Pure Food Delight: "Koufuku Graffiti"

Synopsis

Ryou is a middle schooler, who, having learned from her grandmother, has gained incomparable cooking skills. Recently, however, while her food looks appetizing and smells inviting, the taste has not been delicious. Just as she is about to despair that she might continue living alone for the rest of her life, her aunt calls her.

She informs Ryou that her second cousin Kirin Morino will begin staying with her every weekend since the younger girl has joined a cram school in Tokyo and aims to attend the same school as Ryou. Upon the young girl’s arrival, Ryou finds her cooking vastly improving and discovers that it is not her prowess in the kitchen, but the sharing of the experience with those closest to her that seems to make the flavors shine.

The Good

For anyone who wishes to check out the show, the first thing to know is to not watch it with an empty stomach. It is as the title states, a series that takes on the concept of the joy that comes from enjoying a good meal with different people. The way that it features the food with its different textures and how the character eats it really makes you feel like you’re taking part of the meal. The sound effects and visual play in some scenes when the food is presented also helped in bringing out the meal.

While the food preparation and meals are a great delight and the biggest highlight of the series, the characters also presented held a charm to them. The way that the series shows the flow of time and how they bond in each season is lovely. It had a good amount of heartfelt moments and a well-balanced amount of comedy to go with it. Simply put, the characters have a rather wholesome friendship to them mixed with the fun of enjoying a meal with another person.

The Bad

While the visuals of the series do well in bringing out the meals, there are moments when the visuals get rather weird. Usually, this happens with the short clip that occurs at the beginning of the episode to tease the meal. An example of this is one episode, Ryou dreams of characters with food for heads and is encouraged to eat said heads. Another thing that stood out with the series is how it uses it’s camera angles, a.k.a. how the characters seem to break the fourth wall. The way it seems like the character is raising the dish to display to a camera comes off as rather awkward.

One other flaw with the series is not all that big but it is notable. Throughout the series, Yuki was shown in the background, she seems to be built up for a certain point of the series. For her to end up being featured and developed in a single episode is a bit of let-down.

Conclusion

This is a series that truly features food and the enjoyment of a good meal with different people. The visuals do well in featuring the food when it’s made and consumed. Other times, however, the visuals and animation direction can get a little weird and awkward at times, especially when the characters seem to talk to a “camera.” Still, there is a wholesome quality to the series when it comes to the characters and while there may be problems presentation wise, it’s still a great series to watch if you want something cute and featuring food.

Rating: 8/10