Audience reviews
15 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
dj_lilmeow
This show is ok. I was drawn to the idea of a smart and capable female protagonist, and I liked the art style. The first arc I rather enjoyed, as she navigates her new life and builds a tentative rapport with the male lead.
But after awhile I started to notice that this female main character doesn’t quite do it for me. She doesn’t actually seem to have much personality. Her one defining trait is that she is good at cooking.
In fact, she is astoundingly good at cooking. Never mind that she just transmigrated into another world with different ingredients and tools; she is able to come up with endless dishes and they all come out well. She is repeatedly faced with cooking challenges and she always triumphs. The show seems more a showcase of different dishes, trying to make peoples’ mouths…
Read at the sourcei_am_a_wooman
I really love this!
I think this is a great representation of a super light-hearted donghua/anime, almost slice of life, with a bits of plot here and there, but can still be watched at ease. The animation is also gorgeous and full of life. It 100% will make you watchers hungry too! The story is pretty mediocre, some twists in some parts, but it's still adorable. I'm recommending this to people who are confused of what to watch next, but aren't ready to consume heavy themes or plotless storylines. It's literally the in between.
It's an isekai, to put it shortly. Despite being predictable, it's still very enjoyable since the theme is food. The animation... no words. BEAUTIFUL. Especially when they started to cook, it truly is an amazing visual experience. Putting chibi animations once in a…
Read at the sourceGhostflame2153
Super recommend! Feels like its trying to take the common chinese anime genre of modern girl reincarnated/transported to distant china and make the focus more food over martial arts and stuff.
First off I just wanna mention the food flashback moments. Where similar to food wars, occasionally they have the food flashback scenes, where usually in food wars youd call these foodgasms here they are usually just super toned down flashbacks, and while they can be interesting and plotwise I think they use them kinda well, they can drag sometimes and feel a bit flat especially when compared to the food wars versions.
Besides that however, its a pretty entertaining show, with a slight downtick in fighting compared to its contemporaries, and a huuuge uptick in cooking as one would hope.
Food l…
Read at the sourceKhashishi
The overall premise, an award winning chef gets isekai'ed to ancient China and has to survive and aspires to become a renown chef in the ancient world, is fine. But every thing about this could be done a bit better.
The story is filled with leaps of logic, where the MC gets access to cooking in ways that are totally implausible. She's has no money or resources, and somehow always can just waltz into a fully stocked kitchen and do her magic, for reasons. It throws in silly humor to skip some explanation of some other unlikely happenstances, but the tone feels very fragmented, with silly BS happening at one moment, and serious trauma the next. Nevertheless, if you accept the logic, the story works at larger scale. There's no exposition, which is nice, but sometimes there's a short time skip…
Read at the sourcemeworai
its good!! the storyline is kind of messy though. we never learn more about the male lead's background(which is understandable, since this is mostly focused on cooking). the mc has to be the worst mc i've ever seen. shes so annoying, the only thing she's good at is cooking. everytime i see her on screen, i just would like to skip it. the male lead? he's okay. he doesn't have much personality other than being "cold and stubborn." the one i really like is the 2nd lead, he's tolerable. he's like a comedic relief but he's still generally a good person?? i feel bad that he feel for her because she didn't even care to keep the promise made by him. maybe she forget?? i don't remember much since i basically zoomed through the story. the cooking transformation is funny LOL!!! atleast this story was…
Read at the sourcetyrandriel
I've been on the hunt for romance shows I haven't seen yet, as it's one of my favorite genres of anime. As a female, it can be tough to find a romance with good balance and that lacks the typical harem tropes / continuous misunderstandings etc. It gets tiring.
This is the first Chinese anime I've finished too! Super brief summary: good chef gets isekaid to historical china, forced to marry a bandit leader (?), but stuff happens.
STORY
The story is pretty lack luster, and is void of any notable conflict. There's some fighting scenes which I actually really enjoyed and were animated very well, I wish there was more of them honestly! I didn't mind the pacing, but it quickly became more slice of life-ish as the show went on. This was a little strange, because the main conflict seemed tense a…
Read at the sourceTheBlazingBlade
May contain spoilers.
I really enjoyed this anime, more than I should have. The story is lacking in material and the characters don't really develope. The anime starts out as if will be story-driven but then becomes only about food. There are a few character relationships fleshed out, but even then they are... kinda empty. I thought there would be more story to the arranged marriage. the family selling her to the bandits, more conflict with the bandits and the two MC being on the run or something. But nope. The Chunyu is well taken care of. He is a fully flawed character but seems to be written that way. I'm also trying to figure out why Jinxuan needs to pretend to be a guy. Maybe when she was traveling alone, for protection, but I'm sure the kid would have understood. There doesn't seem t…
Read at the sourceStormy_77
Meng Qi Shi Shen, also known as Adorable Food Goddess or Cinderella Chef, is the story of modern day Best Chef winner Ye Jiayao, who has a mushroom poisoning incident and finds herself back in time in the body of Ye Jinxuan in medieval China, in a bridal procession! Just when she thinks thinks can't get worse, bandits attack.
Story 06/10, Character 05/10, sound 07/10
The source story is fairly predictable as the modern day chef tries to make sense of ancient China, playing her cooking skills to stay alive. The entire arranged marriage and winning the spouse over with fabulous food ... well ... that would probably still work today, as the old saying goes "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach". The sound, music and OST are all good.
What lets this entire arc down is the main ch…
Read at the sourcetheothergrl
I really enjoyed this anime. The main girl basically gets sent to another world, spends a short time falling for a handsome man, then they are torn apart by circumstances and the man spends his time trying to find her...through her cooking - hence the title Cinderella chef.
The idea of this anime is really sweet and considering how much of the story they tried to squeeze into just 12 episodes, i feel pretty happy with it by the end. All of the characters are pretty likeable and there is some comedy here and there to lighten the otherwise pretty dramatic mood.
It's a shame they didn't make this into a longer series, as the story had a lot of potential. I definitely recommend it for anyone in the mood for a light-hearted, escapist rom com, after all the story and characters have got me r…
Read at the sourceElfsire
Was bored and wanted to kill time with a romance anime.
What I actually got was hungry for Chinese food and a fun ride, and some clever comic moments.
The anime is based around food. Our MC awakes in historic China. But she has amazing cooking talents. Being from the future and also being very knowledgeable of traditional dishes. She is able to wow the people of the time with her food. Which is believable think Dr. stone and his ramen being seen as Godly to a more primitive set of people.
Its a great kick back for anyone suffering withdrawal from Soma or just hungry.
Its fun. I would of personally liked more of the first arc and some relationship building. As I originally was in the mood for romance, We get a few episodes in the middle where our leads don't even see each other. And th…
Read at the sourcesheruchan
STORY: 8/10
Meng Qi Shi Shen is an interesting blend of genres: historical, romance, comedy, food, with some action. The studio tried to do a lot in 12 episodes and this left the series with an under-developed romance and plot points that are introduced but never followed up on. The studio had to gloss over the relationship build-up, but they provided enough material to compel me to keep watching. I wish they had time to explore the male lead's side of the story, which would've explored more of the action/drama aspects of the plot.
Considering the short series length, I still thought they did a good job balancing the genres and delivering a story that made me want more. The plot had a lot of potential and I only wish they had more episodes to work with.
ART: 8/10
I actually really like…
Read at the sourceSarutoKen
If we were in Yu Gi Oh !! this anime would be a fusion invocation using Akatsuki No Yona and Food Wars as materials… Seldom have I seen such an original mix of genres. Because what isn't said in the description is that Meng Qi Shi Shen is in the same time a Comedy, a Drama, a Shoujo, a Gastronomy and an Isekaï anime :)
Sounds rather odd, doesn’t it? I was quite puzzled at first, but I must admit I’ve had a very good time watching all the episodes in one go (and rewatching it a few months later) !
What is all about? The MC is an exceptional cook who dies (cooking of course), and reincarnates in the body of a girl from imperial China. So far, not very original, you might think… Yes, true, and the first episode cumulates many clichés of the genre… But as the story continues, the MC has to…
Read at the sourceIsmata-chan
The anime is very visually appealing and though the plot is kinda loose in its direction, it holds itself up pretty well between the character's interactions. Its premise is pretty simple, but I think it has enough interesting elements to make it worth a watch. And though I'm not that into cooking anime, I found this one appealing enough to get through since, again, the characters interactions are really what does it for me. Most of the characters are a bit flat since most of the characterization focuses only on a 2-3 core characters, but that was really all the story needed to keep the plot moving.
Overall, it's a nice medieval slice of life with a few moments of high tension. I do hope for it to get renewed for a second season, but even if it doesn't, it's a nice show to casually watch,…
Read at the sourceSaacool
The budget put into animation quality and graphical quality is pretty self explanatory, too bad the source material holds the art back. Its a rather straightforward work overall, you can see hints of its origins as a wuxia/xianxia if you're familiar with the genre, but the worst the original work was removed.
Art & Sound 8/10
The food and cooking is fantastic, with appropriate musical accompaniment. My only complaint is that there isn't enough of it. They barely manage a cooking scene an episode and its really the only reason to watch this anime.
Writing 2/10
Really just nothing much in the writing at all. The first arc is an episodic isekai standard of getting to know the world, with a pretty unappealing romantic plot including multiple scenes of the heroine going "wow i really like thi…
Read at the sourceTawsif_Ahmed
Good sides:
First this was my very first Chinese anime which I have watched sub by MizureX33 and I have found it weird but refreshing.
It is quite similar with a Isekai anime except it is not fantasy based. Story revolved around the daily struggle after waking up in medieval China.
Story had it's plot twist
Romance element had it quite touchy.
Culinary and shokugeki will help anyone to wait for other cooking anime to get new season
In other word this anime is quite a time kill
Negative side:| story writing could be a little bit strong
And to be honest just by wearing male dress ,everyone is treating someone as male ..was medieval that dumb !!! didn't she also has a feminine voice
last but not the least ,
Overall this is a pretty good anime
Just give it a time to show color.
Read at the source