The comfy and cozy slice-of-life anime original, Food for the Soul, wrapped up its premiere season this past weekend on June 29, 2025. The anime piqued my interest with the announcement that the famous iyashikei, or healing anime, Non Non Biyori‘s staff would have their hand in the work. Atto, Non Non Biyori’s creator, was in charge of Food for the Soul’s character designs, storyboard layout, and story concept.
Given that Non Non Biyori is my all–time favorite anime, I was eager to jump into Food for the Soul, as I was surely going to experience the same cozy atmosphere and comedic style that I adored about Non Non Biyori. You may say I can’t or shouldn’t compare Atto’s newest work with his most renowned work, but I can and will. With high expectations, I sat down to watch Food for the Soul and found myself slightly underwhelmed, despite how cute and enjoyable the anime is.
Food for the Soul, animated by P.A. Works, has a simple premise, just as I had expected. Mako Kawai, voiced by Hana Shimano, has just entered university, but her social anxiety keeps her from doing basic things such as making friends or even ordering food at a new restaurant. Mako reunites with a childhood friend named Shinon and is roped into joining the Food Culture Research Club. Mako finds comfort in cooking, and while doubtful about her ability to make friends, she looks forward to being able to focus on her hobby while in the club. The anime sets up for an adorable story about social anxiety and finding peace in food.
Hungry For More
From just the first three episodes of the season, I was hooked. I knew I didn’t need to abide by the three-episode rule for an anime I was so excited about, but the first three episodes had great direction. The Food Culture Research Club was all about cooking, traveling, and discovering different dishes. I was hoping (and expecting) that the girls would travel to different places in search of different styles of food throughout Japan. Cooking seemed to be the focus, but as the show went on, it started to lose track of that focus.
Going back to Non Non Biyori for a second, it was never a show that needed focus or direction. It was simply about a young girl named Hotaru that moved from the big city to the countryside, joining an elementary school with only half a dozen students, and adjusting to daily life in the sticks. Non Non Biyori‘s theme is as simple as it gets: cute girls doing cute things and living day to day in the middle of nowhere, Japan. The anime not having a particular focus works well. I felt that Food for the Soul reeled me in with its culinary and cultural themes only for them to take a back seat to regular slice-of-life shenanigans that had nothing to do with cooking.
Big chunks of Food for the Soul episodes were spent finding lost pets or items, exploring the school on a spooky night, or getting driver’s licenses. To be fair, many of the episodes tracked back to eating and/or food, but it was hardly the focus of each episode. It’s not that these unrelated scenes or episodes weren’t enjoyable; it just felt directionless for a story about a girl joining a food club. You could say I had different or high expectations going into a show that simply just wanted to show moe girls doing moe things, but I was disappointed by the lack of actual culture and food given the synopsis of the show.
Take Encouragement of Climb, or Laid-Back Camp for example; each show heavily focuses on its niche, hiking and camping, respectively. I feel that those series are outdoor-travel hobby shows with a moe flavor, whereas I feel that Food for the Soul is the opposite: a moe anime with a dash of cooking themes.
Another slightly disappointing factor of Food for the Soul is in its humor. While I adore that the characters are adults and university students (we get way too many high school club anime), I felt that the style of comedy that made Non Non Biyori so delightful doesn’t hit the same way with a college-aged cast, no matter how cute and moe they are. Non Non Biyori’s elementary-aged characters have idiotic moments that make me think, “yea, a Japanese kid would do something that funny and stupid,” which adds to the charm of the show. Food for the Soul tries to hit these similar comedic beats, but it feels forced given the setting of the show and age of the characters—a nine-year-old might put a traffic cone on their head while talking to strangers, but it’s hardly believable that a 20 year-old would.
Despite my underwhelming feelings on Food for the Soul, I can still see it being in my top ten shows for 2025. I loved the relaxing vibes and character personalities just as much as any other iyashikei show. I can’t say there’s anything standout or unique about Food for the Soul when compared to other iyashikei, but it still manages to get a solid 7/10 for me. Its relaxing background music full of guitar and ukelele, its episodic style, and light antics make it perfect for a binge after a hard day’s work.
Despite Food for the Soul being an original anime, there is a manga adaptation illustrated by Quro, known for Koisuru Asteroid. There aren’t any signs of a second season for the anime, but I’ll happily be on board for it if it happens. In the end, when it comes to Atto, I really just crave more Non Non Biyori.
Food for the Soul is streaming on Crunchyroll, which describes the show as follows: Mako, a first-year university student living alone for the first time, finds solace in her love for cooking, recreating gourmet dishes in her small kitchen. Too shy to dine out by herself, her life takes a flavorful turn when she joins a foodie club. Alongside new friends, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, learning to savor not just food, but the joy of shared meals and laughter.
©Hibimeshi Production Committee
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