Chuuka Ichiban!

Name: Chuuka Ichiban!
Rating: 7.35

中華一番！
Cooking Master Boy
King of Tower

Manga7.3581 votes5 volumes · 36 chaptersFinished

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About this title

Synopsis

The story takes place in 19th century China during the Qing Dynasty, where the Emperor was weakened and the country was close to chaos. It is also during a fictitious era called "The Era of the Cooking Wars." It was an era in which top chefs with different cooking styles tried their best to improve their skills and to become the best chef in China. It is a country where insulting a high-grade chef or fooling around with cooking could land a person in a jail, and impersonating a top-chef is as good as usurpation of authority. Chefs compete with each other in order to gain respect and even power, but also with the risks of losing everything. After the death of Mao's mother, Pai, who was called the 'Fairy of Cuisine,' Mao becomes a Super Chef in order to take the title as Master Chef of his mother's restaurant. However, before he takes his mother's place as Master Chef, he continues to travel China in order to learn more of the many ways of cooking, in the hopes of becoming a legendary chef, just like his mother. During his journey, he meets great friends and fierce rivals who wish to challenge him in the field of cooking. (Source: MU) Included one-shot: Volume 4: King of Tower

Published

Sep 27, 1995 to Oct 19, 1996

Authors

Ogawa, Etsushi

External links

MyAnimeList page Wikipedia

MAL rank: #4757
Members (MAL): 1,619
Favorites (MAL): 11

Related titles

Sequel

Shin Chuuka Ichiban!

Adaptation

Chuuka Ichiban! (anime)

Main characters

Mao Xing Liu21 fan favorites
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Mao is the son of the late "Fairy of cuisine" Pai. After her death Mao wishes to follow in his mother's footsteps and become the best chef in the world!
Mei Li Zhou3 fan favorites
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The 16 year old daughter of Chouyu. Originally, she was a helper at the Yang Spring Restaurant. She fell in love with Mao after seeing how much he loves cooking and how he also cares about others. She only knows a little about the cooking field, but she's useful when it comes to little facts and often tries to help Mao with various other things. After finding out that Mao was leaving the Yang Spring Restaurant to travel China, she was heartbroken since she thought that she could live a life with him. She eventually made up her mind and decided to also leave the restaurant, in order to travel with him (In the manga, she did not accompany Mao in his journey around China). Mei often gets into arguments with Shirou and always ends up slapping or hitting him. She also gets very jealous every time another woman gets near Mao. An example of her animosity towards women that gets close to Mao is when his sister, Karin, visits him to bring their mother's cooking materials; she says that Karin will never be good for Mao, that is until she finds out that she is his sister. In another occasion, when the female chef, Anzu, finally realized the way of making singe cuisine, she kissed Mao as a sign of gratitude, but Mei Li became angry and began to express her anger by hitting Shirou. Although, she says that her number one rival for Mao's heart is his love for cooking. She's a spitting image of her deceased mother, Meika. (Source: Wikipedia)
Feihong Lan3 fan favorites
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A handsome 16 year old genius chef. Although he is considered to be a more knowledgeable chef than Mao, he is the one chef that could be considered as Mao's true rival in cooking. Unlike Mao, Fei is a calm and collected chef who can always do things in an organized manner. He was first introduced as one of Mao's opponents during the Super Chef tournament. Even though he was an opponent who seemed to have a cold personality, he helped Mao a few times during the competition. He, along with Mao, made history when they both passed the Super Chef test at the same time. It turned out that he knows about Mao's mother, and that he sees her as his savior. When he was young, his entire family was killed by a mysterious organization that also kidnapped him. He was brought to them and went through strict training in oder to create perfect dishes. He was forced to go through torturous training everyday and if he didn't comply, he would be physically punished. When he escaped, he passed out in front of Kikkaro Restaurant. Pai found him, treated his wounds, and fed him herbal soup that rejuvenated his body. Before meeting her, Fei thought of cooking as this horrible thing that caused him so much pain. When he met her, he realized that cooking was something where you create dishes that would make people happy. After learning from her he went to travel around China. When Mao encountered Fei again, Fei was a chef working for the Dark Cooking Society and was about to become the Head Chef of the Imperial Kitchen. Mao couldn't believe that Fei was a bad guy and challenged him to a cooking battle that would be judged by the Emperor himself. Mao ended up winning the battle and found out that Fei was being manipulated by the Underground. After being healed by the Legendary Cooking Utensils, Fei revealed that he was drugged by the Dark Cooking Society, so he would turn evil and become one of their pawns in taking over China. When he found out that the organization that killed his parents and kidnapped him was the Dark Cooking Society, he wanted to seek revenge and infiltrated their headquarters. Unfortunately, that was when he was captured and drugged. Even though he was being manipulated, his actions were still bad. General Lee ordered Fei to protect Mao as he looks for the Legendary Cooking Utensils (not to make it obvious that he was being lenient to Fei). So, Fei ended up travelling with the rest of the group. (Source: Wikipedia)
Zhi Lao2 fan favorites
External profile
A 12 year old mischievous travelling companion. His mother is Japanese, making him half Japanese and half Chinese. He first met Mei Li and Mao when they found him passed out, due to hunger, in the forest (In the manga, he bumped into Mao after stealing food from people). He left his village when he was 10 so he can fulfill his promise of becoming a Super Chef. Although, during his two year travel, he didn't become one, so he pretended to be one when he returned to his village (which was moments before meeting Mao and Mei Li). He was soon found out when a cooking official said his Super Chef badge was fake. After finding out that Mao was a Super Chef, he made himself Mao's apprentice and decided to travel with him. He often teases Mei Li and constantly grabs her breasts, resulting in him being constantly hit by her. He may not be a cooking genius, but he knows more about cooking than Mei Li and is only somewhat average in cooking. Shirou often gets into trouble and also causes trouble for the other group members. He later becomes a chef-in-training at Yang Spring Restaurant. (Source: Wikipedia)
Xi Er2 fan favorites
External profile
A Dim Sum master from San Sei. He is also called "Steel Staff Shell". He is in his twenties and is considered to be the youngest Dim Sum Master. He always carries with him a heavy steel staff, which he uses as both a weapon and a cooking utensil. Several yellow stars are engraved on the end of the staff, signifying the number of Super Chefs he has defeated. After challenging Mao to a cooking battle, he engraved a black star on his staff because he had lost. He one day hopes to replace that black star with a yellow one. Shell is considered to be a nomad; he often encounters Mao and his friends during their travel. Starting at a young age, he has travelled around China in order to learn more about cooking. He has a very optimistic view on life and often scolds Shirou. He's had a bad impression of Shirou ever since Shirou unknowingly made him a bad plate of food. Shell is very athletic and also happens to be good at math. He later travels with Mao and the others in search for the Legendary Cooking Utensils. His Hokkien name is Ji Long. (Source: Wikipedia)
Li Wen0 fan favorites
External profile
Leon initially introduced himself as a member of the Dark Cooking Society. He first appeared at the Yang Spring Restaurant demanding that Ruoh give him one of the Legendary Cooking Utensils that he says he is entitled to. Ruoh then said that he had to battle Mao in order to find out the utensil's true successor. The battle was won by Mao and Leon soon revealed everything to him after realizing that he still loves cooking, and like Mao, Leon is also the successor to the Ever-Soul knife. Leon revealed that he betrayed and escaped the Dark Cooking Society after realizing the kind of organization they are. It turns out that a young Leon was a cook for the Yang Spring Restaurant a few years ago. Like Mao, Leon was a natural genius in the field of cooking. He was also a kind child; not wanting to kill animals, but when he does, he places a red paper talisman on the dead animal and prays for it. Since he wanted to learn more about cooking, he left the restaurant and ventured around China. During his travels, he began to grow a strong urge to become a better cook, but when he couldn't find anymore suitable things to learn, he decided to join the Dark Cooking Society in order to learn their Dark Cooking Techniques. While in the Underground, his knife skills evolved to an unreachable level. Corrupted by the organization, he became even more obsessed in becoming the best chef. He sought out Luo Xie, the best knife forger in China, and had him forge the best knives. Luo Xie called his creation the Seven-Star Knives, the best knife set in all of China. On a cliff top, when Luo Xie said that he will one day create a better set, Leon was enraged, and in a fit of anger, stabbed him in the abdomen, causing him to fall off. This traumatized Leon and began to make things right from that point. He is the only person who possesses the coveted Seven-Star knives. Although, on the episode "The True Owner of the Seven-Star Knives", he encounters an Underground female chef, Shan An, who possesses duplicates. He travels with Mao retrieving the Legendary Cooking Utensils, in order to prevent the Dark Cooking Society from possessing them. (Source: Wikipedia)