Bambino! © Sekiya Tetsuji/Shogakukan (First serialized in Big Comic Spirits)
Published in Indonesia by Elex Media/Level Comics
[Cover from Level Comics]
Bambino! 3 of 15
By Sekiya Tetsuji
Original title: バンビ～ノ！
Shogakukan, originally serialized in Big Comic Spirits, seinen
Volume 3 first released in Japan 2006.01
Published in Indonesia 2010.05 by PT Elex Media Komputindo/Level Comics
Synopsis
Wannabe chef Ban leaves hometown and loved ones for Tokyo where he finds himself working as waitstaff at a premier Roppongi trattoria.
Can Ban endure serving tasks (slicing bread toka) long enough to get back to creating scrumptious Italian dishes?
I don't know about Ban, but Level's Bambino! editor Tika-san enjoys “working” at (on) Trattoria Baccanale because of the droolicious food depicted in Sekiya Tetsuji's cooking manga, a trademark that likely extends to the sequel Bambino! Secondo (four volumes by 2010.06.30).
Awards
This series won the best seinen/general manga prize at the 53rd Shogakukan Manga Awards, along with The Black Swindler (Kurosagi) by Kuromaru and Natsuhara Takeshi.
Drama adaptation
An 11-episode live-action renzoku starring Matsumoto Jun (Hayakawa Vito, Smile) as Shogo Ban and Kitamura Kazuki (Kusanagi Shunpei, Galileo: Episode Zero) as Yonamine Tsukasa/Yona-san (the waitstaff chief) aired in Japan on NTV from April to June 2007. The theme song We can make it! was performed by Arashi (of course). The TV series reaped four awards at the 53rd Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Actor (Matsumoto Jun), Supporting Actor (Kazuki Kitamura), Best Director, and the Special Award (which it shared with the Yamashita Tomohisa-starrer Proposal Daisakusen). More than the awards, friend recommendations make me want to watch the dorama (and start the manga, which I still haven't).
Level Comics Volume 3 street date: 19 May 2010
~niki DBA huamulan03 (花木蘭03) who thanks Level editor Lenny-san for the cover, blurb, and ambush interview of Bambino! editor Tika-san
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