Yakitate!! Japan ep.4

November 6, 2004 | 2 Comments

I just found out that you can actually buy Azuma's Japan No.55 in Japan. This clever marketing effort is courtesy of a large convenience store chain in Japan, Lawson, along with TV Tokyo and Shogakukan publishing house. The three agrees to manufacture and sell breads which look similar to Azuma's various versions of Japan (the announcement is here if you're interested) . The product will then be available on Lawson's shop all over Japan. *grumble* I wish I'm there so I can try that chocolate cream bread (Japan No.12). In other news, Shogakukan also decides to re-release the first 3 volumes of Yakitate!! Japan manga as one giant compilation version. If you collect the Japanese X tankoubans, you probably have encountered this kind of giant compilation manga before. This compilation tank will cost you 300 Yen and is on sale now.

The episode begins with Azuma thanking a guy called Kinoshita Kageto for saving him from being frozen in a fridge. Meanwhile, Kawachi is seen sulking in the corner of the room because he thought when he got hired by Tsukino, he'll be working for the main store of Pantasia and not this small little corner store. Not long after this, Tsukino arrives to teach Azuma and Kawachi on how to make Parisien, a French bread that is one of the main items sold in the store. Kawachi immediately perks up again thinking that if the bread he makes is good enough, he'll be sent to the main store. But as usual, it's Azuma's hand-made Parisien that turns out to be delicious to the point of sending Kawachi to France. Despite of its taste, however, Tsukino is not sure if they can sell Azuma's bread in the store. So she thinks she needs other opinion, that of the manager of the store, Ken Matsushiro.

Because of this, both Azuma and Kawachi decides to visit Ken at a local horse racetrack. However, Azuma becomes offended when Ken throws his hand-made Parisien to feed the horse. He is also surprised when he realises that the horse doesn't like his Parisien. So Ken tells the two to go back when they can make an 'Umai bread' ('Uma' is a horse, 'Umai' is nice/delicious, so it's a play on the word 'Uma'). Back at the store, Tsukino explains that the horse prefers the manager's bread because it doesn't contain butter. Upon tasting Ken's hand-made bread, Kawachi admits that he also likes it but argues that they're in the business of making bread for humans not horses. Tsukino explains that the manager wants to make sure that people with allergies can eat his bread. A long time ago, the manager's sister, Kaede, almost died when she ate a bread made by her brother because she has no tolerance to dairy product. Ever since then the manager decided to make a bread can be safely consumed by all people.

Impression:

I'm not sure what to say about this episode. I guess I like the first half and not too crazy about the second half. In fact, when I started reading the manga, this part caused me to lose interest in the manga because it was kind of boring. Thankfully, a couple of weeks after that, I decided to randomly read 2 or 3 chapters that follows this chapters and stumbled upon the 'Azuma vs the manager of St.Pierre' arc and becomes completely addicted to the series. Never the less, I am still entertained with the bread reactions that appeared in this episode. Besides, I personally like all of the characters. I know some of them have grating voices but somehow I can't help still liking them. I seem to have this problem where I like characters that most people loathe (ie. Shinji Ikari of Evangelion). I think if the characters are interesting despite their flaws (voice, personality, etc), they're interesting enough for me to follow every week.

© memento 2003