Introduction
Tonkatsu chef by day, professional DJ by night—this is the aspiration of Agetarou Katsumata, whose family owns a small tonkatsu shop in Shibuya.
One night, Agetarou delivers an order to a staff member at a nightclub and gets invited inside as a token of thanks. Although nervous at first, he soon finds himself absorbed by the atmosphere, falling in love with the dancing girls, flashing lights, and groovy music. Agetarou starts visiting the club regularly until a certain night leads him to a chance encounter with a legendary American DJ: Big Master Fly. Putting on a spectacular show, the DJ sparks an epiphany in Agetarou—the groove of mixing music appears to be strikingly similar to the rhythm of preparing tonkatsu. Thenceforth Agetarou sets his sights on becoming a master of both disciplines.
With the help of his neighborhood friends and his mentor DJ Oily, Agetarou pursues his dream all the while dealing with familial problems, love issues, and many other kinds of trouble. Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou is a hilarious tale about an impulsive young boy trying to find his own path in life, while still fulfilling his familial and social responsibilities.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Audience reviews
9 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Arachnophobic
This show is a poor man's Shokugeki no Souma - with the added conceit of synthesizing cooking and DJ-ing. Call it Shokugeki no DJ. I must admit that was a fun idea. I liked some of those nutty reaction faces, and the c h i l l o u t moments were quite easily the highlight of the show. I liked the trusty friends' group and that weird background guy in traditional clothing who showed up everywhere to dance. You go, guy! Oh, and there were some puns, beware. I liked those too though. At some level, this show had potential to be something quite fun, but it dropped the ball across a lot of departments.
The art and animation is Sasuga DEEN™ level at barely functional, but watchable. There are ways to work around this by constantly stealing the viewer's attention away with absurdity (Inferno Cop…
Read at the sourceEddy_Kruger
One of the more enjoyable animes coming out in yet another heavy hitter season. I'm sure it flew under the radar for many reason. The art, the story, the quirky nature of it all.
Those are the exact things that make this show that great.
The art is scrappy, fitting of it's subject matter which deals with djing and club culture. Also all of the episodes are shorter than most so it is kind of refreshing to see this as a show that was slapped together. It feels really raw and it hits all the necessary points in the right way.
Watching Agetarou become a DJ over the season was a triumph in itself. It's a story that has been told countlessly but it is refreshing with this medium. The diving into Japanese club and DJ culture was great to be a part of. Also, isn't it convenient that the lesso…
Read at the sourceRemainstobeseen
This anime merits a score of 9 not because of where it stands in the entirety of the canon, or even in the genre of music-related anime, but just because of how fresh and fun it is. When I was in Japan last summer I saw Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou merch everywhere.
Each episode is about 9 minutes, and follows Agetarou's rising career in DJing as he works in his family's Tonkatsu restaurant and seeks to master both skills.
It's something of a teaching anime, where you'll learn about the craft if DJing and of tonkatsu if you aren't familiar with already.
The energy and vibes are so good, and it doesn't need any added drama to make it engaging. The characters are cute and fun and kind to each other. The representation of "DJ Master Fry" is hilarious. I only wish there was more music to add to…
Read at the sourceSkittles
Imagine having to succeed the family food business without the motivation to cook anything. What would you do in this situation? For the mischievous Agetarou Katsumata, the answer is clear: become a professional DJ, and show the world how mixing electronic music can make you a better chef!
Anime has essentially covered every music genre—rock, pop, and even hip-hop—but electronic music is a first for the medium. As its likely pioneer for anime, Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou does well in presenting the life of a rising DJ star through an expert lens. While Agetarou fights his way to the top, we see the ambition, creativity, and technical knowledge needed to succeed in the professional world of DJ’ing. Becoming a DJ comes with the spectacular club life, dancing girls, and addictive fame, but none of…
Read at the sourceblaice
Disclaimer: You will regret not watching this show with headphones!
Tonkatsu DJ is simply incredible. If you like music, you will love this show! I got some avantree blue-tooth over-ear headphones right before I started watching this (nothing crazy, just a 50 dollar pair).
The tunes are great, the atmosphere is fantastic, and the story keeps you wanting more. Originality is oozing from this one! I went in with an open-mind, because the animation is different, but that turned out to be one of the beauties about this hidden gem! It is similar to the style of Ping Pong, and equally as good (if not better IMO)!
I came into this expecting nothing, but every character had their own personality, and own beat to match. The main character was charismatic; unlike more and more naive and annoying…
Read at the sourceDawnYamada
This anime caught my eye because I want to be a DJ, but as soon as I saw how much a table costs, my soul left my body. Anyway, I truly love music whether it's rap or EDM, I go to any kind of music festival/event.
I came across this anime when I got busy and wanted to watch short episodes, I'm so glad I did.
Watching anime or cartoons gave the experience to give ugly art a chance, I guess casual watchers always want something good on the eyes *throws shade at popular plot-less anime*.
Story:
It's pace changes per episode, but the only thing missing is what happens in-between and after the plot. Personally, I think it's fine as a short 12 episode anime. Any more than that might ruin it.
Art:
You can judge it yourself, the point in this anime is the music, not visuals.
They delivered well,…
Read at the source420kawaii
Sometimes people fail to remember that anime is simply the Japanese word for any and all animation. But outside of Japan, the word typically refers to any and all Japanese animation. Of course, there is a typical "anime art style" that comes to mind when thinking about contemporary Japanese animation. This style (realistic body proportions, colorful hair, thin outlines, large eyes, etc.) comes to mind because, arguably, it is used in almost all modern anime. This has sometimes led to some Western, non-Japanese works (Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender) to be described as "looking like anime." But, how can anything "look like anime" if anime is, by definition, any animation? Now, let's not turn this review into a discussion on the semantics of the word "anime." Let's simply go with the…
Read at the sourceultra_aleph
You see all sorts of musicians in anime - jazz, rock, death metal, classical, pop... But until now there has not been, to my knowledge, an anime series devoted to electronic music. Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou has righted that wrong at last and put electronic music in the spotlight where it deserves to be. As a fan of electronic music, I really cannot begin to express how much I enjoyed the series.
It takes electronic music seriously, it shows both the artistic and the scientific side of it. Being a DJ requires vast knowledge about different types of music, the ability to imagine how various tracks can be put together and the technical skills to operate the equipment. But this anime also shows one of the main aspects of electronic music - its creativity. Anything can become rhythm and melody, from…
Read at the sourceMetaThPr4h
Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou is my clear choice for underrated anime of this Spring 2016 season, it's a shame that few people gave it a try because it's a really enjoyable anime.
Agetarou works at his family's tonkatsu (a Japanese food which consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet) restaurant, he doesn't like it much, but destiny made him discover the disc jockey world, and, for his surprise, he realizes more and more every episode how similar is cooking and working in a tonkatsu restaurant to being a DJ in the details about them.
Something that I really like about this anime is the "bro" feeling it has, everyone is just so cool to the others and there is little to no drama, when Agetarou fails, he won't go in a neverending despair, nor blame anyone for his mistakes, he accepts it and look…
Read at the source