The "S" on his chest stands for "scrumptious"
Superman Vs. Meshi is a manga series written by Satoshi Miyagawa and illustrated by Kai Kitago, which was serialized in Kodansha's seinen magazine Evening (with partnership with DC Comics) from 2021 to 2023 for 23 chapters and compiled into three volumes. The series focuses on Clark Kent, a.k.a. the Man of Steel himself, discovering a Japanese restaurant and going down a rabbit hole of Japanese cuisine and culture. It becomes entrenched in his ordinary life and his everyday dealings, and Superman discovers a lot about Japan along the way.
Sheldon Dzirka is credited with providing the English transation.
Superman Vs. Meshi has examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Superman at one point tries to order the beef bowl, but because he can't read Japanese kanji, he accidentally ends up ordering a pork bowl instead. However, the result is so delicious Superman can't complain.
- Adaptation Deviation: A rare case of Lois having feelings for Clark instead of Superman (even if she's still a fangirl of him).
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: Lois has dark black hair that's straight and very long, whereas in the original comic, she had short hair styled in a perm.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Lois is a quiet, meek Nice Girl with an adorable crush on Clark instead of the career-driven, no-nonsense woman she normally is, even asking where he is in the presence of Superman.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Aquaman can talk to the sushi served at the restaurant, but in the 2011 New 52 series (by Geoff Johns) he flat out states
◊ that he doesn't speak to fish. - Adaptational Wimp: Played with but not shown in any meaningful capacity. Lex Luthor states that Doomsday is below Darkseid in power when taunting Superman, though we have no way of confirming this since Doomsday and Darkseid never fight and Lex could just be an Unreliable Narrator who didn't really know what he was talking about. But assuming Lex was correct, then Doomsday's status in this story is a far cry from his original comic book counterpart who beat Darkseid to an inch of his life and made him feel fear for the first time ever.
- All for Nothing: While Superman is eating crunchy noodles, he's suddenly attacked by a Para-demon, so he stops eating to beat him up. When he returns, his food's gone soggy. In an attempt to undo time, Superman tries to turn the Earth backwards on it's axis, but only ends up tired and sweaty as a result. And by then, his noodles are even colder and soggier. Luckily, Superman finds out that the noodles are still delicious despite being cold and soggy, so it's not all bad.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Subverted and inverted with Lois. She has dark black hair in this incarnation (and looks like a proper Yamato Nadeshiko), but Clark delibaretely puts her at a distance because of his own worries. However, she secretly wants to spend more time with him, and is hurt by him rejecting her.
- Big Eater: Superman goes on a binge any time he's in Japan, and so does whoever he brings along once they get a whiff of the food. The Flash in particular eats so much that he even consumes Superman's portion.
- Bland-Name Product: Lex Luthor and Superman have beef over the social media site "Pixtagram".note
- The Comically Serious: Batman, who remains stoic and frowning as Superman poses horizontally so he can fly him to Japan.
- Creator's Culture Carryover: When Superman is at the convenience store, he apologizes to the napolitan for pouring eggs over it by calling it "Mr. Napolitan". Referring to inanimate objects as "Mr. [object]" is something unheard of in Western culture, but common for Japanese speakers.
- Crunchtastic: In-universe, "Pixtagrammable" is an adjective.Clark: "Lois....as usual, you're the most Pixtagrammable of them all!"Superman: "I'll show him [Lex Luthor] what truly Pixtagrammable gourmet food is!"
- Superman says "he's so hungry he could eat a Super-horse."
- Crush Blush: Clark gets light blushes around Lois whenever he's watching her from afar.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Cyborg is interpreted as rather stoic because he's in constant contact with the internet and forgets to emote.
- Denser and Wackier: Probably the only Superman story where Superman and Lex Luthor have a social media spat regarding food online, and the whole thing being treated as Serious Business.
- Eagleland: Superman is from Smallville, Kansas, and his upbringing is mentioned a few times when he's at the restaurant.
- Edutainment Show: The manga is a viewer's guide to Japanese delicacy and foods. It also features some oft-unheard aspects of Japanese culture, like convenience stores doubling as restaurants.
- Evil Is Petty: Lex Luthor once stalks Superman to try and catch him in the act of doing something disgraceful. When that fails and he's caught, he buys a deluxe version of a bento box that Superman bought and invites him to lunch to rub his superior lunch in his face.
- Food Porn: SO much, that this could practically be renamed "Food porn: The manga". Each chapter has detailed descriptions and imagery of Japanese cuisine (with Superman's reaction always being that it's delicious)
- Foreign Culture Fetish: Superman gains an obsession with Japanese food in the series, and many times, declares his love for Japan as a country.
- Good Is Dumb: Superman is scatterbrained, tends to lose track of time, gets into a petty social media fight with Lex (posting pictures of his food to spite him) and misses Lois' obvious crush on his civilian identity.
- Gray And White Morality: As part of its lighter nature, the manga takes a "fluff fic" look at Superman and his interpersonal relationships, while having a good amount of action expected of a Superman story.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: One chapter has Lex use a modified kryptonite ray that makes Superman shrink gradually over time. Once the initial shock passes, he actually enjoys it because his reduced size means bigger portions.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Superman has eyes as blue as ice, and is a good natured fellow who wants to protect the Earth from threats and win the heart of Lois.
- Lighter and Softer: Than most Superman works, and yummier too.
- Mutual Pining: Clark expresses a desire to take Lois to the restaurant in Japan, but knows he can't without revealing his secret identity. He believes he'll have to keep quiet....until Jimmy informs him that Lois is upset that he doesn't spend much time at work anymore, because she's been wanting to take him out for lunch.
- Mythology Gag: The manga has many references to Superman: The Movie, from the Silver Age-like tone (Reeve's Superman was based on the Silver Age comic incarnation) and his origins being from Kansas.
- Nice Guy: Superman. He's cheery, a bit bashful, caring and has dinner with every member of the Justice League at a restaurant at least once (even footing thr bill).
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- An odd case. This incarnation of Superman heavily resembles Christopher Reeve. Like Reeve's Superman in the 1978 movie, he rescues Lois from a helicopter and is mentioned to be from Kansas.
- Similary, one can make a case for Lois being based on Margot Kidder, her actress in the 1978 movie - hence her long, dark hair and Aloof Dark-Haired Girl mannerisms.
- Our Demons Are Different: The Para-demons have buglike faces (particularly the netted eyes), but humanoid bodies, and skin as dark as coal.
- Phenotype Stereotype: The Japanese characters are often depicted with thin features, pale skin and short black hair. Even Lois can pass as one because of her appearance....if it wasn't for her facial features and wide eyes.
- Purple Prose: ANY time Superman discusses Japanese food.But one bite and you'll understand! They're green peas...and yet not...they're green peas pro!
- Primary-Color Champion: Discussed. Superman notices that the restaurant sign is bright red and yellow, just like his outfit, and mentions that he feels a sense of solidarity with it.
- Spanner in the Works: One day, Superman rescued a food truck in Japan from being thrown by a villain. The old lady who ran the food truck was grateful and offered Superman leftovers as a way of showing thanks. Superman became enamoured with the food and began discovering more Japanese restaurants as a result.
- Stalker without a Crush: Luthor is outright called Superman's stalker by the narration. He covertly follows Superman to try and catch him doing something embarrassing.
- Take That!:
- When the Justice League is introduced (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg), Green Lantern is noticably absent. This could be because he wasn’t in the Justice League movie.
- The scene where Superman stares in disbelief as Aquaman talks to his sushi and eats it is possibly a reference to the The Boys (2019) episode where Homelander forces The Deep to eat Timothy.
- Token Minority:
- The African-American Cyborg is the only non-white member of the Justice League.
- Out of Clark's co-workers at the Daily Planet, Lois, Jimmy and everyone else is white, but one of them is a black woman.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: No one in Japan is fazed at the sight of Superman in the restaurant, nor do they raise an eyebrow at him ordering “one Superman for lunch.”.
- Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: More like "Wake up, work at the Daily Planet, save the world and then eat at a Japanese restaurant".
