Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 1

Kazuma Azuma (or Azuma Kazuma on the English cartoon) has a life dream to be a baker - but not just any baker. He dreams to be the one who makes a national bread for Japan. He wants Japan to have a staple bread that will be as well loved as rice. And many countries have their own signature breads (France, Germany, etc.) and he wants Japan to also have one. So he does all these bread experiments and names them Ja-Pan (it's a play/pun on the word pan which is a Japanese word for bread). So with each Ja-Pan # experiment, he gets closer to creating that national bread. I like the play on words and seeing all the interesting bread combinations that Azuma makes. What is REALLY funny is when someone tastes one of his breads. They're whisked off to other worlds in their minds, other places. It's funny to see their reactions. If you have a chance to watch the anime series, it's even funnier. This first manga seems to cover quite a few of the anime episodes. The cartoons keep quite in line with the manga, but expand a bit on it - so when I read the manga I noticed really that nothing was missing that was in the anime episodes. Quite enjoyable stuff, and I'd be interested in finding more anime/manga that run along these lines. There's no violence and no romance from what I've seen, just a really great story.

...entertaining! Yakitate!! Japan tells the humorous story Kazuma Azuma and his quest to find (and bake) the ultimate bread of Japan, a bread all Japanese can love and enjoy and that the world will take notice of. Volume one introduces that basic characters as well as giving Azuma his backstory (something very rare in modern storytelling, where backstories are often the stuff of glazed over flashbacks to keep the mystery). We meet Azuma as a bread-hating/rice-loving child whose sister forces him to discover the delciousness of well made bread. Thus begins his quest and the action proper... Fast foward a few years and Azuma has been invited to tryout at Japan's foremost bakery, Pantasia. There he meets and competes with several members of his future bread making team... the ambitious Kawachi, the stern Kai Suwabara, and cute Tsukino. While techniques are presented as hooks in this volume, actual bread recipes (unless I missed one) will have to wait until volume 2. Still, it's nice to know the author actually did some homework about baking before diving headfirst into the series. The art is typcial shonen with recognizable archetypes in basic character design, with a few catchy stretches here and there (such as in the much be-Afro'd manager of the Southern Branch, Ken Matsushiro). If you're looking for a fun little series with a theme, this is a good title to get. It's light and airy, with some great humor and a few subtle touches to keep the mature reader interested.