Thursday, April 23, 2009

Ristorante Paradiso Anime Show


I happen to like everything about bistros, lounges and restaurants, including short films...anime films. I know this might not be very familiar to many of you, but there is such a show created and made in Japan. The name is Ristorante Paradiso and it's a Japanese take on Italian dining and culture, brought to you by Crunchyroll. This website is an online video service and community that offers full-length episodes and movies of Japanese anime and Asian entertainment. To tell you the truth, I was quite impressed by its originality and script, which is nothing I have seen before.

In the show, the main character is called Nicoletta. She's a 21 year old woman who wants to find Ristorante Casetta Dell'Orso in Rome, in order to find the owner who is married to her mother. Nicoletta has not seen her since she was a little girl. Her mother keeps her existence a secret in front of her husband, since she didn't want him to know she had a child. Once having found the Ristorante, Nicoletta establishes a close relationship with the restaurant's staff (which consists of Luciano, Vito, Teo, Furio, Claudio and Gigi) and ends up falling in love with Claudio, the Head Cameriere. Of course, there are many things going on at once and you'll love the diverse character personalities, which make a formidable interaction, properly suited for the story.


In terms of anime itself, Ristorante Paradiso does its job well for the story. The city looks old, which is a plus (we are talking about Rome here!) and the sounds match very well with everything that is going on in the film, not to mention the rain visual effects, which were terrific. There is no need for high-speed, high-tech anime here, just what is needed for the show. The story is fresh and has a very simple, yet captivating storyline.

I'm intrigued about how the story will evolve over time, but one thing is for sure, I'm looking forward to follow.

Your comments are always appreciated. Don't forget to leave yours!
Enjoy!
Adal@CoconutBistro

Photos provided by Rob Pereyda at Crunchyroll.com

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you haven't already seen any of these episodes you should. This anime is very good a change from the brightly coloured fighting ones. More romantic and real.
Its at episode 3. with about 11 episodes in total. And if you haven't been to crunchyroll.com, go its got something for all ages.
Hope you like Ristorante Paradiso.
I know I do. :)

Iberius said...

Nicely done story and ambiance with beautiful composition and use of lights and shadows. Anime is really an art form that only the Japanese can do right.