Oishinbo, A la Carte: Ramen & Gyōza

~written by Tetsu Kariya
~illustrated by Akira Hanasaki
1987 Shogakukan Manga Award Winner
2010 Eisner Award Nominee

Oishinbo, written by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki, is an incredibly successful and well-loved manga series in Japan. The manga began serialization in 1983 and is still ongoing; more than one hundred volumes have been published so far. In 1987 the series won a Shogakukan Manga Award. Oishinbo, A la Carte, the only version of the manga that has been licensed in English, selects stories from throughout the original series to create thematic collections that focus on a particular food or cuisine. Oishinbo, A la Carte: Ramen & Gyōza was the second of these collections to have been published in Japan and was the third volume to be released in English by Viz Media, following Japanese Cuisine and Sake. As a bit of a foodie myself, I have really been enjoying the Oishinbo, A la Carte collections. I was particularly interested in Ramen & Gyōza because those foods, although Chinese in origin, were my introduction to Japanese cuisine. I'm finally getting around to reading the volume thanks to the Oishinbo Manga Moveable Feast.

The basic premise of Oishinbo is fairly simple: Yamaoka Shirō has been charged by Tōzai News to create the "Ultimate Menu" of Japanese cuisine. In response, their rival newspaper Teito Times has hired Kaibara Yūzan, who happens to be Yamaoka's estranged father, to develop the "Supreme Menu." The father-son relationship between the two men was already strained; the menu projects give them yet another reason to come into conflict. They can't help but challenge each other, Yamaoka constantly trying to show his father up and Kaibara constantly trying to put his son into his place. I find the six stories collected in Ramen & Gyōza particularly interesting for a couple of reasons. Although ramen and gyōza have been incorporated into Japanese cuisine, they were originally developed from Chinese cooking traditions. Additionally, both ramen and gyōza are everyday comfort foods and are therefore frequently considered to be low-class. It amuses me greatly that Yamaoka and Kaibara, who are so concerned with finding the pinnacle of Japanese food culture, can get into fights even over dishes that they had both at one point written off as not worth their time.

It should be fairly obvious that Ramen & Gyōza is about ramen and gyōza, but there was another theme that I particularly noticed in this volume of Oishinbo, A la Carte. Importance is placed on the quality of the ingredients used in a dish, although it is not the only factor needed for it to be successful. Yamaoka and the other characters, especially his father, emphasize the need for a safe and sustainable food culture, free of chemicals and ideally locally produced. This is certainly a notion that I personally support, but Kariya has never been subtle with his characters' opinions in Oishinbo. In some cases their apparent activism can be somewhat distracting from the story while at other times it is expertly incorporated into the narrative itself. Of course, the fact that the characters get so worked up over food is one of the reasons that Oishinbo is so entertaining. Take away their ranting and raving and suddenly the series would be much less engaging.

Because Oishinbo, A la Carte: Ramen & Gyōza only collects selected stories from the original Oishinbo manga, it is difficult for readers to get a good sense of the overarching plot and chronology of the series. However, the six stories in Ramen & Gyōza make good selections because they stand on their own rather well. Any important plot points that aren't immediately obvious are explained in the translation notes. Ramen & Gyōza is actually mostly about ramen and other Chinese-style noodles. I was a little disappointed that gyōza was only featured in one of the stories, but at least it was the longest one. Perhaps because ramen and gyōza are so common and familiar, the manga didn't go too in depth into the particulars of the specific foods but focused more on people's interactions with them instead. For some reason I didn't find Ramen & Gyōza to be quite as compelling as the previous two volumes of Oishinbo, A la Carte, but I still enjoyed myself immensely and look forward to reading more.

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Oishinbo, A la Carte: Sake

~written by Tetsu Kariya
~illustrated by Akira Hanasaki
1987 Shogakukan Manga Award Winner
2010 Eisner Award Nominee

Oishinbo, A la Carte: Sake, written by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki, is the second volume of the Oishinbo, A la Carte collections to be released in English by Viz Media's Signature line in 2009. Originally, Sake was the twenty-sixth volume in the series when published in Japan in 2007. Oishinbo is a very popular and successful manga in Japan. It began serialization in 1983 and is still ongoing even after more than a hundred volumes. in 1987, the series won a Shogakukan Manga Award. The Oishinbo, A la Carte collections are thematic compilations of story arcs taken from throughout the regular series. I had previously read Japanese Cuisine, the first volume of Oishinbo, A la Carte to be released by Viz, and thoroughly enjoyed it. So, I was looking forward to reading Sake as well, especially since it was a subject I wasn't particularly familiar with.

In the West, "sake" is generally used to mean Japanese rice wine, or nihonshu. However, in Japanes "sake" tends to refer to all drinking alcohol in general. Appropriately enough, while the main focus of Sake is sake, the volume also explores wine and champagne, shōchū, awamori and kūsū, and briefly mentions beer, cognac, bourbon, whiskey, vodka, and brandy. I was somewhat surprised so little time was spent on whiskey since Japan has recently gained some notoriety in that realm. Instead, Sake examines and celebrates the authentic and traditional Japanese alcohols and delves into the good and the bad of the sake industry. Many of the drinks and breweries mentioned in Sake actually exist.

I found Sake to be a little less interesting art-wise than Japanese Cuisine, mainly because it is more difficult to visually convey the differences between liquids than it is for foods. However, Hanasaki still does a lovely job and the bottles of alcohol in particular are beautifully rendered. For the most part, Hanasaki's style is very simple until the real stars of the show, the food and drink, appear and are captured in photorealistic detail. One of the things I found especially interesting in Sake is how closely Kariya equates sake with Japanese culture. There is a certain amount of intense pride and confidence in sake and in Japan exhibited. The failings of the sake industry are also seen as a failure to treasure what makes Japan, Japan. Throughout Sake, Kariya's characters express concerns about the over-Westernization of Japan and mourn the resulting loss of respect for Japanese food and drink cultures. But at the same time, they show that Japan still has a lot that is unique to offer the world.

Kariya is not afraid to use his characters to tear into Japanese businesses, people, and governments over the poor state and practices of the sake industry. They have no patience whatsoever for "fake" by-the-book gourmets and do not hesitate to express their opinions. But it is their enthusiasm and passion about food and drink that makes Oishinbo so engaging, even when the manga occasionally becomes a sequence of talking heads. So far, I love the Oishinbo, A la Carte collections and find them to be both highly entertaining and educational. The only real problem that I've encountered is that I immediately want to go out and try all the food and drinks mentioned in a particular volume--something that isn't really very feasible. Still, I'm looking forward to reading the next book, Oishinbo, A la Carte: Ramen and Gyoza, very much.

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Oishinbo, A la Carte: Japanese Cuisine

~written by Tetsu Kariya
~illustrated by Akira Hanasaki
1987 Shogakukan Manga Award Winner
2010 Eisner Award Nominee

Oishinbo, A la Carte: Japanese Cuisine, written by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki, was the first Oishinbo collection to be released by Viz Media's Signature line in 2009. Oishinbo, which began publication in 1983 in Japan, is a long running manga that is currently up to one hundred four volumes and is still going. In 1987, the series won the Shogakukan Manga Award for General Manga and it has remained very popular throughout its publication. The Oishinbo, A la Carte collections are basically thematic "best of" compilations. While Japanese Cuisine was the first volume to be made available in English, technically it is the twentieth volume in the A la Carte series and was originally published in 2006. Between 2009 and 2010, Viz released seven of the A la Carte collections and the series received a nomination for the 2010 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material--Asia. I believe it was this nomination that first brought Oishinbo to my attention and when I learned it was about food there was no way I was going to pass up on the manga.

Japanese Cuisine collects ten stories exploring elements of Japanese food culture as well as brief commentary on the subject from the author Tetsu Kariya. The compilation focuses on elements of Japanese cuisine that make it distinct from others, extending beyond just the food itself to the entire dining experience and skills used in and needed for preparation. Japanese Cuisine features knife techniques, different styles and types of sashimi, rice, and tea, the importance of the food's presentation, proper etiquette, and the use of chopsticks among many other things. This variety makes for a good introduction to Japanese food culture and Oishinbo itself. And while fish is a prominent component in many of the stories--understandable since it is also a fairly prominent component in Japanese cuisine--the collection never really feels repetitive. The Viz edition of the manga also includes recipes and practical applications of the subjects covered.

Because Japanese Cuisine is a thematic compilation with stories taken from throughout the Oishinbo series, it is sometimes difficult to get a good feel for the overarching plot of the story and the book can feel a bit disjointed at times. However, each chapter or "course" selected fairs pretty well as short, mostly self-contained vignette. The editor's notes are also very useful in helping to keep the reader oriented and provide further enlightenment on the subjects addressed. In fact, the manga as a whole is both very informative and engaging. The creators' enthusiasm for food is obvious through the characters' own passion and the attention and care given to the portrayal of the various dishes. The amount of detail included in the food's illustration is one of the highlights of Akira Hanasaki's artwork. While I frequently find the character designs appealing, it's really the food that stands out--appropriate and certainly important for a manga about cuisine.

I'm not sure that Oishinbo would initially appeal to readers who aren't already interested in food or Japanese culture but it does make the subjects very approachable and for a foodie like me it's simply fantastic. In addition to all of the food talk there's plenty of drama (oh, the drama!) and it is amusing and thrilling to see people get so worked up and emotional about the things they are passionate. Granted, Shirō (the main protagonist) does come across as a bit of an ass much of the time, but he's nothing compared to his father who may be brilliant but who is a complete bastard. While Oishinbo is primarily a food manga, it is also about the intense relationships that the characters have with food and with each other. I really enjoyed Japanese Cuisine and learned quite a bit reading it in addition to being entertained by the story. I look forward to picking up the next volume, Sake, very much.