Yakitate!! Japan ep.23-24

April 22, 2005 | 14 Comments

If you're interested to see what the Yakitate!! Japan bread line up looks like in Japan, here is how the breads are usually displayed inside Lawson store. And here is Japan 58: Melon Pan. Unfortunately, I have to say that the bread itself doesn't taste good. The sweet crust is too soft and the 'Melon cream' that they use taste more like whipped cream. I've had better Melon Pan from normal bakery. The best Melon Pan I've had, however, was from a bakery inside Asakusa shopping mall. The Melon Pan was green in color and inside the bread, there's a rather thick orange cream. The bread was so good I almost wanted to go back to the store just to get another one. But thankfully sanity prevailed and I decided not to go back because the weather was really cold that night.

Episode 23 begins with Kawachi being forced by the Sister from St.Andrew's Church to confess his sins. In doing so, he tells her all of the tricky machination he's done to Azuma. Upon hearing this, the Sister is not happy about it and on top of it, she has bad news for him, the person Kawachi is looking for, Father Graham, has passed away. Meanwhile, Azuma manages to remain on the positive side despite losing his Petalite board. He feels that it's better this way because he remembers that sooner or later people will get bored if he keeps making the same bread over and over again. Because of this, he decides that instead of making Japan 44, he'll be making a new Japan, Japan 60! Meanwhile, Kanmuri is seen inside his laboratory researching a new yeast that he calls Kaiyoukoubo RAS.

Anyway, on the day of the competition, Kanmuri is surprised when hears that Azuma has lost his Petalite board and quickly realises that as usual this is the work of Yukino. Strangely Kanmuri doesn't have any fear in telling the Southern Pantasia employees that the one who stole it was probably Yukino. Much to Kanmuri's surprise, however, Yukino has a plan of her own to ensure that Kanmuri doesn't betray her. She has planted bomb inside his lab. If he loses, she'll make a phone call to the demolition team to set off the bomb. And with that warning in Kanmuri's mind, the competition begins. Kanmuri, however, is taken aback when he sees Azuma washing his dough in a water. The biggest surprise of them all, however, comes from Kawachi who has now arrived decked out in full afro glory just like Matsu Ken.

Continuing from the previous episode, episode 24 begins with the spectators feeling angry because they think Azuma is not taking the competition seriously. I have to say that these people annoy me a lot. I seriously wish I was there so I can punch the living daylights out of these people. I hate it when people who don't know what they're doing criticise a person who clearly knows better. Anyway, Kawachi then appears next to Tsukino trying to surprise her but she doesn't recognise him at first. And when she does, she thinks that's one hell of an ugly hairdo. Tenchou, however, begs to differ and there's one hilarious scene here where he looks as if he's proud of his student. Hee. Anyway, Kanmuri then quickly displays the power of his Kaiyoukoubo by showing the crowd how stretchy his dough can be.

Kanmuri's confidence, however, quickly disappears when he sees Azuma manages to create a stretchier dough somehow. Before Kanmuri can figure out the secret to Azuma's dough, however, the time has come to judge the bread. So GM Kirisaki begin to taste Kanmuri's rock look-alike bread, Pain Rustique, while Kuroyan drools and wishes that he'll become a GM one day. Upon tasting the bread, Kirisaki's head sprouts Peacock's feathers out of nowhere, indicating that he's very pleased with the bread. Tenchou then goes on to explain the various birds that GM Kirisaki will show depending on the taste of the bread. Meanwhile, Kanmuri explains that one of the secret ingredients of his bread is a special French flour called, Soisson. According to Kanmuri, the ground-mill flour not only gives crispy crust while allowing the inside to be chewy.

After seeing Kanmuri's success, Kawachi is afraid that Azuma will not have a chance. He, however, has nothing to worry about. Kirisaki is more impressed with the stretchy texture of Azuma's bread to the point that his face mask cracks and a Peacock comes out of it and begins to fly itself and Kirisaki around the room. Not long after this, Kirisaki announces the winner of the newcomer competition which turns out to be Azuma, much to Kanmuri and Yukino's shock. Kuroyan explains that the method that Azuma used is called Vital Gluten. A method that allows a bread to be very crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It may not be considered the correct method to use by professional bakers but Kuroyan believes that those who dare to venture out of the usual method to get the best result are the best bakers of them all.

Impression:

One of the things that I like about this tournament is its emphasis on innovation versus research in one's quest to find a good solution to a problem. I like that the series shows that while it is good to have the money as a mean to achieve one's dream, your innovation counts far more at the end of the day. The best thing about Azuma's win, however, is the look on Yukino's face. Of course now that Kanmuri lost to Azuma, I guess he'll be the one who carries the burden of Yukino's wrath. As for Kawachi's new hairdo, I'll have to say I'm going to miss his normal hairstyle. It was really funny though seeing him and Matsu Ken beaming proud smile at each other while Tsukino looks on in terror. I was also amused to see Tsukino complaining that lately she gets to be the butt of the jokes.

© memento 2003