Osomatsu-kun: Iyami and Chibita's Cooking Showdown

**Osomatsu-kun: Iyami and Chibita's Cooking Showdown** (*おそ松くん イヤミ・チビ太の板前一本勝負*) was a live-action TV special aired on December 16, 1985, as part of Fuji TV's weekly series *Monday Dramaland*. It was the second Fujio Akatsuka work to be sourced as part of the program.

## Overview

The owners of the Matsunoya restaurant and their six sons are on bad terms with the chef of the neighboring Matsunotei restaurant, Iyami. A new young apprentice named Chibita has joined the Matsunoya restaurant to train, while Iyami becomes delighted to hear that Japan's top food critic will be visiting soon.

A tough competition ensues between Iyami and Chibita, to see which chef and restaurant can impress the critic the most.

### Alterations

* Chibita was set as a young man, though played by idol singer Chiaki Watanabe. Watanabe was depicted with a bald head and single hair via usage of a bald cap, in order to keep true to the character's image.
* Iyami was given short hair and glasses, to accommodate George Tokoro's own look. He is only ever seen in a cowboy outfit or his chef uniform.
* The sextuplets' father is renamed to "Matsutaro", rather than "Matsuzo". Likewise, their mother is renamed "Riko".
* The sextuplets are teenage boys that are mainly seen dressed in black gakuran or their pajamas.
* Totoko wears a black sailor-style school uniform, and has her hair in a bob-cut.
* Chikako (of *Akko-chan's Got a Secret!*) is the "mama-san" of the Matsunotei restaurant, and depicted as a mature young woman with long hair who accompanies Iyami in his schemes.
* Dekapan is a tall, slender man with hair. He wears suspenders attached to his boxers. He associates closely with Iyami and Chikako in the antics at Matsunotei.
* Dayon's mustache is drawn on with makeup. He is a fellow chef employed by Matsutaro at Matsunoya.
* The Police Officer with Connected Eyes appears, with makeup used to represent the look of the eyes.

As had been the case of the manga at the time, the sextuplets appear in a reduced role. Osomatsu, Karamatsu, and Todomatsu are the only three with significant appearances and dialogue, with the other three brothers being written off at the start of act 2 due to falling out of their bedroom into the street and being hospitalized. Some minor differences can still be witnessed, such as Choromatsu tripping down the stairs or Jyushimatsu taking longer to get up from sleeping.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by original characters to the special, who are associated with the Matsunoya restaurant or otherwise related to Chibita's aspiration to be a master chef.

## Production Staff

* Original manga- Fujio Akatsuka
* Director- Ryuichi Okamura
* Screenplay- Tokio Tsuchiya
* Theme Song Performance- Tatsuro Yamashita, Naoto Takenaka (insert song "Wrestler")

###  Cast

* Iyami- George Tokoro
* Chibita- Chiaki Watanabe
* Osomatsu- Yosuke Nakajima
* Karamatsu- Hideyuki Nakayama
* Todomatsu- Daisuke Matsuno
* Choromatsu- Hiroshi Isono
* Ichimatsu- Takeo Watanabe
* Jyushimatsu- Masami Yamaguchi
* Matsutaro- Chu Arai
* Riko- Kazue Tsunogae
* Totoko- Yumiko Endo
* Chikako- Kyoko Takami
* Dekapan- Junji Inagawa
* Dayon- Naoto Takenaka
* The Police Officer with Connected Eyes- Masashi Tashiro
* Food Critic- Yuji Nakamura
* Chibita's Father- Fujio Akatsuka
* Otake- Yukari Okano
* Oume- Suseri Ota
* Manager- Teppei Minato
* Yasu the Gourmet- Tamio Kawaji
* Engineer Nanshu- Taro Nanshu
* Engineer B- Yasushi Fujimaru

## Trivia

* George Tokoro had previous affiliation with Fujio Akatsuka himself prior to this special, being an entertainer that was friends with him in the late 1970s as well as starring in *The Shimo-Ochiai Yakitori Movie* that Akatsuka had directed. The character of Tokoro in Gontaro Niguruma was also modeled after him.
* Due to the lesser importance of Choromatsu, Ichimatsu, and Jyushimatsu, their actors are only credited in the ending scroll and Ichimatsu's actor was left unidentified in sources such as a Japanese Wikipedia write-up for several years. Besides the cast constraints, the minimal usage may have also had to do with Osomatsu, Karamatsu, and Todomatsu's roles going to more popular young talent stars, with the AB Brothers comedy duo (Daisuke Matsuno and Hideyuki Nakayama) having appeared in other Monday Dramaland specials at the time.
* Besides the AB Brothers, another popular '80s duo known as Peko-chan (Yukari Okano, Suseri Ota) were cast in the special, as Matsunoya staff members Otake and Oume.

## External Links

* Brief write-up at Monday Dramaland fansite (Japanese)
* A newspaper clipping of the special, featuring a photo of George Tokoro, Chiaki Watanabe, and Naoto Takenaka in their roles