Yakitate!! Japan ep.6

November 18, 2004 | 6 Comments

This episode is one of those cases where you'd be better off watching it than reading a description of it. Seriously, none of the screencaps here do this episode justice. You just have to see it yourself to appreciate the hilarity that is Mokoyama Tsuyoshi, as well as the atmosphere that this arc creates. On top of this, for some reason Azuma's voice doesn't bother me at all in this episode. I guess I'm quite used to the voice by now. On a rather related note, if you love food-based anime/manga, I think you should check out Curry naru Shokutaku (Addicted to Curry). David was the one who originally rec this interesting manga on his journal. So thanks to him, I now have another anime/manga 'addiction', so to speak. The characters in the story are interesting and the series has a more ecchi tone in comparison to Yakitate!! Japan. It's like GTO meets a cooking show.

Anyway, this episode itself begins with Kawachi wondering why their Southern Tokyo Pantasia store is not doing as well in sales as other Pantasia stores. So the next day he asks Ken for the reason and ends up finding out that it's because Pantasia's main rival, St.Pierre, has set up their main store directly in front of Tsukino's Pantasia store. While surveying their competitor, Azuma, Kawachi, and Ken is spotted by St.Pierre's manager, Mokoyama Tsuyoshi. After hearing about Azuma's intention to make Japan 57 from leftover bread, Mokoyama laughs at the idea and tells him that he should have got his inspiration from someone better than the guy Azuma met when he was a kid. Someone like, well, Mokoyama himself. Azuma is obviously pissed off because Mokoyama makes fun of his ideal. Things then turn from bad to worse when Ken tells Mokoyama that he lacks talent in comparison to Azuma, causing the two party to trade insults with one another.

Eventually, Ken ends up challenging Mokoyama to put his latest bread creation in competition with Azuma's Japan 57 on televised event. Mokoyama decides to accept the challange, much to Tsukino and Kawachi's horror, because there is a possibility that Tsukino can lose her store if Azuma lost this battle. Meanwhile, Mokoyama gathers all of his bakers to help him making his new bread. He seems to be quite skilled because when he stuffed his bread into one of his underlings, the underling immediately experienced orgasmic bread sensation. As if things can't be worse for Tsukino, her shop suddenly gets a visitation from Kuroyan as well as the General Manager of the main store, Meister Kirisaki. Kirisaki, however, only has an intention to talk to Azuma and upon doing so, he looks quite pleased with Ken's decision to put Azuma in the competition. On the day of the competition, however, Ken tells Tsukino and Kawachi that Azuma will probably lose this battle.

Impression:

I'm glad that this episode ends up being as fun-filled as I expected it to be. Mokoyama's antics come full force in this animated version, and I think they are far more hilarious than the one in the manga version. I also like the slow build-up of Azuma and Kawachi's friendship here. I remember it happened quite early in the series, but I wasn't sure when exactly did Kawachi decide to see Azuma as his friend instead of as a rival or a tool. Well, he certainly hasn't consider Azuma as his friend now but I like the fact that it's a gradual progression instead of something that happens overnight. The most intriguing question in this episode, however, is whether or not the owner of St.Pierre really is the same person that Azuma met when he was a kid. I think the fact that Azuma ends up mentioning the guy in front of St.Pierre's main store is a hint for the viewers. If this is true, it's ironic that the person who inspired Azuma to create Japan ends up being his major obstacle.

© memento 2003