To say that novelist Ren Eguchi's Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi a.k.a Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill is the now-famed studio MAPPA's first-ever undertaking of the Isekai genre, to have people say that this show is MAPPA's Peak-sekai, it's not entirely baseless at all. No doubt it is great in an overall package, and for the very first time, MAPPA DID knock it out of the park for showcasing a decent Isekai.
I'm not going to paraphrase the same copy-paste tactics here, everyone, new or old, must have or has had the idea of the typical "summoned to another world" trait. And this is the same here for the MC: the 27-year-old Tsuyoshi Mukouda a.k.a "Mukohda", the mild-mannered but cowardly white-collar salaryman, and at the same time, a very proficient cook. Usually when Earth's people get Isekai-ed into another world, the "Hero's Party" group will consist of young high school students to help the kingdom in need to purge the demonfolk, typical Isekai stuff. But in this show, it's the typical round-up student crew and Mukohda himself who is arranged in line for this "Heroes vs. Demon Lord" story plot, and other than the 3 students, Mukohda himself has the power of "Online Supermarket", which in a battle, would be entirely useless, not being beneficial and a deadweight to the group. And it's with this intent that Mukohda simply ousts himself out of the Isekai race, convincing the nobles and letting him go scot free around the fantasy world.
But, as it turns out, Mukohda's "Online Supermarket" ability is actually very versatile, and that it allows him to order food and food-related products, straight from Earth. Think of it as like the Hello Fresh, Blue Apron or Home Chef meal delivery service in the U.S., but Aeon for Japan. This enables Mukohda to use his skill and purchase ingredients and prep items, all of which serves also as buffing items to temporarily boost stats. And it's a fierce combination of utility and power (that thankfully isn't OP at all), so much so that from a very long distance, it got the attention of the legendary wolf-like beast known as Fenrir...who demands that the salaryman himself feed him a meal. And the meals are so good that Fenrir immediately asks for seconds, that Mukohda spends the rest of his manhours making heaps of food for its satisfaction, enough to earn (or rather, force) him into a familiar contract. Together, Mukohda and Fenrir (evenutally named Fel), they journey through the lands, encountering more monsters and gods from the Spirit Realm, granting him familiar contracts and blessings in exchange for his food and otherworldly goods.
Cooking Isekai is a realistic adventure fantasy that's a gourmet comedy feast for the eyes, owing to its chill-pill, take-your-own-time slow beat that I honestly don't mind if the author knows what he's doing. And Ren Eguchi is intentionally making the series feel slow in regards to the overall world-building, so that the message will eventually wind up on what shows up on the plate itself, it's a mark of great balance between characterization and the atmopshere of the fantasy world around them.
The characters are what shines in Cooking Isekai, because they are tons of fun. Starting off with Mukohda's first familiar, the legendary Fel has lived for over a thousand years, and his personality is owed to his extraordinary strength, agility, and magic that enables him to wipe out most monsters with little effort...VERY little effort, I must say, for more varieties of meat. To the point that he is very boasting of his pride, selfishness, and gluttonous, choosing to follow Mukohda just simply to eat his food. Being a meat-lover, he obviously loves meat and hates vegetables, much to the scorn that when Mukohda has to fix a meal that involves vegetables, he must be thoughtful to hide it by blending ingredients that mask the flavours of the greens, much akin to a parent feeding his/her child with bite-sized offerings that look the same, but taste the same and not too different as to showcase the yuckiness of the hated greens. Mukohda's second familiar is Sui, the slime that's of child-like adorableness. Initially met as a baby, with the typical conception that slimes are weak, it evolves by gaining experience through battle and eating trash from Mukohda's Online Supermarket purchases, and this is what Sui's uniqueness is noted for being a special exception. It is able to melt enemies with acid bullets, as well as create potions and weapons, while enjoying desserts and disliking spicy foods. Mukohda himself is a level-headed character, though he's seemingly the innocent one who has to tolerate both familiars that he's the closest to (or rather, it's Fel who's always giving him the never-ending troubles), making sure that they're well fed and tagged along like a parent does holding his own children along the fantasy ride.
Remember that there aren't just monsters, but gods in the world too? One such Spirit Realm deity is Ninrir, the Goddess of Wind and the progenitor of Fel's Fenrir kind. Being notable by her long silver-colored hair and a huge sweet tooth, she is the first deity to grant Mukohda her blessing, giving him immunity to poisons, illnesses, and other negative status effects. But this is also due in exchange of an offering for sweets from his own world back in Japan. Due to her constant demands and frequent emotional outbursts, Mukohda refers to her as the "divine disappointment", which I thought was really funny, because her interest spiked the other deities to do the same towards Mukohda, draining more of his resources in exchange for their own tastes in desired offerings, amplifying the disappointment he had for the divine deities as a whole. It's a "dog-eat-dog" world for Mukohda, the disappointment that his familiars and gods must go first before him, but still coming out on his own inventions replicated like a MasterChef in another world and having the delight of his life, this second chance of a life is something that if you ask him of his thoughts, it's a life that he would not trade for anything else.
The most surprising aspect is of the animation studio chosen, because generally studios are only contracted for the production jobs they are offered for all kinds of shows, and in Cooking Isekai's case, it's MAPPA driving the wheel for this show, under one of its low-key directors of Kiyoshi Matsuda. The director for MAPPA's rather subpar shows like Kakegurui×× (Season 2), Uchi Tama?! Uchi no Tama Shirimasen ka?, and most recently with Summer 2021's Re-Main (co-director with chief Masafumi Nishida), it doesn't feel like this man should be given the more recent high/top-priority shows like Chainsaw Man or Jigokuraku a.k.a Hell's Paradise, simply because his work ethic would not suit this show that he's working on. Nevertheless, the MAPPA magic shines here just the same like in the famed studio's recent shows, with gorgeous visuals and beautiful animation, especially in the cooking segments that will make one salivate at the mouth. Since when did food become so good to look at, since Isekai Shokudou and Shokugeki no Soma, that this show feels like a wild ride in fusing modern inventions for a medieval world. It's that engrossing in style and substance.
The OST is just typical fine for an Isekai series like this. Van de Shop's debut Anisong sounds decent, and is a relative good time that mixes well with the alluring visuals. In the same vein, Yuuma Uchida's ED "Happy-go-Journey" sounds pedestrian as well, so no complaints there. Just a tad mediocre to the best that is just alright to my ears.
Cooking Isekai is a breath of fresh air in the slew of copy-paste Isekai shows this season. Though this show is one of the best we've seen all season, thanks to it not being an OP power fantasy, but it's just simply, a campy, laid-back life of a good time.
A good job there MAPPA, looking forward to your next Isekai rondo.
