Restaurant to Another World Episode 1 Review

Content warning: tasteful female nudity

Restaurant to Another World is the tale of a traveling, TARDIS-like restaurant based on the light novel series of the same name by Junpei Inuzuka and Katsumi Enami. In this first episode we’re introduced to part of the series’ main cast: the unnamed owner who doubles as the chef, a dragon with the ability to turn into a humanoid woman, and a demon girl with horns named Aletta.

I’ll admit that so far I’m having a hard time telling for sure who our main character is–we first meet the owner, but know nothing about him (not even his name), and the same with the dragon-woman. Aletta is introduced last, but at least we learn her name and her sad tale of woe. Perhaps she will be the heroine of our story?

I say that the restaurant is TARDIS-like because it seems to travel to completely different worlds, but when it does, only the front door appears. Patrons from each world visited come to the restaurant to eat, and then at the end of the day it disappears and relocates. I’d have to guess that it travels to 7 different worlds, because his hired help in each world only works one day each week.

Even in just one episode, I’m getting the distinct feeling that I’m going to enjoy this series. The artwork is beautiful, the dishes served look delicious, and most of all it raises a lot of questions to which I need to know the answers. How and why does this Western Restaurant Nekoya travel to different worlds? Who is this dragon woman, and why does she give the impression that the restaurant belongs to her, yet she calls the owner “master?” How on earth did Aletta lose her job for being a demon with horns when those very horns are perhaps the cutest thing I’ve ever seen? And how in the hell does a restaurant called “Western Restaurant Nekoya” get away with serving primarily Japanese dishes?

As sweet and wholesome as it appears, however, this episode and likely the series are not beyond reproach. This has a lot of potential to be a cute family show, except for the fact that fanservice sells. HUGE-breasted vampy dragon woman? Check. Have her be naked several times in the first episode alone? Yup.

Don’t get me wrong, a naked horned woman on a pile of gold is just about the witchiest thing I’ve ever seen, but I’m tryin’ to watch a show about a magical restaurant here

And even when she’s wearing clothes, her dress is extremely form-fitting and I can’t tell whether it has mesh across the décolletage, or the artists have no idea how clothing and breasts work together. Even the adorable Aletta has a not-brief-enough shower scene.

Is the fabric see-through? Did the artist genuinely believe you can see cleavage that clearly through a shirt or dress? You, the viewer, decide!

In sum, I greatly look forward to seeing this story unfold, but I hope the male-centered fanservice doesn’t get any more out of hand than it already has.