life line by line

Dipping into my long backlog, Yakitate Japan 14 ends Kawachi’s melon bread battle but a new challenge in the yakisoba bread battle might lead to Azuma’s defeat!

This episode had me laughing the whole time… just had to love Yakitate Japan style humor!

The only benefit of backlogging anime others have already done is that you can refer to their sites for better and actual reviews while you yourself take the easy way out. hehe. Anyway, surf over to Sea Slugs! if you need a synopsis of the episode

DBZ
If there is one thing I absolutely love about Yakitate Japan is all the parodies it does throughout the manga and anime. The balance between humor and drama works well in the series and the DBZ-parody with Kawachi and Mother’s Hands was hilarious to watch. I loved the fact the staff got Mayumi Tanaka to do a cameo voice of Katsuo and also Motohashi Yuuko. It made the whole DBZ skit that much funnier!

Anyway, Kawachi won hands down as Yuuko was really just an “normal” person and the Manager lied about the Mother’s Hand. Kawachi’s moral of the story was simply to never underestimate your opponent based on appearances and what tools you might have yourself. Too bad the “life lesson” didn’t have as great as of an impact it would have if the Manager wasn’t laughing his arse off (cracked when he pinned Azuma against the wall for almost ruining the joke).

Damn Yankee!
Spencer Henly Hokou was too much fun to watch. Wasn’t exactly the voice I was expecting but the seiyuu made it work. Kind of ironic that the Manager’s “life lesson” would actually be put into use so fast.

Win.. Lose.. Whatever
So anyone actually like Mizuno at this point? Anyway, she offers another challenge that if Azuma can beat Koala she’ll “accept” Tsukino but if he loses, joins Mizuno’s store. Tsukino easily accepts the challenge as she has total faith in Azuma… aww…

Inner Heart
I have to give much credit to Manager Ken’s seiyuu Hiroki Touchi. He does such an excellent job portraying the Manager and the much needed humor he does. Great example was when after the crew hears about yakisoba bread battle and that Azuma sucks at cooking, Ken does Tsukino’s “inner heart”… I laughed my arse off at that. Between Tsukino’s, Kawachi’s, and Azuma’s reaction it was all too funny!

Free Assassination with purchase of the Deluxe Ramen Combo
Meeting Ryuu… just as amusing as it was in the manga! I think the staff pretty much captured the feelings (and comedy) of this scene perfectly. Highlights had to be when Ryuu was disappointed about no assassinations and Azuma’s and Kawachi’s “training” under him (Azuma.. LOL).

It is also at this time we learn that Azuma’s opponent, Spencer Henly Hokou is perfect for the yakisoba bread as he’s probably the #1 best in that area with his special sauce/recipe. Made sense of course, since Azuma never gets easy challengers but it was fun seeing the obvious setup for it. Now all we have to worry about is if Azuma’s inability to cook yakisoba can be solved by battle time!

Yakitate Japan rarely disappoints ever since the Newcomers’ Battles have started. No exception here as the episode followed the manga pretty much to an T while making the jokes even funnier at the same time! Next up, the Yakisoba Bread Battle!