...is how easy the marketing is for this weird but seemingly enjoyable show. Even the doctor himself has a food (or drink, specifically) for a name.
Mainly an episodic "food-of-the-week" fantasy comedy series, mangaka Aho Toro has quite the fascination for food (glorious food), which serves as the main catalyst towards these "mysterious diseases" of illnesses that are nothing more causal than dealing with the ordinary human's psychological issues of mental disorders from stress to depression. And to be honest, it can go 1001 ways and feel tiresome, but it's interesting to see these issues being tackled with the weirdness of inferring through food. It's quite the entrancing charm though, mixing the fun and easy environment in what is supposed to be a dark and heavy setting, and both MCs Ramune and Kuro conspicuously consuming the "food-of-the-week" relating to the episodic nature of the story.
In shows like these where you'll encounter the "Master and Apprentice" setting, it's often a gimmick that one will play off as the funny guy and the other a serious one, and it's no different here. Dr. Ramune, more than just a weirdo on the outside, he's more of the witty person who tries to play it off as the funny guy most of the time, but when the situation calls for it, he's down to the task and to the T, administering the right medicine for the various occurrences of patients' body parts being replaced or prescribed by food. His assistant, Kuro (or Shorty / Chibi), is more of the serious boy, whom like other patients suffering under mysterious illnesses, got the attention of the doctor when he ran away from home from disbelief, and subsequently the know-how of Ramune managed to cure him, and he's been stuck with him ever since. These two definitely shared a bond over food, that's for sure.
The other characters which ensue the "Mysterious Item Shop Akatsuki" are Grandma Ayame and shopkeeper Nico, with the exception being Momiji, Ramune's master. Don't be fooled by Ayame's childlike body and looks, she's well over 100 years old and seemingly has memories of her past life. Other than that, she's the maker of the "mysterious items" that Ramune constantly uses to deal with patients that have these "mysterious illnesses", alongside Nico whom is blind and has to rely on his other superhuman senses with exceptional accuracy. In the case of Momiji, the master whom the apprentice is afraid of, Ramune's just being exploited by Momiji's terrifying looks that are reminiscent of a mix of Muzan with Luffy's Gomu Gomu powers (plus the voice of Sukuna), so much so that he develops a fear of trauma, but in actual fact, all that Ramune needs to do is to trust in him. Another case of weirdo nutcases, but it helps giving the small character cast a bit of diversity.
As usual, Platinum Vision's visuals may be hit-or-miss, but after watching recent shows made by the studio in the veins of Kono Oto Tomare! (of what I consider to be the studio's Magnum Opus), this is back to those levels of drawing a fine line between decent and good art and animation, so really, nothing much to complain about.
Being a King Records production in the music space for Sunday night shows (in Japan), I already knew what kind of music I was going to expect and experience: some great poppin' beats music, and it's what I got from Yuuma Uchida's peppy and very catchy OP that's worth the listen with some dancing, definitely not disappointed at all. saji's ED is also a very fitting song for closures, as is with the whole feeling of the anime with its mix of supernatural and psychological conundrums. One Easter Egg worth noting is that Momiji is voiced by Junichi Suwabe, the same VA who did Jujutsu Kaisen's Sukuna, as is the MC Ramune by Yuuma Uchida himself.
This show is definitely a weird one to say, and it won't please anyone looking for a rich story with deep characters. With that said, if you're content with watching ordinary people deal with ordinary problems, then this is the show for you. It isn't so much a dull prose, though it certainly gives of the feeling of being one.
