Food Week: Breadgasms

[dejadrew.insanejournal.com]

Can't have a food week without scans from one of the most ridiculous food manga ever drawn, now can we? From Yakitate!! Japan, I give you: A GUY EATING BREAD.

Which in theory should be about as interesting as watching grass grow, (I shouldn't say that, as there is possibly an entire genre of manga devoted to grass-watching, with subgenres involving wacky competitive grass watching and moe grass-watching mangas with loli-girls watching grass grow as they inadvertantly panty-flash the camera. This is JAPAN.) but in Yakitate, the mere act of eating bread is so mind blowing that the vict... I mean, diner, winds up being thrown into spasms, hallucinations, contortions, and bizarre visual puns in their attempt to comprehend and convey the SHEER AWESOMENESS that is THIS F***ING BREAD, RIGHT HERE, HOLY CRAP.

The most frequent and most hilarious victim in the early chapters is Kuroyanagi-san, an examiner and competitive baking judge.

Here he is tasting some of the protagonist's bread for the first time.



As time goes on, Kuroyanagi's reactions become more physical (and he also learns to expect them, and brace himself)...






I love how Kuroyanagi clings to every last scrap of dignity he can muster in that position and soldiers on.

Azuma's bread is the most common instigator of such reactions, but the other characters manage to get some good ones in, too, as in this reaction to a hot dog like concoction made by Azuma's best friend/rival Kawachi...





The dogs are repurposed drug-sniffing dogs who were brought in to inspect the entries in the first round for unlawful artificial preservatives. We take our bread baking SERIOUSLY around here. No, really. SRS BIZNESS.

My personal favourite sequence was the Saga of the Animal Breads. At this stage of the competition, the competitors were required to make fanciful decorative breads shaped like animals. Azuma's competitor was an expert in this particular field, who also wears a koala mask for some reason.



I DON'T KNOW. Anyway, koala-dude created an intricate dragon bread with chocolate-filled scales glazed in orange marmalade oh god I'm hungry. All hope seemed lost...




If you watched the anime instead of reading the manga? You missed SO MUCH AWESOME, right there.

Not that the cartoon doesn't have its moments. I first watched the anime for this at the university anime club. It made us very hungry. One time a member brought her boyfriend along to a showing...

Visting non-otaku: Heh, this is nuts!

Me: Yeah, isn't it great? But I always end up craving bread.

VNO: You know, actually, I work at a bakery...

(ears perk all over room)

VNO: I happen to have some day-old stuff I brought from work, does anyAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH OH GOD!

(VNO disappears under hordes of ravening otaku)


So anyway, Kuroyanagi tries the dragon first, and, um, straps himself to the ceiling, apparently to demonstrate how "high quality" he thought it was, which is why he's hanging from the rafters in the next scene.






Yes it is, Kuro-yan. Yes it is.

Comments

[toasty_fresh.insanejournal.com]

Am I supposed to be frightened right now? Because I am . . .

[dejadrew.insanejournal.com]

The truly frightening thing? This is no where NEAR as crazy as this manga can get. When they go to the international bake-off in Europe? HOO BOY. A trio of brothers who all stand on each others shoulders, voltron like, to form a single baker! An insane clown with abandonment issues as the judge! A competition that involves parachuting bakers into isolated exotic locations and forcing them to live off the land, baking with whatever ingredients they can forage, like unto our primitive bread-baking cave-men ancestors!

[bluefall.insanejournal.com]

SHINE ON, JAPAN, YOU CRAZY DIAMOND.

[kamino_neko.insanejournal.com]

Nice use of the colour pages, I must say.

I hope they kept the colour in the collections, because more than most that scene would be ruined by being turned to greyscale...

[(Anonymous)]

They did. It was pretty awesome.

[(Anonymous)]

That particular colored sequence, yeah. (There's a later joke involving color pages that didn't make it in, but it's less of a loss

[ninjapeps.insanejournal.com]

and then there was that one bread that was so delicious that anyone who ate it died and got sent to heaven.

oh, there was also one that sent the guy who ate it back in time so he could save his mom from dying.

as much as I loved the crack in this series, the puns eventually made me want to strangle people. that coupled with Azuma never having to work for his wins are why I like Cooking Master Boy more.

[psychop_rex.insanejournal.com]

OK, this is hilarious. "DOOOOOOG!" "Right now he's transformed himself into a SPACE MONSTER!!" Hahahahahahahahaaaaaa.... Oh, gods, I can't stop laughing. "This turtle bread is delicious!!" Hee hee! "NUWAAA... I WANT TO EAT CURRY!!' HeeheeheeheeheeheeBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! Oh, those crazy Japanese people. They'll be the death of me yet.

[majingojira.insanejournal.com]

Gamera is Really Neat.
He is full of Turtle Meat.
We are eating Gamera!

[luxshine.insanejournal.com]

The only thing I didn't like about Yakikate Japan (Besides the uberlong cooking competition on TV) was that in the International competition there was no Mexican baker. It might sound like silly pride, but hell, our sweet bread *is* very diverse and delicious so I really wanted to see someone try to do a volcano or a seashell.

[blakeyrat.insanejournal.com]

Gamera is friend to all children.

Gamera is really neat, Gamera is turtle-meat! We all love him Gamera!

[joysweeper.insanejournal.com]

*laughs*

Bread like that seems pretty dangerous, really.

[mullon.insanejournal.com]

It must be hard, being a colorist in Japan.

[artnouveauho.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

I loved this. But I have no bread in the house and now I am sad.

Maybe a crumpet? Are there crumpets in this manga?

[merseybeatler.insanejournal.com]

Oh god, curry.

CURRY!!!!!!

Must needs have. Twice a week for super-spicy palak paneer is not enough.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

The intensity within this comic is glorious.

mmmmwantbreadnow..

[megami.insanejournal.com]

Oh now I really miss living in Japan. How I took curry bread for granted! Melon bread! Hot dog bread! Turtle bread! Mmm. Turtle bread.