Yakitate!! Japan ep.2

October 20, 2004 | 6 Comments

The second episode of this series confirms that the first one wasn't a fluke. The story flows smoothly and the characters' interaction feels and looks natural here. The bread impressions, on the other hand, come across as over the top and as fun as they should. I also think that the series has a good collection of background music. The music sound like one of those jazzy tunes that were used in old Hollywood films and appropriately conveys the relaxing atmosphere of the series. And despite my initial reservation, it didn't take long for me to start liking the ending theme, Sunday. Unfortunately, the second episode also suffers from Naruto-itis long-winded recap flu. I really hope that the recap will only appear for the first couple of episodes but I find that to be unlikely in a long-running shounen show like this one.

The episode begins with a blonde-haired guy called Kawachi trying to explain to Azuma about the meaning of working for a prestigious bakery such as Pantasia. The meaning, however, is lost on Azuma who is simply interested in joining the bakery in the hope of finding a way to create his JaPan. Despite his inability to understand what Azuma meant by 'JaPan', Kawachi's slightly condescending attitude towards him, never the less, quickly disappears when he finds out that Azuma possesses 'Solar hands'. Meanwhile, in the same area, Kuroyanagi is in the middle of firing 3 prospective bakers on the grounds that they lack the clean appearance that a baker should possess. Upon hearing this, Azuma comments that Kuroyanagi's words are kind of cruel. Unfortunately for him, Kuroyan overheard what he said and decides to award Azuma a minus 2 points for having a messy hair.

Before Kuroyanagi can say anything else, however, he is interrupted by the girl who noticed Azuma's 'Solar hands' in the first episode. The girl, Azusagawa Tsukino, thinks that Kuroyanagi should stop doing that because if Azuma's hair is messy, for example, it can be fixed. She then proceeds to take that fugly pink hairband of hers and places it on top of Azuma's hair. And voila! Tsukino suddenly looks cuter and Azuma now looks girly. Kuroyanagi tries to protest Tsukino's interference but Tsukino asks him if he's going to reduce her point as well. Kuroyanagi, however, is unable to disqualify her on this ground and so decides to let this go. Anyway, after every contestant acquired any ingredients they need from Kuroyanagi, the contest begins. In the middle of the contest, Kawachi's fear in Azuma's ability is growing, especially after he gets to taste Azuma's Japan No.55.

Because of this, Kawachi decides to sabotage Azuma's attempt at making Japan 56. He does so by placing a rolling pin underneath Azuma's leg, hoping that Azuma will trip over it and drop his dough to the floor. Kawachi's plan turns out to be successful, allowing him to destroy the dough under the pretense that he accidentally steps on top of it. Despite the incident, Azuma doesn't seem to be angry at Kawachi. He, however, wonders how he can create bread under one hour. After realising that he won't be able to add more yeast into the spoiled dough to speed the cooking time, Azuma decides that he won't be doing No.56. Azuma then asks Kuroyanagi if he can get some yoghurt. Everyone in the room is surprised by the request but Azuma seems to know what he's doing. Meanwhile Kuroyanagi walks around the room to see what everyone else is doing.

Kuroyanagi seems to be quite impressed with Tsukino's French bread and a Roggenbrout made by a samurai-looking guy called Suwabara Kai. In addition, he also notices that few people like Kawachi and Azuma are quite talented. When the baking time is over, everyone especially Kawachi is surprised to see Azuma's creation. This is mostly because the dough started out flat with a rounded shaped ball in the middle (looking similar to a Japanese flag) but then ended up looking like a bread version of Mount Fuji once it's completed. Anyway, Kuroyanagi soon begins judging and starts to give minus points to everyone except to Suwabara Kai. Most of the baker protested especially because he doesn't taste their creation at all. Kuroyanagi, however, can be very 'persuasive' when he sets his mind into it. :) When it comes to Azuma, however, he has no choice but to taste the weird-looking bread.

Upon tasting the said bread, Kuroyan is immediately in trance and looks as if he's seeing India. He claims that the bread makes him want to eat curry and realises that the bread has similar taste to Naan bread. Azuma insists that he doesn't know what Naan is and tells everyone that the bread is his JaPan no.16. He created it because it goes well with curry, which he thinks is Japanese national food. Regardless of his weird reasoning, Kuroyanagi never the less decides to award Azuma a plus 2 points. After the judging is completed, Kuroyanagi informs the contestants that except for Suwabara, Tsukino, Kawachi, and Azuma, everyone else should go home. And to emphasise his point, he decides to deduct 10 points off everyone who doesn't want to go home willingly. :) The episode ends with Kuroyanagi giving the four remaining contestant their next test: Croissant making. But because Azuma is slow, he thinks Kuroyanagi is talking about Kurowa-san and wonders who the hell is the guy.

Impression:

I really like how interesting and simple the first competition feels in this animated version. The animators seem to realise that there's no need for weird and unusual angle and just let the characters and the dialogues to take the main attention of the viewers. Thankfully, all of the characters behave the way I imagine them, with the exception of Azuma, whose voice is still as grating as a chalk on a blackboard. I'm glad to see that Kuroyanagi remains as one hell of funny character even in this version. Hell, dare I say that I think some of his facial expressions are more amusing here. I can't help but grinning everytime he loses his cool and starts ranting and raving like a maniac. It's nice to see Kawachi already displaying his tendency to go "What??!!" even in this early stage of the story. I can't remember if he does that in the manga as well. Anyway, all in all another good episode for the series.

© memento 2003