<p>As senshin says, it's kind of a bizarre question since people in real life often do this too, but as our <em>raison d'&ecirc;tre</em> here is to overanalyze everything, here goes.</p>

<p>In most of the cases the OP lists, as well as most of the ones I can think of, the quirk of obsession with a single food makes a character seem childlike and immature. While adults have likes and dislikes, they tend not to be as extreme with them as children and teenagers. An adult might like ramen, but a teenager will like ramen so much that they eat nothing else, and have to be hospitalized for lack of vitamins.</p>

<p>This portrayal can serve a few different narrative purposes:</p>

<ol>
<li>It makes a character seem charmingly simple-minded. Naruto and Luffy are both heroes after the mold of Goku: they love eating and fighting and have lofty goals that seem unattainable to other characters. Having them obsess over ramen or meat goes with being oblivious and childish. Ren in DearS, or Ayu from Kanon, are also childlike characters, and their love for melon bread / taiyaki helps create that image.</li>
<li>Conversely, it can add a charm point for a character who seems unapproachable. This seems to be why Shana loves melon bread. It's also why the Monogatari series's immortal vampire Oshino Shinobu loves donuts. Angel Beats's main character Otonashi first bonds with impassive Kanade after he notices that she keeps ordering tongue-burning mabo tofu in the cafeteria. I would also put L here. While L and his successor Near are pretty much always the smartest person in any given room (we can debate about whether that's true when Light is in the room), and have command over various police forces, they also have strange, childish quirks: in L's case, constantly eating sweets, and in Near's case, constantly playing with toys. </li>
</ol>

<p>An interesting case of (2) is Code Geass. The show had some kind of product placement deal with Pizza Hut. Supposedly, the director thought putting Pizza Hut all over the place was funny (I heard this claim on <a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2015-09-08/.92657">an ANNCast episode</a>), so they went to ridiculous lengths to put Pizza Hut boxes in as many scenes as possible. The character C.C., mostly a pretty formidable lady, has an obsessive love for Pizza Hut which surpasses her love for life itself. According to the <a href="http://codegeass.wikia.com/wiki/C.C.">Code Geass wiki</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>C.C. also has a somewhat obsessive penchant for pizza, especially
  Pizza Hut's Cheese-kun (which sponsors Code Geass in Japan); she
  constantly orders pizzas to Lelouch's house using his credit card,
  much to his chagrin. This is often used for comedic effect. Her love
  for pizza is so strong that she is willing to risk herself being
  captured, twice nearly exposing herself to get a piece of a giant
  pizza being made by the Student Council (which is ruined both times);
  both Lelouch and Kallen sometimes refer her as "Pizza Girl". In
  addition to this she is an avid collector of Cheese-kun related
  merchandises and is often seen hugging a Cheese-kun plush doll.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The Pizza Hut logo was blanked out of the US versions of the show, apparently because <a href="http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=29764">Bandai couldn't make a deal with Pizza Hut in the US</a>. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-24T02:21:10.333Z
2016-01-24T02:21:10.333Z
Torisuda
<p>I noticed that not only protagonists/main characters, but also other characters in an anime are shown to love a certain kind of food.</p>

<p>Here are some examples:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Naruto" rel="nofollow">Naruto</a> loves <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MundaneLuxury" rel="nofollow">ramen</a>. It's pretty much the only thing he ever really eats (as seen in Boruto where there are empty cups of instant noodles; he never leaves his office).</p></li>
<li><p>Eiichiro Oda listed <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/OnePiece" rel="nofollow">One Piece</a> characters' favorite food, in which we all know is mentioned that Luffy loves Only meat (even in dessert).</p></li>
<li><p>L from <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/DeathNote" rel="nofollow">Deathnote</a>  has a pronounced sweet tooth and gorges himself on various sweets. </p></li>
<li><p>Satellizer from <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Freezing" rel="nofollow">Freezing</a> <em>really</em> loves burgers. (Burger Queen to be precise)</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana" rel="nofollow">Shana</a> loves melon bread just  as Ren of <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/DearS" rel="nofollow">DearS</a> is utterly addicted to melon bread (To the point she saves old melon bread wrappers for the smell).</p></li>
<li><p>From what I remember Erza from <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/FairyTail" rel="nofollow">Fairy Tail</a> loves strawberry cake; when someone makes her drop it, <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BerserkButton" rel="nofollow"><strong>run</strong></a>. Natsu loves anything that's covered in fire. Justified as it's his <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerUpFood" rel="nofollow">Power-Up Food</a> aside from fire itself.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Why is this so? Is it relevant? Is this some kind of advertising or just a focus for a gag.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T05:38:39.037Z
This is such a bizarre question. People in real life also tend to like particular foods....
senshin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T07:21:03.620Z
@senshin sorry about the confusion, I edited my question to be more specific
Kym NT
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-21T08:28:18.310Z
[From tv tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TrademarkFavoriteFood/AnimeAndManga) , i think it's just solely for character trademark.
Septian Primadewa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-25T00:17:36.767Z
Thank you for answering my question, my point is there is a big difference in _"Liking"_ a certain kind of food and eating _Only **one**_ kind of food. senshin's comment is for my other question (which I edited) "Why does anime characters shown to eat only a certain kind of food" , which led to confusion so I reworded my question. Why do some anime characters only eat  *One Kind* of food.
Kym NT
<tropes><anime-history>
Why are some characters shown to only eat one kind of food?
# Why are some characters shown to only eat one kind of food?
Posted by: username_0 on 2016-01-21
I noticed that not only protagonists/main characters, but also other characters in an anime are shown to love a certain kind of food.

Here are some examples:

* [Naruto](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Naruto) loves [ramen](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MundaneLuxury). It's pretty much the only thing he ever really eats (as seen in Boruto where there are empty cups of instant noodles; he never leaves his office).
* Eiichiro Oda listed [One Piece](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/OnePiece) characters' favorite food, in which we all know is mentioned that Luffy loves Only meat (even in dessert).
* L from [Deathnote](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/DeathNote) has a pronounced sweet tooth and gorges himself on various sweets.
* Satellizer from [Freezing](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/Freezing) *really* loves burgers. (Burger Queen to be precise)
* [Shana](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana) loves melon bread just as Ren of [DearS](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/DearS) is utterly addicted to melon bread (To the point she saves old melon bread wrappers for the smell).
* From what I remember Erza from [Fairy Tail](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/FairyTail) loves strawberry cake; when someone makes her drop it, [**run**](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BerserkButton). Natsu loves anything that's covered in fire. Justified as it's his [Power-Up Food](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PowerUpFood) aside from fire itself.

Why is this so? Is it relevant? Is this some kind of advertising or just a focus for a gag.
**Tags:** tropes anime-history
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This is such a bizarre question. People in real life also tend to like particular foods....  
> **username_0**: @senshin sorry about the confusion, I edited my question to be more specific  
> **username_2**: [From tv tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TrademarkFavoriteFood/AnimeAndManga) , i think it's just solely for character trademark.  
> **username_0**: Thank you for answering my question, my point is there is a big difference in _"Liking"_ a certain kind of food and eating _Only **one**_ kind of food. senshin's comment is for my other question (which I edited) "Why does anime characters shown to eat only a certain kind of food" , which led to confusion so I reworded my question. Why do some anime characters only eat  *One Kind* of food.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2016-01-24. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
As senshin says, it's kind of a bizarre question since people in real life often do this too, but as our *raison d'être* here is to overanalyze everything, here goes.

In most of the cases the OP lists, as well as most of the ones I can think of, the quirk of obsession with a single food makes a character seem childlike and immature. While adults have likes and dislikes, they tend not to be as extreme with them as children and teenagers. An adult might like ramen, but a teenager will like ramen so much that they eat nothing else, and have to be hospitalized for lack of vitamins.

This portrayal can serve a few different narrative purposes:

1. It makes a character seem charmingly simple-minded. Naruto and Luffy are both heroes after the mold of Goku: they love eating and fighting and have lofty goals that seem unattainable to other characters. Having them obsess over ramen or meat goes with being oblivious and childish. Ren in DearS, or Ayu from Kanon, are also childlike characters, and their love for melon bread / taiyaki helps create that image.
2. Conversely, it can add a charm point for a character who seems unapproachable. This seems to be why Shana loves melon bread. It's also why the Monogatari series's immortal vampire Oshino Shinobu loves donuts. Angel Beats's main character Otonashi first bonds with impassive Kanade after he notices that she keeps ordering tongue-burning mabo tofu in the cafeteria. I would also put L here. While L and his successor Near are pretty much always the smartest person in any given room (we can debate about whether that's true when Light is in the room), and have command over various police forces, they also have strange, childish quirks: in L's case, constantly eating sweets, and in Near's case, constantly playing with toys.

An interesting case of (2) is Code Geass. The show had some kind of product placement deal with Pizza Hut. Supposedly, the director thought putting Pizza Hut all over the place was funny (I heard this claim on [an ANNCast episode](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2015-09-08/.92657)), so they went to ridiculous lengths to put Pizza Hut boxes in as many scenes as possible. The character C.C., mostly a pretty formidable lady, has an obsessive love for Pizza Hut which surpasses her love for life itself. According to the [Code Geass wiki](http://codegeass.wikia.com/wiki/C.C.):

> C.C. also has a somewhat obsessive penchant for pizza, especially
> Pizza Hut's Cheese-kun (which sponsors Code Geass in Japan); she
> constantly orders pizzas to Lelouch's house using his credit card,
> much to his chagrin. This is often used for comedic effect. Her love
> for pizza is so strong that she is willing to risk herself being
> captured, twice nearly exposing herself to get a piece of a giant
> pizza being made by the Student Council (which is ruined both times);
> both Lelouch and Kallen sometimes refer her as "Pizza Girl". In
> addition to this she is an avid collector of Cheese-kun related
> merchandises and is often seen hugging a Cheese-kun plush doll.

The Pizza Hut logo was blanked out of the US versions of the show, apparently because [Bandai couldn't make a deal with Pizza Hut in the US](http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=29764).
---
