Tuesday 4 October 2011

Book Review- Hey! Order Up by Kenji Sonishi

Title: Hey! Order Up!
Author: Kenji Sonishi
Series:   Neko Ramen
Published:  8 June 2010 by Tokyopop
Length:160 pages
Warnings: None.
Source:Library
Other info:There are four volumes to Neko Ramen. Not sure how many are published in English though.
Summary :A cat makes the ramen.
Taisho was a former kitten model, who ran away from home and had a hard life on the streets...until the day he was saved by a kind ramen shop owner who later served as his mentor. Now Taisho takes pride in his noodles...and is easily angered when customers are dissatisfied! So step aside, Soup Nazi - there's a new cat in town!

Review:There isn’t really a plot to this. There kind of is. But there’s not much to it. The cat on the front, Taisho, runs a ramen(noodle) shop. Tanaka, a man who to me looks like a young-middle aged man but could be any age due to the drawing style, is his only regular customer. The book is mainly four panel strips documenting their conversations regarding new ramen (dessert ramen with milk and strawberries, jumbo ramen with two giant fishcakes that is free if eating within the half hour, ad diet ramen, half the size of a normal portion and yet the same price), and occasionally other things such as Taisho’s ramen making history.
Neko Ramen is pure comedy. The plot doesn’t really progress, unless you count hiring staff our gaining random customers plot development. The real thing, aside from the comedy, is the characters.
Taisho and Tanaka are both very likeable. The enjoyment of Tanaka was slightly spoiled for me by the fact that the intro sheet at the front had a sticker over his name, and he doesn’t tell us in the strips until halfway through, but that’s not Kenji Sonishi or Tokyopop’s fault.
Taisho never stops coming up with outlandish ideas, no matter what’s going on with his business. My favourite ramen idea is the zero calories one. Which is a bowl of hot water. Even minor setbacks don’t seem to stop him. He’s an amazing cat.
Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a fun little collection of strips that won’t fail to make you laugh somewhere along the line.

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Thanks for taking time to read this!
Comments are much loved.
Nina xxx

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