Ep.14 Take Me to Love&Meal
Written by Cordelia Shan, edited by Grace
In this episode, we are going to talk about a TV show called Take Me to LOVE&MEAL (女くどき飯), which is a TV adaptation based on Nayuka Mine’s manga of the same name.
The manga serials were first published on manga artist Nayuka Mine’s blog, a dating project Nayuka had with general male applicants who were her blog readers. Nayuka writes about the process of eating and her impressions of the male applicants as dating targets. This manga collection was published in 2016.
In 2015, MBS and TBS adapted this manga into a live-action TV production. Shiori Kanjiya stars as the main character, and she portrays a writer who has had “no partner for five years” and goes to eat with men for the first time to do a magazine project. Soon, Season II was broadcast on the same day and time, the following year, 2016.
Listen to full episode :
The Author
Nayuka Mine debuted as an Adult Actor in 2006 but retired in 2009. In 2011, she debuted as a manga artist/writer with a 4-frame adult manga, Around 30 Chan, a manga about sexual relationships from a female perspective. Her view is measured, sharp, and honest. Soon, this manga gained recognition from the industry and readers, predominantly female readers.
Since 2014, her work has adopted into late-night TV shows with different broadcast channels. Female audiences of different ages and social groups primarily welcome both Around 30 Chan and Take Me to LOVE&MEAL. The original Take Me to LOVE&MEAL was started as a blog project by Nayuka. She recruited male readers from her blog online, then picked candidates with various backgrounds. She went out with them to dinner at the restaurant the candidates picked and listened to how they would pursue love for her. Each time, Nayuka recorded the whole course of the event, from food to conversations, then wrote into articles.
I also found her works delicate and truthful; reading her work was like talking with a big sister about many things that I could not discuss with my mother.
The Show
Our main character, Megumi Kanbayashi, is around 30s freelance writer. She has three things she loves: food, human beings, and a colouring book in the first season, and she loves to visit different temples in the second season. All after all, she enjoys spending time alone. One afternoon she was called by Yuko, a magazine editor, she is very close with, to a coffee shop and is given a project. The lifestyle magazine, where Yoko is working as a chief editor, is starting a new column called LOVE&MEAL (女くどき飯),. They recruit male readers through their magazine’s website to ask them to take the writer to dine at their favourite local restaurants and to propose their love through the dinner. The writer, records the process and writes about the food and the persuasion of love. According to Yuko, Megumi is the best candidate for this project as she has been single for a while. Yuko even shares that there will be a chance to their the column into a book if readers receive the column well.
Taking this massive opportunity as a freelance writer, Megumi started her long-term blind dating journey. The dating dinner table becomes a battlefield for Megumi. She works hard to keep the column going to avoid falling in love with any of her dates.
This is another show about meeting different people and learning about them and ourselves. These people live in a big city and are all strangers to each other. They sit around the dining table, hold their cutleries, and in the blink of an eye, exchange conversations about life and love experiences that make the show extremely interesting to watch.
My favourite part of this show is every time after sending the dating profile, the editor Yuko calls Megumi, and says something funny and also unrelatable. Then Megumi goes to her not-so-big wardrobe to pick an outfit to fit the dating theme of that day. For instance, In the ep that happens at a Sushi restaurant, in the beginning, Megumi is in her sweatpants and her glasses; after reading the profile, she picks up a white top with cute puffy sleeves and wears minimalist earrings without any perfume. She transfers from comfort loung wears sister at home to this elegant-looking lady. I just love her outfit, especially those in the second season. Seeing the gap between her outfit at home and the restaurant and her walking towards the resultant with different styles of handbags is my favourite!
Megumi always brings up some stereotypes of her dating partners at the moment she reads the profile. But when she arrives and follows dish after dish, drink after drink, and has conversation after conversation, she often can discover many other notions and unique qualities about her dating partners, which helps her unlearn the original stereotypes she had.
For example, Megumi meets Mr Fujisaki at a French restaurant, who she thinks has a high income, high EQ, and good looks. They discuss food choices for dates and personal characters, and Megumi has a good time with him. But in the end, Mr Fujisaki is only interested in girls with specific body shapes…
At a Nepalese Restaurant, Megumi encounters a man in his late 20s from a wealthy family who is all talk but no action. But later, Megumi learns that how a person treats their mother is how they might treat their partner in the future.
At a smoked food restaurant, a 20-year-old young boy shows up. After knowing the food is paid for by the magazine, he cautiously asks Megumi if he can ask for an extra portion of beef, which coincides with his frank and sincere personality.
An elderly male, around 60 years old, who has a successful career, takes Megumi to a Chinese Restaurant. He knows how to make his partner happy but holds a traditional view on gender. Megumi notes that “he seems to stay in his bubble and never gets out”; for instance, he only orders a half bowl of rice for Megumi, which greatly annoys her.
After reading the column, a dentist she meets at a fancy sushi restaurant complains that Megumi’s writing makes fun of men. He insists that Megumi looks down upon men and believes she has a gender bias. He is obviously scared of women, especially those with good education and knowledge. In his perspective, it is okay if a male writer Oh well, here we go again… I am sure he is not alone….. To continue the column’s writing and the purpose of the dating dinner, Megumi listens to this dentist’s complaints and encourages him to voice them. She opens his heart by telling him she is not very popular in the dating market. As someone who writes, I cannot appreciate Megumi’s professionalism enough because getting the story out and letting people open their hearts is vital for storytelling, even under this provocation.
One of the funniest episodes is at an Oyster Bar serving Hiroshima Cuisine. Megumi meets a super tough competitor, a fashion brand designer who is too good at pursuing love. Or too good at flirting. Megumi learns that body touch is a way of figuring out sexuality among people.
I cannot help laughing so loud while watching this show, and also feeling hungry simultaneously.
Ending
And at the end of each episode, Megumi returns to her apartment, takes a shower, sits back in the kotatsu, sips her tea, and then types her story down on her laptop. Ah!!!!! What an ideal life for writers!
How could Megumi be willing to give up this ideal life for a romantic relationship when she can eat delicious food, observe life, meet interesting people, and write her favourite column all at the same time?
Reference
TV Show Official Website in Japanese: link
Manga book on Amazon Japanese Website: link
Manga Artist’s Twitter: @minenayuka
