When it comes to anime via TV Japan, the ones we've been seeing for years are "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）and "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン）and they're nighttime fare. However, in the last couple of weeks, we've actually begun seeing something even more heartwarming and stomach-filling to boot during the noon hour. There's a Wikipedia article regarding "Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san" (Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House), but to explain things here, it's based on the 2016 Aiko Koyama（小山愛子）manga in which a couple of best buddies, Kiyo and Sumire, head from their Aomori Prefecture hometown to undergo maiko training in Kyoto. Kiyo doesn't have the chops for it but gets to stay anyways as the cook supporting the maiko house.
I wish that there were some excerpts from "Maiko-san" featuring the food of the episode since they are very yummy including the tonkatsu. The one disadvantage regarding Kiyo, if you can call it that, is that she's a little overzealous with the cooking. The last episode I caught had her go overboard with the dishes to the extent that the maiko were all crying uncle. After all, maiko can't afford to look like J-Canuck.
On the TV Japan broadcasts, "Maiko-san" is coming out in 10-minute spurts so judging from the 20 to 25-minute videos that I've witnessed on YouTube, the broadcast service is spreading each episode over two to three weeks. So I gather that we may still be on official Episode 1. No matter...I'm simply enjoying the characters, the setting and the food. And Kiyo and Sumire are being played by anime's A-team of Kana Hanazawa（花澤香菜）and MAO respectively.
When I first saw the show a couple of weeks ago, there was definitely someone singing a theme song but more on that singer later. Well, on seeing this video of the opening credits, I was then a little startled since there was a very different jazzy and catchy instrumental instead. On first thought, I'd assumed that there was another one of those copyright issues so the instrumental was used. However, I went through the J-Wiki article on "Maiko-san" and discovered that the anime had been first telecast on NHK World's Japan service earlier this year, and it was music director Go Sakabe（坂部剛）who had come up with that jazzy instrumental as the official opening theme.
"Maiko-san" then got to be re-broadcast again but this time on NHK's Education channel, namely Channel 3, from October, and so that's the version we've been getting. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, this time around, there is a sung opening theme and that is "Ashita Kitto" (Tomorrow For Sure) by singer-songwriter Ayano Tsuji（つじあやの）, herself a native of Kyoto. It's an appropriately heartwarming and relaxing song. Unfortunately at this point, I could only find the version at opening credit length.
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