The set up… Azuma is a teenage prodigy with one single-minded goal: to create Japan, a bread that so completely epitomises his homeland that it becomes the new national bread and a worthy rival to rice as the country's staple. He is naturally gifted with uncanny skills of improvisation and innovation, the purest heart of all bakers, and the legendary Solar Hands that make his dough ferment in next to no time. To this end he leaves home and enrols at Pantasia, quickly bonding with the store's other employees Kawachi, Tsukino, Ken and the hilariously neglected Kageto.
From here on in Yakitate progresses into an extraordinarily stoopid shōnen parody series. Many of the tropes of shows like Dragonball, Bleach and Naruto are present and correct; the young central character on his epic quest to hone his skills and become a man; the massive cast of supporting players and their detailed histories; the power up structure in which our heroes become ever more ass-kickingly hard; and the manner in which everyone pontificates in pornographic detail about the unbeatable strength of their absurd techniques.
Only this isn't about martial arts. It's about bakery. The "fights" are all baking standoffs, initiations or tournaments. They're the set piece sequences for virtually all character development, conflict, and the ingenious clever/dumb visual jokes and shocking puns that are the series' main strength. The quality of the bread is judged on the extremity of the tasters' reaction, and it's here that creator Takashi Hashiguchi's unhinged and shameless imagination for comedy truly goes stratospheric. The puns won't necessarily be lost on you either, as this is one of the most beautifully fansubbed animes I've come across, with plenty of explanatory notes that invite you to rewatch with your finger hovering over the pause button.
To be honest, I never really wanted to start a thread about a show that's this completely fucking idiotic, but after last night's night shift the six episodes I watched back to back knocked the quality bar so unexpected high that I was both simultaneously laughing my arse off and wiping a tear from my eye. If you're ever brave enough to begin this sixty-nine episode grand folly then you'll know the episode I mean when you see it, it comes towards the end of the second major storyline and features Azuma baking Japan 44, the effects of which are rather more than anyone bargained for. Also around this time is when you'll hear the awestruck "Dave Stands!" line that had me pissing all over the floor of my flat.
There's so much to like here. It never takes itself seriously. Ken's afro gets a laugh whenever he's on screen. His traumatised history - how he came to only bake ethical bread without artificial ingredients - is funny as fuck. The secret behind The Man in the Koala mask and how it relates to one of the most brain-meltingly wrong stereotypes is beautifully played out. Kawachi as the self-made working class hero becomes the best character in the show. And yes, Suwabara really does have a sword concealed in his rolling pin.
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