Koufuku Graffiti

"Also Known as FFFFFAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!: The Anime!"                                                                         -Uttered by D.K. and The Jake every week before and after watching each episode (as well as during)

Koufuku Graffiti (2015)
          Gourmet Girl Graffiti

Studio: Shaft

Licensed By (NA): Sentai Filmworks

                     

Director: Naoyuki Tatsuwa
                Akiyuki Shinbo

Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life

Main Cast:

Ryō  Machiko – Voiced by Rina Satō

Kirin Morino - Voiced by Asuka Ōgame

Shiina - Voiced by Mikako Komatsu

          Based on the yonkoma manga by Makoto Kawai.

          Ryō Machiko is a third year middle school student (aka 9th grader) who lives by herself after her grandmother passed away (also due to her parents being in another country). She loves to cook, but can't seem to get anything she makes to taste good, despite following the recipes to the letter. All this changes when her diminutive cousin, Kirin Morino, comes to stay over every weekend to attend the same art focused prep school that Ryō attends. Kirin shows Ryō, through sheer bottomless stomach-ness and determination to eat something other that the stir-fried green vegetables that her own mother makes, that sharing a meal with others is often the 'spice' that makes mediocre food in a near orgasm inducing experience.

...

...

... Wait. WTF did I just watch?

There's a party in her mouth and everyone's 'coming'

Writing

          I gotta give some props to the directors, as they took a yonkoma and turned it into a very coherent series. Normally when a yonkoma is adapted to an anime, each episode is split up into smaller segments which usually are parallel to individual strips or sections of a chapter, a la Azumanga Daioh or Seitokai Yakuindomo. Kōfuku Graffiti, on the other hand, has no strange splits, and everything that is in each episode appears to be related.

          Unfortunately, this series is slice of life-y for a slice of life, which sounds weird coming from my mouth, but this is a series where almost NOTHING substantial happens. Now, I like slice of life, but holy shit, how about ANY kind of story conflict, or ANYTHING. This series is literally just watching two (sometimes three or four) cute girls eating orgasm inducing food. Some of the comedy does make up for it, but then again it's brought down again for all the yuri elements, which are a general turn-off for me.

At first there's "ooh's" and "aww's"...

And later there's the running and screaming.

Characters

          I like the main characters from Kōfuku Graffiti pretty well, more or less. They are one of the few things in this series that actually develop (albeit not a whole lot). Ryō discovers the secret of her grandmothers cooking, Kirin discovers the secret of her fatness (which is not a secret, but a well known fact), and Shiina is Shiina. My god, normally I'm all about having deep characters, why do I like them again? 

"Because they're cute, gorgeously animated, and have several on screen foodgasms every episode?"

*Drool* Right, now I remember.

In all seriousness, though, other than Ryō, Kirin, and Shiina (to a degree) all of the characters might as well be cardboard cutouts, they would be just as interesting and twice as deep.

          

Visuals

          Oh, Shaft, you are back once more with your beautiful animation. I am grateful that Shaft has stopped doing the crazy backgrounds, it may have worked for a series like Bakemonogatari (and all the Monogatari afterwards), but with series like Kōfuku Graffiti and Nisekoi, it isn't necessary. In fact, I'd say that the somewhat crazy backgrounds were a detriment to the first season of Nisekoi, so I'm glad to see they are toned down here. Another Shaft special, the neck breaking head tilt, is much more toned down in this series, as well. Again, while I do appreciate it as a particularly Shaft thing, it is a little hard to take the scene seriously while the characters appear to be trying to bend over backwards to stick their own head up their ass.

And this is a rather tame example.

          

Audio

         What can I say about the ADR work, other than good. I wouldn't say that there were any outstanding parts, but there certainly were no bad parts, either.
          Now the songs were catchy as hell. The opening song was "Shiawase ni Tsuite Watashi ga Shitteiru Itsutsu no Hōhō" [The Five Methods of Obtaining Happiness That I'm Aware Of (yes, that is seriously the title)] by Maaya Sakamoto, and the ending is "Egao ni Naru" (Become a Smile) by Rina Satō and Asuka Ōgame. Special mentions also goes to the little song that is played during the next episode preview section, the dancing chibi's really get it stuck in my head.

♪ Taberu, Taberu…  ♪

Personal Enjoyment

          I found Kōfuku Graffiti to be an enjoyable series, and, of course, the question always comes up to a reviewer, "would you recommend this series to another person?" My answer to that is yes, however with one caveat: only if you are a slice of life fan. As I previously mentioned, this series has little going on in the way of conflict, and is really just a excuse to watch cute girls eat beautifully animated food in a way that with either arouse you, disturb you, or both. 

"You can't run! You Can't Run!!"

          

The Final Word

          Now, I'm normally of the opinion of, "don't knock it 'till you try it," (something I truly live by, judging from the variety of series that I watch) but please remember that THIS IS A MOE SERIES. It also doesn't bring anything new to the table as a moe series. Basically what I'm trying to say is if you hate moe, or are a closed-minded individual that automatically declares anyone who watches moe series (a somewhat shallow genre, I admit) as a "man-child," don't waste your time.

For your enjoyment... More Chibi dancing!