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EP. REVIEW: Restaurant to Another World


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nechronius



Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 275
Location: So Cal, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 8:48 pm Reply with quote
It's a sweet and charming show, but not much beyond that at the moment. Still look forward to it every week though. Just waiting to see what story develops with the dragon lady.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:12 pm Reply with quote
Yup not amazing but still fun show and inoffensive. My only problem with it is that long description of how food taste does nothing for me so those part are pretty boring, but otherwise it's a nice relaxing show.

Not even sure I actually want a plot out of it, but I wouldn't mind stronger world building.
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everapril



Joined: 24 Apr 2009
Posts: 112
PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:47 pm Reply with quote
Off topic: Fried dough!!!!! Must be from New England or the Northeast? But now what are you putting on it? Mainers seem to only do powdered sugar (and maybe cinnamon) but Nutmeggers in addition to sugar always offer marinara (and maybe parmesan) as an option. The latter in my opinion is the superior topping. Anime catgrin
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:17 am Reply with quote
I kind of like the half episode vignettes. Sure the broad strokes of the plot are the same but its the differences in the details between them and what it means to them. Even between the two granddaughters, the one from the second episode is more about discovering her grandfather's secret treasure (and some dungeon crawling) while the most recent episode is for about remembering a fond but vague memory from childhood. Looking only at the similarities is missing the trees for the forest, to invert a saying. I mean the latter half of the second episode is how the restaurant saved the soldier on a harrowing trip to get reinforcements, arriving in time and being rewarded with a fortress, for which he is grateful to the restaurant (and for giving him a dish that reminded him of his hometown), which he seeks to repay at the earliest chance, while the former half of this last episode was how the grandfather poached knowledge from the restaurant to perpetuate a sham (not that the restaurant wasn't gaining anything from him). Aside from the "find restaurant, eat impressive dish", the stories are quite different. In fact, I don't know that much of overarching plot would be desirable, if it means it would not tell such varying stories brought together by the ritual of sitting down to eat a good meal.

From what I can tell, they all appear to be from the same world, or at the very least some are. Tatsugorou was from the same world as Heinrich, as he was known by name by Heinrich, though he never met him previously. Tatsugorou was also knew that there was an entrance to the restaurant near Heinrich's area, which is the one Heinrich originally went through. They were however from different regions in that world. Given all the characters, while widely varying, could fit all fit into a fantasy world, I would say that it would be simplest to assume that the doors lead to multiple places in the same world rather than multiple separate worlds. Now I don't know how it would work if two from different places left at the same time, if they would come out the same door as each other or the ones they came through, so coming out could potentially cause issues but it wouldn't be as bad as if they were entirely separate worlds. We could use more world-building to further clarify these things though.
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BethanyP



Joined: 25 Nov 2016
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:23 am Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Yup not amazing but still fun show and inoffensive. My only problem with it is that long description of how food taste does nothing for me so those part are pretty boring, but otherwise it's a nice relaxing show.

Not even sure I actually want a plot out of it, but I wouldn't mind stronger world building.


I agree. And since everything anyone eats is always awesomely super delicious they're all pretty much rehashes of the last rapturous declaration. Sweetness and Lightning got away with the squeals of "Delicious!" every episode since we at least saw the work that went into it. You don't get the impression that the chef here ever makes a mistake.

But it's not a bad show to follow from week-to-week
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Cam0



Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 4884
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:41 am Reply with quote
I thought episode 1 was kinda fun but episodes 2 and 3 have been a bit weak in my opinion. These 10 minute short stories don't really do much for me. I would personally wish for more focus on the chef and Aletta. There's that black haired elf girl who appears on that promo cover thing so maybe she can spice up the show a bit whenever she makes her appearance.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2599
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 6:52 am Reply with quote
everapril wrote:
Off topic: Fried dough!!!!! Must be from New England or the Northeast? But now what are you putting on it? Mainers seem to only do powdered sugar (and maybe cinnamon) but Nutmeggers in addition to sugar always offer marinara (and maybe parmesan) as an option. The latter in my opinion is the superior topping. Anime catgrin


You got me - I'm a Mainer! Very Happy I'm all about the powdered sugar and a dash of cinnamon. I've never seen the marinara option! I'm not sure how I feel about it - fried dough's up there with pie cones as a fair dessert in my opinion - but my sister got very excited about the idea. Smile
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Snakebit1995



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 842
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 6:59 am Reply with quote
I can't help but wonder if the shows style of two distict halves each telling a story would be slightly more palatable if they were each individual episodes.

So rather than 12 20-min episodes with two distinct halves you had 24 10-min episodes that each told one person's story.

If each half was it's own episode it wouldn't feel as split and disconnected from the part that just aired right before it.
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Desa



Joined: 07 Mar 2015
Posts: 285
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:25 am Reply with quote
Whenever I find myself watching food videos on youtube, it was always when I was hungry. After giving it some thought I have come to the conclusion that this is the best approach. The hungrier you are, the more beautiful food appears. By adding the feeling of hunger and desire you elevate a passive watching experience into a more visceral one.
Truly this is the way to maximize animu viewing pleasure!
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:34 am Reply with quote
My reactions to the series so far - both positive and negative - are virtually identical to Rebecca's. I, too, would like to see the series be just a little more than half-episode vignettes and hope that it's still just laying a foundation.

On the "fried dough" thing: are we talking about something different from, or essentially the same as, funnel cakes or elephant ears? Both of the latter are a staple of fairs and amusement parks in the Midwest, so maybe it's just a regional difference in name?
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ultimatehaki



Joined: 27 Oct 2012
Posts: 1090
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 10:12 am Reply with quote
I'm completely in line with this review so far. While it isn't entirely necessary, the show's lack of plot is hurting it especially since I feel it was hinted at a bit in episode 1. We haven't focused on the two main leads at all since then. Very comfy show though so that's nice.
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BethanyP



Joined: 25 Nov 2016
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:04 pm Reply with quote
The main problem I have with the show so far is that these little vignettes are too short. There's not really enough time for us to care about the characters of the week, especially when the "What is this place" sequence followed by the "What is this?!" food porn eats into the time.

I hope Aletta gets pulled back into focus soon. Three episodes is plenty of time to settle in to the atmosphere of the show
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Treecko Tempo



Joined: 25 Sep 2016
Posts: 155
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
On the "fried dough" thing: are we talking about something different from, or essentially the same as, funnel cakes or elephant ears? Both of the latter are a staple of fairs and amusement parks in the Midwest, so maybe it's just a regional difference in name?

I am also from Maine like Rebbecca, but the name I use and hear most is doughboys.The funnel cake/elephant ears and doughboys/fried dough are the same thing, this food has a lot of different names this link will show all the names this food has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_dough .
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2599
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:03 pm Reply with quote
I've heard fried dough called doughboys, though mostly I've seen one particular stand called doughboys at the Fryeburg Fair.

Judging from the preview and the fact that we haven't met the elf server yet, I suspect we've got one or two more episodic weeks ahead; I'm hoping that once all of the characters in the opening theme have been introduced, we'll get to a meatier story.
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Yazu13



Joined: 19 Jul 2017
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:20 pm Reply with quote
It's a relaxing show with an interesting premise, though at times it feels lacking in ambition. I feel like the stories could have more of an emotional payoff, especially after watching episode 3 with the princess who lost her grandfather, and she had memories of him taking her to Restaurant Nekoya as a kid. After she finds her way back to the restaurant, the whole time I'm thinking she's going to start tearing up or asking the chef about him, but she just sits there, eats a parfait while describing the flavors, and has a few flashbacks. Then she leaves in virtually the same demeanor as she entered and falls asleep.

I felt there was a lot of wasted potential. Like she would close the restaurant door behind her then lean on it and start crying, like she was able to reclaim a lost, happy memory of her grandfather. I hate to be a back-seat watcher, but that's how I would've had the scene play out.
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