Wasted Chef Teaser Reveals Food Porn Burger, Manga Adaptation Announced
The teaser confirms that the team behind Pompo: The Cinephile is doubling down on a high-concept original story, with a manga prequel arriving before the film to build audience anticipation.
Reporting from 3 sources: Comic Natalie, Anime Corner, Anime Anime.
The teaser trailer for Wasted Chef, an original animated feature directed by Takayuki Hirao, has been released. The project is a cooking and science fiction film set in a world where flavor has disappeared, following a young chef on an adventure. The teaser shows a boy and a girl meeting in the rain and spending time at a restaurant called The Day, with a beautifully animated hamburger featuring lettuce, tomato, onion, and a juicy patty. The trailer also teases mysterious structures and an ominous light covering the sky, along with the line, "On that day, 'you' and 'taste' disappeared from the world." A manga adaptation by Aero 05 will begin serialization in the July 2026 issue of Young Ace, releasing on June 4. The film is produced by CLAP, with character design by Shingo Adachi and music by Kenta Matsukuma. Wasted Chef was previously selected for the Annecy Animation Showcase at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
The teaser trailer for Wasted Chef offers the first extended look at the original animated feature from director Takayuki Hirao, known for Pompo: The Cinephile. The footage focuses on a boy and a girl meeting in the rain and sharing a moment at a diner called The Day, where a detailed hamburger is shown sizzling on a hot plate. Later shots reveal a mysterious structure and an eerie light covering the sky, with the text, "On that day, 'you' and 'taste' disappeared from the world." The film is a cooking and science fiction story about a young chef in a world where flavor has been lost. The manga adaptation, written by Hirao and drawn by Aero 05, will launch in Young Ace's July 2026 issue on June 4, giving readers an early entry point into the story. The animation studio CLAP, which also worked on Pompo, is handling production, with character design by Shingo Adachi (Sword Art Online, Lycoris Recoil) and music by Kenta Matsukuma (Kamen Rider Black Sun). The project was previously selected for the Annecy Animation Showcase at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.