Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka’s new series “Get Jiro!” — now streaming on HBO Max — kicks off with a shocking decapitation in a small L.A. sushi joint whose laconic chef, Jiro (voiced by Brian Tee), takes unforgivable offense at one of his shady customers dipping his carefully prepared meat in soy sauce. He slices the guy’s head off in a nanosecond, and when the police show up, he barely even gets a scolding for the murder. See, in this dystopian universe, the normal rules of society don’t apply.
Based on acclaimed chef/author Anthony Bourdain’s 2012 graphic novel he created with Joel Rose, “Get Jiro!” tells us early on that the U.S. economy has collapsed, and food — the one thing people can’t get virtually — has become the only currency that matters. Master chefs have turned into the most powerful people in the city. Jiro is a newcomer, much like Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy, who’s here to rattle the status quo for his own personal agenda by gradually taking down the city’s two most formidable and influential chef rivals, Bob (Titus Welliver) and Rose (Alison Pill). And wherever he goes, limbs and heads fall in a viciously gory manner.
“Get Jiro!” is essentially an old-fashioned revenge tale told through classic 2D animation, reveling in copious brutality and dense gore to a degree that borders on being ridiculous. It’s over-the-top carnage poured over traditional genre tropes that equally dabble in Japanese culture and culinary traditions, using them in surprisingly creative ways to fuel its own bonkersness. The various cuisines depicted in the show are a means to an end, which happens to rhyme with many superhero cartoons as well as classic revenge movies.
Food mafia, corruption, and blood-soaked vengeance make a delicious dish
I wouldn’t dare call “Get Jiro!’s” narrative particularly original with this much genre trappings — in fact, the show brings to mind those ’80s and ’90s cartoons where severe actions barely had serious consequences for the main characters — but its choice of serving is a quite inspired delicacy. The standard, minimalist animation isn’t just neat but also fit to deliver such high-octane violence without making the viewer grossed out. The artistic poetry of employing culinary devices to hand out off-putting (and at times darkly funny) killings is genuinely mind-boggling. From razor-sharp butcher knives slashing throats to kitchen flamethrowers caramelizing human skin, there’s an arsenal of cruelties here that would easily make any slasher horror director envious.
Everything revolves around food in some direct or indirect way, and in between the ferocities, there are also moments of affection and heart. Whether it’s a backstory, an act of kindness, or a cherished memory of a loved one, “Get Jiro!” finds a way to balance out the transgressions occasionally. It even makes time to give us a crash course on how to make such a rare and controversial meal as the French ortolan. But given its core engine, the show truly comes alive during the fight sequences, which it has an abundance of, ramping up the volume to 11 and not sparing even a drop of blood in the process. The action scenes are vigorous, flashy, and intense, although they lack the elaborate poetry and profundity something like “Blue Eye Samurai” has, for instance. But “Get Jiro!” never intends to cut that deep or take on more than it can chew (at least based on the seven episodes that aired thus far on Adult Swim and HBO Max).
The series knows its audience, and it’s definitely not for the faint-hearted
Considering its overwhelmingly violent nature, sometimes profane language, and the sheer amount of murder it showcases, “Get Jiro!” certainly isn’t for everyone, and it knows it. It’s strictly for an adult audience with a soft spot for old-school yet attractive animation like the aforementioned “Blue Eye Samurai,” “Primal,” or “Invincible,” even if it doesn’t necessarily share the same depth as any of those shows do. It’s more straightforward, barbaric, and savage, but that’s exactly what it aims for. It attempts to capitalize on the success of other renowned food-themed movies and TV shows like “The Menu,” “Boiling Point,” or “The Bear” (a must-watch for anyone who creates for a living), but with an entirely different spin we haven’t seen before in this shape and form.
At the same time, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to quickly deduce that the food-themed premise and culinary environment could be replaced with money and drugs (or literally anything that grants people power and authority) in a seedy and corrupt city run by gangs and criminals. The driving force of “Get Jiro!” is the revenge and bloody action regardless of the gastronomic dressing, but it does feel somewhat fresh and unusual because of that particular aesthetic. Whether it aligns with your taste is a different question, but as a big fan of this type of adult animation, I’d be lying if I said its primitive and raw appeal didn’t work on me to a degree. It’s the kind of deranged and vicious fun that my 12-year-old self would’ve championed loudly and proudly — until my parents walked into the room and questioned what the hell I was watching.
