Yakitate!! Japan, Volume 1

Love this manga !!!!! It is one of my favorites!! Can't wait to read more of this manga ! Gambatte

A tasty manga.

The storyline was good, and I thought all the different bread-making techniques and recipes were interesting, but I thought the art was kind of abrupt. It wasn't that it was bad art, the art was decent, but it was rough. I guess it just wasn't my taste...after reading the first book I don't really feel eager to continue the series.

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.

i don't know anything about baking, but regardless the fantasy take on it makes this book fit right at home alongside other "boy genius" manga like pokemon and hikaru no go. the boy genius here is typically happy-go-lucky and determined, but other than his puppy-dog-like enthusiasm there's not a whole lot of characterization. but this is just the first volume so he certainly has time to grow. there are some nice twists with the baking audition and although the setup is a little generic and the lead-in to volume 2 didn't really grab me, i definitely enjoyed volume 1 enough to check out the next one.

...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.

Another entry in the “I must be the best at ___” manga genre combines cooking and competition in an unusual way in Yakitate!! Japan Volume 1. Kazuma is determined to become a world-class baker and create a national bread worthy of Japan, one that tastes better than rice. (It’s a pun, you see, since “pan” is Japanese for bread.)Kazuma leaves his family and hometown to apprentice at a “super-famous” Tokyo bakery. It’s been an uphill battle for him. Grandpa was proud of their history as rice farmers and rice’s place in the Japanese diet. As a child, Kazuma hated bread, and it was only because of his sister’s desire to be modern that he even tried it. A kindly neighborhood baker instructed him that great bread came from ideas and love, firing his imagination.As typical of these types of stories, it turns out that Kazuma has an unusual ability. His rare “magic hands” are naturally warm and thus aid in the yeast’s fermentation. He’s also been experimenting for years, trying different combinations of ingredients and techniques to create a ja-pan.The comedy is over-the-top, supported by exaggerated caricatures. Grandpa at times looks like a demented coot with a dislocated jaw, and Sis drags Kazuma to the bakery by tying him up and dragging him via rope behind her bike. Every emotion leaps off the page with tears and speed lines and giant eyes. A successful tasting of a slice of bread is accompanied by sunbeams casting light on the previously ignorant.After heading off the big city, Kazuma’s talent overcomes his initial disabilities of appearance, lack of formal knowledge, and clumsiness. He participates in a bake-off to earn his spot at the bakery, quickly making friends and enemies. As with Iron Wok Jan, the owner’s granddaughter works beside him, making decisions and helping him along.There’s lots of information about different types of bread. Every time Kazuma is introduced to a new type (because he knows little about other country’s breads), it turns out to resemble one of his experiments. This quickly becomes amusing, that he has supposedly independently invented all of these types of baking. Co-worker Kawachi’s naked ambition is also funny, that he’s so obviously an Eddie Haskell.With more than 20 volumes in the series, I suspect Kazuma has quite a long struggle in front of him before he learns to become a professional baker and perfects his bread. Whether or not you’ll enjoy his journey depends on how much you appreciate slapstick fish-out-of-water comedy leavened with bread-making lessons. For now, I’ll keep reading… but not when I’m hungry. (Review originally posted at ComicsWorthReading.com.)

ドイツパン、フランスパン、イギリスパンはあれど、ジャパンはない。ならば造ってしまおう、がテーマのお話し。子供のころ、パンの美味しさを知った東和馬が日本で有名なパン専門店の職人を目指して上京する。その入社試験中に月乃、河内、諏訪原などの個性的なライバルに出会い、和馬の持つ「太陽の手」の凄さと才能が証明されていく。そしてアフロ店長と馬（？）の課題にどう立ち向かうのか？次巻のお楽しみです。この話しはパンを食べた時のリアクションが面白い。果たしてフランスパンを食べてパリジェンヌになれるかどうかは定かではないが、読んでいると何だかパンを食べたくなってきます。英語も比較的に簡単です。「発酵」とか「酵母」などの単語が馴染み薄いですが、読み進んでいくと辞書がなくても想像がつきます。ちなみに出版社のvizは全文を大文字で表記するので最初は読み難いかもしれませんが、慣れれば大したことありません。