Iron Chef Antares

アンタレス：台所の鉄人Antaresu: Daidokoro no Tetsujin

Venus Centre (Syria)

Animax

Neon Ally

Aniplex

Right Stuf Network

Spacetoon

**Iron Chef Antares** (アンタレス：台所の鉄人, *Antaresu: Daidokoro no Tetsujin*?, lit. Antares: Ironman of the Kitchen) is a 1st season of fanmade anime franchise created by LittleLulu.

## Story

* Iron Chef Antares Episodes

Haruki Yonekura, a freshman student from Yatsura city moved with his family to Musashi city in order to go to the Elite Culinary School Etoile. He is obsessed with cooking and dreams of becoming a great chef like his parents because his father died in the earthquake disaster at Hiroshima since he was only fourth-year-old, so his mother raised him until he was 16. In order to fulfill his father's dreams, Haruki meet a number of his colleagues in the school at first of them Haruna Sugimoto, head chef of Home Economics Club, who fall in love and become his girlfriend, then his lover and then his wife in the end. He'll also recognize one of new friends ones: Ichiro, Yuuta, Takuma, Shiro, Ayako, Naomi, Jiro, and others lot of friends he has access to the Iron Chef's Kitchen Stadium to face the best cooks in the high-schools, Asia, and around the world. Will he succeed in preparation secret recipes for Japanese and world kitchen at any cost? So, Let the battle begin!!

## Characters

### Main Characters

Haruki Yonekura (米倉 はるき Yonekura Haruki)

Haruna Sugimoto (杉本 はるな Sugimoto Haruna)

Hibiki Fujimaki (藤巻 ひびき Fujimaki Hibiki)

Ichiro Morimoto (森本 一郎 Morimoto Ichirō)

Kenshin Nakatsuka (中塚 謙信 Nakatsuka Kenshin)

Tetsuya Hajikano (初鹿野 てつや Hajikano Tetsuya)

### Hosts

Chairman Koga Yamaguchi (会長山口 古賀 Kaichō Yamaguchi Koga)

Announcer/Commentator: Hajime Midorikawa (緑川 肇 Midorikawa Hajime) [National School and Asian Iron Chef Tournament]

Robert Spencer (ロバート・スペンサー Robāto Supensā) [World Iron Chef Tournament]

Commentator: Toshio Fukuda (福田 敏男 Fukuda Toshio)

Kitchen Reporter: Yoshiro Tezuka (手塚 義郎 Tezuka Yoshiro) [National School and Asian Iron Chef Tournament]

Arnold Conner (アーノルド・コナー Ānorudo Konā) [World Iron Chef Tournament]

### Iron Chefs

Suzuki Katou (加藤 鈴木 Katō Suzuki)

Katsumi Kawashima (川島 克己 Kawashima Katsumi)

Shintaro Takasugi (高杉 慎太郎 Takasugi Shintarō)

Hidekazu Oka (岡 秀和 Oka Hidekazu)

Yoshiyuki Takayama (高山 義行 Takayama Yoshiyuki)

Norihisa Yoda (依田 範久 Yoda Norihisa)

Masayoshi Ikeda (池田 正義 Ikeda Masayoshi)

Ryoichi Hongo (本郷 良一 Hongō Ryōichi)

Hitomi Hanada (花田 ひとみ Hanada Hitomi)

Miyoko Akashi (明石 みよ子 Akashi Miyoko)

Chinatsu Sakurako (桜子 千夏 Sakurako Chinatsu)

## Terminology

### **Original Format**

Originally, challengers vied with each other in preliminary "battles" to earn the right to face an Iron Chef in a 90-minute competition, and should a challenger win twice against Iron Chefs, the challenger would be given the title of "Honorary Iron Chef". However, this format proved unpopular, the preliminary round was scrapped and the main contest was reduced to the now familiar 60 minutes. The awarding of honorary Iron Chef titles to challengers was also discontinued (although this was largely a moot point as few challengers ever defeated two Iron Chefs in separate contests), but was given as an emeritus title for a retiring Iron Chef. Once honorary titles were no longer issued, challengers who beat an Iron Chef had to settle for, according to the English version's introduction, "the people's ovation and fame forever".

In each episode, chefs have one hour to cook and improvise a multi-course meal around a theme ingredient that must be present in each dish. Before the actual taping, the chefs are given a short list of possible themes, allowing the producers of the show to get any ingredients that may be needed. Judges' primary goal was said to be determining which chef was able to "best express the unique qualities of the theme ingredient". In rare cases, the format changed— fish angler fish battles were typically 75 minutes in length, and noodle battles had the Iron Chef stop after 50 minutes of cooking, only to resume after the challenger's dishes were tasted so that the noodles could be served right after cooking.

### **Theme Ingredients**

Featured ingredients tend toward the exotic and expensive. Many theme ingredients reflect the Japanese origin of the show—river eel, tofu, udon—though ingredients more familiar in the West, such as  pepper bell peppers, summer corn, and peaches, are spotlighted as well. In one episode devoted to asparagus, the challenger boasted that he used over $1,000 worth of lobster (which he then discarded) simply to flavor his asparagus in this battle against Iron Chef Tetsuya Hajikano.

Initially, a minimum of three dishes were to be prepared, although some challengers have finished only a single dish; four is the typical number. The record for highest number of dishes prepared for a battle was eight, first set by Haruki Yonekura against Ryoichi Hongo in "Battle Umeboshi". Five (later six) servings of each dish are prepared: one each for the Chairman and judges, and one for photography and presentation.

### **Assistant chefs**

Each chef is also given two assistants, who are supposedly students of Yamaguchi's "Musashi Elite Culinary School" (a fictional cooking school based on Hattori Nutrition Collage). If the challenger does not speak Japanese, students who can speak in the challenger's native language are sometimes provided. In a notable exception, American chef Tom Higgins struggled with his assistants, who did not speak English. One assistant, Haruki Yonekura, became a challenger himself, taking on Iron Chef Ichiro Morimoto in a sweetfish battle.

### **Commentary and judging**

Throughout the cook-off, running commentary is made in a booth near the cooking area by an announcer, Hajime Midorikawa and Robert Spencer; a commentator, Toshio Fukuda, and one or two of the guest judges, with one floor reporter (sometimes two; normally Yoshiro Tezuka and Arnold Conner) providing details of the action on each side. The commentators and judges discuss the style of cooking, culinary traditions and unusual food preparation. At the end of the hour, after end-of-battle interviews with both competitors, each dish is presented to the camera, with a description of its properties (written by the show's screenwriters based on the chef's explanation) read by the announcer. Then, a panel of three (later expanded to four and, later still, five) judges, of which typically one is a professional critic, tastes the dishes and judges them based on taste, presentation, and originality. Each chef may be awarded up to 20 points by each judge, with ten given for taste and five each for presentation and originality. The chef with the greatest score wins the competition. (In earlier four-judge episodes, the win went to the chef who won three of the four judges, or, failing that, the chef that makes the highest points total.)

### **Ties**

In the case of a deadlock (as was possible during the era of the four-judge panel), first place is awarded to the chef with the greater number of points. On the rare occasions that the scores were also tied, an immediate "overtime battle" was held to determine the winner. In overtime the chefs are given 30 minutes to prepare dishes with a different key ingredient, having to make do with what remains of their pantry or with items that were previously prepared for the main battle. The overtime battles are aired as a separate episode. On one occasion, the overtime battle itself resulted in a tie, prompting Chairman to declare both the Iron Chef and challenger winners.

## Locations

**Musashi City** (武蔵市 Musashi-shi)

The hometown of amateur iron chefs. This place where Haruki and his family moved to.

**Elite Culinary School Etoile** (エリート料理学校エトワール Erīto Ryōri Gakkō Etowāru)

The cooking school Haruki attend. The current principal is Suzuki Katou, a former popular Iron Chef. Even before *Iron Chef Tournament*, Elite Culinary School Etoile was well known for its culinary arts programs. It is now a top choice for any aspiring culinarian in Japan, with an increasing world following as well.