"Teppan Shoujo Akane!!" Review
I (finally!) finished watching Teppan Shoujo Akane!! recently, and so I figured I would write out my thoughts on it.
The drama Teppan Shoujo Akane!! tells the story of Kagura Akane, a young woman whose famous cook of a father instilled in her a passion for cooking. Her mother died when she was young, and her father ran away. She tried to keep the family restaurant open, but it turns out that her father sold it to a large corporation when he left. She tries to delay the closure of her shop, striking a deal with a famed food critic to pay the debt if she reaches her father's level of cooking ability. She sets off to search for her father, who gives her clues to his location by sending local ingredients. She is joined in her search by Kurogane, a friend of her father's, and Shinta, a childhood friend she recently reunited with and quickly falls for. Meanwhile, Saigoji Elena, leader of the corporation who bought Akane's shop, is also searching for Akane's father in order to make him a chef in her planned multi-million-dollar food complex.
The early episodes of the show fall into a very formulaic pattern of setting out to the next location, finding some sort of issue between the locals involving food that sets Akane and Elena on different sides, and then there is a brief cooking battle before the issue is resolved and Akane receives the next package from her father hinting where he might be next. Unfortunately, this really isn't that compelling a formula. Everything is overacted to the point where the dramatic moments are undermined, and the cooking battles which could be a lot of fun are tedious and ultimately pointless. Unlike some other cooking-based shows and manga I've seen/read, there isn't any real cooking knowledge on display here. While some other shows go into detail about the strategy of picking certain ingredients or specifics about why someone would win, instead battles consist of a CG dragon erupting from the iron plate that Akane cooks from and then a winner is announced. Not very satisfying at all.
The last few episodes introduce some more intrigue into the show as several things are hinted at regarding the identity of Akane's father, and the relationship between Shinta and Akane is explored. There is a big twist near the end that rings false even after hearing the explanation at the end. In fact, most of the revelations in the closing episode left me incredulous. Worst of all, the ending to the show is very, very unsatisfying, and almost certainly the blame can be placed on the cancellation of the true final episode by the station airing the drama. Originally 10 episodes, only 9 were broadcast, and it seems like they tacked on 5 minutes of the true final episode onto the end of episode 9 to try and have some semblance of an ending.
The acting is uninspiring throughout. No one could overcome the terrible script and poor direction (on which I blame the perpetual overacting by the entire cast) really don't help matters. The usually dependable Horikita Maki is only passable as the title character. Tsukamoto Takashi not only looks ridiculous in this drama, but also has trouble making his character very likeable, making Akane's feelings for him seem even more absurd. Jinnai Takanori, who plays Kurogane, and Katase Nana, who plays Elena, both overact well into caricature territory, which was obviously intential but also incredibly grating. Ryu Raita was fine in his straightforward role as the food critic.
There is very little reason to watch this drama. The story is extremely predictable in its first half and pointlessly unpredictable in its second. Everyone overacts, undermining the story's attempt at a dramatic conclusion. The satisfaction that could have been had from the ending was robbed by the cancellation of the final episode. Much more frustrating than fun, I would definitely not recommend wasting your time on this drama.
Since finishing Teppan, I've already started on LIAR GAME. I've watched the first 5 episodes and I'm really enjoying it so far. A little too much self-congratulatory exposition, but other than that it's a lot of fun. The last episode isn't yet subtitled though, so if I rush through too quickly I may end up stuck before the conclusion...
The drama Teppan Shoujo Akane!! tells the story of Kagura Akane, a young woman whose famous cook of a father instilled in her a passion for cooking. Her mother died when she was young, and her father ran away. She tried to keep the family restaurant open, but it turns out that her father sold it to a large corporation when he left. She tries to delay the closure of her shop, striking a deal with a famed food critic to pay the debt if she reaches her father's level of cooking ability. She sets off to search for her father, who gives her clues to his location by sending local ingredients. She is joined in her search by Kurogane, a friend of her father's, and Shinta, a childhood friend she recently reunited with and quickly falls for. Meanwhile, Saigoji Elena, leader of the corporation who bought Akane's shop, is also searching for Akane's father in order to make him a chef in her planned multi-million-dollar food complex.
The early episodes of the show fall into a very formulaic pattern of setting out to the next location, finding some sort of issue between the locals involving food that sets Akane and Elena on different sides, and then there is a brief cooking battle before the issue is resolved and Akane receives the next package from her father hinting where he might be next. Unfortunately, this really isn't that compelling a formula. Everything is overacted to the point where the dramatic moments are undermined, and the cooking battles which could be a lot of fun are tedious and ultimately pointless. Unlike some other cooking-based shows and manga I've seen/read, there isn't any real cooking knowledge on display here. While some other shows go into detail about the strategy of picking certain ingredients or specifics about why someone would win, instead battles consist of a CG dragon erupting from the iron plate that Akane cooks from and then a winner is announced. Not very satisfying at all.
The last few episodes introduce some more intrigue into the show as several things are hinted at regarding the identity of Akane's father, and the relationship between Shinta and Akane is explored. There is a big twist near the end that rings false even after hearing the explanation at the end. In fact, most of the revelations in the closing episode left me incredulous. Worst of all, the ending to the show is very, very unsatisfying, and almost certainly the blame can be placed on the cancellation of the true final episode by the station airing the drama. Originally 10 episodes, only 9 were broadcast, and it seems like they tacked on 5 minutes of the true final episode onto the end of episode 9 to try and have some semblance of an ending.
The acting is uninspiring throughout. No one could overcome the terrible script and poor direction (on which I blame the perpetual overacting by the entire cast) really don't help matters. The usually dependable Horikita Maki is only passable as the title character. Tsukamoto Takashi not only looks ridiculous in this drama, but also has trouble making his character very likeable, making Akane's feelings for him seem even more absurd. Jinnai Takanori, who plays Kurogane, and Katase Nana, who plays Elena, both overact well into caricature territory, which was obviously intential but also incredibly grating. Ryu Raita was fine in his straightforward role as the food critic.
There is very little reason to watch this drama. The story is extremely predictable in its first half and pointlessly unpredictable in its second. Everyone overacts, undermining the story's attempt at a dramatic conclusion. The satisfaction that could have been had from the ending was robbed by the cancellation of the final episode. Much more frustrating than fun, I would definitely not recommend wasting your time on this drama.
Since finishing Teppan, I've already started on LIAR GAME. I've watched the first 5 episodes and I'm really enjoying it so far. A little too much self-congratulatory exposition, but other than that it's a lot of fun. The last episode isn't yet subtitled though, so if I rush through too quickly I may end up stuck before the conclusion...