It’s funny, looking back on 2026, that we’ll have gotten two televisual glimpses into the mind of the late, great chef and food writer Anthony Bourdain. One, Matt Johnson’s wry, tender biopic “Tony,” gives us a glimpse of the man’s larval form, the insecure, manipulative boy before he became the Tony we all knew and loved. The other? Bizarrely enough, an adaptation of a graphic novel he co-wrote in which a beleaguered chef with a checkered past punches, kicks, and decapitates his way (Casey Ryback-style) through a post-apocalyptic dystopia where haute cuisine carries enough cultural weight that people will kill for the right dish.
That’s the logline for “Get Jiro,” a graphic novel Bourdain penned in 2012 alongside Joel Rose, now adapted into a ten-episode Adult Swim series. The premise is so high-concept as to feel derivative, like a gumbo with too many disparate ingredients thrown together: In a resource-scarce future Los Angeles in which the populace entertains themselves with virtual reality, the only true sensory delights lie in food. Ergo, chefs have been elevated to a place of extreme cultural importance, mastering their craft like samurai and living like mob kingpins.
Living and cooking on the “Outer Ring” of this world is Jiro (Brian Tee), a stoic, unassuming sushi chef who, in the first episode, is approached by a sniveling dilettante at his humble locale to recruit him for greater things. But when the man insists on dipping his nigiri in soy sauce, Jiro’s blade gets another use besides slicing salmon, and the man’s head leaves his body. Unfortunately for Jiro, that becomes the first blow in a turf war that eventually sees him pitting two over-the-top rival chef kingpins, “Zatoichi”-style, against each other.
All the components are there for a delightfully zany, bloody take on the yakuza/mob action thriller, with dishes as coveted as territory. But the original comic’s appeal lay in its vivid, grotesque artwork (by Langdon Foss) and the bona fides Bourdain’s name gave to its chef-flavored mayhem more than its story; Adult Swim’s adaptation loses the flavor of that artwork, dousing its well-worn cliches in unpalatable animation that feels more Flash animation than flashy.
Over the course of the first season’s ten episodes, Jiro is drawn further and further into the Inner Ring’s criminal underworld, battled over by Bob (Titus Welliver), a gruff, uncompromising maker of French international cuisine, and Rose (Allison Pill), a crunchy vegan who prides herself on ethical eating and no meat-is-murder dishes…though dispatching humans is a different story. Each wants Jiro’s talents with a blade (in any context) for their own reasons, and he’s more than happy to play them against each other, even as deeper scars from his family past begin to surface.
Granted, the show appeals most when it leans into the food-themed action: sniper-bakers who snuggle their rifle components in a series of baguettes, car chases evading variously themed food-truck bounty hunters, mob bosses drowning failed subordinates through what can only be described as “hollandaise-boarding.” The list goes on. Bourdain’s aim with the comic was clearly to send up the self-seriousness of chefs like himself, mixed with his love of samurai and yakuza movies, by building a fictional world where the tools and terms of chef culture become bloody weapons. Picture any “John Wick”-style action sequence set in a restaurant kitchen, and you get “Get Jiro”‘s whole deal.
But after a few episodes, the novelty of the premise dissipates, and it gets harder to invest in the series’ twists and turns. As a character, Jiro remains pretty thin, his ronin-like stoicism buoyed mostly by the gradual reveal of his checkered past. His supporting cast offers little to offset that bitter taste; his allies consist of the well-meaning cop (Courtney Taylor) with her own relationship to food, and two innocent sisters (Seychelle Gabriel, Tessa Inez) whose proximity to Jiro put them in danger, most of whom don’t get enough to do to offset those formulaic roles.
The big later-show curveball comes in Justin Kirk‘s Alister, a Bourdain-like food critic whose relationship to Jiro’s cooking takes bizarre turns (especially after an episode featuring a violent escape from Butcher’s Block Prison, where all the big scary chefs get locked up). While the show mostly uses food as window dressing to add some seasoning to its been-there-done-that crime thriller action, Alister’s thread lets “Get Jiro” do what it does best: It actually explores our relationship to food and its various class signifiers.
It’s clear that shows like “Invincible” and “Blue Eye Samurai” have paved the way for something like “Get Jiro” to get made, and the animation style tries its level best to bring its over-the-top world to life. It’s clear showrunner Nate Cash (an old hand at “SpongeBob” and the director behind the brilliant “Over the Garden Wall”) had an uphill battle adapting this material for television, and it’s easy to relish the courses that feel pleasant on the tongue. If only the meal itself didn’t feel quite so bland.
All episodes screened for review. Premieres October 3rd on Adult Swim.
