The Mayamada Comic line is a story-based brand inspired by anime-manga, founded in London by Nigel Twumasi and Lao K. The world of Mayamada is a Fantasy Television network which hosts several shows, including Samurai Chef. The TV programme of Samurai Chef involves several kitchens from around the world, competing against each other by creating a number of mouth watering dishes, which have to be judge by the resident Samurai Chef. You might think this is a normal cooking show, however, with each new competitor the stakes are pushed to their limits as chef’s realise that their dishes do not only have to taste good but they also have to put up a good fight against the Samurai Chef. Yes, you read that right. The prepared food has to be able to fight.
Samurai Chef is an action comic, which is quite entertaining. Each new challenger brings a new element of surprise to the fight. Cooking different dishes each time increasing the complexity and challenge to the Samurai Chef. The concept of a cooking show with a twist is a very appealing one and the fact that this is framed in the form of a TV show makes me wonder what other TV shows are hosted by the Mayamada Network.
The artly used in this book is similar to other manga titles for kids, which makes it easy to follow and very reminiscent of a TV cartoon. As a result, the action sequences benefit quite a lot with all the moving and jumping in the arena. The reader can easily follow the action and keep up to speed with the Chef’s maneuvers.
Samurai Chef is an easy read and especially appealing to young kids. I really enjoyed reading this story and I look forward for a season 2 of Samurai Chef, maybe with bigger challenges, different types of cuisines and a change of studio perhaps?
