Yakitate!! Japan, an informative manga/anime series about bread baking
December 28, 2015 8:15 AM Subscribe
From the beginning of the first episode, you can see that Yakitate!! Japan is a silly show about bread. The title, which translates to Freshly Baked!! Ja-pan, alone is enough to warn you that it's full of puns ("pan" is Japanese for bread). If you're inspired by the show or manga, here are a ton of recipes, beyond the rice cooker bread recipe from the show, which was converted to US units for the English manga translation.
If you want to watch the 69 episodes (Wikipedia list with plot descriptions) Rightstuf has a handy playlist of authorized videos with English subtitles on YouTube, but the subtitles don't capture all the puns and details, as were painstakingly documented in the old fansubs. For the detail oriented, here's a recently uploaded set of fansubbed videos, but be warned - you may have to pause the videos to read the notes, which can get tedious.
If you want to watch the 69 episodes (Wikipedia list with plot descriptions) Rightstuf has a handy playlist of authorized videos with English subtitles on YouTube, but the subtitles don't capture all the puns and details, as were painstakingly documented in the old fansubs. For the detail oriented, here's a recently uploaded set of fansubbed videos, but be warned - you may have to pause the videos to read the notes, which can get tedious.
From the scanned manga, I assume there's a legitimate source for the English translations. But if you want to sample the artwork and humor, here's a fan-translated scan of the first volume.
This really is a silly show, which is highlighted by the reactions to eating delicious bread.
Alternate titles: Throw away your common sense and get an afro! and The world of cooking is fearsome. What a wonderful world.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:19 AM on December 28, 2015
This really is a silly show, which is highlighted by the reactions to eating delicious bread.
Alternate titles: Throw away your common sense and get an afro! and The world of cooking is fearsome. What a wonderful world.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:19 AM on December 28, 2015
I enjoyed the manga and the escalating ridiculousness, until there was one later chapter where the main character acts out cruel assholery to one of the supporting characters, for no real reason other than... he's the main character, he does what he wants, he's still cool. Kinda lost my interest after that. Maybe I'll give it another shot.
posted by shortfuse at 8:24 AM on December 28, 2015
posted by shortfuse at 8:24 AM on December 28, 2015
I first saw this years ago when the anime aired, and have never been able to bake bread from scratch without thinking about it.
SOLAR HANDS!
<3
posted by trackofalljades at 8:28 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
SOLAR HANDS!
<3
posted by trackofalljades at 8:28 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'll be honest, I haven't read the manga, but I have seen every episode of the show. There are some unnecessary moments of fanservice (there are so few competent female characters) and some of the villains are annoyingly stereotyped, but it's mostly a light-hearted to outright ridiculous show, with a weird Lord of the Rings parody in the penultimate episode.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:33 AM on December 28, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 8:33 AM on December 28, 2015
Good post but I have a couple notes:
- Putting the fact that it has 69 episodes under the fold? Way to bury the lead.
- The Right Stuf subtitles are excellent. While it's kind of cool to have a document of everything, the notes are the enemy of comedy and the show makes way more sense without them. There are still MANY PUNS TO BE HAD.
- Yakitate! Japan, the anime about bread, has 69 episodes.
One of the few anime I have been able to get a non-anime fan to watch AND enjoy. The dude even has a Yakitate!! shirt now.
posted by rokabiri at 9:21 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rokabiri at 9:21 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
He's a real fanboy if he has the pink headband.
The Right Stuf subtitles are excellent. While it's kind of cool to have a document of everything, the notes are the enemy of comedy and the show makes way more sense without them. There are still MANY PUNS TO BE HAD.
Ah, good to know, thanks!
posted by filthy light thief at 9:32 AM on December 28, 2015
The Right Stuf subtitles are excellent. While it's kind of cool to have a document of everything, the notes are the enemy of comedy and the show makes way more sense without them. There are still MANY PUNS TO BE HAD.
Ah, good to know, thanks!
posted by filthy light thief at 9:32 AM on December 28, 2015
I deeply appreciate this post, I think it was one of the first anime I ever heard of during the huge influx of anime interest and popularity, and I never got to watch it since there was too much good stuff being released! Outrageous amounts of good anime adapations during the early 2000s, thanks for the throwback.
posted by yueliang at 10:59 AM on December 28, 2015
posted by yueliang at 10:59 AM on December 28, 2015
In a similar vein: Shokugeki no Soma (a.k.a. Food Wars! : Shokugeki no Soma) is another pretty intriguing cooking-oriented manga / anime series. It's currently serialized in weekly Shonen Jump.
The series does a pretty good job exposing the audience not only to a fairly diverse range of cuisines and their methods (the manga even includes instructional guides and recipes that actually turn out pretty well, in my experience), it also delves into things like restaurant management.
It's very similar to Yakitate!! Japan, so I'd recommend some 'cool off' time between each franchise. Also note that characters tasting food in this series tends to transition to hypersexualized imagery, so beware if you're not tolerant of that kind of thing.
'Addicted to Curry' isn't a terrible manga series either.
posted by BrandonW at 11:09 AM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
The series does a pretty good job exposing the audience not only to a fairly diverse range of cuisines and their methods (the manga even includes instructional guides and recipes that actually turn out pretty well, in my experience), it also delves into things like restaurant management.
It's very similar to Yakitate!! Japan, so I'd recommend some 'cool off' time between each franchise. Also note that characters tasting food in this series tends to transition to hypersexualized imagery, so beware if you're not tolerant of that kind of thing.
'Addicted to Curry' isn't a terrible manga series either.
posted by BrandonW at 11:09 AM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]
Food Wars is fine, but it's not nearly as funny and exciting as Yakitate. We remember this series a decade after it ran because it was a enjoyable show even if you didn't really care about bread, while Food Wars is pretty bland besides the food stuff.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:01 PM on December 28, 2015
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:01 PM on December 28, 2015
What Did You Eat Yesterday? is a cooking manga about a gay couple that I've shamefully haven't read yet.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:07 PM on December 28, 2015
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:07 PM on December 28, 2015
Final afro-related tangent: there was a user named Throw away your common sense and get an afro!, whose nick got lodged somewhere in my head, but I couldn't place the reference. This show re-scratched that itch.
Also, the second ending (To All Tha Dreamers by Soul'd Out) was the best ending for this show (who can say no to cartoonish CG disco dancing to super catchy neo-disco?) with the fifth ending (Merry Go Round by Mai Hoshimura) being second favorite for that melancholy j-pop song.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:28 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also, the second ending (To All Tha Dreamers by Soul'd Out) was the best ending for this show (who can say no to cartoonish CG disco dancing to super catchy neo-disco?) with the fifth ending (Merry Go Round by Mai Hoshimura) being second favorite for that melancholy j-pop song.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:28 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
> the rice cooker bread recipe from the show, which was converted to US units for the English manga translation.
Argh argh argh did they convert weight measure to volume measure? WHY? THAT IS STUPID. AND BAD.
posted by ardgedee at 1:39 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Argh argh argh did they convert weight measure to volume measure? WHY? THAT IS STUPID. AND BAD.
posted by ardgedee at 1:39 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
God I love this anime. The one where the bread was so delicious, it changed the title of the show??
posted by rifflesby at 3:55 PM on December 28, 2015
posted by rifflesby at 3:55 PM on December 28, 2015
Azuma Kazuma is basically the Goku of bread products.
My favorite was the bread that was so tasty it allowed you to rewrite history. Which I think was a concept from a Philip K Dick novel, although with less bread and more alien drugs.
posted by Grimgrin at 4:03 PM on December 28, 2015
My favorite was the bread that was so tasty it allowed you to rewrite history. Which I think was a concept from a Philip K Dick novel, although with less bread and more alien drugs.
posted by Grimgrin at 4:03 PM on December 28, 2015
NAN DESU!?
posted by tychotesla at 4:16 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by tychotesla at 4:16 PM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]
The one where the bread was so delicious, it changed the title of the show??
Yes, and more! The show was re-made for America as Takitate!! Gohan (which translates to "to cook rice," more or less - Gohan = cooked rice, where han = rice, so Go! han)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:03 PM on December 28, 2015
Yes, and more! The show was re-made for America as Takitate!! Gohan (which translates to "to cook rice," more or less - Gohan = cooked rice, where han = rice, so Go! han)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:03 PM on December 28, 2015
To clarify: In episode 53, as a reaction to one of Yūichi's Go-pans, the show produces a parody of itself, whereupon the opening introduction to Yakitate!! Japan is replayed with all the major plot devices changed: Azuma turns into an American boy with blonde hair and glasses that wants to create an American rice dish called "Gohan." His name is changed to Tom Crusoe (an obvious reference to Tom Cruise), and, instead of Solar Hands, he possesses the legendary "North Pole Hands." (summary source)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 PM on December 28, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 PM on December 28, 2015
I stumbled on a fan sub of this anime shortly after my son was born and it proved a life saver. I hadn't watched anime for many years at that point I needed something light and funny to get me through the sleepless nights one has when one has a newborn. Though I only watched to just after the Newcomer arc, the show definitely kept my spirits up and gave me lots of bread baking ideas. I still make a miso flavoured rye loaf inspired by the show.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:32 AM on December 29, 2015
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:32 AM on December 29, 2015
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