Karen's Anime Blog

I need my replacement anime for Food for the Soul, so Fermat’s Cuisine seemed like the closest thing. It stars a high school student named Gaku who loves doing math, but realizes that he’s not enough of a born mathematician to participate in national math contests. At a loss for what to do, Gaku is on the way to losing everything when the cooking he does as a menial part-time job catches the attention of a mysterious chef. Now Gaku has to cook for his life, and he’s making…pasta?

I’m not sure I gel with this show’s whole premise that cooking can be like doing math– usually, it’s baking that’s compared to math, because the precise ratios of ingredients used in baking can be intriguing for number lovers. But what the hell, I’m in. If it gets me a food show where people wax poetic about the infinite potential of a chicken pot pie or something, I’ll play along.

Production-wise, the show is very average. Character designs are typical shonen fare, but I have to admit the OP and ED themes are nice, low-key pieces. The ED also features the entire cast as chibis, and you know I’m all about the chibis.

The biggest problem with this premiere episode is that the villain– the Chairman of the private high school Gaku attends– is so over-the-top evil, it’s hard to take the threat he represents seriously. I want to sympathize with Gaku’s situation, but the Chairman’s efforts to punish him go so far beyond anything reasonable that I can’t fully lose myself in the show. That said, I don’t know that much about how prestigious private high schools in Japan function; maybe “humiliating” the school the way Gaku did by failing in the Math Olympiad would be punished harshly. I’m still not as invested in seeking Gaku come out on top through his cooking and I should be, and that’s just because I feel like there’s a lack of sincerity in the plot here.

Still, food shows are my guilty pleasure, so I expect to be following this one as it airs. I probably won’t post about it again unless it does something unexpected, but you know what? I’m rooting for that. Go Gaku! Cook spaghetti that reminds you of algebra until Chairmon Saimon has a bad day!