Yakitate!! Japan, Volume 20

焼きたてジャぱん [Yakitate!! Japan] #20

by Takashi Hashiguchi

Are you ready for the Iron Chef of bread?! Manga shall not live by bread alone. R to L (Japanese Style). In the seventh round of the Yakitate 25 baking competition an old rival of Kawachi's comes back to challenge him again. After his first defeat, the bitter loser abandoned his family to live in the forest with wild pigs--which could very well give him an edge in the latest competition. Can the Pantasia team trust that Kawachi's ham-handedness won't ruin their chances of taking home the bacon? Meanwhile, sweet, syrupy danger waits, as a Dutch cook with a thing for flapjacks prepares to beat Pantasia with pancakes! England. France. Germany. What common thread binds these three nations together? Answer: each is famous for producing unique, distinctive, delicious bread. But what of the island nation of Japan, home to rice and delicacies of the sea? Is there not a doughy, gastronomic delight they can claim as their own? The answer is no...until now! Kazuma Azuma, a 16-year-old-boy blessed with otherworldly baking powers, has taken it upon himself to create Ja-pan, the national bread of the land of the rising sun!

Genres: Manga, Cooking, Comics, Food, Shonen, Graphic Novels, Comics Manga

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2005

About the author

Takashi Hashiguchi (橋口 たかし) is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his manga series Yakitate!! Japan, for which he won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 2004. Hashiguchi won a newcomer's award in 1987 (published in a magazine), and Combat Teacher debuted the following year in the same magazine.

A prevailing theme seen throughout his manga is the realization of childhood dreams, such as making bread in Yakitate!! Japan or becoming a yo-yo master in Super Yo-Yo (Chousoku Spinner). Hashiguchi mainly focuses on unusual occupations or sports.

He enjoys comedy as well, and took a brief interlude from drawing to try his luck as a comedian.
Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read October 31, 2015

"Don't hug me so much, we might make another baby!!"

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm skipping to Volume 20 from Volume 3 because, frankly, it's almost impossible to find these anymore without special ordering them (and my list of books to special order is growing literally by the day). I haven't really missed anything important, though, since the anime fairly faithfully covers the entire run (as far as I'm aware).

This volume is in the middle of the "Yakitate!! 25" contest, covering one "episode" (theme: pork, specifically tonkatsu sandwiches) and the start of the next one (theme: pancakes). It's a bit beyond absurd, even for what passes as "normal" in the series, given both Katsuo and how the "judging" is determined. I'm also not entirely convinced that Kuroyanagi doesn't have SOME kind of magic, given his reactions and how they affect the people around him.

It's a fun volume, but it's probably too silly for readers who like their slice-of-life to be slice of REAL life. The wordplay also doesn't translate as well as maybe it could, but... language. Oh, well, the translators tried.

[D E N Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the yummiest volumes yet! This volume covered the characters making katsu sando then pancakes.

I have to admit, when I first started reading this, I read a bunch of comments saying NOT to read beyond the Monaco Cup. Thank goodness I DID NOT listen because so far Yakitate 25 is way way waaaaaaaaaaay better than the Monaco Cup. Super excited to see what else they will have to create more on the upcoming volumes :)

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty decent cooking manga, it was really good and interesting at the beginning but got bored the second half probably because it’s solely just about bread 😂👌❤️

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the more normal story line (if it can even be called "normal") and the return of Kai/Monica and their continuing courtship. Would have like to have seen more Tsukino, though.

[Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

And now we continue with Yakitate!! 25, this time with a relative of Monika Adenauer who can't seem to understand what it means to be a bread artisan like Kazuma.