Geek Pub Talk

Also known as Sweetness and Lightning on Crunchyroll.  This is a story of a single parent trying to raise their daughter.  Once realising his daughter Tsumugi (above middle) might not have the best diet, Kohei Inuzuka (above left)tries to vary his cooking skills with the help of one of his students.  Kotori Iida (above left) is the perfect choice as her mother frequently participates in cooking shows on TV.

Together, Kohei and Kotori go through some basic cooking but for me, this wasn’t the strength of the series.  For me, it was all about the relationship between the Dad and the daughter.  In one episode, Tsumugi has a minor tantrum in a shop at the start of an episode and rather than think she’s a bratty kid, I was trying to think to think of a happy solution.  I should point out, this doesn’t happen when I see children normally.

I think this change of focus really helped this series feel fresh to me.  I have watched and will continue to watch shows about giant robots and the like, but a personal story will often stand out.

I’m pretty sure Scott has written about this series before.  Shokugeki no Souma Ni no Sara (Food Wars The Second Plate) carries one where from the first series ended.  More mouth watering meals are made to be judged.  And there is more Nikumi.

If the original series did nothing for you, there is nothing here that will change your mind.  Souma cooks, cooks and cooks some more.  There is an interesting arc towards the end of the series that sends the students to different restaurants so that they will not only get real life experience but they also need to affect the place in a positive way.

How this series doesn’t have a dedicated place in Tokyo to try the food is a surprise.  Probably because its a massive pain to cook gourmet food on that kind of scale.