Sweetness & Lightning

Episodes 1-3

Most slice-of-life series neatly fit into one of the genre's many subcategories. Shows that go the iyashikei (or "healing") route feature very little in the way of story and build episodes around relaxed character interactions instead. Alternatively, a show can go the situational comedy route and pepper their paper-thin stories with light humor and plenty of “d'awwww” moments. In many respects, Sweetness & Lightning represents a highly entertaining fusion of these subcategories. Despite its decidedly iyashikei-esque setup, the series adopts a brisk pace full of energy. While the show's premise seems ripe for contrived sentimentality, all of its big emotional moments come across as organic and genuine.

Sweetness & Lightning follows the low-key misadventures of recently widowed high school teacher Inuzuka Kohei, his irresistibly cute five-year-old daughter Tsumugi, and the shy soft-spoken high schooler Iida Kotori. Months after his wife's passing, the resolute Kohei is doing an admirable job of acting as his daughter's sole caregiver. Unfortunately, his culinary skills leave a lot to be desired. Unable to throw together a decent meal, Kohei has taken to purchasing most of Tsumugi's lunches and dinners from convenience stores. Although the ever-chipper Tsumugi has no real complaints, her father feels like he should be doing more in the food prep department. After happenstance brings the Inuzukas to the Iida family's chronically empty hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Kohei, Tsumugi, and Kotori come to appreciate the subtle pleasures of preparing home-cooked meals and sitting down to dinner as a makeshift family.

Sweetness & Lightning certainly lives up to the first half of its title. Despite the show's simplistic setup, the characters are refreshingly three-dimensional, and their interactions are consistently engaging. Additionally, the extended food prep segments make cooking seem fun, even to viewers who are as inexperienced in the kitchen as Kohei. While a widowed teacher striking up an outside-of-school friendship with one of his students may seem like the precursor to an illicit romance, the show makes it clear that things are strictly platonic between Kohei and Kotori. At times, it seems like Kotori has a mild crush on Kohei, but that isn't unusual for a girl of her age. For his part, Kohei is far too busy with work and child-rearing to even take notice of any feelings on Kotori's part. (Initially, he doesn't even recognize her as one of his students.)

As fun as the elder two-thirds of its main trio are, Tsumugi is easily the highlight of the show. She's precocious without being bratty, adventurous without being foolhardy, and a fiercely devoted daughter. Even if it's in response to something that seems trivial, her crying never fails to elicit empathy. Just watching her talk and act like a normal kid makes for an entertaining half-hour. After spending some time with Tsumugi, it's easy to understand why the perpetually-exhausted Kohei goes out of his way to ensure her happiness. I wouldn't mind seeing Kohei and Kotori undergo a bit more development, but if it comes at the expense of less Tsumugi, I suppose I could do without.

If this season's number one feel-good anime is what you're after, look no further than Sweetness & Lightning. Since we might never get a Yotsuba&! anime, this series might just be the next best single-father/adorable-little-daughter thing. In spite of its surface simplicity, this story of an unconventional family brought together by cooking hits all the right emotional notes without veering into “overly sappy” territory.

Rating: A

Sweetness & Lightning is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for over two decades.