©Shin-Ei Animation

The official YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyC9t-tByuko20fzMwXr4w) of the TV anime series “Oishinbo” has begun free distribution of all 121 episodes of the series. The distribution period is until January 30, 2025.

The original manga of the same title (original story by Tetsu Kariya, illustrations by Akira Hanasaki) is a popular work that sparked Japan’s gourmet manga boom. The story follows Shiro Yamaoka, a reporter in the culture department of a newspaper company, as he and his colleague Yuko Kurita try to create the “ultimate menu,” solve various people’s problems through food, and clash with his father, Yuuzan Kaibara.

Manga was published by Shogakukan between 1983 and 2008 in Big Comic Spirits, and resumed again on February 23, 2009, only to be put on an indefinite hiatus after the May 12, 2014, edition in the weekly Big Comic Spirits, following harsh criticism of Oishinbo‘s treatment of the Fukuoka Daiichi disaster.

Before this suspension, Oishinbo was collected in 111 Tankobon volumes, making it the 18th longest manga released and among the best selling Manga series in history. The series was a perennial best-seller, selling 1.2 million copies per volume, for a total of more than 135 million copies sold.

It was adapted into a live-action film directed by Azuma Morisaki, starring Koichi Sato and Rentaro Mikuni, which premiered on April 13, 1996. The manga is licensed in English in North America by Viz Media.

The anime version produced by Shin-Ei Animation was broadcast from 1988 to 1992. On the official “OISHINBO” YouTube channel X, it is announced that episode 48, “Emergency Food,” which had been suspended for various reasons, is also being distributed for a limited time for a one-time free distribution period.