Crossposted MAL Fermat Kitchen is my second favourite anime this season after Secrets of the Silent Witch partly because this anime and Silent Witch include mathematics in characterising their main characters. Overview Kitada Gaku once had a dream of becoming a great mathematician. But ever since getting intimidated by the prowess of a friend and fellow Maths Olympian he lost his mojo as far as mathematics is concerned so he became directionless in his schooling. Fortunately a genius chef Asakura Kai recognises his potential for cooking. He believes that Gaku has the potential to unlock delicious dishes thanks to his background in mathematics. Can Gaku succeed? Notes The main character here is Gaku not Fermat. The Fermat in the title refers to the French lawyer Pierre de Fermat he was also a parttime mathematician and more known for theorems in number theory. There are numerous mentions of famous mathematicians here and some concepts cited are more advanced than in Silent Witch. Screenshot from the anime: Gaku creates a functional diagram of the recipe of the food he tasted. 220https://i.ur.com/JQUKrrL.png Compare with this screenshot of an algebra textbook: Unfortunately it is a decoration. Although the mathematics in Silent Witch is lower its use in the anime especially in the light novels is more effective in characterising Monica and her thought processes. In other words the use of mathematics in this anime is tenuous at best and confusing at worst. To be fair advanced mathematicks is really out of reach of too many people. Even if you can explain an advanced concept in laymans terms there is this added challenge of harmonising that concept with cooking. Thats why Im inclined to cut this anime some slack in terms of mathematickal content. As a side note we should understand that real mathematicks does not involve merely solving equations and memorising some numbers and formulas as many of us suffered from our high school years. In general mathematicks is the science of patterns. With this broad definition one can argue that this anime somewhat engages in mathematicks. Consider this quote on frustration: You enjoy solving a problem if you have difficulty solving it. The fun is in the struggle with a problem that resists. Its the same kind of pleasure as with hiking: You hike uphill and its tough and you sweat and at the end of the day the reward is the beautiful view. Solving a math problem is a bit like that but you dont always know where the path is and how far you are from the top. You have to be able to accept frustration failure your own limitations. Sylvia Serfaty French mathematician Even though the maths content and its application to cooking is tenuous at best I find Gakus agony and not being able to find the right answer immediately more in line with how mathematicians and maths students for that matter think. I was too cynickal and expected Gaku to be this overpowered genius who readily finds the solution. Not so in this anime. He often fumbles even if his output is great. Kai demands that he conform to a higher standard. Put in another way its not pleasant to watch his struggles and they are as realistic as it gets. But once Gaku finds the right solution we are shown great moments in this anime. Consider this quote on the joy of mathematicks: The real joy in mathematics comes from the process of discovery not just the final result. Maryam Mirzakhani Iranian mathematician Many professors dont give full marks in exams if you only come up with the final correct answer. You must also show the process. The same could be said in doing mathematicks. It is more often the process that counts. 220https://i.ur.com/mRdD9sE.png I like the door of truth motif we see in the nondiegetick scenes. Its about that sudden flash of insight where a proof or solution or in this animes case Gakus sudden revelation on how to cook a delicious meal. Again the mathematickal content here is poor but the realism of how it is done is still reflected indirectly by how Gaku agonises and is frustrated at his cooking. I mentioned the nondiegetick scenes. Even though the production value in this anime is mid I like that there are nondiegetick scenes reminiscent of Flower and Asura. Lets look at some of the staff. Ichikawa Kazuya is the director and I barely saw anything he directed. One work Ive seen was the chibi version of Flying Witch which I dont remember that much. He is also the director of the Fall 2025 seasonal Gnosia which boasts the whos who of seiyuu. There are numerous people involved with storyboarding as well as different animation directors. Ill focus on the chief animation director Okamoto Takeshi. Unfortunately I havent seen his previous works which are a few. The studio is domerica and its pretty much unknown. Despite existing for 15 years it has only 10 titles listed on MyAnimeList. I suspect this studio works more as support for other studios than producing their own works. The character designs by Kashiwagi Satsuki and Okamoto Takeshi are ugly. I wouldnt be surprised if some people wont give this a time of their day just because there are no waifus here. Despite that Kai as a quasivillain and the other bloke Milo who looks like Hisoka are quite effective in pushing Gaku to his limits in order to face the real villain kind of in Hirose Ichitarou. Conclusion Despite its rough edges I enjoyed this anime. Its a favourite of the Summer 2025 Season. NOTA BENE: A grade of 7 out of 10 70 out of 100 in anilist means that I find this anime is very good and two notches above average. I enjoyed watching it. It is a high score. Its not mid or average unlike the misconception of some people on this site. My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4 I actively dislike it.