I'm normally wary of specials originating from a previous series, as in my experience, more often than not, they tend to be a complete let-down. It wasn't the case here, luckily! ^__^
Instead, this SP of "Zetsumeshi Road" managed to bring back on screen all the aspects that had made me give such a high grade to the original series: the ML's weird-but-deep hobby (searching for "endangered dishes" on the roads of Japan, sleeping in his car during his salaryman's short week-ends), some nice scenery from Japan's countryside, and last but not least, the portrayal of real restaurants with their real problems and the real stories of the people behind them.
Oh, and finally, my beloved Sakai Wakana got a little bit more screentime, as this SP focused on the theme "marriage" and most of all, on how to make it work. The "endangered restaurants" the ML visited this time (oh, yeah, two of them in this double-length SP, yay!) presented him with two possible (albeit quite different!) answers...and inspired him on how to mend things up with his wife.
Once again, the cherry on top is when they showed pics of the real restaurants' owners, alongside the actors who had portrayed them.
And once again, the fact they have left Kaburagi's subplot hanging prevented me from giving this a "perfect 10", just as for the original drama, LOL! I promise that if they ever make another SP wrapping that up nicely too, I'm gonna correct their grades right away! Until then, it's another (very) solid "9"...^___^