Anime Review: Yakitate!! Japan

This anime was broadcast a few years ago now, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. The title translates to "Freshly Baked Bread!! Ja-pan" where the 'pan' means bread in Japanese. "Ja-pan" is significant, because the main character; Azuma, is trying to make a national bread for Japan. Since pan means bread, he calls the breads he makes "Ja-pan", so its a bit of a pun.

The plot is quite unique, and is a good way of seeing how animes can turn random things into something very interesting. As I said before, the storyline is based off Azuma's quest to make the perfect bread for Japan. In doing so, he leaves his hometown to join the bread company 'Pantasia'. The anime goes through various competitions that Azuma and his friends enter, against opponents who get better and better. The highlight for me, is when it comes to the bread tasting. When the various judges taste the bread, they tend to exaggerate how the bread makes them feel. For example, if the bread makes the judge feel like hes in heaven, there will be a short cutscene where hes imagining himself in heaven and stuff like that.

The main characters of the anime are:

Kazuma Azuma - as stated, he dreams of making the perfect bread. He is extremely gifted at bread baking, which is reinforced by his 'solar hands' which helps ferments the yeast in the bread faster and better than by normal hands.

Kyousuke Kawachi - he becomes kind of like a sidekick to Azuma, and the anime's major comedy relief. He is often made fun of for various reasons, but hes also reasonably gifted at bread baking as well.

Kai Suwabara - hes the 'serious' character. He is a master swordsman, but he gave up the way of the sword to bake bread (sounds a bit random doesnt it?). His swordsman past carries over to bread baking, which causes him to become a very serious and fanatical kind of character.

Shigeru Kanmuri - he is a very intelligent person, and also possesses solar hands like Azuma. In terms of bread baking, hes probably second to Azuma... although quite close in talent. He is the character that usually explains all of the strange things Azuma comes up with.

Tsukino Azusagawa - she is the female lead of the anima, and is the granddaughter of the owner of Pantasia. She also manages the store that employs Azuma and his friends. It is implied throughout the anime that she has a crush on Azuma, but its never confirmed.

Ken Matsushiro - a large burly man with an affro. He becomes a kind of mentor to Azuma and Kawachi, and helps manage the store with Tsukino. He is talented in food critic, and like Kanmuri... he tends to be another character who explains all of the strange and complex things that occur, particularly with Azuma's innovative ideas.

Ryou Kuroyanagi - he is the head of the main Pantasia branch, and the examiner for Azuma's entrance exam. He later becomes a food critic and judges many of the events. He goes to extremes to give his judgments on bread that he tastes, and tends to use puns to describe many of the breads.

Rating: 8.5/10, good comedy and suitable for all audiences. If you're looking for blood and gore, you'll need to look elsewhere... but if you enjoy something different with a good style of comedy, then check this one out.

I'll leave you with some fan-service of Tsukino. The picture is coloured by a fan, but it was done pretty well.