Get Jiro, the graphic novel co-written by Anthony Bourdain and New York novelist Joel Rose was picked up for an animated series adaptation by Adult Swim, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The New York Times best-selling series was published in DC Comics in 2012. In 2015, Bourdain and Rose released a prequel, Get Jiro: Blood and Sushi.
The 162-page graphic novel is a satire on foodie and reservation culture. The series is set in a dystopian Los Angeles, where people kill for seats at the city’s hottest restaurants. The protagonist, a sushi chef named Jiro, decapitates customers for stirring wasabi into their soy sauce or ordering California rolls.
“The explosion of interest in chefs and restaurants is certainly easy fodder for satire,” Bourdain said in an interview about the novel. “But my motivation was really nothing more than to help tell a story that would be fun, extremely bloody, beautifully illustrated — and insanely detailed as to the specifics of cooking and eating.”
Bourdain was an avid comic book collector and once considered a career as a cartoonist. “An early ambition was to be the next R. Crumb,” the late food writer said. “Sadly, my illustration skills — while decent — were not up to anywhere near that standard.” He co-wrote Get Jiro! with Rose, a novelist who used to run the Lower East Side literary magazine, Between C and D. Their graphic novel was illustrated by Langdon Foss.
The animated adaptation will be produced by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, who worked on NBC’s comedy series Superstore. The show does not have a release date and no cast members have been announced at this time.
