Sunday, April 18, 2010

Project NewType #2: 焼きたて!! ジャぱん Yakitate!! Japan
69 episodes
SUNRISE

[Other media]
- original manga (completed; ongoing when anime aired)

I read the original manga a long time ago and managed to get to the end of the Pierrot arc before forgetting about it. Not really interested in the bread fight, but everybody knows the gem of food-themed manga is the critics and reaction of people eating them. I might finish the manga for completion sake.

[Highlights]
- comical gag, abnormal food critics, seiyuu

As mentioned above, the critics is the main motivation for me in a food-themed manga, and it's elevated many folds in the anime through the acting of seiyuu. It especially helps that the two main judges are played by Koyasu Takehito and Seki Tomokazu. XD Aizenthe peacock dude? It's awkward to hear the final boss of Bleach talking about bread, but he was too monotone to be funny enough.

Being a gag work, there's tons of parody from other works, most notably during the reaction stages. I liked it when they changed the art to imitate famous shoujo or classic art styles, and I found the Gundam reference (this was before I watched the 1st Gundam and only recognized the MS models) and the "Lord of the Loquat" to be exceptional.

One thing that usually sets the anime version apart from its printed version is the ability to add in seiyuu and be able to hear it. Don't remember if there's any seiyuu in this one. Would have been a waste if there wasn't any.

[Notable seiyuu]
- Kobayashi Yumiko, Koyasu Takehito, Inoue Marina, Hayami Sho, Tachiki Fumihiko, Mizuki Nana, Seki Tomokazu, Yusa Kouji, Nakata Jyouji, Kugimiya Rie, Kosugi Juutarou, Katsuki Masako, Hino Satoshi, Hiyama Nobuyuki, Nojima Kenji, Toriumi Kousuke, Ishii Makoto, Midorikawa Hikaru, Neya Michiko, Kawakami Tomoko, Konishi Katsuyuki, Noto Mamiko

This being a long anime series, there's a lot of guest characters, many of which are voiced by famous seiyuu. Even though I listed a lot of names here, most of them only appeared in a few episodes. But when you have something with a non-believing plot (common with gag type food-themed works) and no outstanding characters, seiyuu become very important to keep you going.

[Favourite character(s)]
- Kuroyanagi Ryou, Pierrot Bolneze

It's probably obvious that I'd pick those two. Actually, their seiyuu are the main reason I decided to watch the anime. I already know the kinds of reaction they do when I read the manga, but I just want to see how Koyasu Takehito and Seki Tomokazu would act. XD

[Couples supported]
- N/A

I don't think anyone is expecting there to be one since this is a gag food-themed work. The only official couple is Suwabara Kai x Monica Adenauer, but I wasn't too interested in Suwabara's seiyuu so(ry) XD

[Buying guide]
- not interested

As mentioned many times throughout the post, this is a gag food-themed work and that the judge seiyuu was the main reason of me watching the anime. There also lack significant character development beside their bread baking skills. It's worth a laugh for sure, but not enough for me to shell out cash (not that it's even available in R1 anyway).

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