Bambino!

Bambino! (バンビーノ!) is a Japanese cooking manga written and illustrated by Tetsuji Sekiya. The manga has been serialized in Shogakukan's seinen magazine (aimed at older men) Big Comic Spirits. As of February 2009, Shogakukan has published 14 bound volumes of the manga. It received the 2008 Shogakukan Manga Award for seinen/general manga along with Takeshi Natsuhara's and Kuromaru's Kurosagi.

NTV broadcasted the live-action TV drama from April 18, 2007 to June 27, 2007. It was broadcasted in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico by TV Japan, an affiliate of NHK, from January to March 2008.

Manga
Bambino! is written and illustrated by Tetsuji Sekiya. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen magazine (aimed at older men) Big Comic Spirits. As of March 2009, Shogakukan has published 14 bound volumes of the manga between March 30, 2005 and December 26, 2008.

Drama
We Can Make It! by Arashi is the series' opening theme song

Cast

 * Jun Matsumoto as Shogo Ban
 * Masachika Ichimura as Tekkan Shishido (chef and the owner of Trattoria Baccanale)
 * Yuki Uchida as Miyuki Shishido (manager and a daughter of Tekkan)
 * Kuranosuke Sasaki as Atsushi Kuwabara (souschef)
 * Ryuta Sato as Nozomi Katori (pasta chef)
 * Karina as Asuka Hibino (chef for antipastos)
 * Osamu Mukai as Masashi Senoo (apprentice chef)
 * Hosshan. as Toshio Oda (pastry chef)
 * Ayaka Komatsu as Kozue Minagawa (waitress, became an assistant chef later)
 * Kazuki Kitamura as Tsukasa Yonamine(Yona-san) (chief of waiters)
 * Kei Yamamoto as Susumu Shindō (chef and the owner of Trattoria San Marzano, which Shogo used to work for in Hakata, Fukuoka)
 * Kazue Fukiishi as Eri Takahashi (Shogo's girlfriend)
 * Kimiko Yo as Satoko Ban (mother of Shogo)
 * Keiko Toda as Kyōko Nogami (one of steady patrons for Baccanale)
 * Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as Yasuhide Hayama (former chef of Baccanale and Asuka's boyfriend)

Soundtrack CD
On March 30, 2007, wint released a soundtrack CD for the Bambino! TV drama.

Reception
The Bambino! manga received the 2008 Shogakukan Manga Award for seinen/general manga along with Takeshi Natsuhara's and Kuromaru's Kurosagi.

At the 53rd Television Drama Academy Awards, the Bambino! television drama was awarded four prizes. They were: Best Actor (Jun Matsumoto), Supporting Actor (Kitamura Kazuki), Best Director and Special Award.