Manga 11977 Bambino

To keep this review short, on terms of characters and art, Bambino excels. The shading and exaggerated lines are really good at conveying the hectic and stressful atmosphere of a top class kitchen in a top class restaurant. Yet at the same time it also works to convey the beauty of both the process and product of good Italian cooking. All of the characters, even the small side characters, are well developed with their personality seeping through their actions and minor characteristics. Sometimes a chapter is given a single chapter to themselves and not only does it not break the pacing, but it tells you ... so much even at times when saying so little.

Unfortunately the story is a mixed bag. While its low points are not as low as its high points are high, in most of the arcs the dialogue and direction of the story eventually falls into the pitfall of cheesy battle manga tropes, where all of a sudden the main character gets a flash of encouragement from a side character and miraculously turns his imminent defeat into a dominant victory. This happens multiple times, and it is not subtle in any of the times it does it. I am good in overlooking certain tropes if I enjoy myself enough, but reusing the same trope eventually leads to things getting stale. The second to last arcs encapsulates my complaints the most, when the story suddenly 180s into crazy town and becomes something its not for the entire second half of that arc.

The final arc does good at changing this and giving us something new, which bumps up my score, but if it didn't redeem itself this manga would be getting a 7. Anyway make sure to read the sequel if you enjoy it, it end on a cliffhanger and I don't want anyone thinking it suddenly got canceled.

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘚𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥." ㅡ Yonamine Tsukasa

What a fantastic reading experience!

The story gives a strong impression because the main character, Ban, always faces unstoppable obstacles and struggles that make the story more vibrant and rich in values. The arts successfully make the reader (me, to be precise) hungry all the time with good details of mouth-watering Italian cuisine illustrations. The panels greatly express emotions, pressures, and all the elements that build the manga. The characters have their own unique problems that are so refreshing for every volume. It's worth reading this manga as a pastime, ... especially for adults and young adults who have lost their confidence in work, forgotten about their dreams, and are desperate about life.

I didn't see any reviews up so I figured I'd write one, I only read up to volume 8 myself though. I haven't read much manga about cooking so it was a nice change of pace (and even got me in the kitchen for a little bit) Overall it was pretty good and I'm glad I read it but it was nothing life-changing and I would've been fine not reading it.
Story;
The story was really basic, and I could tell you the story of what I read without giving any spoilers. There were a couple things I wasn't expecting, but for the most part it's fairly ... predictable.
Art;
The art was alright, not my usual style but a nice change of pace. It leans towards the more realistic side while still being anime. At points the artist adds in some rough ink drawings for effect which was interesting to me.
Character;
I liked the characters, they were pretty good. Nothing all that special though.
Enjoyment;
I did enjoy it quite a bit. I love food but I'm not much of a chef, but it was fun fantasizing about all the dishes they were making. And it gave me a little peak of what it might be like behind the scenes of my favorite restaurants which was pretty neat.