Meng Qi Shi Shen

Good sides:
First this was my very first Chinese anime which I have watched sub by MizureX33 and I have found it weird but refreshing.
It is quite similar with a Isekai anime except it is not fantasy based. Story revolved around the daily struggle after waking up in medieval China.
Story had it's plot twist
Romance element had it quite touchy.
Culinary and shokugeki will help anyone to wait for other cooking anime to get new season

In other word this anime is quite a time kill

Negative side:|
... story writing could be a little bit strong
And to be honest just by wearing male dress ,everyone is treating someone as male ..was medieval that dumb !!! didn't she also has a feminine voice

last but not the least ,
Overall this is a pretty good anime
Just give it a time to show color.

The budget put into animation quality and graphical quality is pretty self explanatory, too bad the source material holds the art back. Its a rather straightforward work overall, you can see hints of its origins as a wuxia/xianxia if you're familiar with the genre, but the worst the original work was removed.

Art & Sound 8/10
The food and cooking is fantastic, with appropriate musical accompaniment. My only complaint is that there isn't enough of it. They barely manage a cooking scene an episode and its really the only reason to watch this anime.

Writing 2/10
Really just nothing much in the writing at all. The first arc is ... an episodic isekai standard of getting to know the world, with a pretty unappealing romantic plot including multiple scenes of the heroine going "wow i really like this handsome guy" as he straight up threatens her. Its made more ridiculous when she actually has more chemistry with a character introduced in the second arc of the season (not that that's much of a romance either, its a low bar). The second arc sort of implies some dramatic plot points will be brought up but it goes no where as does the rest of the plot.

The biggest issue is that there's no feeling of conflict, which is most likely because the original source material just lacked anything substantial.
The first arc is never really explained properly, the conflict ending up pretty much just being a background detail.
The second arc lacks any significant conflict (which is what i feel the series should have just been from the start, just an episodic cooking adventure).
There's the overarcing drama, which is resolved unceremoniously with the sudden appearance of some goons, to generate a damsel in distress rescue.
And there are 2 instances of cooking competition where they barely pretend that the heroine will lose.

Overall its not like it isn't enjoyable, its easy to ignore the lack of any significant writing if you're just in it for the food scenes. There are some rather unfortunate stereotypical issues around playing character sexual orientation for comedy towards the end, which isn't great. Its a good effort on part of the production company and director for improving on what i would have considered an unsalvageable property.

The anime is very visually appealing and though the plot is kinda loose in its direction, it holds itself up pretty well between the character's interactions. Its premise is pretty simple, but I think it has enough interesting elements to make it worth a watch. And though I'm not that into cooking anime, I found this one appealing enough to get through since, again, the characters interactions are really what does it for me. Most of the characters are a bit flat since most of the characterization focuses only on a 2-3 core characters, but that was really all the story needed to keep ... the plot moving.

Overall, it's a nice medieval slice of life with a few moments of high tension. I do hope for it to get renewed for a second season, but even if it doesn't, it's a nice show to casually watch, especially with such a charming opening song.

STORY: 8/10
Meng Qi Shi Shen is an interesting blend of genres: historical, romance, comedy, food, with some action. The studio tried to do a lot in 12 episodes and this left the series with an under-developed romance and plot points that are introduced but never followed up on. The studio had to gloss over the relationship build-up, but they provided enough material to compel me to keep watching. I wish they had time to explore the male lead's side of the story, which would've explored more of the action/drama aspects of the plot.

Considering the short series length, I still thought they did a good job ... balancing the genres and delivering a story that made me want more. The plot had a lot of potential and I only wish they had more episodes to work with.


ART: 8/10
I actually really like the art style. Also, the backgrounds and the food look amazing (food looks on par with Food Wars). While Food Wars' food reactions are more silly, I find the food reactions in Meng Qi Shi Shen beautifully metaphoric and calming, especially as the series goes on.

The animation is not as smooth compared to mainstream anime, but it was good enough. Action scenes were still impressive enough and the cooking scenes were drool-worthy. I could live without all the repetitive Sailor Moon-like sequences of the female lead preparing to cook though.


SOUND: 9/10
I enjoyed the voice acting and the music and sound effects definitely enhanced my experience. Appropriate music was played for different moods, whether that was action, humor, or romance. I'm a sucker for historical anime/donghua music and Meng Qi Shi Shen's OST didn't disappoint.


CHARACTER: 9/10
This was a fun cast and I definitely enjoyed the character interactions throughout the series. Everyone was likable in their own ways.

The female lead's cheerful personality is infectious. I admire her passion for food being a foodie myself and I love that she can take care of herself. She's not the damsel in distress, but she isn't the overtly strong female archetype either, which makes her more realistic to me. The male lead is stoic, but also compassionate and honorable. Some of their interactions are really cliche in the beginning, but thankfully that died down as the series progressed. After that, I felt like their relationship was believable and really sweet. :)


ENJOYMENT: 9/10
Despite some gripes about plot and romance development, I thought the overall execution was quite good given the short series length. I adored the cast and the animation and music was great. The series concluded with a lot of things left unanswered, but at least the romance and food plot ended on a satisfying and hopeful note. It was a fun ride and if there was a season 2, I would love to see it.

Here is my review of this anime in 2023!

Story (8)
The story is about a woman who lives in the modern era gets time traveled to the old era. In there She must survive war and others. Then She found a good man which is fallen in love with Her. The only one that She can do is cook. Almost all of the episodes are about cooking, so you're gonna watch a lot of food that has been cooked by Her.

Art (9)
The art of this anime is very good. I love the cooking and battle scene that they were using to make this anime. Not only ... that, but the food art they make are very nice and vibrant. It makes me want to cook something like that.

Sound (8)
All the sounds they used are very good and adjusted to the animation.

Character (8)
The main character is very memorable along with the supporter, especially the MC woman.

Enjoyment (8)
It's enjoyable to watch this movie in 2023. There are a lot of comedy scenes on this anime.

Overall (8)
Recommended for those who love slice-of-life, action, cooking, and comedy anime!

If we were in Yu Gi Oh !! this anime would be a fusion invocation using Akatsuki No Yona and Food Wars as materials… Seldom have I seen such an original mix of genres. Because what isn't said in the description is that Meng Qi Shi Shen is in the same time a Comedy, a Drama, a Shoujo, a Gastronomy and an Isekaï anime :)

Sounds rather odd, doesn’t it? I was quite puzzled at first, but I must admit I’ve had a very good time watching all the episodes in one go (and rewatching it a few months later) !

What is all about? The ... MC is an exceptional cook who dies (cooking of course), and reincarnates in the body of a girl from imperial China. So far, not very original, you might think… Yes, true, and the first episode cumulates many clichés of the genre… But as the story continues, the MC has to struggle in order to survive in this dangerous era. She is not skilled in combat, and has only one strength: her divine ability for cooking and her knowledge of Chinese cooking.

Well and that’s all for the Isekai part… Following the recipe, you add a pinch of Shoujo + Romance with two – very stereotyped but still enjoyable – characters, several Chinese typical dishes, and some fun scenes including rainbow vomit and the MC’s power-rangers style transformation every time she starts cooking, and you get this very unusual and spicy anime (tipically from Sichuan, 这真的是麻辣菜).

No pretention, quite short and complete (I don’t think there will be a second season), art and animation are very good and fluid (especially for Chinese anime which do not usually shine by their high artistic quality).

The dishes look so yummy, and I can tell after living in China for months, very typical, and you will soon crave for Chinese food.

As I said before, the rhythm is good (you do not get bored for a second and I watched all in a row without really paying attention to the time). Maybe the only negative aspect would be the coup d’état of Gastronomy + Comedy genre in the few last episodes to the detriment of the main plot, but it really doesn’t matter.

Ok if you’re still there, maybe I managed to raise your curiosity, if you have decided to watch this anime it is likely you’ll be pleasantly surprised, I personnally consider this anime to be a hidden gem and after having seen it 3/4 times I decided to add it to my favorites.

Was bored and wanted to kill time with a romance anime.
What I actually got was hungry for Chinese food and a fun ride, and some clever comic moments.

The anime is based around food. Our MC awakes in historic China. But she has amazing cooking talents. Being from the future and also being very knowledgeable of traditional dishes. She is able to wow the people of the time with her food. Which is believable think Dr. stone and his ramen being seen as Godly to a more primitive set of people.
Its a great kick back for anyone suffering withdrawal from Soma or just ... hungry.
Its fun. I would of personally liked more of the first arc and some relationship building. As I originally was in the mood for romance, We get a few episodes in the middle where our leads don't even see each other. And their experiences are almost padded out with very quick flash backs. I feel like the two leads could have developed more.
The main focus of the anime at its heart really is food. All the dishes are real life dishes which can be found in any China town. Which makes this more fun, the art style is great the food looks like its real life counter part.

Although the anime feels like two different halves. with a unrelated filler chunk in the middle. The first half being more action packed, you can find some pretty nifty fight sequences here. The second half dragged a little for me. The pacing of both is very different. At times things felt rushed... but also in the latter half they felt dragged out.
But this may just be the anime studio wasn't expecting to make a sequel. And as of yet it hasn't.
The food aspect remains strong till the end.
The art style is fun. Hearing the Chinese after years of Japanese can be a little jarring. But this anime is fun. Its comic and has some great moments.
I would recommend it as a time killer.

I've been on the hunt for romance shows I haven't seen yet, as it's one of my favorite genres of anime. As a female, it can be tough to find a romance with good balance and that lacks the typical harem tropes / continuous misunderstandings etc. It gets tiring.

This is the first Chinese anime I've finished too! Super brief summary: good chef gets isekaid to historical china, forced to marry a bandit leader (?), but stuff happens.

STORY
The story is pretty lack luster, and is void of any notable conflict. There's some fighting scenes which I actually really enjoyed and were animated very well, I wish ... there was more of them honestly! I didn't mind the pacing, but it quickly became more slice of life-ish as the show went on. This was a little strange, because the main conflict seemed tense and I was interested, but it was quickly dropped and it just became a slice of life.

I got pretty lost during the first arc, I had no idea why people were fighting and who was in power etc. Kinda lost me there.

The romance is pretty surface level, and the characters don't really get a chance to get to know each other. There isn't much progression by the end of it, but I'm hoping for more in the next season. I did really enjoy the scenes of them together though, some are definitely swoon worthy c:

CHARACTERS
I liked the character designs of the main characters, they're very visually appealing! It was refreshing to not have a dull main character (appearance wise) many romance animes with a female lead tend to put more attention on the surrounding men versus the MC. That being said, no one is fleshed out at all. By the end of this season, we really don't know much about any of the characters. Aside from that MC is a good cook.

This show took a long time to begin introducing new characters. Second male isn't introduced until halfway into the show, that was different for me.

Hoping that the second season will flesh out these characters more and maybe add some notable ones.

ART/SOUND
The art and animation is FANTASTIC. One of the best I've seen in a long time, it really does a great job transporting you to historical China. Super pretty scenes and the cooking was well done too. The background music is forgettable, BUT the OP is cute and catchy.

Overall, I WOULD recommend this show to anyone craving a good romance. Like I said, it doesn't progress a ton but still has a lot of good scenes. I'm sure it will only get better in season 2!

Meng Qi Shi Shen, also known as Adorable Food Goddess or Cinderella Chef, is the story of modern day Best Chef winner Ye Jiayao, who has a mushroom poisoning incident and finds herself back in time in the body of Ye Jinxuan in medieval China, in a bridal procession! Just when she thinks thinks can't get worse, bandits attack.

Story 06/10, Character 05/10, sound 07/10

The source story is fairly predictable as the modern day chef tries to make sense of ancient China, playing her cooking skills to stay alive. The entire arranged marriage and winning the spouse over with fabulous food ... well ... that would ... probably still work today, as the old saying goes "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach". The sound, music and OST are all good.

What lets this entire arc down is the main character is the stereo-typical whiny heroine everywhere except the kitchen (where she's a supremely confident Boss Lady), and at times it got so annoying I wanted to slap her. This is a shame because the story having a mix of comedy, romance, drama and food is actually not too bad.

Art 10/10
Everything else aside, this is a very, very pretty anime. The scenery is gorgeous and the food looks very tasty.

Enjoyment 08/10, overall 07/10
If you turn off your brain and just go with the flow, this is an easy to watch anime with nice touches throughout. I wish there were some more character development, but I am guessing this is based on a comic so there might be a season 2.

Subs 10/10
Shout out to Mizore x 33 for the wonderful, humorous subs with current anime pop culture references, interesting vignettes and historical references explained. These subs alone were worth +1 points in Enjoyment.

Foodie Rating 08/10
* 10/10 Visual appeal of food - mouth watering
* 09/10 Reaction of characters to food - the reactions are pretty over the top and quite creative, but not ecchi.
* 08/10 Difficulty or complexity of food featured - Has a good mix of simple and complex - some of these recipes are not for beginners.
* 05/10 Preparation or Cooking Instructions - it's show, don't tell. I could figure out some of them but a narration would have helped a lot.
* 08/10 Desire of viewer to cook or buy dishes featured after watching show - Now craving fried rice, and cold desserts.

I really enjoyed this anime. The main girl basically gets sent to another world, spends a short time falling for a handsome man, then they are torn apart by circumstances and the man spends his time trying to find her...through her cooking - hence the title Cinderella chef.

The idea of this anime is really sweet and considering how much of the story they tried to squeeze into just 12 episodes, i feel pretty happy with it by the end. All of the characters are pretty likeable and there is some comedy here and there to lighten the otherwise pretty dramatic mood.

It's a shame ... they didn't make this into a longer series, as the story had a lot of potential. I definitely recommend it for anyone in the mood for a light-hearted, escapist rom com, after all the story and characters have got me reading the manga for more :)

Stockholm syndrome the anime.

Girl gets isekai'd upon dying from her own cooking, finds herself in a body much like her own in ancient China, proceeds to be kidnapped then just starts cooking (you know, after she died from her own cooking, let's just brush that away)

This anime should be above average, while I'm certainly not the target audience for the tropes I can still accept that this should be above average. . . but the girl got kidnapped and was practically making token resistance towards her captors. Since this is romance, I bet she ends up with one of them too.

Again, story beats are ... not for me, but I hate the fact that this girl didn't fight, poison everyone in the camp, they're practically bandits and they allowed her to handle the food. In the first place she already managed to kill herself. Kill everyone you weak minded MC!

Super recommend! Feels like its trying to take the common chinese anime genre of modern girl reincarnated/transported to distant china and make the focus more food over martial arts and stuff.

First off I just wanna mention the food flashback moments. Where similar to food wars, occasionally they have the food flashback scenes, where usually in food wars youd call these foodgasms here they are usually just super toned down flashbacks, and while they can be interesting and plotwise I think they use them kinda well, they can drag sometimes and feel a bit flat especially when compared to the food wars versions.

Besides that ... however, its a pretty entertaining show, with a slight downtick in fighting compared to its contemporaries, and a huuuge uptick in cooking as one would hope.


Food looks and sounds delicious, definitely leaves me wanting to cook something for myself.

May contain spoilers.
I really enjoyed this anime, more than I should have. The story is lacking in material and the characters don't really develope. The anime starts out as if will be story-driven but then becomes only about food. There are a few character relationships fleshed out, but even then they are... kinda empty. I thought there would be more story to the arranged marriage. the family selling her to the bandits, more conflict with the bandits and the two MC being on the run or something. But nope. The Chunyu is well taken care of. He is a fully flawed character but seems to ... be written that way. I'm also trying to figure out why Jinxuan needs to pretend to be a guy. Maybe when she was traveling alone, for protection, but I'm sure the kid would have understood. There doesn't seem to be an issue of females in charge or who work. Also also... Chunyu says it was all an act, technically he's correct. He wasn't part of the bandits, and thus wouldn't have a wife. Especially if he is a Nobel, he would probably find someone or be matched. She made it an issue because he is attractive and that's enough for her to like him. He had done nothing for her to develop feelings--- if you analyze this anime it kinda sucks. If you just go with it and enjoy it at its foundation it's decent and enjoyable.

Again, not much really happens, but I enjoyed it enough. I will watch season 2 when it's out (Oct 9, 2021).

its good!! the storyline is kind of messy though. we never learn more about the male lead's background(which is understandable, since this is mostly focused on cooking). the mc has to be the worst mc i've ever seen. shes so annoying, the only thing she's good at is cooking. everytime i see her on screen, i just would like to skip it. the male lead? he's okay. he doesn't have much personality other than being "cold and stubborn." the one i really like is the 2nd lead, he's tolerable. he's like a comedic relief but he's still generally a good person?? i feel bad that ... he feel for her because she didn't even care to keep the promise made by him. maybe she forget?? i don't remember much since i basically zoomed through the story. the cooking transformation is funny LOL!!! atleast this story was comedy, or else i would've rated it lower.

I really love this!

I think this is a great representation of a super light-hearted donghua/anime, almost slice of life, with a bits of plot here and there, but can still be watched at ease. The animation is also gorgeous and full of life. It 100% will make you watchers hungry too! The story is pretty mediocre, some twists in some parts, but it's still adorable. I'm recommending this to people who are confused of what to watch next, but aren't ready to consume heavy themes or plotless storylines. It's literally the in between.

It's an isekai, to put it shortly. Despite being predictable, it's still very ... enjoyable since the theme is food. The animation... no words. BEAUTIFUL. Especially when they started to cook, it truly is an amazing visual experience. Putting chibi animations once in a while was really a great addition to this donghua, it makes it super fun to watch.

The art style really aligns with the story since it's about food, it has to make the viewers hungry. The cooking scenes were great. The colors, the sound, the lighting, it was really mesmerising.

When talking about slice of life-ish media, this donghua didn't give much depth into the characters. It's only the first season so let's hope that they would add more depth into these characters. Maybe this is a donghua thing, but most interactions between characters were really unrealistic, doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable.

If you like stories, animation, or anything that has to do with cooking or food, I think this donghua is for you! It's also great for you people who's trying out donghua.

great anime, 8/10

The overall premise, an award winning chef gets isekai'ed to ancient China and has to survive and aspires to become a renown chef in the ancient world, is fine. But every thing about this could be done a bit better.

The story is filled with leaps of logic, where the MC gets access to cooking in ways that are totally implausible. She's has no money or resources, and somehow always can just waltz into a fully stocked kitchen and do her magic, for reasons. It throws in silly humor to skip some explanation of some other unlikely happenstances, but the tone feels very fragmented, with silly ... BS happening at one moment, and serious trauma the next. Nevertheless, if you accept the logic, the story works at larger scale. There's no exposition, which is nice, but sometimes there's a short time skip between scenes and we are wondering how did she manage to get there?

The animation is mixed. The staging of scenes is good, and the backgrounds and characters look fine, but it gets pretty choppy at times, with more complex scenes as still frames. The frame rate holds back the otherwise good fight choreography. Some attention is put to food scenes, which look good, though not as good as shokugeki.

The way the MC acts doesn't seem natural for someone in her situation. Relationships happen too fast, without enough development.

That said, it's not all bad, especially if you like food. You get to see an interesting main character overcome obstacles in unusual ways, with a satisfying sense of power whenever she enters the kitchen.

oh dear god. the Art: beautiful / Sound: pretty good...but it's all blown away and made irrelevant by how annoying the MC is. not only is her character whiny and unintelligent - her voice matches. I had to drop this halfway through the episode bc her voice is so whiny and she always seems to play up being a brainless damsel in distress all the time. I've dropped a chinese drama for the same reason. when my friends speak in mandarin they don't sound whiny as hell (it sounds nice!) but for some reason in chinese shows they seem to think it's cute to sound ... like a 2-year old throwing a tantrum. the guys are fine (love Mo Dao Zu Shi). chinese shows also seem to make their female characters' personalities suck...they're just completely unlikable. don't even bother with this anime...it's painful to watch (and listen to)