Oishinbo

Oishinbo (美味しんぼ) is a long-running Japanese cooking manga series written by Tetsu Kariya and drawn by Akira Hanasaki. The manga's title is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "delicious", oishii (美味しい), and the word for someone who loves to eat, kuishinbō (食いしん坊).[3] The series depicts the adventures of culinary journalist Shirō Yamaoka and his partner (and later wife), Yūko Kurita. It was published by Shogakukan between 1983 and 2008 in Big Comic Spirits, and resumed again on February 23, 2009,[4] only to be put on an indefinite hiatus after the May 12, 2014, edition in the weekly Big Comic Spirits, following harsh criticism of Oishinbo's treatment of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.[5]

Before this suspension, Oishinbo was collected in 111 tankōbon volumes, making it the 18th longest manga released and among the best-selling manga series in history. The series was a perennial best-seller, selling 1.2 million copies per volume,[6] for a total of more than 135 million copies sold.[7]

Characters

The character names listed here are in western order of family name last. The official English language manga volumes use the Japanese naming order of family name first.

Shirō Yamaoka (山岡士郎)

Played by Toshiaki Karasawa (1994 show), Masahiro Matsuoka (2007 show)

Shirō Yamaoka a 27-year-old journalist for the Tōzai News (東西新聞社)'s culture division and the head of its Ultimate Menu project. He is the only son of the world-famous potter and gourmand Yūzan Kaibara. He was forced to cook in his father's Gourmet Club when he was still at school and he resents his father, blaming him for his mother's early death. He once destroyed his father's paintings and ceramics because he believed his father cared more about food and his reputation than his family. Yamaoka appears lazy and uninterested unless it concerns food where he possesses a deep knowledge.

Yūko Kurita (栗田ゆう子)

Played by Yuriko Ishida (1-3), Yasuko Tomita (4-5) (1995 show), Yuka (2007 show)

Kurita is Yamaoka's co-worker and assists him in the Ultimate Menu project. She is often seen with Noriko Hanamura and Kinue Tabata, and together they are referred to as the "Culture Department Flower Trio". Kurita later marries Shirō Yamaoka and they have two children together, Yōji (陽士) and Yumi (遊美).

Yūzan Kaibara (海原雄山)

Played by Yoshio Harada (1), Tōru Emori (2-5) (1994 show); Ken Matsudaira (2007 show)

Kaibara is Yamaoka's father and rival. Kaibara trained Yamaoka, but the two had a falling-out. The relationship worsens when Kaibara begins to work for the Supreme Menu project of the Teito Times (帝都新聞), a rival newspaper. Kaibara is the founder and director of the Gourmet Club. He is also an artist and the author of the Dictionary of Poetic References. He is modelled after Kitaoji Rosanjin.[11]

Daizō Ōhara (大原大蔵)

Ōhara is the publisher of the Tōzai News and initiates the Supreme Menu project.

Kyōichi Koizumi (小泉鏡一)

Editor-in-chief of the Tōzai News.

Hideo Tanimura (谷村秀夫)

Tanimura is the director of the arts and culture department of the Tōzai News.

Tomio Tomii (富井富雄)

Tomii is the deputy director of the arts and culture department. He is known for his buck teeth and baldness. His son's name is Hitoshi, who's known for his glasses, bowlcut hair and freckles and he studies in Class 5-B alongside classmate Masashi, who is the victim of this class' bullying.

Tōjin Tōyama (唐山陶人)

Tōyama is a famous ceramicist and gourmet and is married to the much younger woman, Ryoko.

Seiichi Okaboshi (岡星精一)

Okaboshi is a talented young chef and the owner of Yamaoka's preferred place to socialize.

Fuyumi Okaboshi (岡星冬美)

Fuyumi becomes Okaboshi's wife and runs the restaurant with him.

Ryōzō Okaboshi (岡星良三)

Seiichi's younger brother who works as a chef in Kaibara's Gourmet Club.

Mantarō Kyōgoku (京極万太郎)

A wealthy businessman and a gourmet who lives in Osaka.

Noriko Hanamura (花村典子)

She is a friend of Yūko Kurita and one of the "Culture Department Flower Trio".

Kinue Tabata (田畑絹江)

She is a friend of Yūko Kurita and one of the "Culture Department Flower Trio".

Inspector Nakamatsu (中松警部)

A Police Inspector with a gruff exterior, but he is quite soft-hearted and forms a friendship with Yamaoka.

Tatsu-san (辰さん)

A homeless man who collects leftovers from various restaurants in Ginza, so he knows which ones have the highest quality food. He introduced Yamaoka to Okaboshi's restaurant.[12] His full name is Tatsunojō Hanamikōji (花見小路辰之丈).

Tokuo Nakagawa (中川得夫)

He is the head chef of the Gourmet Club.

Kairakutei Black (快楽亭ブラック)

An American food writer and researcher who gets acquainted with Yamaoka and Kurita when he is in Japan studying tofu dishes. He later becomes a rakugo artist and takes the name Kairakutei. His original name is Henry James Black but he also uses the pen name Stan Black.

Terue Yumemi (夢見テルエ)

One half of a manzai comedy duo. She marries Kairakutei Black and they have a daughter together.

Mariko Niki (二木まり子)

Mariko Niki is a co-worker of Yamaoka and Kurita who writes for Touzai Graph a weekly pictorial magazine. Her family is very wealthy. Her father is Takashi Niki, the president of one of Japan's biggest banks. She studied at a university in Paris and transferred back to Japan from the Touzai Paris office. To the dismay of Yūko Kurita, she pursues Yamaoka romantically but he is not interested in marrying her. Later, she marries a freelance photographer named Kinjō (近城).

Teruko (輝子)

Teruko is Mariko's aunt. Mariko believes her difficult personality is the reason she's still unmarried. However, eventually she marries a novelist called Katamori.

Chairman Niki (二木会長)

Mariko's grandfather and chairman of the Nito Financial Group. He believes he should have a say in who Mariko chooses as a husband.

Arthur Brown (アーサー・ブラウン)

A friend of Kairakutei Black and an editor for an American magazine. He often asks Yamaoka and his colleagues for help when he writes articles about Japan. His Japanese is strange as he uses archaic words and odd expressions.

type	tv series
director	Yoshio Takeuchi
producer	Hidehiko Takei (NTV) Yoshio Katō (Shin-Ei Animation)
writer	Ryūzō Nakanishi Yasuo Tanami Haruya Yamazaki
music	Kazuo Otani
studio	Shin-Ei Animation
network	NNS (NTV)
first	October 17, 1988
last	March 17, 1992
episodes	136
episode list	List of Oishinbo episodes

Plot

Characters

Media

Manga

Volumes

Volumes

Anime

Video games

North American release

Reception

Controversy regarding Fukushima episodes

External links

References