Some may call it crazy to try to replace guys with cup ramen, but as we’ve always said, “Noods before dudes.”

Japanese women of a certain age are bound to know the wildly popular 2007 live-action drama series Hanazakari no Kimitachi e ~Ikemen Paradise~ (Hana Kimi for short). The story, adapted from a shojo manga by Hisaya Nakajo, follows a high school student who disguises herself as a boy to enroll in a private boys school so that she can try to convince her track and field student idol to compete in the high jump again. It’s quirky, hilarious, heartfelt, and watching it feels like chicken soup on a bad day. Oh, and not to mention, the drama’s subtitle “Ikemen Paradise” is Japanese slang for “hot guy paradise”–which the series certainly has in abundance.

▼ Even its DVD covers play up the “ikemen paradise” theme

Our Japanese-language reporter Natsuno Futon was a fan of Hana Kimi when it first aired. She thought that the school life portrayed in the series (as unrealistic as it was) looked like so much fun, and she longed to be the sole woman surrounded by gaggles of charming guys. That’s when she thought:

“Even if there isn’t a crowd of hot guys around me in real life, maybe I could recreate that feeling with Butamen instead…?”

Butamen is a brand of instant cup noodles whose name translates to “pork noodles” (in this case, the “men” is the same “men” found in “ramen”–not the one found in “ikemen”). Curiously, Butamen’s website features its pig mascot prominently on the homepage, along with a large graphic proclaiming that it’s a “Butamen Paradise.” That was how she made the connection between the ikemen of Hana Kimi and Butamen in the first place.

She knew it was a long shot, but maybe there was someone at Oyatsu Company, the maker of Butamen, who would be willing to lend an ear of sympathy to her ikemen-less plight. She sent the company a message–not really expecting anything back–but stating that she would love to be immersed in her very own Butamen Paradise and was seeking any advice on an appropriate number of Butamen to make that happen.

A few days later, a gigantic set of boxes arrived at Natsuno’s doorstep.

What on earth…? Wait a minute–it couldn’t possibly be…

…BUTAMEN!

Oyatsu Company had sent her a staggering total of 360 Butamen cups. She immediately set to work unpacking them and assembling a Butamen altar.

What had started as some silly linguistic musings had evolved into a serious endeavor.

She carefully stacked more and more noodle cups on top of each other, but the number of tubs in the boxes still didn’t seem to decrease.

There were some heart-stopping moments when she thought that they might all come tumbling down, but she managed to reach the halfway point successfully.

Time for a commemorative photo!

She then promptly turned her attention back to the remaining cups waiting to be stacked. With the different flavors of noodles, the structure also began to look very artistic.

The most delicate time had arrived. Would Natsuno be able to finish her masterpiece with it still…in one piece?!

Her heart was pounding as she opened the last box of Butamen.

CLEARED!

It was like she was being protected by her very own pack of ikemen–make that Butamen.

Actually, it was probably a good thing that they weren’t a crowd of ikemen because she would probably be blinded by their radiance. She could stare at the Butamen, however, for as long as she liked.

She could also get as close to them as she wanted without feeling nervous.

In her slightly delusional excitement, she began assigning “types” to the different flavors.

The salty beef tongue-flavored cups definitely seemed like the “wild guys” based on the packaging.

Meanwhile, the curry-flavored ones were clearly natural comedians.

Maybe the soy sauce-flavored ones were the studious type?

Finally, she decided that the tonkotsu-flavored Butamen were her all-around favorites and winners of her heart.

Assigning categories to the Butamen took more energy than it seemed, and Natsuno needed to take a quick break to recharge…by eating two of the Butamen.

Was it weird to be staring lovingly at her protective shield of Butamen while eating them…?

After refueling herself she decided it was time to be surrounded by the Butamen, similarly to how she had wanted to be surrounded by the ikemen of Hana Kimi.

This project took a great deal of finesse as she began to carefully move the towers of cups away from the wall into open space.

WOW!

She sat down inside and soaked in all of the feelings.

It definitely gave her a sense of inner peace to be surrounded by the Butamen.

Shortly after, Natsuno got the urge to venture into the outdoors. In particular, the temptation to go on a date with the Butamen was just too strong–so she gathered as many as she could carry and buckled them into the driver’s seat.

They then pondered together where they should go. Perhaps it was part of their strategy for being perfectly attentive gentlemen, but they left most of the decision-making up to Natsuno.

While some might argue that Natsuno never made it out of the driveway, she claims that she and the Butamen had a wonderful time taking a casual drive before it got too hot and they decided to return home.

At this point she was also feeling a little hungry again, so she and the Butamen set up shop in her yard to enjoy some corn-on-the-cob. The Butamen munched on it in contented silence.

Natsuno took pleasure in thinking about how she would be extremely self-conscious to eat corn in front of real ikemen for fear of the kernels getting stuck in her teeth, but with Butamen, she didn’t have to worry about that at all.

The heat and the food had made her sleepy, so Natsuno decided to take a little nap…with the Butamen as company, of course. She could rest peacefully knowing that they were there keeping a watchful eye over things.

After this afternoon of adventures, Natsuno felt incredibly fulfilled. She had succeeded in being happily immersed in Butamen Paradise, all thanks to Oyatsu Company.

Now might be a good time for Natsuno to figure out how to explain all of the Butamen to her husband before he gets home. On the other hand, he’s probably used to the kinds of weird dating shenanigans that SoraNews24 writers routinely engage in…

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[ Read in Japanese ]