It’s a new anime season, which means that once again, we have an OP adventurer cast out of his party to become an apothecary, a general in the Demon Lord’s army, a house-husband a restaurateur. If you need something to bring back the fuwa fuwa, Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! is here. And it has all the signs of becoming one of this season’s premiere iyashikei.
Tsuihousha Shokudou e Youkoso! can’t boast much originality. But like a daily hug from your mom, something old can always be comforting.
Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! — The Deets
In our world, level 99 cooking skills earn the person who has them a Michelin-star restaurant and a coke addiction. For Dennis (last name unknown), his godly cooking skills landed him a gig with the Silver Wings Battalion, the best adventuring group in the world. But when his vice-captain becomes a bit too endeared to him, the party’s leader uses a bogus complaint to kick him out.
Instead of lamenting his coerced departure, Dennis decided that the time hath come to chase his dream of opening a restaurant. With that, the level 99 adventuring cook leaves his former life behind, abandons the capital, and moves to the sticks. There, Dennis quickly procured what he needed to open his restaurant. Like me, when I play Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, Dennis leaves no option undone, and no stone unturned to guarantee his success.
When he begins looking for someone to help him run the place, he stumbles on a slave trader selling an ex-noble loli. Initially, he attempted to ignore the troubled lass. But when Dennis’s PTSD activated, that forced him to buy her and spare her a life filled with abuse. While he lets her know that she’s free to leave, with nowhere to go, the loli (Atelier) becomes his pseudo-adopted daughter and the helping hand he needs at his restaurant. Once the two warmed up to each other over a shared meal, their bond grew, and their slow days started.
What I Loved About the First Episode
Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! gave off major vibes of Restaurant to Another World. The two shows felt so similar that I wondered if they were by the same author. They’re not because they’re both from the same studio.
With titles like the Restaurant to Another World, The Apothecary Diaries, and Komi Can’t Communicate in their roster, I have no doubt that Studio OLM will properly animate Yuuki Kimikawa’s light novel. Tsuihousha Shokudou e Youkoso! radiates iyashikei energy. The art style of the show is vibrantly kawaii and intensely expressive. That’s not to say it’s at Fate/Zero levels of animation, but it’s well-suited for what it’s presenting. You get that fantasy, fairy tale vibe from the animation style.
Dennis is the type of MC I enjoy. I respect someone who can walk away from a situation without making a fuss. That’s the type of person I aspire to be. Shunsuke Takeuchi’s voice fits Dennis incredibly well. Dennis sounds the way he looks — like an old dude who’s seen his share of ups and downs. Likewise, Marika Tachibana’s voice carries a downtrodden and forlorn tinge that’s perfect for someone in Atelier’s position.
Usually, we tend to be skeptical of shows featuring an older man and a loli. Ever since I watched If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, I’ve approached anime with that kind of duo with doubt. There’s not an inkling of that behavior here, and that makes me happy. I haven’t read the source material. So, I could be wrong.
But, based on the first episode of Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant, it looks like we’ll enjoy a wholesome foodie anime! And after Food for the Soul, I’ve been craving more shows like this.
What’s There to Complain About?
These aren’t my personal complaints, but the criticisms I expect others will have about Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant. This story takes place in a fantasy world where slavery exists.
Depicting slavery will always be a contentious debate. Some will say any depiction helps objectify people. Others argue that we can’t hold different places and times to our moral standards. I agree with the latter. Since its inception, people have hated slavery, but for millennia, the state didn’t. I’m assuming that plots like these are frequent because they aim to depict the MC as a benevolent person who frees their slave. But Atelier looks like she hasn’t even seen her twelfth birthday, so “freeing” her dooms the kid to homelessness or worse.
Is it unfortunate how these two met? Absolutely. Dennis could have adopted Atelier, but some might see that as “child labor.” However, since this story is set in an alternate world, it isn’t bound by the same standards as ours. Even in real life, what’s acceptable differs. What’s allowed in LA or New York isn’t what’s allowed in Myanmar.
I agree with X users about Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant!’s depiction of the shop owner. We got an order of racism with our fried rice. While that’s something I expect in the dingy, canal-water-flooded streets of Belize City, I didn’t expect it in such a kawaii show.
You can argue that this anime is unoriginal, and you’d be right. I can think of other shows that follow the same dynamic. But I can say that about most anime. Even something like Jobless Reincarnation, which is lauded for its world-building and realism, can be compared to other shows.
Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! — Go Watch It!
Overall, my impression of Tsuihousha Shokudou e Youkoso! is that it promises to be a relaxing watch. And let me tell you why that’s a wonderful thing. Before writing this, I was reading the BBC, and three out of four articles I encountered were about war and political turmoil. The fourth mentioned people were chanting “Free Diddy” and spraying each other with baby oil. That alone highlights why we need iyashikei anime — they provide an escape from the stupidity of life.
Crunchyroll simulcasts Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! every Thursday. The anime adapts Yuuki Kimikawa’s ongoing (illustrated by Gaou) light novel. The ongoing series currently boasts three volumes and is available in English via Tentai Books. Overlap’s Comic Gardo has serialized a manga adaptation illustrated by Tsumumi since September 2019. The Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! manga boasts nine tankoubon volumes. Kaiten Books serialized the English version of the manga, so you can pick that up after the anime concludes.
©Yuki Kimikawa, OVERLAP / “Outcast’s Restaurant!” Production Committee
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