{"id":4745,"date":"2026-07-03T06:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gametrader.sg\/blog\/cooking-master-boy-first-tv-anime-july-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T06:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:28:18","slug":"cooking-master-boy-first-tv-anime-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gametrader.sg\/blog\/cooking-master-boy-first-tv-anime-july-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooking Master Boy Gets Its First TV Anime After 30 Years \u2014 Starting 5 July on TV Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

After thirty years of waiting, Cooking Master Boy<\/em> is finally getting the TV anime it deserved from the start. \u9244\u934b\u306e\u30b8\u30e3\u30f3\uff01<\/em> (Tetsunabe no Jan!) premieres on 5 July 2026<\/strong> on TV Tokyo and its five affiliate stations \u2014 making it one of the stealth must-watches of the Summer 2026 season and, remarkably, the first-ever television adaptation of a manga that sold over 10 million copies.<\/p>\n

The Manga Singapore Readers Grew Up With<\/h2>\n
\"Cooking
Image courtesy of NBCUniversal Anime\/Music<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saijyo Shinji’s manga ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1995 to 2007, racking up more than 10 million copies sold<\/strong> across its run \u2014 a number that understates its actual footprint across Southeast Asia, where translated editions and bootleg copies passed hand-to-hand through the late 1990s and 2000s. Singapore and Malaysian readers know Jan well: the impossibly arrogant teenage chef who would cook a fire-column fried rice to humiliate rivals, and who made every dish feel like a cage match rather than a recipe.<\/p>\n

The premise: 15-year-old Akiyama Sho<\/strong> \u2014 nicknamed “Jan,” the Chinese reading of his given name \u2014 is the son of a legendary Chinese grand-master chef. Raised to be ruthless, creative, and completely without sportsmanship, Jan tears through China’s most prestigious cooking academy and tournament circuit using techniques no one else would dare attempt. The cooking battles are absurd by design, the characters are wildly over-the-top, and the food somehow looks incredible despite being physically impossible. It defined the cooking-manga genre for a generation of readers across Asia.<\/p>\n

Why Now? Nobody Knows \u2014 and That Is Part of the Appeal<\/h2>\n
\"Cooking
Image courtesy of NBCUniversal Anime\/Music<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The official site \u2014 tetsujan.com<\/a> (Japanese) \u2014 acknowledges the absurdity with wry honesty: \u300c\u3053\u308c\u307e\u3067\u30a2\u30cb\u30e1\u5316\u3055\u308c\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u7406\u7531\u306f\u8ab0\u306b\u3082\u308f\u304b\u3089\u306a\u3044\u300d<\/em> \u2014 roughly, “nobody knows why it was never adapted until now.” For a manga with 10 million sales and a generation of devoted fans, the absence of a TV anime has been a long-running in-joke in fandom circles for decades. 2026 is when that joke ends.<\/p>\n

NBCUniversal Anime\/Music announced the production earlier this year, and the official teaser PV dropped on their YouTube channel to immediate celebration online. The animation studio is LAPANTRUCK<\/strong>, and music for the series is being handled by tofubeats<\/strong> \u2014 the Kobe-born electronic producer known for introspective J-pop and collaborations with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Perfume. That is an unconventional pairing for a cooking-battle manga, and it has fans genuinely curious about the tonal direction.<\/p>\n

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