(Jdrama) Spice (2025)

Original title: : すぱいす。

Tags: mini series, food, team

Actually, I’ve known about this Japanese drama for quite a while since it was released last year. But when I saw the poster—two guys and one girl—I thought it was going to involve some kind of love triangle or maybe an affair or something like that. However, looking at the title, I guess it shouldn’t be, right?

Synopsis:

A cabaret club in a provincial city. Driver Kitano Yuki works as the personal driver for the top cabaret club hostess Sugimoto Natsuki. One day, he clashes with the manager over Natsuki's absence without permission. Yuki visits Natsuki and finds out that it is the 49th day memorial service for her mother who passed away. Natsuki has sorted out her feelings, and Yuki suggests that they quit the club together and leave the town in the kitchen car that the manager borrowed for the shuttle service.\

While driving the kitchen car without any plan, Yuki and Natsuki happen to pass by a curry chain restaurant. When they enter the restaurant, they are hit with a shocking aroma of spices that is not found in chain restaurants! Then, a young man comes out of the kitchen shouting, "You're fired!" and runs out of the restaurant. It is Morita Akira, who is in charge of cooking at the restaurant. Yuki and Natsuki notice Akira running out of the restaurant and sneaking into the kitchen car. Shocked by the "aroma of those spices", Natsuki asks him to make curry...

I didn’t expect it, but I ended up really enjoying this 10-episode drama. Not all of the characters are likeable, because each of them has a past that shaped them into who they are now. Also, each character’s story is told separately from one episode to the next.

Sugimoto Natsuki is the only main female character in the drama. From the beginning, it is clear that she has strong principles, which she may have developed while working at the cabaret. She is hardworking and speaks very bluntly, but honestly, Natsuki’s food truck would never run without her stubbornness. When her two partners were unsure about the idea of a food truck selling curry, Natsuki was already convinced that they would succeed.

Kitano Yuki is Natsuki’s companion from their days working at the cabaret. For some reason, he admires Natsuki so much that he is willing to follow everything she says. At first, I thought Yuki had a crush on Natsuki, but it turns out it is only admiration. Even so, the two of them are the ones who most often misunderstand each other, causing tension within Natsuki’s food truck team. Yuki is the only one who feels that his involvement in Natsuki’s business does not really make any impact. He cannot cook, and his promotion efforts are rather careless. However, he is the driver of the food truck who takes them from one city to another.

Morita Akari is the spice genius who can mix seasonings and ingredients in an extraordinary way. She does not need a standard recipe; she only needs to know the main curry ingredient, which she then combines with the spices she keeps in her backpack. She is a very mysterious figure who rarely speaks. All she knows is how to cook with quality ingredients, and she can transform them into incredibly delicious dishes. Her past has not really been explored yet—why she entered the culinary world, especially since in the flashback her father pressured her to achieve good academic grades. Well, I’m only on episode 8 right now. Maybe it will be explained in the last two episodes—let’s see.

You definitely should not watch this while hungry because viewers will end up drooling over Chef Akira’s curry dishes. Besides that, it also feels as if we are taken on a journey around the beautiful cities of Japan, complete with their local products such as tofu, fish, specialty udon, and so on. Watching Natsuki and Yuki’s faces as they enjoy Akira’s different curry creations is entertainment in itself. It is a bit over the top, actually, especially for someone like me who is not really a curry fan, hahaha...

Their food truck journey is not always smooth because they started out using a stolen truck from the cabaret where Natsuki and Yuki worked. Still, there are times when seeing the satisfaction of the food truck’s customers is really enjoyable. I’m getting impatient wondering whether they will eventually open a permanent shop in one place so they no longer have to ask permission to park their truck. More importantly, will Akira ever settle on one curry menu and make it permanent, since she always refuses to cook the same curry twice? So arrogant, right? :D

Oh yes, one personal question I have is: why is the title SPICE written in hiragana instead of katakana? As far as I know, the word spice, which refers to seasonings such as coriander, cumin, ginger, cloves, and so on, is a loanword, so it would usually be written in katakana in Japanese script. If anyone knows the reason, please leave a comment in the comment section. Arigato.

Casts:

Honda Kyoya as Kitano Yuki

Okuno So as Morita akira

Yoshida Rinne as Sugimoto Natsuki

Cat: 9/10

Story: 9/10

Music: 7/10

Re-watch value: 8/10

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