Having come done with some sort of stomach malfunction because of serious overeating, watching this week’s episode of Restaurant to Another World was nothing but torture for me. Even now I’m counting down the minutes to go destroy last night’s leftover pasta.
Japanese Original Episode Title: カレーライス / チキンカレー
Plot
The episode starts by following the story of the ex-military castaway Alphonse Flügel, who after 20 years of isolation and wearing, eating, and socializing with some sort of weird deserted-island wildlife, is finally rescued by a ship that takes him back to his incredible wealth. He wears a military suit before revisiting the Nekoya, having found another door for it in Duchy and away from the island he was stranded in. He very loudly and -let me state this extremely clearly- in a completely UNFUNNY fashion orders his favorite curry and screams when it takes more than two seconds to come to the table. After a brief standardized argument about which food of the Nekoya is the best, he devours his meal and the chef offers him his latest curry to try, with chicken as the main ingredient instead of pork. The old man eats the curry and his mouth is in flames, while in the meantime one of the world’s dragons walks in, the one that decided to banish themselves in outer space because their magic was so deadly the world couldn’t stand it. She orders a chicken curry and Alphonse, unaware of who she is, ask the chef to put all her meals on his bill. Naturally, she eats a ton of food, only to later find out (thanks to the red dragon visiting) that she needs money to pay for her meals. The red dragon gets her a job with the chef and they form an agreement, while Aletta freaks out over her quality of work.
Episode Highlights
Shirt and skirt guy: Anyone care to explain why after being rescued, Alphonse bothered to wear a white buttoned shirt but no pants? I guess his family goods have gotten very comfortable being caressed by the summer breeze. Which bring me to a point I like to make: every man should try wearing a dress at least once to see how comfy they are. Call it a night gown if it makes you feel better.
Fully staffed: I was asking myself in the beginning of this episode: when is this dark elf that we see in the intro finally gonna come into play? And conveniently enough, it was on this very episode that they showed up. And I’m saying they because I’m still pretty confused on how dragon gender works.
From Krakens to unicorn wolves: I’ve seen my share of weird creatures but why on earth would a wolf have a horn? Research didn’t give any results. I am disappointed.
Other world logic: Every single customer has tried but a single meal in the Nekoya: the one they had when they first came in. How this makes them so confident on the fact that it’s the best on the menu, I cannot tell. As a matter of fact, why is there even a menu?
Dragons against the chaos of the many tentacles…: Is it just me or is this also dramatically sexual? I mean. Maybe it is just me. But then we’ve only seen two dragons in human forms and they’re both female-looking. And then tentacles. And they’ve been at it for a thousand years non-stop… now that is something.
Another rookie mistake: Apart from the sauce-on-top horror a couple of weeks ago, today’s episode presented us with yet another misconception about proper food consumption: water does not help with spicy food, and Alphonse just kept drinking it without the chef saying anything or offering him something that would help, like milk, yogurt, cream, or vodka.
Nudity award: for once, casual nudity in this show was both to the point and quite hilarious. I love how Aletta covered Kuro with the menu.
Themes & Trivia
Table manners: Honestly, I can’t really understand if customers being evidently rude (especially to Aletta) is supposed to be funny in some way, but I find it disgusting. To my knowledge, staff abuse in Japan is not a very common thing (not from the clients, that is), so I don’t really see how this sort of thing can be seen as a joke, but it drives me crazy.
Kuro: The black dragon’s name in Japanese means ‘black’. Surprised?
Maybe I’m a dragon
If anything, I do share Kuro’s appetite… Wish I had a bottomless stomach like she does. As for the choice between chicken and rice curry, well I’d obviously go for the spicy one.
Hope you enjoyed this review! Let us know what you think in the comments below and see you next week with another Restaurant to Another World review on MANGA.TOKYO. Also, don’t forget to check the rest our Summer 2017 reviews!
NEXT TIME: Hamburg Steak / Assorted Cookies (ハンバーグ / クッキーアソート)