Yakitate!! Japan ep.7

November 28, 2004 | 3 Comments

I am too lazy to think up non-spoilery comment at the moment so I decided to use this space to feature some random links about Kouign Amann and Kabuki. I figure it's useful to know a few things about them since these two things are mentioned frequently in this episode. This site contains small information regarding Kouign Amann (Breton Butter Cake). Fuji TV site also has a small article on a Kouign Amann bakery. Similarly, there are equally interesting sites that deal with Kabuki. English-language informations about the art can be found from this site. But if you're interested, this Japanese site also has small English-language information about Kabuki Theatre. Anyway, some of these sites are not in English language, so you probably need to use Babel Fish to understand some of the articles.

This episode itself begins with Mokoyama presenting his new creation: a Kouign Amann pastry with creamy, but sugarless pudding as a filling. The judges are impressed with Mokoyama's creation because the sugarless pudding works well with the sweet taste of the pastry. Because of this, he immediately scores 10 points from each judge. Azuma then presents his creation, Kabukiage bread. The bread is also good to the point that it makes the judges feel as if they've become a bunch of Kabuki performers. However, when everyone finds out that Azuma has made the bread from leftover breads, the audiences claim that they don't want to pay for bread made from leftovers. Things look really bleak for the Southern Tokyo employees at this point. However, Meister Kirisaki suddenly appears inside the competition hall and asks both Azuma and Mokoyama to price their creation. Not wanting to be defeated, Mokoyama tells everyone that he will sell his Kouign Pudding Amann for 190 Yen.

Azuma, however, reveals that he will sell his bread for 0 Yen, since they were going to throw away the leftover breads anyway. Seeing the opportunity, the manager tells the audience that from tomorrow, they'll be giving away Japan 57 for free so that everyone will know the taste of Southern Tokyo Pantasia branch. He then persuades Tsukino to tell the male audiences to come and have a taste of Tsukino. Kawachi, on the other hand, is disappointed when people misheard his bread as the taste of 'Kakashi' (scarecrow). Kawachi, I'll have you know that Kakashi is one of the coolest character in this...err, wrong show. Anyway, after taking consideration of the price, the judges decide that the competition is a tie. Mokoyama is shocked by this turn of event and threatens his bakers to not say a word to the St.Pierre owner. Meanwhile, Azuma and the others decide to celebrate but in doing so, forget that they've left poor Kinoshita to work at the store alone :).

Impression:

This is an okay episode. For some reason, the jokes don't come off as well in comparison to the manga version even though they're similar to one another. The animation also looks a bit inconsistent in this one. There are times where they look nice but there are also occasions where I can't help but wonder if they've blown their budget too early in the game. Anyway, throughout this arc, I can't help but feeling sorry for Tsukino. She's the one who could be in deep trouble if Azuma lost to Mokoyama. And yet, no one bothered to ask if she likes the idea of her store being used as one of the betting items. Anyway, I hope next week's episode is more exciting especially since it's the start of a long-running arc of 'New bakers competition'. That means new characters will be introduced to this series and long-running pan battle will begin. This arc also produces some good character development for Kawachi and Tsukino so I hope they don't mess this one up.

© memento 2003