Yakitate!! Japan

File:Yakitate!! japan volume 11 cover.jpg

Volume 11 cover featuring Kazuma Azuma and Pierrot Bonnaz

Yakitate!! Japan (焼きたて!! ジャぱん, meaning "Fresh Made Ja-pan") is a manga serialised in Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday, by Takashi Hashiguchi (橋口たかし Hashiguchi Takashi). 19 graphic novels have been released as of October 2005. An anime is currently being produced by Sunrise, and was broadcasted on TV Tokyo from October 2004. The manga series has been licensed by VIZ Media.

The story focuses on Kazuma Azuma, a boy on his quest to create Ja-pan, a national bread for Japan itself. He initially heads to Tokyo to expand his bread-making horizons at the bread-making chain Pantasia; the story continues with Azuma's exploits with his other coworkers.

The title of this series itself is a play on words; Yakitate translates to "freshly baked", but Japan has a double meaning. Besides referring to the country of Japan, "pan" is the Japanese word for "bread" (a borrowed word stemming from Portuguese "pão"). This mimics the style of the names of other varieties of bread in Japanese, such as "furansupan" (French Bread), "doitsupan" (German rye-based bread), "itariapan" (Italian bread), etc..

Besides the desire to create his Ja-pan, Kazuma also possesses the legendary Solar Hands. These hands are slightly warmer than normal human hand temperature, and allow the dough to ferment faster. This gives him some advantage at the beginning of the series, but his innovation and many Ja-pans are what really shine through.

Although the story has baking as its main theme, the parts that generate the most interest are the outrageous puns in the story. Especially notable are the puns made by the judges, who go to great lengths to prove a single point about the bread that they tasted. The series in general also pokes fun at the shōnen genre's tendacy to be melodramatic over mundane tasks.

While the characters might create the most extreme breads, most of them are actually real, or are at least based on real bread. Hashiguchi employs a bakery consultant, Kouichi Uchimura (内村浩一 Uchimura Kōichi). Uchimura creates bread similar to the bread in the manga, and some of the bread in the manga are actually his invention. Uchimura runs a bakery called Pan no Mimi in Kyoto. [1]

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Characters

Kazuma Azuma (東和馬 Azuma Kazuma) - Male protagonist, a bread artisan who dreams to make the perfect Japan. He doesn't seem very bright, but when it comes to bread he's a genius. (He also happens to be extremely knowledgeable about rice because of his grandfather) Azuma also has solar hands, exceptionally warm hands that allow the yeast to ferment faster and better when he is making his bread. Eternally optimistic and cheerful, he never gets upset from challenges faced in baking competitions, but rather from emotional tragedies. He gets his insipirations for his ja-pan from random sources, like other Japanese foods and stories from his experienced but overtalkative grandfather, a rice farmer. Unexpectedly good at math.
Kyousuke Kawachi (河内恭介 Kawachi Kyōsuke ) - Coworker and sidekick to Azuma, from the Kansai area. Initially, Kawachi's knowledge is superior to Azuma's, but as the story develops he becomes the fall guy and comedic relief with jokes focused on his incessant cry of "Whaaaaaaat?!" in every chapter. He considers Azuma to be his rival, but the two develop a dynamic that is more like an older and younger brother, Kawachi being more experienced than Azuma in the world beyond bread. With Tsukino's help, he has obtained "solar gauntlets", solar hands developed through physical training. He is somewhat lazy and perverted, but at desperate times he focuses his effort to create exceptional bread. On one such occasion, he fulfilled the dream of his late father, a diligent but untalented baker, who wanted to make a white bread that was healthy, delicious, and could be eaten everyday.
Tsukino Azusagawa (梓川月乃 Azusagawa Tsukino) - Granddaughter to the owner of the Pantasia chain, and understudy to Ken Matsushiro. Seems to have a crush on Azuma, though it is never expilictly stated. Has difficulty getting along with the rest of the Pantasia-involved Azusagawa family because she is an illegitimate child. She is still very dedicated to the Pantasia chain, seeking out talented new bakers (like Azuma and Kawachi) and has garnered the support of many other characters.
Ken Matsushiro (松代健 Matsushiro Ken) - Manager of Pantasia Southern Tokyo branch. A burly man with an afro and sunglasses. Renowned as the best French-bread artisan in Japan, he seems to have a predeliction with horses and betting on horse-racing. He also likes to tease Kawachi, occasionally to give him ideas on bread, but mostly just for the hell of it.
Ryo Kuroyanagi (黒柳亮 Kuroyanagi Ryō) - The head at the main Pantasia branch. His straight-laced no-nonsense attitude belies his very silly quirk of making strange pun-based reactions to the delicious bread he's eating. He used to be the student of Ken, but Ken drove Ryo away with his behaviour.
Kai Suwabara (諏訪原戒 Suwabara Kai) - Kuroyanagi's understudy, a serious bread artisan. A master of the katana who claims to have left the swordsman path of destruction to follow the path of life-giving bread. Despite that, he often becomes very warrior-like and fearsome during baking competitions, which occasionally makes other characters wonder if he is truly focused on the 'life-giving' aspect of his bread. Like Kawachi, he has solar gauntlets and considers Azuma as a rival.
Kageto Kinoshita (木下陰人 Kinoshita Kageto) - A worker at Pantasia Southern Tokyo branch. Though all the characters talk about making new kinds of bread, Kinoshita is usually the one who ends up doing all of the work at the store, while everyone else is involved with bread making competitions. At first glance he doesn't stack up bread makers like Kawachi and Azuma, but Kageto seems to have the strange ability to work so fast it looks like there are several of him at once. He's also talented at copying bread.
Pierrot Bonnaz / Pierrot Leonhart (during Monaco Cup Finals) (ピエロ・ボルネーゼ Piero Borunēze) - A world class clown working as a bread judge. Can speak 135 languages, divide into over a hundred copies of himself, and do all sorts of amazing things due to being 'world-class' clown. Heir to the throne of Monaco, though he doesn't know it at first until the second Monaco Cup competition. Became a world class clown for the purpose of having his parents find him, because he seemed to be abandoned at the circus in infancy. His actual reasons for abandonment where his father gives away to another parents due to the Monaco Royal custom. But the parents ran away with the money with Pierrot along. Soon the parents committed suicide and he was proclaimed dead but actually ended up in the Quedam circus. His mother dies after he was given birth while during the final, his father, who was the King of Monaco (after knowing that he has the same rare blood type as he does) sacrificed himself to donate blood for him in after declaring Kawachi the winner in chapter 109-112 and reveal about his true background. He as later nickednamed 'Miracle Prince' and both teams decides to make a bread that let him sees his parents once again. After eating Azuma's Ja-pan #61 during the finals, he is supposed to go to heaven but ends up back to the past 23 years ago when he was still inisde her mother's stomach. Surprisingly, he doesn't realize that he changed the past making both of his parents revived and his name was changed to Pierrot Leonhart and was instantly sent to Quedam circus after he was born.

Story Arcs

The story starts with Azuma's childhood when he learned how to create a bread that tastes better than rice in order to prove his grandfather wrong. Fast-forward a couple years...

The Pantasia Entrance Examination Arc

This is the initial arc where Azuma goes to the Pantasia Main Branch Store expecting to get a job only to discover that he has to compete for it in a series of exams. Azuma also starts at a disadvantage as he loses almost all of the ten points he needs to avoid being disquilified. It is in this arc that Azuma meets Kawachi, Kuroyanagi, Tsukino and Suwabara Kai. Shortly after the competition, Azuma and Kawachi get jobs at Pantasia's Southern Branch store. A few stories take place there as they meet Ken Matsushiro and Azuma competes against a skilled but pampered baker named Mokoyama.

The Rookie Tournament Arc

This story arc features a fierce tournament between all of the bakers that were hired by Pantasia that year. When Azuma and Kawachi learn about it, Kawachi declares Azuma his rival and begins intense physical training to gain solar gauntlets, which are sort of artificial solar hands. This arc introduces Tsukino's sisters and reveals that there is a secret animosity between them. Several rivals return and new ones are introduced as Azuma and Kawachi enter the competition. The story climaxes in a bread battle between Harvard Graduate Kanmuri and Azuma.

The Monaco Cup Arc

Azuma, Kawachi and Suwabara travel to Monaco to take part in an international bread competition which will determine the fate of the Pantasia franchise. There they meet Pierrot, the clown judge, as well as the lion-headed King of Monaco who is holding the competition. But in this competition, St. Pierre is bribing judges and pulling out all the stops to win, including trying to kill Team Japan (Azuma, Kawachi and Suwabara) on more than one occasion. There is also a subplot about Pierrot, who is an orphan looking for his true family.

The Yakitate!! 25" Arc

The story arc is currently running through the manga in which St. Pierre has finally bought out Pantasia, and owner of St. Pierre has challenged Pantasia to a final bread-making competition in a game like Othello for the fate of Pantasia.

List of Japan

Ja-pan #1: Soy-milk toast Ja-pan
Ja-pan #2: Suihanja-pan
Ja-pan #3: Microwave Sesame bread
Ja-pan #8: Colored candied Turtle Ja-pan
Ja-pan #9: Taiyaki bread
Ja-pan #10: Soaked Millet Ja-pan (Low-carb Diet Ja-pan)
Ja-pan #15: Autodigested Japanese barnyard millet
Ja-pan #15 (variant): Autodigested Nanshoukasei wheat flour (a bread targeting high school gals)
Ja-pan #16: Fuji-san Curry is House! Cone Ja-pan
Ja-pan #21: Budding Wheat Flour Castilla Ja-pan
Ja-pan #22: Kamaboko Ja-pan
Ja-pan #24: (presumed to be Hanako-milk Butter Ja-pan)
Ja-pan #24 (variant): Hanako-milk Butter French-Ja-pan
Ja-pan #32: Wasabi Table Ja-pan
Ja-pan #43: Croissant Moon in the Night Sky Ja-pan
Ja-pan #44: Heavenly Petalite Ja-pan
Ja-pan #51: Sports bread
Ja-pan #55: "an-pan" (anzuki bean bread)
Ja-pan #56: Black Japan (abandoned due to ruined dough in the Pantasia Entrance Examination Arc; only shown in filler episode 29 of the anime series)
Ja-pan #57: Kabukiage Leftover Ja-pan
Ja-pan #58: Melon Sushi Ja-pan
Ja-pan #59: Okonomiyaki-soba Ja-Panini
Ja-pan #60: Mochi-Mochi Vital Gluten Ja-pan
Ja-pan #61: Cannabis Ja-pan
Ja-pan #62: Ohma Ja-pan: Fine quality "Chawanmushi bread"

Music

Opening

1 - Houkigumo by RHYTHEM (1-29)
2 - Promise by TiA (30-53)
3 - Chiisana Uta by MARIA (54 to current)

Ending

1 - Sunday by The Babystars (1-12)
2 - To All Tha Dreamers by SOUL'd OUT (13-29)
3 - Hummingbird by little by little (30-42)
4 - Re: START by SURFACE (43-53)
5 - Merry Go Round by Mai Hoshimura (54 to present)

Mai Hoshimura's single will release January 11th, 2006

References

Now You Can Eat "Yakitate!! Japan" (2004-10). Retrieved Feb. 24, 2005.

External links