Yakitate!! Japan ep.17

February 12, 2005 | 4 Comments

Unfortunately there aren't that many food or bread reference in this episode. In fact, I have to say that I have never seen a bread that is sculptured to look like an animal before. Having said that, I have to admit that the idea of eating a Marmalade/Chocolate pastry that was made by Koala does sound tempting :D. The only other food item mentioned here is the Candy Apple, a sure way to get you to the dentist in no time. The lack of food references in this episode, however, is offset by references to popular cult films such as Enter the Dragon and Daikaiju Gamera. Enter the Dragon is of course the famous Bruce Lee film while Gamera is a film about a giant turtle that shares the same interest with Godzilla in destroying Tokyo.

The episode begins with Kawachi wondering how Azuma's bread can stay green instead of turning brown. So Ken tells Kawachi that if a bread is baked under 150 degrees celcius instead of 200-220 degrees, the dough will retain its original color while being baked. At any rate, it's obvious that the judges are impressed with the two breads. Deebu even goes as far as falling in love with the breads. I say good for him! After all, there have been anime about a guy falling in love with a a scrap of talking metal (ie. Chobits) so surely this isn't any less weird. :D Deebu also has a rather unusual method of giving a mark to the participants. His reactions comes in the form of a loud roar that is then measured by a machine to determine the strength of the roar.

Judging from their reaction, Koala's bread seems to impressed both Deebu and Kuroyan. Kuroyan even dressed up like a Bruce Lee wannabe to show his enthusasim for Koala's dragon bread. Because of this, Kawachi begins to worry that Azuma's bread may not taste as good especially after Ken tells him that normally, a bread cooked using under low heat usually taste horrible because the longer baking process tends to dry all of the moisture inside the bread. Much to his surprise, however, Deebu gives Azuma the same score that he gave to Koala. Furthermore, Kuroyan also shows an equally over-the-top reaction by spinning around like Gamera, that infamous turtle creature from old Japanese monster films.

Kuroyan wonders how does Azuma manages to use the slow baking technique and yet keep the moisture of the bread intact. So Azuma explains how when he was a kid, he was given a leftover Candy Apple (This is an apple that is covered in starch syrup). The apple was kind of old but the starch syrup helps to keep the moisture intact. Because of this, Azuma tried to use the idea for his bread. In the end, the judges declare that both Azuma and Koala are tied in this particular round and can continue to the next stage. Koala, however, feels that this tie is his lost since he is actually someone who used to be a manager at a bakery as opposed to a real newcomer like Azuma. In other words, he really is Mokoyama. Because of this, he withdrew himself from the competition.

Unfortunately, Mizuno isn't happy with this development and decides to fire Koala due to his failure. Because of this Koala/Mokoyama decides to leave after telling Tsukino and Mizuno to stop the internal fight because otherwise they'll be in danger from St.Pierre's owner ambitious plan. Koala then leaves after thanking Mizuno for hiring him because in a way it makes him feel as if he has a daughter. Mizuno seems to regret her decision after hearing this and decides to go after Koala. Meanwhile, Koala is seen walking aimlessly in the city while remembering how Mizuno took him to her bakery while he was down and out. Back to the present, Mizuno manages to catch up with Koala and tells him that he's not allowed to leave anymore, leading the two to have a tearful reunion.

Impression:

It seems to me that the anime decides to give extra emphasis on the father/daughter relationship between Mizuno and Koala. Because of this, their reunion at the end of the episode ends up being quite powerful in comparison to the one in the manga. Having said that, I'm a bit worried about how the anime writers pace of the storyline in this version. IIRC, they still have a lot of story to show before they reach the conclusion of this particular arc. But at the rate they are going, I wonder if they ever manage to end this arc and then properly start and end the 'Monaco Cup' arc as well. At any rate, I'm really keen to see next week's episode because if my memory is reliable, then I think next week's story will mark the beginning of this series' serious plotline.

© memento 2003