English Dub Review: Restaurant to Another World “Sandwiches/Steamed Potato with Butter”

Nobody mentioned a my popcorn recipe. Clearly, that is a superior food. Makes a terrible sandwich, though.

Spoilers Below

Well, everyone, we have introduced all of the regulars to the Nekoya. With that done, we return to the girl who brought us to the tiny restaurant, Aletta. This episode plays out as a slice of life, telling us her daily routine. After all of her chores are done, she and the Master go up in the elevator to the store room to get some more supplies. Among them, she spots potatoes (what she calls Cobbler’s Tubers). This sparks a conversation, where she admits that she doesn’t have any good memories involving these starchy vegetables. She always ate them when she was on the brink of starvation, and they never tasted good to her. He promises to teach her how to steam potatoes, which is an easy way to vastly improve their flavor. In the meantime, patrons start to pour in. Once all the regulars have arrived, they begin to take their meals and chat.

This leads to a bit of an argument between Sarah and Heinrich over which of their staple dishes would go best as a sandwich: Minced Meat Cutlets, or Fried Shrimp. The argument starts to get heated, and Aletta can’t get them to settle down. Fortunately, Altorius and Tatsugoro diffuse the situation… then start a much more polite version of the argument over their own favorites. From there, it spreads to everyone in the room. Everyone except Fardania, who wants nothing to do with it, and instead orders some form of rice to go. The Master comes up with a form of grilled rice ball for her vegan diet. When she turns back around, the argument has taken a different turn. Each of them has now ordered a sandwich of their favorite food but is sending it to their opponent to try. This difference of opinion has turned much more amicable, but poor Aletta is having to keep up with ten or so orders coming in at once. A bit more than she can handle. When all have left, even the Red Queen with her Beef Stew, The Master makes good on his promise to teach her to steam potatoes. It isn’t very hard, and the results make the tuber delicious enough to make Aletta forget all of her bad memories of the stuff.

It seems as if we’ve hit a turning point in the storytelling here. Though there isn’t any actual plot going on yet, we’re no longer getting character introductions and unconnected stories. I’m eager to see if this means the next episode will introduce some sort of overarching plot. Maybe something that makes all these random strangers work together. We have returned to the main character, and see how things have changed for her since she’s started working at the Nekoya. She’s still just as thankful for the opportunity he gave her, and she seems to be getting closer with the many patrons. She’s gone from a life of lonely isolation to one of hectic community. But only on Saturday. We also get to see more of how these folks actually interact. We already knew the two older gentlemen were friendly, and the Alfades would come as a pair, but it also seems the noble ladies of Adelheid and Victoria have become good friends as well. They were perhaps the most polite in their argument, but… Their desserts didn’t sound good as sandwiches. As intelligent as they are, they may be a bit too obsessed with sweets.

Normally, what we get out of the writing here is a character eating something, then describing the dish in more detail than a judge on a cooking competition. Today’s episode turns that around, making their description of the food into extremely verbose arguments. This was more entertaining than the previous way of writing, primarily because it is practically farcical. I mean, we’ve all had arguments about favorite foods, but this one was almost over the top.

The art and character animation have improved since the last episode, and I didn’t spot any obvious errors. It looked as if a bit more care went into the lineart of the characters, softening their edges. Jill Harris did a great job with Aletta in this episode. She was able to bring out the curiosity and ignorance in the demon girl’s voice, especially in her lack of understanding about an elevator or a cardboard box. Everything was wondrous to her, and it came through in how she talked. Aletta is soft-spoken, but cheerful and still outgoing when she’s comfortable. It’s endearing with her. So, while the writing turned some of the formula around on itself to make the episode fresher, the art is better than before and the voice acting is still good. I would like to give this episode eight steamed potatoes out of ten.