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 Stretch
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[series:4923#628] | ||||||
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(11 episodes watched): Another 'I was made a scapegoat and ejected from an adventuring party but I'll show my former teammates how wrong they were' anime, except in this case the protagonist doesn't simply switch to another party. Vigo mentions that Dennis is level 99, just like himself, but doesn't clarify if he's a level 99 cook. He employed powerful magic during the incident that Vigo is upset about. Typically, one team member, Katie, is aware that Dennis was contributing considerably to the team in a way that he just didn't get credit for. No doubt before long Vigo will notice the difference with him missing. But everything except the restaurant angle was feeling pretty generic in this show. There's also the 'I'll take pity on a miserable slave girl to demonstrate what a good person I really am' bit. But this was both typical and didn't make much sense. Why spend almost all of your money on a girl who may have lost the will to live (of course she snaps out of it before long)? Good or not, Dennis remains an undeveloped and therefore uninteresting character to someone who hasn't been wronged by their former teammates. Likewise for Atelier with her pale purple hair. I can't believe that at some point Dennis won't succumb to the temptation to return to adventuring, because being a restaurant cook is too boring (and how will he demonstrate that he didn't deserve the shaft that he got?). At the end of the episode the Adventurer's Restaurant gets its first customer, some mysterious person wearing a full suit of armor. But I think I know who it is. This show is highly predictable. It basically felt simplistic and unambitious. I turns out that the person in armor wasn't who I expected (I thought it would be Katie). Instead, it's the second of the girls who will apparently comprise Dennis' harem. But girl after girl being attracted to the protagonist's gravitational pull isn't exactly novel. And, sure enough, Dennis ventures into the dungeon to rescue her in episode two. This show has a little charm to it; the characters are adequate and the novel situation makes me a little curious where things will go, but I am pretty sure it won't be anything more than a 'Watch'. In episode three the next member of Dennis' team appears; this one is a guy. Again, he gets himself into trouble in the dungeon and needs a rescue by Dennis, but this time there was an interesting twist. In episode four the fourth member of Dennis' team/harem arrives; this is Bechel, a promising female magician who was treated so badly by her previous adventuring team that she nearly killed herself. Each of these four people is an 'outcast' in one way or another. But the plot in general is simplistic and uninspired; a matter of good people who have been put down by bad ones gaining their freedom with Dennis.They are good but they don't have very deep personalities. Predictably, we learn in episode five that Dennis' old adventuring party is falling apart because he was far more important to it than anyone realized. And Dennis gets the idea that Atelier may have a boyfriend, which he doesn't like. This bit is about as clever as you would expect, that is it seems like little more than a waste of time. In episode six we get an even bigger surprise regarding Atelier: this girl who Dennis bought as a slave is actually the heir to a house of powerful sorcerers who was betrayed by her evil uncle(!). This was hard to swallow, and the 100% good versus 100% evil theme was weak and lame. No doubt Atelier will have the last laugh since in the settlement she gets her father's library, which had seemed unremarkable but in fact contains some priceless magical tomes (they were in a secret underground compartment!). But they are good for business in episode seven as Dennis' establishment becomes a sort of restaurant/library. Dennis falls ill due to overwork and through his feverish memories we see how he, once an outcast himself, became a chef. All very 'Watch' rather than anything better. Just after Dennis and his team were celebrating all their victories, the many enemies they have made strike at what's most precious to him, the restaurant. To a certain extent, he is laid low just like each of his friends once was, and wants to give up and leave the town. But he is persuaded to instead get even in episode nine, and as part of an elaborate plan Dennis comes up with many of his supporters go to the capital city and perform various tasks. Dennis' job is to attain the fabulous, almost mythical status of Level 100 (but he'll be doing this as a cook, not a fighter, right?). He persuades his old mentor to teach him the last few secrets of the trade. In episode ten we see just how cruel and heartless Vigo has been throughout his life. Then, Vigo and a couple of other high ranking conspirators who targetted Dennis are wowed by the amazing new heights his cooking has reached, then confronted by him. I had figured what Dennis should do would be to poison them, but no, he uses some sort of magic that comes with Level 100 Cooking to extract a confession in front of many witnesses. Vigo won't go without a fight, but another benefit of being a level 100 cook is that you can fight splendidly with two big meat cleavers as your weapons (and summon giant pot lids from thin air to act as shields). Nevertheless, Vigo is one tough bastard and Dennis almost loses, but undergoes a sort of epiphany about what it really takes to attain his level. This was not brilliant but was better than what I had expected (episode 23). Last updated Monday, September 29 2025. Created Friday, July 25 2025. | ||||||||
