20210129 Cooking Master Boy

 Friday, 29 January

#Today I wanna write about the manga, Cooking Master Boy. It was one of my favorite manga.

https://images.app.goo.gl/w3Nkjm12eRVBNzrz5

Chūka Ichiban! (中華一番!, The best in Chinese (food)) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Etsushi Ogawa. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from October 1995 to May 1999. From 1995 to 1996 it was serialized as Chūka Ichiban!, however, during serialization, the character '真' was added, so from 1997 to 1999, it was serialized as Shin Chūka Ichiban! (真・中華一番!, True ver. - The best in Chinese (food)!). The story is centered on a boy whose aim is to become the best chef he could be.

An anime television series adaptation by Nippon Animation aired on Fuji TV from April 1997 to September 1998. In some other countries, the anime adaptation was also called Cooking Master Boy.

In November 2017, Ogawa started a sequel entitled Chūka Ichiban! Kiwami, published in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app.

An anime television series adaptation of Shin Chūka Ichiban!, or True Cooking Master Boy, produced by Production I.G, aired from October to December 2019. A second season premiered in January 2021.

The story takes place in 19th century China during the Qing Dynasty, where the Emperor was weakened and the country was close to chaos. It is also during a fictitious era called "The Era of the Cooking Wars". It was an era in which top chefs with different cooking styles tried their best to improve their skills and to become the best chef in China. It is a country where insulting a high-grade chef or fooling around with cooking could land a person in a jail, and impersonating a top-chef is as good as usurpation of authority. Chefs compete with each other in order to gain respect and even power, but also with the risks of losing everything.

In the manga, the country of China is divided into four major regions: Beijing, Szechuan, Shanghai, and Guangdong.

After the death of Mao's mother, Pai, who was called the 'Goddess of Cuisine', Mao becomes a Super Chef in order to take the title of Master Chef of his mother's restaurant. However, before he takes his mother's place as Master Chef, he continues to travel China in order to learn more of the many ways of cooking, in the hopes of becoming a legendary chef, just like his mother. During his journey, he meets great friends and fierce rivals who wish to challenge him in the field of cooking.

The Underground Cooking Society also called the Dark Cooking Society, is an organized group which aims to control all of China through the cooking field. Even though they already have a strong influence all over the country, they still search for all eight of the Legendary Cooking Utensils in order to gain absolute power. They do anything to win and exterminate those who get in their way. When they see a great chef who may become a threat to their master plan or if a chef beats one of them, they'll continue to send chefs to challenge that person until they lose. Their training is very strict, and cruel, and most trainees don't survive and often kidnap young children and forcibly disconnect them from their family through murder. To initiate a chef who survived the training, they would sometimes scar that person's face and/or body. Once inducted into the organization, there's no turning back, and trying to escape is suicidal. Those who fail a task for the organization meets with a terrible end.

Members of the Underground are branded with the mark of the organization. They also have powerful skills called the Dark Cooking Techniques, known only by members of the organization or those that they challenge. They are the most feared organization in all of China.

In ancient times, a meteorite fell from the sky and was first found by Master Chef Shui Lei. Shui crafted eight cooking utensils from the meteorite. Not only were those eight high-class cooking tools, but they also had mystical effects on the food they were used on. The eight cooking utensils were so powerful that Master Chef Shui Lei had to store them in eight separate locations of China, so people wouldn't have to fight over them.

The Legendary Cooking Utensils have immense power, whether they are being used by good or evil. If they are used for good, they can bring about great results that would make people happy. If they are used by evil, they can have destructive powers that could devastate all of China. Also, if a Legendary Cooking Utensil is used on something other than cooking (i.e. killing), its mystical powers would diminish.

Mentioned Legendary Cooking Utensils:

• Ever-Soul Knife

Stored within the Big Angelic Temple for several generations until Mao became the worthy successor. Not only Mao but also Leon was found out to be worthy as well. Even though it was stored in a temple for so long, without anyone touching it, there was no sign of rust on the knife when it was brought out. When choosing its successor, the mark of a dragon would appear on the blade when it is held by the chosen chef. It has the ability to make every food it cuts, fresh, even if it has passed its expiration date. Unfortunately, after a failed attempt in stealing it, a member of the Underground, stabbed himself with it causing the knife to lose its abilities. After Mao's final battle against Fei, the knife regained its powers in order to save Fei.

• Coiled Dragon Pot

The first to be found by Mao and his group after going on their journey to find the Legendary Cooking Utensils. After putting together two pieces of a map, they figured out that it was hidden near the outskirts of Shanghai. Unlike the Ever-Soul Knife, the Coiled Dragon Pot was found in a place with no caretakers or even a temple. It was found inside a secret compartment behind a Kitchen God statue. At first, it seemed to be a rusted pot until Mao touched it. Being the chosen successor, Mao was able to turn it back into its original form. The Coiled Dragon Pot has the power to hasten the fermentation process to an amazing speed.

• Holy Copperware

Found in Jiu Hua Mountains. Originally it was dug up from the farmlands of Jiu Hua many years ago. Not knowing of the mystical powers it possessed, the merchants decided to melt it down so it could turn into spare tools. However, before it could be melted down, a con artist, Wong Seiyo, bought it from them. Since he saved it from being melted down, the Holy Copperware decided to let him be able to use the mystical powers even though he wasn't a worthy successor. Using its powers, Seiyo decided to take advantage of the people of Jiu Hua by using the land's legends to make the people believe he was a god. When Mao arrived, he stopped Seiyo's scheme, made the people believe in their homeland again, and found another Legendary Cooking Utensil. The Holy Copperware has the power to instantly soften dried ingredients, such as dried abalone (which would usually take three or more days to do he win in the league).

Liu Mao Xing (劉昴星) (Chinese: 劉昴星; pinyin: Liú Mǎoxīng)

Voiced by: Mayumi Tanaka (1997 anime), Natsumi Fujiwara (2019 anime)

A 13-year-old boy. Mao basically grew up in the kitchen watching his mother cook in her restaurant. Due to this, he grew up learning his mother's cooking skills and also ended up with the same love for cooking his mother had. Although, even though he had that kind of knowledge, Mao didn't cook much and everyone just thought of him as a kid who just played around and who didn't even know how to cook. It wasn't until his mother's restaurant was in jeopardy that he decided to cook. To everyone's surprise, Mao was a genius chef. Seeing his talent, General Lee sends him on a journey to become a Super Chef. Eventually, Mao becomes the youngest Super Chef in history and decides to travel the country even more, so he can learn more about cooking techniques.

Even though he doesn't have much experience, Mao has the pride of a truly experienced chef, and having learned from his mother that a chef's purpose is to create a dish that makes people happy, he always put his customers' needs first and is always able to make a creative dish that greatly satisfies them. Along with his curiosity in wanting to learn more about cooking, Mao also has unique taste buds; having the ability to remember every single food he's eaten and its ingredients, he could even identify or name all of the ingredients in the food he's currently eating. These traits make Mao a strong contender in the battlefield of cooking.

Mei Li (梅丽) (Chinese: 周梅丽; pinyin: Zhōu Méilì)

Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (1997 anime), Ai Kayano (2019 anime)

The 16-year-old daughter of Chouyu. Originally, she was a helper at the Yang Spring Restaurant. She fell in love with Mao after seeing how much he loves cooking and how he also cares about others. She only knows a little about the cooking field, but she's useful when it comes to little facts and often tries to help Mao with various other things. After finding out that Mao was leaving the Yang Spring Restaurant to travel to China, she was heartbroken since she thought that she could live a life with him. She eventually made up her mind and decided to also leave the restaurant, in order to travel with him (In the manga, she did not accompany Mao in his journey around China). Mei often gets into arguments with Shirou and always ends up slapping or hitting him. She also gets very jealous every time another woman gets near Mao. An example of her animosity towards women that gets close to Mao is when his sister, Karin, visits him to bring their mother's cooking materials; she says that Karin will never be good for Mao, that is until she finds out that she is his sister. On another occasion, when the female chef, Anzu, finally realized the way of making singe cuisine, she kissed Mao as a sign of gratitude, but Mei Li became angry and began to express her anger by hitting Shirou. Although, she says that her number one rival for Mao's heart is his love for cooking. She's a spitting image of her deceased mother, Meika.

(http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%ABka_Ichiban!)

#enoughfortoday #qmo