters. However, unfortunately, this also means that Oishinbo isn’t free from its share of controversies as well, because in 2014 the manga was put on hiatus over a massive controversy that made such an impact that it made international news.

The author of the Oishinbo manga is Kariya Tetsu. A common theme throughout the manga is how the constantly evolving and changing society affects the food we eat. A chapter released in April of 2014 caused massive backlash due to it pertaining to the Fukushima power plant disaster of 2011 and discourse around how radiation affects food. It’s important to keep in mind that Kariya doesn’t create these stories based on assumptions or research papers, but rather goes to these locations himself and gathers his own research. The chapter follows a group of journalists who are exposed to radiation within a plant in Fukushima. They complain of exhaustion and nosebleeds, further supported by the experiences of Katsutaka Idogawa, a character based on a real-life former mayor of the town of Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture. An outcry started on Twitter when a user from Koriyama, Fukushima, criticised the handling of this subject, stating that they’ve never suffered from these symptoms and that because of Oishinbo's wide mainstream popularity, the spreading of such misleading information can be harmful. This even moved Shinzo Abe to respond, which then led to many articles published about the controversy internationally. Health officials state that there is “no connection between the incidence of nosebleeds and exposure to radiation, with some insisting the condition is more likely to be caused by the stress of evacuation.” Criticised by both fans and pro-nuclear politicians, Kariya Tetsu states in response that he had been caught off guard by the response to the nosebleed claims. But he added that he was not going to cave in to the government and give the impression that "all is well" in Fukushima. "I can only write the truth."

I bring this up not because I have my own two cents to add to the discourse, since it’s been almost an entire decade since the controversy (wait wtf, 2014 was almost 10 years ago????), but because of the importance of the legacy Oishinbo left behind. I want to put into perspective just how long this series is. Oishinbo has 111 volumes with over 1000 chapters worth of content. The main two protagonists, Yamaoka and Kurita, get married around volume 40, and by volume 105, they have three children together. Oishinbo is an incredibly long series with an incredibly long history behind it. But at what point do you stop? In 2016, Kariya Tetsu stated on his blog that he intends on ending the series. Not because of the controversy and hiatus, but because this is a series that has been going on for over 30 years, and he feels that “it's about time to end it." While I’m not sure if Oishinbo has actually received its final chapters yet, it’s safe to assume the series is well and truly finished. Its 30-year legacy is one to be remembered, and I hope this controversy isn’t what defines this series moving forward.

Anyways, enough about the manga—this is a review of the anime after all. Ending in 1992, Oishinbo is obviously not a full adaptation, adapting roughly 27 volumes of the manga in 136 episodes. With that being said, it doesn’t really matter that the Oishinbo anime isn’t the “full story." The focus from the very beginning has always been on episodic edutainment rather than story beats from the overarching plot. The amount of content the anime does adapt is absolutely worth the 136-episode time investment; its sense of community and plethora of interesting information pertaining to Japanese cuisine and culture makes for an incredibly entertaining watch. Even in the modern era where Gurume has made a resurgence in popularity, with anime like ‘Food Wars’ being a huge deal when it aired, Oishinbo reigns supreme as one of the most popular Gurume anime and manga in the genre. It’s a series that absolutely deserves more love in the western community, especially amongst those who love episodic anime.

Conclusion/TL;DR
If the sound of episodic stories about Japanese food culture sounds interesting to you, then I highly recommend giving Oishinbo a try. Not only is its edutainment style of storytelling very educational, but you might find yourself enthralled with the characters' interpersonal relationships like I have. If a 4000+ word long review hasn't made it clear already, I love Oishinbo. It has become one of my personal favourites for the way it develops its cast in such a genuine and heartfelt way. The anime makes for an incredibly engaging experience by virtue of having a gorgeous visual style, complemented by amazing sound design. Unfortunately, the Youtube re-run of Oishinbo deleted episodes after a month of being out, and despite more re-runs occurring since its initial run, for some reason they aren’t including the English subtitles this time. Fear not, because Oishinbo is fortunately being fan-subbed right now, with a large handful of episodes currently available. Thank you so much for reading this review, and I hope you consider giving Oishinbo a try!

-Sources-
Academic Paper: https://www.academia.edu/7222330/Oishinbos_Adventures_in_Eating_Food_Communication_and_Culture_in_Japanese_Comics
Oishinbo Controversy Articles:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-02/oishinbo-manga-depiction-of-fukushima-radiation-effects-criticized
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/gourmet-oishinbo-manga-link-fukushima-radiation-nosebleeds
https://twitter.com/jyunichidesita/status/460607471132766208

As I've gone along with this show, I started off merely just enjoying it as an old school anime with some pretty good art and a mildly interesting story. As it's gone on, I've become more invested in the story and really enjoying the overarching quest of Shiro to prove that he is a better gourmet than his father, the arrogant and ill-tempered Kaibara. Perhaps one of the earliest examples of anime that paved the way for culinary focused shows like Food Wars. My only complaint really is that there are only about 40 episodes that have English subtitles and no English dub whatsoever, so ... I've had to pace myself watching in the hopes that eventually the entire series will have been English subbed so that I can someday finish it. It's definitely a great anime from the late 80s and if you're an English speaker like I am and can pace yourself watching, you'll find it a very fulfilling experience to watch, I think. The character development of Shiro and of Kurita are worth it alone.

Art 10
Overall art of this Food anime is crystal clear, beautiful, classic. You can't expect more from the studio that making top box office movies: Stand By Me. No fan service, oppai, and panty shot
Character and Story 10
Yamaoka and Kurita like befriend everybody, which's making this anime become episodic-slice of life similar to Natsume Yuujinchou, Dr. Ramune, Kobato, etc. Yamaoka is like a gastronimical Saitama of One Punch Man and Gourmet's or F&B Professor: as a reporter, he is unremarkable and often outright lazy. Several scenes feature him picking his nose while working. However with food, he is 'impossible,' doing CT Scan for sushi's ... rice, turning bamboo into sashimi, defeating foie gras, flaking fish with a broken glass when a knife is too dull, or parading enough esoteric information about Japanese cooking to make even an expert jealous.
Sound 7
Seiyuu and sound effect is the typical old anime: people falling whenever shocked, exaggerating laugh, etc. Despite of it, the Op and Ed is special because It will bring you travelling time.
Enjoyment and Overall 10
It's an anime that you want to watch slowly and curiously, to watch it everytime you want some break from heavy plot anime, to watch it everytime you need to learn and savor food.
Here’s your chance to partake in a truly underappreciated piece of food anime history for free, and with English subs no less! Exclusive to its official YouTube channel https://youtube.com/c/Oishinbo
. Slightly frustratingly, some episodes are taken down, they’re each being uploaded in two parts but considering its free and someone had to shell out for the subtitle translation, who are we to complain?