36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For fanatics only!, March 2, 2003
This is the definitive work on the Iron Chef television program. It is deep in detail for those fanatics looking for those extra insider tidbits on the program. The book brings out the trials and tribulations of the Chefs as they fought to stay on top. It also contains a deep mathematical analysis of the Iron Chefs that can only be appreciated by the true believers. The camp seriousness that pervades the show appears in the book as well.
If you care about knowing why Chairman Kaga's voice was subtitled, while everyone else was dubbed, this is the book for you.
If you want to know which Iron Chef talked Chen Kinichi out of walking away from the show, this book is for you.
If you're an Iron Chef fanatic, this book is for you.
If you're an aspiring chef or casual viewer, this probably isn't the right book for you.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top entertainment, ok book, October 25, 2006
Iron Chef is the most ingenious TV show ever created, well, the REAL original IC show, at any rate.
The over-the top cheesy quality, the bad-English dubbing, the dumb air-head actresses(who sometimes come up with surprising smart comments); the exotic ingredients, and of course--the challenges. The stuff that no normal person would ever cook, or dream of touching on his dinner plate.
The combination of sports arena quality and the sideshow of Prices Right, equals=valuable hours of your life spent on watching TV!
the book is very in depth, though not quite a "cook" book, the only true thing it lacks it the statistical point. Who won the battles, etc.
I am very disappointed in Food Network for not continuing to buy more Iron Chef shows and or continuing to show the reruns; and not to make them into DVDs....instead they're being despots and forcing us to watch that horrible horrible horrible mutant child that came out of that so called "chef".
Yet again, an original anime/comedy/whatever show is ruined...just like how they mangled Godzilla. the "Other Thing" show lacks the corny flavor, the second commentator (Fuki-San was awesome), the REAL chairman, a REAL Chef, REAL ingredients; Fun challengers, (ok, Ming Tsai was funny, but that's it);my respect for Ming grew after watching that only good episode...he was funny, relaxed, self-assured and he kicked Flay's butt!!
awful musical score (sure the soundtrack of the ONLY incarnation of IC was from.....movie, Backdraft), pathetic judges (they ALL annoy me, for some reason).
watching the "OTher Thing" gives me a stomach ache, a headache....and I keep rambling.
SCOUR THE EARTH for lost videos/tapes/bootlegs of the ONLY IRON CHEF. If you're a true fan, don't even bother watching "Other Thing".
"If my memory serves me correctly....this book will give me recollections of funny and good times."
+150 on the Wow meter for the show, 6+ for the book;
-100 on the Puke-O-Meter for "the Other Thing"
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My guilty pleasure, September 6, 2001
I started watching the Iron Chef show as a lark. I thought it was fun and funny. Very cheesy and very funny. The whispered notes of disbelief, the cries of : "very sophisticated", "very well controled", "this is so good" really got me to giggle about the silliness. This book prolongs and deepens all the silliness. It is written as a serious review of all the shows in the series, with features on certain challengers deemed worthy by the author and of course all the Iron Chefs. It kind of walks the fine line between treating the show as reality and as a farce. Regardless of how you feel about the show, the book is superficially fascinating. I would never have thought that I would be the owner of a book on a TV show, a Japanese TV show featuring Chefs as gladiators and a comically dressed emcee who looks like he was dress by a crazed Andrew Lloyd Webber. I love the show, I never miss a new episode, I even sit through some of the old ones I have already seen. I like this book. I wouldn't feature it prominently on my bookshelf. I would, however, stealthily break it out whenever anyone speaks fondly of the show. Then I can share my guilty pleasure.
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