Oishinbo

Oishinbo(Japanese:美味しんぼ, lit. "The Gourmet")is a long-running Japanese cookingmangaseries written byTetsu Kariya[ja]and drawn byAkira Hanasaki[ja]. The manga's title is aportmanteauof 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).The series depicts the adventures of culinary journalist Shirō Yamaoka and his partner (and later wife), Yūko Kurita. It was published byShogakukanbetween 1983 and 2008 inBig Comic Spirits, and resumed again on February 23, 2009,only to be put on an indefinite hiatus after the May 12, 2014, edition in the weekly Big Comic Spirits, following harsh criticism ofOishinbo's treatment of theFukushima Daiichi disaster.
Before this suspension,Oishinbowas collected in 111tankōbonvolumes, making it the 18thlongest mangareleased and among thebest-selling manga seriesin history. The series was a perennial best-seller, selling 1.2 million copies per volume,for a total of more than 135 million copies sold.
The series received the 1986Shogakukan Manga Awardforseinen/general manga.It was adapted as a 136-episodeanimetelevision series broadcast onNippon Televisionfrom October 17, 1988, to March 17, 1992, followed by two sequel TV anime film specials in 1992 and 1993.
It was adapted into a live-action film directed byAzuma Morisaki, starringKōichi SatōandRentarō Mikuni, which premiered on April 13, 1996.The manga is licensed inEnglishinNorth AmericabyViz Media.
In March 2016, writer Tetsu Kariya announced on his blog that he wanted to end the manga after it returned from hiatus. He wrote that "30 years is too long for many things" and that he believed "it's about time to end it."
Oishinbois a drama featuring journalist Shirō Yamaoka who works for Tōzai Shimbun. He is a cynical food critic who is tasked by the newspaper's owner, along with the young Yūko Kurita, to provide recipes for the "ultimate menu". During their search, they encounter Yamaoka's fastidious and demanding father, Yūzan Kaibara, a famous gourmand who tries to sabotage Yamaoka's project.
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.
Volume List
The manga was adapted into a television anime series that ran from October 1988 to March 1992 for 136 episodes.
The series was followed by two television specials.Oishinbo: Ultimate VS Supreme(美味しんぼ　究極対至高　長寿料理対決!!,Oishinbo: Kyūkyoku Tai Shikō, Chōju Ryōri Taiketsu!!)was aired in December 1992 andOishinbo: Japan-US Rice War(美味しんぼ　日米コメ戦争,Oishinbo: Nichibei Kome Sensō)was aired a year later in December 1993.
The manga is licensed inEnglishinNorth AmericabyViz Media,which published the first volume in January 2009.Seven volumes from theOishinbo à la Carte(美味しんぼア・ラ・カルト,Oishinbo A Ra Karuto)series were published from January 2009 to January 2010. These editions are thematic compilations (and include stories from across the timeline), making the English editions effectively a best of the "best of." These volumes are:
In the 1980s, Japan had an upsurge in popularity in thegurumemovement, called the "gourmet boom." Iorie Brau, author ofOishinbo’s Adventures in Eating: Food, Communication, and Culture in Japanese Comics, said that this was the largest factor of the increase in popularity ofgurumecomics. The series's first volume sold around one million copies. The popularity ofOishinbothe comic lead to the development of the anime, the live action film, and manyfansites. The fan-sites chronicle recipes that appeared in the manga.
Tetsu Kariya, the writer ofOishinbo, said in a 1986 interview that he was not a food connoisseur, and that he felt embarrassed whenever food experts read the comic.
In April 2014,Oishinbofeatured a story about the Fukushima nuclear accident called "The Truth of Fukushima". In this story, characters who visited the nuclear plant suffer nosebleeds that don't stop, and they conclude that the government should help people move away from the area because of the radiation. This prompted an intense backlash, both from local governments in Fukushima and across Japan; evenShinzo Abeweighed in, calling the claims "baseless rumors". The publisher had included statements along with the story from the Fukushima prefectural government and radiation expert Ikuro Anzai, objecting to the story for misleading people and noting that discrimination against Fukushima residents and products was doing far more harm than any radiation in the area. Despite these statements, Kariya stood by the story in the midst of the controversy, saying he had researched Fukushima for two years and could "only write the truth," but noted that he was not expecting such a strong reaction from the public.The following month, Shogakukan Inc. putOishinboon hiatus, its last appearance being the May 12, 2014, edition in the weekly Big Comic Spirits.Although the halt of publication coincided with the controversy, the editorial staff claimed they had scheduled the hiatus beforehand.