Thanksgiving, a holiday filled with gratitude and togetherness, has universal themes that resonate across cultures. While not traditionally celebrated in Japan, the sentiment of Thanksgiving can be reflected in various anime that emphasize family, friendship, and heartfelt connections.
10 Best Cooking Anime, Ranked
From Food Wars! to Yumeiro Patissiere, these are some of the very best cooking anime ever made.
From stories that center around home-cooked meals and bonds formed over shared feasts to tales that highlight the importance of community, there’s an anime that captures the spirit of every Thanksgiving gathering. Whether you’re seeking a heartwarming story to enjoy with family or an uplifting tale of friendship, these carefully selected anime offer a unique lens through which to appreciate the holiday’s essence.
10Today’s Menu For The Emiya Family
Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family is aslice-of-life animespin-off of theFateseries. The series centers around the characters' daily lives and culinary adventures. Shirou Emiya, the protagonist, showcases his passion and skills for cooking as he prepares various dishes for his family and friends.
Each episode highlights a specific dish, providing heartwarming interactions between the characters and detailed cooking sequences. The anime offers a calming and wholesome alternative to the intense narrative of its parent series, celebrating the joys of food and togetherness.
9Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast For Spirits
Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits is a supernatural drama that follows a young woman named Aoi Tsubaki. Gifted with the ability to see spirits, Aoi gets drawn into the hidden realm when she’s kidnapped by an ogre named Odanna.
He claims that her grandfather owed him a great debt, so Aoi must marry him. Instead of accepting the proposal, Aoi negotiates a different solution: she will work at Odanna’s inn. Aoi uses her culinary skills to bridge the human and supernatural worlds, fostering connections and understanding.
Toriko is an action-adventure anime set in the Gourmet Age, a time when the pursuit of the most delicious foods is paramount. The story follows Toriko, a Gourmet Hunter with immense strength, who embarks on dangerous quests to find and capture the rarest and tastiest ingredients in the world for his ultimate full-course meal.
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From One Piece and Dragon Ball Z to Fairy Tail and Rave Master, anime crossovers turn fan dreams into reality.
Partnered with Komatsu, a timid chef with extraordinary culinary skills, they face off against deadly beasts and nefarious organizations. The challenges escalate as they venture deeper into uncharted territories, with intense battles and culinary creativity.
7Sweetness And Lightning
Sweetness and Lightning is acozy animeabout Kouhei Inuzuka, a widowed high school teacher, and his young daughter, Tsumugi. Struggling with the loss of his wife, Kouhei often relies on ready-made meals for Tsumugi, who misses the warmth of home-cooked food.
Along with one of his students, Kotori Iida, the trio embarks on a culinary journey. Every episode delves into their attempts to recreate dishes, from simple to complex. Cooking helps them deal with their individual pains and loneliness. The series tenderly highlights the therapeutic nature of cooking.
6Barakamon
Barakamon follows Seishu Handa, a talented young calligrapher from Tokyo. After a public outburst against a respected critic who labeled his work unoriginal, Seishu is exiled by his father to the Goto Islands to self-reflect and find his own style.
Accustomed to city life, Seishu initially struggles with the island’s laid-back pace and its quirky inhabitants. Among them is a spirited young girl named Naru, who introduces him to the joys and challenges of rural living. As Seishu interacts with the villagers, he learns about life, art, and himself.
5Fruits Basket
Fruits Basketrevolves around Tohru Honda, a resilient high school girl who, after losing her mother, finds herself living in a tent on land belonging to the mysterious Sohma family. After an accident on the property, she’s invited to stay in their house.
She soon discovers the Sohmas' secret: certain family members transform into animals from the Chinese zodiac when hugged by the opposite gender or under extreme stress. As Tohru gets closer to the family, she becomes entwined in their complex relationships and the curse that binds them.
4Chihayafuru
Chihayafuru centers on Chihaya Ayase, a girl inspired by her childhood friend, who discovers a passion for the traditional Japanese card game Karuta. The game, which requires sharp reflexes and deep knowledge of classical Japanese poetry, becomes her life’s obsession.
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As Chihaya enters high school, she aims to establish a competitive Karuta club, reuniting with another childhood friend, Taichi Mashima, and recruiting new members. The story delves into their rigorous training, regional and national competitions, and the dream of becoming the best Karuta players in Japan.
3Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma
Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma is anecchi animeset in Totsuki Culinary Academy, a prestigious cooking school where students engage in food battles called Shokugeki. Soma Yukihira, a passionate young chef from a local diner, enrolls in the academy to compete against trained students.
With no formal training but immense creativity, Soma challenges traditional cooking norms, aiming to prove his skills and make it to the academy’s top, the Elite Ten Council. As Soma advances, he forms friendships and rivalries, showcasing the artistry and emotions that go into cooking.
2A Place Further Than The Universe
A Place Further Than The Universe follows the adventures of four high school students, Mari, Shirase, Hinata, and Yuzuki, as they go on an expedition to Antarctica. Mari, craving adventure, is inspired by Shirase’s determination to find her mother, a scientist who went missing during a previous Antarctic expedition.
Along with Hinata and Yuzuki, they join a civilian expedition crew. As they journey to the frozen continent, the girls experience the vastness and beauty of Antarctica. The anime beautifully captures friendship, youthful adventure, and bonds.
1Silver Spoon
Silver Spoon centers on Yugo Hachiken, a studious city boy who enrolls in Ooezo Agricultural High School in rural Hokkaido to escape the pressures of city life and parental expectations. Expecting an easier academic route, Hachiken is quickly confronted by the challenging and labor-intensive realities of agricultural life.
As he immerses himself in farm work, animal husbandry, and food production, Hachiken learns valuable life lessons on the ethics of meat production. Silver Spoon offers a heartwarming narrative on self-discovery, friendship, and the intricate relationship between humans and nature.
