1. It's funny. The chibi drawings in particular are cute and always at least get a smile out of me. Everything in this show is so over the top that you have to laugh at it. Sometimes it's just so stupid, but in a good way, because it doesn't take itself seriously. There is no pretension here.
2. It really energizes you. There is constant competition, overcoming-of-challenges, people are gracious in defeat. There's cliff hangers at all the right places, and just enough unpredictability. Like any good sports anime, basically.
3. All the characters are lovable. And it's not often that i say this about a series, but practically all of them are great here. They're not too archetypal, nor do they have unrealistic gimmicks. In this case, they usually have a food specialty and/or backstory that helps them stand out.
4. Endless eye candy. The girls look cute, really cute. They're consistently well drawn, often have big tits, and there is fan service a plenty. It's forced as hell, but that is intentional, as it ends up looking like a parody of itself, and i can appreciate that. But really it's the food that is the most pleasant to look at. Detailed, colorful dishes and ingredients that are on par with Non Non Biyori's backgrounds in visual appeal.
I've said a lot of good things, but i can't really give it more than an 8. Sure it's enjoyable, but there is not much of a story, no complexity. It gets repetitive fast, but generally remains enjoyable. Also another issue is that i happen to be a foodie myself and generally they fail to create dishes that i would actually want to eat. Plenty of them are not even really feasible in reality. Not a big deal, but if they went the extra mile to do extra culinary research, it would have earned the extra point to hit the 9 mark.
Just watch it, i don't know anybody who didn't enjoy this series.
