Title:Yakitate!! Japan Part 3
U. S. Distributor: Nozomi/Lucky Penny
U. S. Release Date: July 7, 2015
Format: DVD / 17 Episodes /425 minutes
Genre: Shonen Comedy
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:
Well this is the last part of Yakitate, and guess what, there is to be a new competition. There is a merger between St. Pierre and Pantasia bakeries, leaving our crew devastated. Rival Kirisaki proposes a competition putting up his stock if they put up the winnings form the Monaco cup to arrange the televised competition. They all agree and the Yakitate 9 game begins. Basically it is a 9 part grid like tic tac toe, and the St. Pierre challenger picks a square, then it is revealed where the match will take place in Japan. The location will determine the actual challenge/theme with the winner earning that square. One aspect of the game allows a team to capture the other’s square and can potentiality win the competition without being the best in battles.
The Pantasia team is made up of Azuma (the skilled and creative artisan), Kanmuri (the one with the scientific and general knowledge) and Kawachi (who is the comic relief). The St. Pierre team has a wide range of participants, including famous personalities, former challengers, and even some friends. Each takes on only one battle. Of course Yukino still has something to prove and tries to manipulate the competition.
Commentary:
This is the third and final season for Yakitate. If you have seen the first two, you should go ahead and see the last part. It has all of the comedy, the battles, the creativity and the weirdness with plenty of over the top bizarre reactions to food tasting. There is also a return of many previous characters.
One flaw that I see in the American release, is that the target audience is younger males, and this is not dubbed. I think that really limits the audience who isn’t really ready to read the subtitles that quickly. This makes it difficult to recommend it to someone. once they are old enough to successfully watch with subtitles, the youthful format and story will be hard to keep the viewer’s attention.
The ending was a bit of a let down. It was fine, but it was a soft ending. With all of the action that has gone on, I expected more energy and drama. This seemed like it was the ending to any of the other episodes. There wasn’t the feeling of “it is over completely”, as if leaving it just in case they want to make some more episodes.
Yakitate is shonen to the core with the can-do, naturally talented young man as the center. The battles have moved off the fields into the kitchen. There are personal goals to achieve, developing friendships and teamwork , working towards a goal and character development. All with plenty of action and comedy.
Speaking of comedy, there is plenty of it. But there is one particular instance where I couldn’t believe what I just saw in one of the bizarre reactions. I admit I showed that part to several people and it was always met with an “I can’t believe I just saw that!” Just a hint, it has to do with a mango.
And a final note on the comedy. It was quite fun to see all the parodies and references to other anime. Some of the ones included were DBZ, One Piece and Fist of the North Star.
