Are you tired of reading wall after wall of pretentious text?
Do you just want to know if you should watch the darn show?
Me too.
TLDR
Don’t even bother reading this review. Just look at that banner of Saber and decide if you need this in your life or not.
You should definitely watch either Fate:Stay Night, Unlimited Blade Works, or Heaven’s Feel before this or else you won’t know any of the characters.
PLOT - Great
Episodes are max 14 minutes long, which is just enough to not bore you while giving you enough fluffy goodness. There’s a lot of scenes that don’t involve cooking, which isn’t a bad thing because having only cooking would make the episodes feel drawn out and repetitive. Every episode has a scenario that leads into the cooking scene and I was impressed by how varied they managed to make them.
They include enough detail in the recipes to the point where if you've cooked before, you could probably make most of them. I didn’t bother with the super complex ones, but I was able to make the dish from episode 8 with minor modifications. It was pretty good actually.
CHARACTERS - Great
There’s tons of heartwarming, comfy moments between every conceivable combination of characters including some less common ones such as Taiga and Illya. Scenes with Caster and Soichirou made me realize that they’re actually super cute together when they’re not trying to kill people.
I’m surprised how faithfully they stick to the characters. Lancer is a bro, Sakura and Rin just want a healthy sibling relationship, Saber is really wholesome underneath her exterior, etc. It feels strange to write this, but they actually expand on things like Shirou and Taiga’s relationship. This show actually fleshes out some of the characters. There is character development in the Fate Stay Night cooking spinoff.
ART AND ANIMATION - Good
The animation is pretty bad by Ufotable standards, meaning it isn't bad. They go for a flat, simple, hand drawn style but it only adds to the comfiness of the whole show. The quality of the character designs aren't sacrificed and more importantly neither is the quality of the food. I didn’t want to include spoilers so I decided to put a screenshot of some ingredients instead of one of the final dishes. Both the cooking and non-cooking scenes look great.
MUSIC AND SOUND - Great, but has flaws
To all OP skippers: The OP is only one minute long, so don’t spam that fast forward button too many times.
To all OP skippers: don’t you fucking dare. Apron Boy is an absolute bop. I normally skip OPs but I never skipped it once even though I watched the show in one sitting.
The ED is very laid back and always manages to leave me with a smile on my face. Watching the ED is also mandatory.
The soundtrack has a mix of calming and upbeat/happy songs. It's not amazing but it does what it needs to do and complements what's happening on screen.
They paid attention to things like the scraping of a wooden spoon on a pan, but they didn’t include other things like the “glug glug” sound of pouring a bottle of oil. Sometimes the sound of shaking a salt or pepper shaker isn’t there either. Sound design isn't something I normally notice, but there were some inconsistencies.
THEMES AND MESSAGE - lol
Friendship, family, all that good stuff. Don’t expect to do too much thinking.
WHO SHOULD WATCH THIS
You should definitely have seen Stay Night, Unlimited Blade Works, or Heaven’s Feel before this. If you’ve just watched something depressing, throw this on as therapy. Basically an iyashikei but Fate.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Carnival Phantasm is a Type Moon spinoff that includes mostly Fate Stay Night stuff. I found it hilarious even though I haven’t read Tsukihime or whatever else they put in that show. It’s a balls to the wall, wacky comedy rather than laid back, but if you’re looking for something fun and Fate related, Carnival Phantasm is a great choice.If you’re looking for shows with the same chill vibe as Today’s Menu, check out some iyashikei or cgdct and pick one with a premise that appeals to you.
CONCLUSION
Heaven’s Feel sapped my will to live and this brought it back. If you want happy chemicals in your brain, give this a shot. Are you ready? Itadakimasu.