I still remember with special pleasure such succulent gastronomic films as 'Babette's Feast' (Gabriel Axel, 1987), 'Eat, Drink, Love' (Ang Lee, 1994), 'The Chef in Love' (Nana Djordjadze, 1996) and ' The Cook of Last Wishes', by the Oscar-winning Japanese director Yôjirô Takita.
Without leaving the country of the Rising Sun, series come to mind that also talk to us about food as art and feeling, such as 'Sugar Dog Life' (Honda Ryuichi, Ouchi Takahiro, 2024), 'What Did You Eat Yesterday?' (Nakae Kazuhito', 2021), 'Kimi to Nara Koi wo Shite Mite mo' (Matsumoto Hana, 2023), 'Kinou Nani Tabeta?' (Katagiri Kenji, Nojiri Katsumi, Nakae Kazuhito, 2019), 'Old Fashion Cupcake' (Kato Ayaka, 2022), and 'Bokura no Shokutaku' (Ishibashi Yuho, Iizuka Kashou, Kamimura Naho, 2023), which all have in common being LGBT+ themed dramas.
Similarly, one of the protagonists of 'Mitsuya Sensei no Keikakutekina Ezuke', the series directed by Nojiri Katsumi, makes his stews using seasonal products, ranging from lotus, zucchini, seaweed, cherry tomatoes from the garden and rhubarb roots, a consequence of centuries of refinement, to bamboo, mushrooms, along with the daily use of rice. In addition to sushi, the Japanese have achieved the greatest filigree in fish, without forgetting the legendary tempura.
And the delicious food prepared by Ayumu Mitsuya, which is the name of the famous culinary researcher, an affable older man who speaks in a Kyoto dialect, attracts, and not only in the sense of being able to fill his belly, Tomoya Ishida, a young novice editor who has trouble adapting to the environment of a women's magazine, and who meets the also popular and skilled food expert when he is assigned to go to his house to pick up the manuscript of a column to be published.
Ishida is so nervous on his first visit that he almost faints, but the food served by the chef who is exceptionally gifted in the kitchen, who by just tasting a dish, is able to discover its secrets, recognize the ingredients and know how to prepare it exactly the same as the model, seduces the stomach of the pure and honest young man, who soon feels attracted by Mitsuya's gentle gaze, his cheerful personality and the tenderness he occasionally shows, so he finds himself eagerly awaiting their next meeting.
Also known as 'Mr. Mitsuya Planned Feeding', LesPros Entertainment's BL drama stars actor and singer-songwriter Masayoshi Yamazaki ('Shadowfall'), who returns to the small screen after 26 years, as Ayumu Mitsuya, and Taisei Sakai ('My Sly Bestie') as Tomoya Ishida, to tell us a story of human and culinary love between two adult men with an age difference.
After writing and directing the films 'New Manager of the Sumo Club' (2005), 'Lying to Mom' (2018), the specials 'Yoru no Agura: Ane to Ototo to Watashi' (2022) and 'Shishosetsu: Hattatsu Shogai' no Boku ga Junai Shosetsuka ni Nareta Riyu', and the series 'Kinou Nani Tabeta?' (2019) and 'KuroNeko Lucy' (2012), the Japanese filmmaker and television director once again demonstrates great sensitivity and unusual humanism when adapting the manga of the same name by Ayaka Matsumoto, which was serialized in Manga Yomonga from 2020 to 2022 and published as a book in January 2024.
The music by Masayoshi Yamazaki and the magnificent script by Nami Yoshikawa ('Boys! Please Kiss Him, Instead of Me', 2020) remind us that it is important not to forget that when you invite someone to your table, you must take charge of their happiness all the time he is under your roof. And if that time extends for the rest of their lives, the better.
Coked, the plot will presumably focus on the relationship forged between the two main characters. However, little by little this idea is being abandoned and through dialogues, internal monologues and flashbacks we are getting to know a much more complex story, which mixes a romantic drama and, of course, a culinary one, through the story of an older man abandoned for years. back by her boyfriend, the famous photographer Noguchi Kaoru (Maruyama Tomomi), who will return from France, where he has carried out his professional work, to try to recover the love of his life, and the nascent love relationship between the neat and elegant culinary researcher and the young man worried about not being able to find his interests in life after failing in his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. Both will communicate through food.
What at first seems like a kind of romantic series seasoned with seasonal vegetables and greens, turns into a hypnotic story that completely captivates the viewer.
Furthermore, all the characters are very well constructed and tremendously interesting. Everyone, directly or indirectly, will probably "cook" the love relationship between Mitsuya and Ishida.
The narrative pace of the series is slow but steady. There are many more aspects to discover than initially expected, since 'Mitsuya Sensei no Keikakutekina Ezuke' has many layers, like an onion, since we talk largely about cooking.
The description and preparation of the dishes, which is very interesting, not only from a gastronomic point of view, but is inserted in the development of the plot as an element full of meaning, connects the story, serving as a link between the different subplots.
As can be expected on an artistic level, the images and montage concentrate a lot on telling the relationship between the two protagonists, in addition to how these dishes of food are prepared, with abundant detailed shots, and showing with great skill what Mitsuya feels while cooking and Ishida while he savors them. Regardless of how fond or not you are of culinary art, these images do not go unnoticed and are truly attractive, in more than one case whetting your appetite.
Also worth mentioning is the scenery, both Mitsuya's elegant and charming Japanese-style house with its Western furniture, the attractive restaurant where Shige (Uno Shohei) works and where the two protagonists frequently go, the art gallery where he exhibits his photographic work Noguchi Kaoru, Mitsuya's ex-boyfriend, or the premises occupied by the fashion magazine Sophia Monthly, such as the exteriors. The series has a very careful level of production.
From the interpretations it can be said that they are all very heartfelt and truthful. I would especially highlight Masayoshi Yamazaki as the wise, courteous and delicate gentleman, because that is precisely what he is, an attentive gentleman, who has extensive mastery of the culinary art and interpersonal communication. Him movements in the kitchen are brilliant, and the way in which she shows him skills and how him describes the preparation and components of the different dishes is exquisite, with a sweet and melodic voice. Giving more details about this complex and fascinating character would be a major spoiler.
But Sakai Taisei also draws attention in his role as Ishida. This young actor and model, whom I have seen play Gira Husty / Kuwagata Ohger in 'Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger', accepts the challenge of acting alongside a performer with a long career on stage, to play the clumsy and shy editor, but at the same time happy, animated and with a touch of mischief in his eyes, in love with a person who is nearly 30 years older than him in terms of age. It's a pleasure to see him laugh, walk through the streets with a hurried step, or run holding the sensei's hand, as he constantly calls Mitsuya. His laugh is contagious, and on the other side of the screen I am also with my mouth open from ear to ear.
As for the issue that bothers some viewers, I have seen several films with romances with age differences, such as 'The Idea of ​​You' (2024), 'Sunset Boulevard' (1950), 'All That Heaven Allows' (1955), 'The Graduate' (1967), 'Harold and Maude' (1971), 'Bull Durham' (1988), 'Thelma & Louise' (1991), 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back' (1998), 'Notes on a Scandal' (2006), 'Don Jon' (2013), 'Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool' (2017), 'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' (2022), and 'May December' (2023), inter alia. And although they narrate relationships between older women and young men, there are others, such as 'Gerontophilia' (2013) and 'Un prince' (2024), which reflect a homosexual relationship between two adult men with great differences of age, among others. Regarding the first one, in my opinion, the only thing wrong is the title.
As in the Canadian romantic comedy-drama directed by Bruce LaBruce, and the rural life drama by Frenchman Pierre Creton, to name two that I have seen recently, the gay love relationship with a very considerable age difference portrayed in 'Mitsuya Sensei no Keikakutekina Ezuke', is a consensual relationship, between two adults who are delighted to have met. The age difference in any romantic and/or sexual relationship may be seen by society as taboo and may be unacceptable to many, but I am of the opinion that there should be no judgment between consenting adults.
Hence, the important thing would be for each of the spectators to answer the following question: Does love exist after youth, after adulthood, in old age, in the last age of life? I answer with a resounding yes. And I would add a very valid Kleinian argument: "As long as the respiratory capacity is preserved, nothing prevents it." In other words, I would not settle for the commonplace of "love knows no ages."
In summary, 'Mitsuya Sensei no Keikakutekina Ezuke' is a love song to love, to cooking and to the vocation that can be professed to it. But in addition to a culinary artistic exercise that is very pleasant to see regardless of the interest you have in the art of cooking, it is also a great analysis of human relationships, of the freedom of being able to choose the person with whom you want to share your life. And perhaps what is most notable, the redemptive power of love to renew the heart and redirect the life path.
In this sense, the series also affects the freedom of the characters, who are not marked by an inexorable destiny that leads them to be the way they are, but rather they make their own decisions, for which they are responsible, which is proposed not only in lovers, but also in the companions that they will become each other for the rest of their days.