Anime Review: True Cooking Master Boy (Season 2)

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Rating

★★

Drama Digest

“True Cooking Master Boy,” also known as “Shin Chuka Ichiban,” is a Japanese anime series adapted from the Manga series of the same name that was realized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine. It is the story of a boy named Mao who wants to become the best chef of all time. They set the story in 19th-century China during the Qing Dynasty. During that time, the emperor was weak, and the country was in chaos.

The Feel-Good Part

The manga of the show is popular and exciting among the readers. They made an even better anime adaptation. The new version of the old anime released in 1997 is a remake with better music and voice actors. The story is realistic enough and gives adequate information about cooking skills and competitions. It is entertaining as well.

The Disappointing Factor

The show’s background and storyline are good, but it’s repetitive with too many flashbacks. The second season has nothing new to offer besides that same old story but with a different animation. Even though this version has the latest animation, it still could not match the 90s-style visuals. It does not have much necessary information. The ending is incomplete and does not give any directions to the conclusion. Many They have made many reboot versions of the show, but there is no clear idea of what the ending will be.

In-Depth Analysis

The story had a fictional setting of an era called “The era of cooking wars.” In that era, top chefs across China, with their different cooking styles, tried their best to become the best chef in China. Chefs compete to gain respect and power, but along with that, they also have a risk of losing everything. The protagonist of the story is a young boy named Liu Mao Xing. His age makes him the youngest superchef in history. He fights the five tiger stars from the dark cooking society while searching for the eight legendary utensils. He wanted to show his extraordinary culinary skills and achieve victory. Season 2 is a new version of the original anime released earlier. It shows the aftermath of Mao’s mother, Pai’s death. Everyone knew Pai as the goddess of cuisine. Mao’s dream was to become the MasterChef of his mother’s restaurant. But before taking his mother’s place, he travels to China to become a legendary chef, just like his mother, and learns many new ways of cooking. His journey was full of bittersweet moments. He made many friends and enemies but survived all the challenges that came in the course of his learning.

Star Power

The VAs were all excellent and played their roles well. Fujiwara Natsumi, who played Mao, did a remarkable job. As a remake of the older version, the acting and portrayal of characters are better than the previous ones.

Overall Opinion

Overall, this series has mixed feelings. For those who watched the 1997 version of the anime and read the manga, this may not be reassuring, as it did not match the old visual styles. But for new viewers, it is a good show with adventure and comedy.