This is the Mappa anime from this season almost no one is talking about. This is a rather random project for Mappa I must say. Past few years, they’ve been mostly only big-name, big-budget projects, so something like this is kind of unexpected. And as always, the sheer balls on Mappa to air this together with Vinland Saga and AoT coming in less than 2 weeks is… just wow. As you might have guessed, I am referring to Campfire Cooking in Another World.
So welcome back to another one of my mid-season reviews. Today we are talking about Campfire Cooking in Another World. A bit of a standout anime from Mappa, I don’t know why did they’re even making it, but since it is here, I’ll talk about it. And I have to admit, it is pretty interesting. It’s your usual seasonal isekai but, I do think a few things make it stand out.
What do I think about Campfire Cooking in Another World so far?
Well, I will divide my thoughts into two parts for this one.
What works
This isn’t the first time we are seeing the food and isekai combo. Bringing food and stuff from the real world into isekai is nothing new. In fact, we have a whole other anime dedicated to farming in this season alone. But, using food to make MC OP is definitely something different. The MC isn’t OP by himself, he is OP because an ancient OP monster took a liking to his cooking and became his familiar. The 2nd significant power boost the MC gains is also because of the food. The MC isn’t stupid strong or anything by himself but Fel is a force to be reckoned with.
The character dynamic between the MC and Fel regarding food and the MC actually learning stuff like magic from Fel makes for a good character dynamic between them. It is this character dynamic that basically makes the anime as good as it is. If it wasn’t for this character dynamic, this anime too would’ve been another below-average isekai.
What Doesn’t Work
Ah, man the usual isekai cliches really hurt this anime. Summoned for the same old reason, multiple characters are summoned but we basically never see them again after the first episode. I hope this changes with upcoming episodes. We get no explanation for the skill and magic systems. They use the most cop-out answers for explaining magic “you have to feel it”/”think about it and it will happen”. The magic system and stuff probably won’t improve so I at least hope we see the other summoned characters down the line again.
Conclusion
That is all for now. As things stand right now, Campfire Cooking in Another World gets a far 7/10 from me. It has a few things going for it and I think it is quite an enjoyable watch despite the usual isekai cliches. That is all for now though, I will take my leave here. Let me know what you think in the comments and see ya!
