Sara Talks Anime

If there’s one thing that I can fall back on every single time without fail, it’s shows of cute girls doing cute things for the sake of just doing the things. Besides, with a little thing called EVERYTHING GOING ON IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW JEEZ LOUISE, I figured it’d be worth it for us all to find some zen with me covering a more laid back show. Heh, kinda reminds me of the Fall 2023 anime season. Anyway, lets talk about Food for the Soul, which is certainly food for my soul so far.

We begin with seeing a yellow thing called Mokotaro providing a tutorial on how to make no-cook omelet rice. This is then revealed to be a video on this world’s version of YouTube, which our main character, Mako Kawai, is watching. Part way through, she drops the phone, needing to pick it back up. After realizing the time, however, Mako ends up pausing the video and making the recipe herself. It turns out well, and it’s a 2 for 2 for how good the recipe is, as we see Mokotaro enjoy it within the video before Mako has hers.

We also get introduced to Mako via monologue, where we learn she’s a meek girl who overthinks a lot of her interactions. So, from what I’m getting from this, she has some form of social anxiety (if the research I’ve done is accurate), and she’s also just like me for real. Dang, I must love collecting these fem anime MCs who are considered awkward.

Anyway, we see her gawking at some food in the window of a restaurant…only for one of the employees to come out, notice her, and notify her that they’ve sold out of the specific food item she’s eyeing. Oof.

Dejected, Mako heads to a nearby bridge to sulk, reflecting on how she was in elementary school, and wondering about how she could’ve changed to be so meek. Me core, to be honest with y’all.

Meanwhile, a group of girls attempt for the more than first time to form a club, but they get turned down for the sole reason of they don’t have enough members. Of course, these girls have a plan this time, and provide an envelope, which the staff member turns over to reveal…it has bribe written on it.

This isn’t a monetary bribe, however. It’s just a bunch of paper inside of the envelope, as we are told. Of course, even an unproblematic bribe like this one isn’t enough to get the club approved, so this girl and her friends decide to give up for the time being and have lunch. Mako is also having lunch at this time with a bento of sorts she prepared herself, and is just about to dig into it.

But before she can, one of the girls notices Mako and runs up to her. As it turns out, Mako and this girl, who is named Shinon, were friends in elementary school, and the two never really reconnected after they split apart. During this catching up conversation, Shinon proposes to Mako to join the club that she was trying to make, with Mako (albeit quite awkwardly) turning it down. Once their lunch is over, however, Shinon and her friends go to class while Mako goes to her place and laments about how awkward she was.

Mako then goes to work at her part time job, where she doesn’t seem fully there. When she’s allowed to get off of work, she then goes back to the store she was at earlier…and finds out that one of the girls she had met works here! She ends up going inside and watches everyone order, before making her order…only to find out that yet again, it’s sold out.

The girl who works there (Kurea) ends up making one that she was planning on having for her staff meal to give to Mako, and Mako tries it and enjoys it. During this, Kurea gives Mako Shinon’s contact information, and the two get back in contact, with Mako deciding on joining the club after all.

…only one teeny tiny issue. While Shinon was repeatedly pushing this club as a Food Culture Research Club, the actual purpose of the club is just to laze around and do whatever. However, since there are five characters in the key visual, I’m guessing a fifth member will join and end up getting the girls to actually make the club do its advertised activities instead of being a disguise to laze around.

This is honestly a nice and chill series. There’s clearly room for the characters to grow, and I can already sense some conflict for the future. It’s nice to have a chill series like this that isn’t all “rargh, the universe is in danger and only this chosen teenager can save it”, and has conflict that I can actually sense unlike another series that I chose to watch and review. I didn’t know it at the time, but I made somewhat of a mis-step in Summer 2024. Should’ve done the other isekai anime I was considering for review that season, to be honest. I’m excited to see what direction this series ends up taking next week, and hopefully it doesn’t leave me disappointed.

ADDITIONAL POSTS ABOUT FOOD FOR THE SOUL:

• Food for the Soul Episode 2 – “I Might Want To Cook”