Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari Episode 01 Review: Bukkake Udon

Hello everyone, and welcome to our review of Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari’s first episode! For starters, I will say that this is definitely an anime for YOU if you are looking for something that will give you family vibes. The main genre of this anime is seinen, and it doesn’t revolve around high-schoolers and their love problems. There are a ton of high school romance anime out there; these days it even feels that the dominating anime genres in the market are high school romance or shounen series filled with fan-service. If you’re tired of that and want a break, then this is the right series to go with!

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Plot

The anime starts with the main character, Tawara Souta, coming back to his hometown in Kagawa from the metropolis of Tokyo. Kagawa is one of the prefectures on the Shikoku island, which is also known as the ‘Udon prefecture’. This is also mentioned at the beginning of the anime, which you might not find surprising considering the name of the show. It might also be not surprising for you to find out that the main character is the son of a man who used to run an udon restaurant. However, his parents have passed away and the place is run down. Nobody has made udon there for a long time. Then again, it seems that ‘Tawara Udon’ was pretty famous and every single person whom Souta meets keeps telling him to resurrect the place and make udon. Souta himself does not have any intention of making udon or staying in Kawaga for a long time. But is this going to work out? I am getting this feeling in my gut that he will end up in Kagawa and will reopen his father’s shop. Don’t you too?

When Souta gets back to his house, he hears weird noises in the kitchen and thinks they are caused by rats. To his surprise, and to ours too, he finds a sleeping child instead of filthy rats. Long story short, he ends up having to take care of the child for the time being.

When he is walking the boy and they end up around a buddhist temple, the monk tells Souta to be careful of tanuki (a Japanese raccoon dog, which is prominent in Japanese folklore and mythology) who take the form of a child and live amongst humans for years. Now, why would he tell this to Souta you mind wonder. Pretty random, ain’t it? Watch the episode and you will find out!

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Episode Highlights

I must say that this was a pretty amusing start for a pretty amusing anime. It was filled with dialect from the Kagawa prefecture, and whenever Souta was talking like somebody who came from Tokyo, people would scold him and bash on the youngsters who go to Tokyo and start making fun of the villages and the small towns. The funny thing is, Kagawa is pretty much at the end of the world, and even in a highly developed country like Japan, there isn’t much to do in a place like Kagawa. There were a couple more jokes concerning small towns and villages, which will probably make you crack up.

The little kid with his big blue eyes was extremely adorable. Though, whenever he was hungry his stomach would make such a noise Souta would get creeped out. And mind you, the creators of the anime used this to their advantage and made a couple more jokes, and really nice ones at that!

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Themes and Trivia

The main theme of the anime is, well obviously, udon. Who would have thought, right? But other then that, the main theme of the first episode was the parent-child relationship. It was filled with Souta’s memories about his father, about his mother, his childhood, his dream of wanting to take over his father’s job, and how he grew up to hate udon and left for Tokyo, most probably breaking his father’s heart. This tiny 25-minute-long episode really makes you rethink the relationship you have with your parents, and the way you treat them. It was refreshing.

Throughout the episode, Souta also gets to find out many things that are reminiscent of his dad and the udon he used to make. He met a lot of people telling him how they loved the ‘Tawara Udon’. You can see from his face that Souta himself probably misses his dad’s udon and the happy childhood he had.

And that should be it for today’s episode. I am really looking forward to the next episode. But before you leave, I want to mention that this anime has splendid voice actors, including Nakamura Yuuichi and Hanazawa Kana, to mention just two of them.

Either way, I hope that you will enjoy this as much as I did. It is pretty amusing and sweet. I have a good feeling that this show is going to be a success! What do you think about it? Tell us what you think about Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari! We will be looking forward to you comments and don’t forget to check Manga.Tokyo for all the latest anime news and reviews!

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