Gokudou Meshi

Gokudou Meshi is essentially a manga about food nostalgia. Every Christmas Eve in South Naniwa Prison a group of convicts gather around a table and tell a stories about the best dish they have ever eaten, however this is a competition -who ever makes the rest salivate the most wins. The prize: one piece of food from everyone else around the table’s New Year Osechi. Each chapter focuses on a different convict and the meal they have chosen. After a very promising first chapter which showed how Shunsuke the main character ended up in prison in the first place and set up the plot revolving aroundthe competition for the rest of the series it is disappointing that the story falls flat on its face in the next two chapters. It is very difficult to stay interested in a manga which just has characters describe food. None of the story’s which the characters tell are particularly hard hitting or dramatic. However I accept that I’m not really the market for which this manga is aimed at, I’m not a food otaku (if there is such thing) and I’m not really that interested or knowledgeable enough in Japanese food. However considering that it was published in such a popular seinan magazine (Weekly Manga Action) and even got the live action treatment its clear that there is an audience for this title (I’m just not included in this audience). Its hard to make a statement about the art work. Yes its good and often incredibly detailed but something about the artwork suggests to me that’s its just a typical seinan style. One of the main problems I have with it is that often the characters all look so similar (due to their convict hair style) I find it difficult to tell who is who. However I’m so early in that my opinion could still change. Maybe I’ll be hit by the drama which the live action trailer promises me. Maybe I’ll get more of a feeling for Shigeru Tsuchiyama’s art work and I’ll actually be able to tell characters apart.