Yakitate!! Japan: Bread is Where it's At

This is a series that I avoided for quite a while. Who would think a series about bread could be good? I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. Because of that, I ignored the series completely, not even researching it in the slightest. Then when a friend told me the main character had a special power of sorts, I realized it might be more interesting than I had originally thought. Within the last week, I have watched the first 47 episodes and I can safely say I have dangerously misjudged the series.

The anime starts out with 16 year old Azuma Kazuma, a young and naive baker with a big dream. He wants to make Japan, a type of bread made in Japan for Japan (pan=bread in Japanese). With the "solar hands" (warmer than normal hands) he has a natural ability to make good bread. Because of this, he is the typical shonen hero, lending his achievements mainly to his natural ability.

The series relies on puns and cheesy reactions from eating bread. For some reason, people enter an alternate world in their mind after eating a really delicious bread, going to great lengths to explain something trivial about the bread. Since the puns and reactions don't translate well into any language other than Japanese, I do not find them very funny with the exception of a few.

So if I don't enjoy the main selling point of the series, why am I still sticking with it? It's simple. Despite being devoid of action for the most part, this series follows the shonen formula to a fault. The main character has a dream and an innate ability, growing with each new cooking battle. Most importantly, the cooking battles have a certain format. That's right, they are all in tournaments! The very lifeblood of the genre is present in this series.

When I finish the anime, I will move on to the manga. While there seems to be mixed information whether the series is finished or not, I intend to see it through to the end. I feel like this series has opened up a lot of doors for me. I will definitly attempt many shonen series despite being devoid of action from now on.