Chef Kawasaki (Kirby: Right Back at Ya!)

Chef Kawasaki is a recurring supporting character in the anime series; Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, first appearing in A Blockbuster Battle, though not playing a major role until The Big Taste Test. He owns and runs the only restaurant in Cappy Town, which typically serves east Asian-style cuisine. His cooking is described as awful by most of the cast, but they occasionally eat there anyway when they do not feel like having a meal at home. The only person in town who consistently enjoys Kawasaki's food is Kirby, which goes in part to explain why Kirby and Kawasaki are strong allies most of the time. Despite his reputation, Chef Kawasaki takes his craft seriously, as he was taught by the famous Chef Shiitake, whom he idolizes. Like the rest of the villagers, Chef Kawasaki is not fond of King Dedede, but he does not typically try to challenge the king, especially in the rare cases where Dedede comes to eat at his restaurant.
Chef Kawasaki is voiced by Maddie Blaustein in the English 4Kids dub and by Nobuo Tobita in the original Japanese version. In the English dub, Chef Kawasaki is portrayed with a noticeable lisp in his speech.
==Personality==
Chef Kawasaki is among the more emotionally expressive members of the cast, and tends to show it very overtly. His dream is to become a world-famous chef, but this is hampered by his inadequate cooking ability. Despite knowing all the techniques and having access to fresh and high-quality ingredients, his food invariably comes out not tasting good for reasons not apparent to him or anyone else. Sometimes it is suggested that he may accidentally swap out sugar for salt in certain recipes, or other times he may neglect proper sanitation or cook things at an improper temperature or for an improper amount of time. Whatever the case may be, the most likely explanation for Chef Kawasaki's lack of results is that he always tends to forget some crucial step or another in the preparation process. Kirby is the only character who consistently enjoys his food, though that is largely due to Kirby's high tolerance to the things he eats in general. Despite most of the town's opinions on his cooking, Kawasaki insists that it tastes okay to him. He often deflects this scrutiny by making self-deprecating jokes about his own cooking or his reputation, and sometimes even intentionally leans into his poor cooking by using it to punish King Dedede in the episodes A Spice Odyssey and Sweet and Sour Puss.
Generally speaking, Chef Kawasaki is fairly careless and oblivious regarding the things he says and does, which tends to annoy the other Cappy Town residents. He sometimes also foregoes his sense of moral obligation if it means accomplishing his goals, which sometimes ends up putting Kirby in a dangerous situation. Despite this, Kawasaki usually comes around and does the right thing when he needs to, which often means throwing his frying pan to Kirby to help him win a fight. Kawasaki will also often go out of his way to help Kirby, even if he was not otherwise responsible for the trouble. This alliance with Kirby draws the respect of both his old teacher Chef Shiitake and his peer Chef Nagoya, who otherwise would have been disappointed in his lack of results.
In addition to cooking, Chef Kawasaki can also sometimes be seen fishing. He will often bring his catches back to his restaurant to make into sushi, and can demonstrate remarkable skill in this particular craft, as seen in A Princess in Dis-Dress.
Category:Kirby Heroes
Category:Anime Heroes
Category:Male
Category:Aliens
Category:Humanoid
Category:Businessmen
Category:Poor
Category:Incompetent
Category:Dimwits
Category:Wise
Category:Passionate Learners
Category:Misguided
Category:Supporters
Category:TV Show Heroes
Category:Damsels
Category:Paranoid
Category:Non-Action
Category:Fighters