Sunday 1 February 2015

Currently watching: Mondai no Aru Restaurant

The ingredients for this series are pretty plain. There’s a group of misfits who are out for revenge against a sexually-harassing president of a large corporation. And they're going to do this by the seemingly improbable method of opening a bistro right opposite one owned by his company.


Well, not RIGHT opposite. It's actually on the roof of a tower block and there's no elevator, but you can see the corporation's restaurant from there, which seems to be important.


The misfits in question are all feminine, if not quite all female. They are taken from those parts of society who are not usually taken seriously in a male dominated world. Among them are a single mother, a feminist, a gay transvestite and a woman in her thirties who is still unmarried. Meanwhile, it seems that every male character is evil, rude and/or stupid. If you can overlook this slightly cartoonish division of the sexes, this drama attempts to make some points about society.


But quite how this ramshackle band are going to unmask the president's way, I have no idea. I’ve only seen episode one but it sort of reminds me of Akihabara@Deep, but with food instead of computer programs. Maybe this is why Mondai no Aru Restaurant has become an early favourite this season. I find the characters interesting, the dialogue funny and the possibilities intriguing.

1 comment:

  1. Arrived at episode 6, and the points about society are being made. Didn't quite like the fact that all men were idiots or worse in this series, but ep 6 definitely made the point, and it hurt! I suppose this couldn't have been said so strongly without the extremes, and with nuance.
    How Nitta san was abused and let herself down really, really hurt me. This series is not about realism, but about making a point. Just as you sensed in your early review.

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