Nicoletta is officially part of the casetta dell'orso family!   In my ongoing attempt to finish up the shows I've been watching and get into the new summer ones, I finally got around to watching the last episode of Ristorante Paradiso. And with that, I have to say that it was a lot better than I was expecting. Omni blogged the first couple of episodes awhile back and as I sort of expected, the series didn't appeal to a lot of people. As strange as it may sound, that alone made me more inclined to check it out for myself because, well, I like to be a trendsetter. Well not really (because that requires effort and I'm lazy), but the premise of the show sounded so different from your usual anime "rinse and repeat" formula with teenage characters, super powers, mechs, and all sorts of crazy stuff. Instead (of your usual crap), we have a story about a young woman who heads to Rome to find her estranged mother and meets a bunch of intriguing OLDER men working at a restaurant there. That's right, OLDER men! (...and women too I might add!) I know that might not sound all that interesting, but the series manages to cover a lot of story and showcase a lot of character intricacies in its short eleven episode run. The ending was pretty sweet too, in the sappy kind of way. While I enjoyed the series throughout, the ending itself made everything much better by giving off a good sense of closure. Anyway, Ristorante Paradiso is still probably targeted towards the older crowd (which I guess I'm a part of now), so if you fit that bill and are looking for something different, you may want to check it out. To those who have seen it already, let me know what you think!   (Streaming episodes with official English subtitles can be found on CrunchyRoll here.)
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