FIF#79-Todays Menu for the Emiya Family

In other universes, Shiro Emiya and his heroic servant, Saber, are locked in mortal combat with six other masters and spirits for control of the Holy Grail.  This…is not one of those universes.  Familiar faces are everywhere but battle is not the order of the day.  That…is whatever delicious meal Shiro Emiya decides to cook for anyone who steps through his door.  No matter the day or the season, everyones always garunteed a laugh, a good time, and a hearty meal at the right time.  Leave your troubles at the door and prepare to be amazed at the choice of dish on Todays Menu for the Emiya Family, itadakimasu!!!

 

When you run out of ways to adapt the three central routes of the Fate/Stay Night visual novel (Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel), and yet the franchise is one of the King of Kings of Anime, someone will find a way to renew interest, for better or worse.  We’ve already gotten the Magical Girl spin off (Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya), the Sword Art Online spin off (Fate/Extra: Last Encore), the prequel (Fate/Zero) and the overloaded epic spinoff (Fate/Apocrypha).  Seriously, what’s left?  Well…now there’s a spin off about cooking and it may very well be the best of these side stories in the grand Fate/Stay Night mythology.

 

Todays Menu for the Emiya Family takes the bare, bare bones of the franchise (so just the characters) and doesn’t stray to far from the feel good premise the title implies.  There are Heroic Spirits like Saber, Lancer and Rider, but there’s no Holy Grail War.  The rest of the Fate gang is around too including the titular Shiro Emiya, Illya, Fujimura, Shinji, Sakura and my favorite waifu Rin, but no ones trying to kill each other.  And from the looks of the premiere, it looks like its just going to be everyone coming to either Shiros or maybe someone elses place to just chill out and get a bite to eat.  And man will they eat.  The one thing that caught me right away is how good the food looks in this show (so much it kind of leaves the character designs a little unpolished, but they do look cute (God especially Rin) so it’s forgivable).  This show is basically the food porn spin off of Fate/Stay Night.  It goes all in too as most of the very short run time is dedicated to Shiro going through a full blown tutorial of how to cook a Shimp Tempeura Soba New Years Eve meal.  There might be a couple of season long subplots such as the possibility that Shiro might have a crush on Saber.  But overall, this is meant to be a show to kick back and enjoy without the emotional/violent/psychological baggage that comes with every other Fate/Stay Night series on the planet…and im weirdly ok with that.  This is the kind of show you put on in the background at a party or just to chillax too and we all need a show like that (heh, it kind of reminds me of K-On in a way).

With episodes running at about half the length of a normal TV episode, at least judging from the premiere alone, Todays Menu for the Emiya Family could either be a super quick watch (complete with a future full series review perhaps?) or a show to watch slowly and let simmer.  I feel like I could smell the meal Shiro was cooking and…well I was actually pretty hungry by the time the episode was finished.  Anyway, this is a feel good Anime, one of the many textbook definitions.  I don’t even think you need to be well versed in the Fate/Stay Night universe to enjoy watching a bunch of friends goof off and eat some of the best damn food ever seen on an Anime screen.  I could do with more Anime like this in my life right now.  I know this came out last year but Todays Menu for the Emiya Family is the kind of Anime I hope to see more of in 2019.