This is a spoiler-free review of the first episode of Get Jiro, which premieres on Adult Swim on October 3 and HBO Max on October 4.
It’s been close to a decade since Anthony Bourdain’s passing, and the sting hasn’t faded. Bourdain was such an interesting personality who brought a unique perspective to the worlds of food and travel. It only stands to reason that perspective would also translate to fiction writing. The graphic novel Get Jiro has now been adapted into an animated series on Adult Swim, and the series is well worth a watch for anyone who considers themselves a Bourdain fan.
Based on the graphic novels co-written by Bourdain and Joel Rose and illustrated by Langdon Foss and Alé Garza, Get Jiro is set in a vaguely post-apocalyptic version of Los Angeles where society has all but collapsed and chefs are now the true power players. The idea being that, as humanity turns inward and becomes ever more obsessed with virtual reality and online entertainment, food is now the only pleasure that can’t be digitized. Amid this new world order, a humble sushi chef named Jiro (Brian Tee) embarks on a quest for vengeance.
Basically, Get Jiro takes the tropes of a straightforward revenge thriller and embellishes the whole package by submerging it in the culinary arena. What might have been an overly formulaic story were it to star mobsters and assassins becomes something far more weird and compelling when knife-wielding chefs instead take center stage. This world is strange, surreal, and more than a little cut from the Blade Runner cloth, and it works. It’s a satire that doesn’t feel too out of line with our actual reality.
The titular character anchors the first episode well. Tee’s Jiro is extremely soft-spoken and taciturn, but we learn everything we need to through his actions and his behavior around his fellow chefs and food suppliers. He’s a character whose talent for creating mouth-watering delicacies is matched only by his skill with a blade. Again, he’s a character who might come across as a little too generic in a more traditional crime thriller/martial arts setting, but the food angle helps keep things fresh and exciting.
In fact, Get Jiro’s first episode is often at its best when it simply lingers on the act of making food. There’s a Miyazaki-esque emphasis on the rote tasks and silent motions that go into cooking. The show’s animation style is solid in general (if a bit stiff in motion), but those quieter scenes are where it shines the most, and where Bourdain’s own influence is most evident.
The pilot is also adept at introducing the show’s other key players, including rival mafioso chefs voiced by Titus Welliver and Alison Pill. These antagonist characters are perhaps a bit too broadly rendered for their own good, but once again, the food angle does help to offset that a bit. And with the graphic novel being given a full 10-episode adaptation, there’s ample room to flesh out these characetrs as Jiro’s bloody quest unfolds.
