Every 7 days, specifically every Saturday, humans, elves, demons and many other creatures find a mysterious door called “Western Restaurant Nekoya.” You open it and you’re greeted by the head chef, who invites you to sit down and enjoy your stay. Many races have ventured to this restaurant for a long time. We, however, follow the successor of the original owner, as we meet new visitors and a new employee in the Restaurant to Another World.
Based off the light novel, the manga does a good job of capturing the appeal of the series — amazing food that seemingly towers over others in a way that these otherworldly visitors have never tasted or seen before. I slightly say this under two notions:
- If you watch or read most isekai series, the food generally is seen as superior. This can be true but also sometimes come off as annoying when reverberated constantly.
- I’ve seen the anime and read this manga actually. More on the manga later on, but in general, I saw the anime a couple years ago and had fun watching it, so I didn’t really count on not liking Yen Press’ edition.
We follow the current head chef of Western Restaurant Nekoya as he serves the many customers what they like. But there are some things (washing dishes after closing, for one) that suggests he might need a helping hand. Enter Aletta, a demon girl who’s in a tough spot. Rejected by humans in her world, she’s not in the best state until the door appears before her. After entering, she then proceeds to eat the leftover corn potage and falls asleep inside the restaurant. Naturally, the chef catches her. But rather than scold her, he not only offers her more food, but after hearing her story, hires her. So, while understanding it’s only every 7 days, Aletta accepts the offer to become a waitress.
Which means she’s got a lot to learn, whether it’s taking orders or interacting with the customers…the sometimes eccentric customers! From dealing with an elf that’s super proud and not a meat eater to a voracious female dragon (that transforms into a voluptuous woman) that enjoys a specific stew, Aletta learns not every day will be the same since veteran and new customers will appear, all with various tastes. The manga captures that really well, obviously visually, but also description-wise as well. Whether it’s a cutlet or tofu, it’s described concisely so it doesn’t feel like a chore to read. Combine that with Takaaki Kugatsu’s art, there’s a good chance you’ll be raring to eat something comforting after seeing Aletta eat a salad with her omelet, soup, and toast.
Aside from the food, the other main intrigue is the isekai element. The series has many different characters hailing from many different worlds, which means you have a work where they could be the hero or heroines in their world, with their own individual successes, gathering all in one place. But you’re not here to find out what they’re up to — you’re in it for the food. That does mean, however, you’ll find these characters stay the same. There are a few visitors that’ll subtly change, but their personalities mostly remain throughout the read.
So I mentioned this earlier, but I said I read the manga version already. That’s because Crunchyroll already had it up on their service…and this manga ended last year. So when Yen Press announced they licensed this at Anime NYC, I certainly was looking to check it out, and see if would be much different from the CR version.
The first color page will inform you of that!
I read Chapter 1 of each, but it’s really fascinating to read one edition from one publisher and compare it to how another publisher works on it. You should factor some things — Crunchyroll was simulpubbing the series so it’s from the magazine, while Yen Press is publishing the final, corrected graphic novel versions — but there are changes, some more subtle than others, in lettering (or not) and text that will give you an idea of what styles are common from one publisher to another.
As you’ve seen in the color page, a good amount of typography is changed, with different types of fonts used in YP’s version vs. CR’s. There are some sound effects that went untranslated in YP’s version, and you’ll note the sizes in certain panels for them too. The general translation for both is the same. You can imagine it can’t be that different from the Japanese version, but there are cases where words were changed. The first chapter splash page sets the tone where you have ground meat cutlet in CR’s version, and minced meat cutlet in YP’s edition. There’s also a sentence later on when Sarah, a treasure hunter, describes the sauce and lemon to complement the cutlet:
This “sauce” with a complex flavor…and the sour juice of this “lemon fruit” – Crunchyroll
“The complex savoriness of this “sauce”…and the strong sourness from the juice of this “lemon fruit” -Yen Press (pg23)
For me, what you can gather from this is not necessarily that either is wrong, but that you can tell where there’s time constraints due to a quick turnaround (Young Gangan is a magazine that’s published every two weeks) or how time might’ve assisted in enhancing what Sarah’s feeling as she enjoys her meal. In general though, you can see how with YP’s version there’s more space throughout the read compared to CR’s version, which could be how it is with Yen Press or it could be this specific title. Overall from each chapter 1, you’ll see a lot of sentences that are the same, but there are a good amount of changes in areas that either elaborate or shorten sentences considerably.
The manga version of Restaurant to Another World is a good read that brings isekai and food together pretty well. There are definitely some stories with any of those customers, but we’re focused on the chef and the new waitress. Looking forward to reading these tales all over again. Though maybe I should finally read the copies of the LN I bought a while ago…