Title:Yakitate!! Japan Part 2
U. S. Distributor: Nozomi/Lucky Penny
U. S. Release Date: May 5, 2015
Format: DVD / 24 Episodes / 625 minutes
Genre:Shonen
Age Rating:13+
Overall Personal Rating: B+
The shonen anime that takes the fight scenes into the bakery, with the required bizarre characters in tow.
Synopsis:
Azuma is a young baker with a natural drive and instinct when it comes to creative bread baking. Through an intense competition, he gain a position at the prestigious Pantasia Bread Company and now works at the South Tokyo Branch.
After the Yakitate!! part 1 Pantasia Baking competition finale, things have shuffled around a bit. Kawachi has been able to fulfill his (and his father’s) dream to begin working at the main Pantasia branch. Kanmuri, who was a competitor, has moved into his empty spot at the South Tokyo Branch. Although he had been working for rival Yukino who is trying to get the store closed, she turned on him, and now he vows to risk all to save the South Tokyo Branch.
A scheme is hatched to form a Japanese team to enter a world baking competition, the Monaco Cup, and to bet on the outcome. The team is created with Azuma, Kawachi and Suwabara (the samurai baker from season one).Traveling with them is the intense judge from the first competition.
Once in France, they study Western techniques and tastes. When the game starts, they meet an odd assortment of people. Most notable are the Kayser Brothers, and Pierrot, the judge who is trained as a world class clown. The Kayser brothers are basically three brothers who are mutated to move and function as one. Pierrot’s being raised in a circus and his search for his long lost parents are a secondary plot.
The competition takes bizarre rules and limitations to new heights with the judge’s reactions going even farther into the atmosphere. Simmering beneath the radar, the owner of Pantasia’s rival bakery along with Yukino, have hatched a series of schemes to destroy Azuma and the South Tokyo Branch.
Commentary:
If you have seen the first part, I can’t imaging that skipping the rest would be a good idea. The second part actually seems better because there are familiar situations to call up for jokes/puns. The running jokes, like Kawachi’s hair issues, were more humorous than funny (I hope that distinction means something to you). It all elaborates on the characters and where they came from. Last review, I used “this was a light and fun series” but part 2 seems more serious. It didn’t feel like a much comedy to me. The stakes for the store and competitors were higher and Pierrot’s life story leaned towards the tragic side of absurd.
A big thing in season 2 is the story within the story of Pierrot, the judge. His reactions to the bread tasting pull from his personal history and the story of his life, and it is all quite substantial and of course, weird. A large portion of the time was spent on this which left much less time for the bread baking/competitions. There is really only the one epic competition for this anime set.
Friendship and a driving purpose are still themes, one of the strong elements in Yakitate. The weakest part is the strange for the sake of strange. Now that is surely not the case for everyone, because this is geared toward a male audience much, much younger than me, and it seems this would fit their tastes better. Just wait until you see how bizarre the Kayser Brothers really are. I bet it is funnier than I think it is too.
This series has grown on me even though I’m not the target market. There isn’t anything too mature in here for most audience, but the strange factor probably would work best for 13+. It really feels like a shonen and the battles are there, but in the form of bread competitions. Sort of a mixture of Naruto, Toriko and Iron Chef.
