First Impressions / Koufuku Graffiti

「ショクショク, ドロッ.」 (Shokushoku, Doro.)
“Rich, Crispy.”

Nothing beats a good ol’ omurice meal… it’s the same warm fuzzy feeling that you get after eating a hot bowl of ramen or curry with rice. It’s incredibly cold living up north and whenever I see hot steaming food during the winter times, I always crave it. Seeing me regularly devour noodles, rice and anything soup-y is not uncommon. I loved this week’s focus on the many different inspirations of rice and what you can do with it that’s not simply fried rice or cooked white rice. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – I know many people who love white rice, Spam, egg and soy sauce! However, there’s many variations to cooking and this episode demonstrates that well with the different omurice creations that Ryou produces. Not only that, but Ryou herself is not a perfect chef and she’s tried repeatedly to perfect the egg cut. As the main character, Ryou has many flaws that each episode explores with the addition of food and cooking. I can empathize with Ryou because she really shows how practice makes perfect and she’s very humble about her own abilities (both in art and in cooking). Ultimately, I think she makes for a great wife if you ask me and her soft-spoken voice is so pleasing to listen to. Although she may not be scoring the highest in her class, I think she has great skills elsewhere.

Each episode focuses on not only different dishes, but different aspects of Ryou and Kirin’s life together. Shiina’s also a great addition and I just love her attitude. She’s not too loud and obnoxious or overly childish… and I hope to see more of her around in future episode. She has this calm and collected vibe around her that’s still passionate about food, but not in the same way Kirin is. The brief mention of Ryou’s parents was the only surprising part of this week’s episode. All we know so far is that Ryou’s been raised by her grandmother (and aunt) and her parents are overseas. I wouldn’t know how to react if I were Ryou… you can either feel abandoned by your parents and grow an attachment to other motherly figures or you might just long to see them and miss them all the time. Either way, I think Ryou handles it very well on her own and while I feel bad for her, seeing her mother’s gifts even makes me smile. I hope we’ll eventually get to see Ryou cook for her parents. Seeing their reaction to their daughter’s success in cooking and school would be a great way to end this slice-of-life series.

It hasn’t bothered me until now but the foodgasm shots in Koufuku Graffiti are beginning to empathize the wrong points for me. I understand that it’s meant to the capture the orgasmic experience of eating and how delicious and scrumptious the food is… but all I see is very blurred out scenes with more highlights and sparkles. Anime needs to be sharp and crisp for me; so while I see why they’re using these effects, my eyes don’t really like it. The characters’ faces also begin to look distorted and either too slender or pale, so I’m not loving the intense foodgasm scenes. I don’t usually mind SHAFT’s artistic approach to animations, but this is something that doesn’t enhance the experience for me. The head tilts, the random comparison shots and even the awkward angles of the girls are all fine by me… it’s only when the food starts to blur and I can’t make out the details well enough that I get upset. Food should be captured at its best! Anyway, the show itself is still great to watch though and I like the small details that SHAFT puts in to make it its own. Some people might call it boring, but we’re 3 episodes in and I still get hungry watching this every week. This week also breaks the fourth wall a bit while the girls appear to be talking to the camera. I’m not expecting this style to continue every week but I got a kick out of learning about bamboo shoots and omurice. Maybe next week I’ll learn a thing or two about sushi-making… I can always hope!

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: That’s a lot of #omurice! But even Ryou makes mistakes; just make sure there’s people around to eat it all.

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「笑顔になる」 (Egao ni Naru) by リョウときりん (Ryou and Kirin)（佐藤利奈と大亀あすか）(Satou Rina and Oogame Asuka)

Preview

End Card

25 Comments

  6. Good to know I wasn’t the only person bothered by the weird change in the character art when they start eating. It’s not that it gets better or worse, it just gets… weird.

    But it doesn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the show significantly. It’s a SHAFT show, so I expect at least that much screwing around with the art.

    It also has a little bit of the Hidamari Sketch vibe going for it, too, and for me, that’s a plus.

    s_w
    Reply

  7. Funny thing I learnt from this episode: apparently the rice in Omurice is called Ketchup Rice. Or at least the rice Ryo used. In hindsight it makes sense considering the reddish color, but ketchup as seasoning in rice wouldn’t be the first thing in my mind.

    BTW, the perfect timing to watch Koufuku Graffiti seems to be between making and eating your lunch. It’s the perfect appetizer.

    Erimaki
    Reply

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