THE JAPAN NEWS


 

By Thankyou-Tatsuo / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun
There are people living in this world who know nothing of DJs or clubs. I myself am one of them. Yet I’m confident nobody could resist the unusual title of “Tonkatsu DJ Age-taro.”

So, what the heck is a “tonkatsu [deep-fried pork cutlet] DJ?” Did you say “Age-taro” [which sounds like the word for “fry” and the common boy’s name, Taro]?

Whether or not you know anything about DJs and their culture, the program’s title is weird enough to draw your attention.

The lead character, Age-taro Katsumata, is set to become the third-generation proprietor of the Shibukatsu tonkatsu restaurant in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. Shibukatsu must be doing pretty well, judging from the fact that the family operates it independently in the bustling town of Shibuya. Age-taro’s father, Age-saku, is a reserved, artisan-like tonkatsu chef. A true professional, Age-saku is strict with his son, who shows little ambition or motivation.

One day, Age-taro steps into a music club on a delivery run. Seeing people enjoying themselves, Age-taro starts thinking the venue is much more attractive than a Bon-odori dance event held during the summer at local festivals. He gradually begins to notice similarities between being a DJ and preparing pork cutlets.

Age-taro hears the beats of music overlapping with the sounds of cabbage being shredded. He understands that a cook needs to have a plate to serve the pork cutlets while a DJ needs to work discs on the turntables. Both professions need the round device to complete their purposes — to deep-fry the cutlet and to elevate the spirits of the club’s patrons. The verbs “to fry” and “to elevate” are homophones in Japanese. They’re both pronounced “ageru.”

Age-taro also notices that the massive DJ Big Master Fly, who happens to be in the club on a trip to Japan, moves around in the same way his father cooks his signature dishes.
Age-taro is convinced that “there’s no difference between tonkatsu chefs and DJs!”

 

Of course, you may laugh and say, “No way!” But the virtue of this anime is that after you’ve witnessed the two worlds mashed up, you’ll want to go to the club, like I did.

There are many works of animation dealing with unknown, exotic worlds. But this one is groundbreaking in the innovative way it makes you understand the fantastic through the use of the mundane. By using the metaphor that DJs are like tonkatsu chefs, it explains the little-known world of DJs and club culture to viewers familiar with tonkatsu. It’s hilarious because the combination seems so odd at first.

Hoping to become a man who can both fry tonkatsu and raise the heat on the dance floor, Age-taro enters the club scene. He grows through experiences such as meeting outstanding DJs and his contemporaries. There are times when a music critic hypes up his performance by reading too much into it. The more he ponders his actions as a DJ, the more he realizes how great it is to be a tonkatsu chef.

While the anime stays faithful to the original manga, they have successfully incorporated a challenging factor that was not in the original work: sound.

The anime is directed by Akitaro Daichi, who has established a reputation for his comedies. I hope you appreciate his skills in combining up-tempo gags, visuals and audio.

*The TV broadcast of the anime has just ended, but you can watch it on DVD (Advance copies of the first three volumes are available at Lawson convenient stores).

(The next installment will appear Aug. 6.)
Thankyou-Tatsuo is a manzai comedian and Japanese linguist.