See You Tomorrow at the Food Court Review: A Brief but Beautiful Slice of Life - Old Otaku's Notebook See You Tomorrow at the Food Court Review

Six episodes of genuine friendship that showcase cultural differences and natural dialogue.

Promotional Still for See You Tomorrow at the Food Court © ©2024 Shinichiro Nariie/KADOKAWA/Project See You Tomorrow at the Food Court. North American License Holder: Crunchyroll. Used for editorial purposes.

Overview: When Less is More (Unfortunately)

Although not a true example of mono no aware (“the pathos of things”), anime with short run times can certainly evoke an appreciation for the impermanence of things. Such was the case with See You Tomorrow at the Food Court. In my ignorance, I didn’t realize that this little slice-of-life gem was only going to have a run of six episodes.

The Premise: Daily Meetings and Lasting Friendship

See You Tomorrow at the Food Court features two teenage girls meeting at a neutral spot in their local mall’s food court to openly talk about the issues important in their teenage lives. Though not canonically stated, the honor student Wada seems to enjoy a more comfortable life than her friend, the gyaru Yamamoto.

Character Dynamics and Social Commentary

Wada attends what the source material hints at as a private academy and has the disposable income to waste on gacha games featuring a male character she crushes on. Meanwhile, Yamamoto attends a public high school and works a part-time job, creating an apparent socioeconomic disparity between the two.

Screenshot of See You Tomorrow at the Food Court © ©2024 Shinichiro Nariie/KADOKAWA/Project See You Tomorrow at the Food Court. North American License Holder: Crunchyroll. Used for editorial purposes.

Overall, Yamamoto comes across as more mature, giving off a big sister or motherly vibe toward Wada. As for the origin of their friendship, they met in middle school. As is often the case in Japan, friends may go their separate ways depending on their high school choices. However, these two were determined to maintain their friendship and chose to meet daily at the food court to talk and enjoy one another’s company.

Reception and Rating Context

At the time of this review, Crunchyroll has the rating listed as 4.3 out of 5 stars based on approximately 2,400 votes. I know that when I began watching the anime, its reception was lukewarm as it struggled to find its target audience. I admit to giving the anime a five-star rating to counteract what I felt were unfairly low ratings.

Typically, I wait until an anime has finished its run before offering a rating, as it seems unfair to rate an anime before watching it in its entirety. I’ll offer my actual rating at the end of this review.

Cultural Insights: East Meets West

See You Tomorrow at the Food Court perfectly illustrates the cultural disconnect between East and West. For Western viewers, the anime can seem anachronistic—in the West, malls are dying, if not dead. However, malls in Japan remain popular destinations for shopping and socializing among teens.

The premise that two teenage girls would hang out at a food court seems outdated in the West, yet Japan is also a country holding on to things like payphones and fax machines that have likewise disappeared in the West. Though certainly not its intention, anime like this serves as excellent insight into cultural differences between East and West and can be appreciated for that fact alone.

Product Placement or Authentic Experience?

I must admit that at times, it felt like I was watching a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial while listening to Wada and Yamamoto’s conversations. The anime’s brief run featured frequent appearances of KFC food, with Baskin-Robbins also making a few cameo appearances.

I haven’t been able to determine whether this is due to paid advertisements or if the production studio, Atelier Pontdarc, portrayed the organic experience of its local audience. After all, KFC and Baskin-Robbins are standard offerings at Japanese food courts.

Comparisons and Style: A “Show About Nothing”

To what can I compare See You Tomorrow at the Food Court? Even some Japanese viewers might think it resembles what Westerners thought of 1990s Seinfeld: a “show about nothing.” However, fans from both East and West quickly found Wada and Yamamoto’s banter enjoyable. The dialogue was sharp, and the punchlines easily brought a smile or laugh.

Perhaps this series might bring fleeting thoughts of other teenage female-protagonist-driven comedies like Asobi Asobase or Wasteful Days of High School Girls. It’s not that these anime truly resemble each other, but the dialogue and humor might trigger superficial associations.

Voice Acting: Standout Performances

I found great satisfaction in the seiyuu performances. The voice actress cast for Wada (Hiyori Miyazaki) was enjoying her first leading anime role. She did an excellent job considering they often had her deliver extensive dialogue as she fangirled over various topics.

Yoshino Aoyama likewise did an excellent job as Yamamoto. Her performance was so natural—I thoroughly enjoyed the warmth of her voice.

Animation Quality: Perfectly Adequate

The animation was satisfactory. This wasn’t a battle anime or one set in a fantasy world, so I don’t think the animation quality needed to be over the top. That said, I have no complaints. The two stars, Wada and Yamamoto, were well-executed in their character designs.

Content Advisory for Parents

Crunchyroll offers a content advisory rating of 12+ with rationale citing profanity, sexualized imagery, and suggestive dialogue. As I’ve previously discussed, any profanity present is largely a matter of localization—the Japanese don’t swear like people in the West.

Addressing the “Sexualized Imagery” Rating

The content advisory likely stems from a segment in the third episode titled “Breastability.” In this scene, protagonist Wada discusses the oddity of the Japanese word for nipple, looking it up on a search engine. The camera does pan the food court showing the clothed chests of other women patrons, but there’s no bouncing or humorous sound effects.

The punchline reveals that Wada’s misunderstandings about Japanese have led to her poor grades in the subject. Although anatomy was the impetus for the conversation, it wasn’t played for titillation. This exchange may also serve as the basis for the “suggestive dialogue” content tag.

Wada and Yamamoto did speak of their ideals of love and the extent of their experience with the opposite sex, feigned or otherwise. However, I stand by my assertion that the content warnings are being overblown as streamers err on the side of caution.

Final Verdict

Rating: 4.4/5 stars

I give See You Tomorrow at the Food Court 4.4 out of 5 stars. Its short run prevents me from rating it higher. Additionally, I now face the added frustration of having to track down the source material to enjoy more of Wada and Yamamoto’s amusing discussions about nothing.

This brief but beautiful slice-of-life anime proves that sometimes the most ordinary moments can create the most extraordinary entertainment—even if we wish there were more of them to enjoy.

— Edward “Mokusen”
Your friendly old otaku at Old Otaku’s Notebook