The Middle Ages.
A war-torn period in which European countries were in conflict over religions and customs.
The people named their own staple food, bread, after their native lands,
and used it to measure its origin.
English bread, German bread, French bread,
and other breads bearing their country’s name were born.
Now, in the 21st century, on a small island country in Asia...
Even here in Japan, there is a boy attempting to create a unique bread.
But in order to do that...
Yeah!
It’s finally complete!
he needed Solar Hands.
Jii-chan, Baa-chan, have some of this.
My latest...
Huh?
Where’d everyone go?
It’s a burglar! Save me!
Kazuma, this isn’t the time to be baking bread.
We’re going to be late for the bullet train.
S-Sis!
Oh! That’s right.
I was going to Tokyo today.
Jeez, you’re so troublesome.
My bread! My bread!
I-I’m scared!
We’re just taking a little shortcut.
Hold on tight!
Trees!
Watch out!
I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry.
I’m going to die!
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Ah, they’re here.
What were you doing at a time like this?
He was just calmly baking bread.
I’m alive, somehow.
It’s freshly baked, people. Please have some.
Oh, a new creation?
It looks like regular an-pan though.
Note: “An-pan” is a bread filled with “anko,” a sweet bean paste. Also known as “azuki”.
Delicious!
It’s delicious, better than #54.
I wrapped the azuki you cooked for me in a special bread.
The natural sweetness of the wheat and anko are blending gracefully.
I saw Japan for an instant!
Well of course, the bread I make is Japanese bread, Japan.
Note: “Japan” is a pun, a combination of “Japanese” and “pan,” which means bread.
This is Japan #55!
There’s English bread, German bread, and French bread,
but Japan’s bread, Japan, does not exist.
In that case, there’s no choice but to create it.
This story is a serious, biographical ballad of a boy who possesses Solar Hands,
Azuma Kazuma, who will create a Japanese bread made by and for the Japanese people,
which can be presented to the world proudly.
Somewhere far away, there are people listening carefully.
dokoka tooku de mimi wo sumashiteru hito ga iru
Yakitate!! Japan
Translated by: Anime-Empire
In every place, there are people looking up at the sky.
arayuru basho de sora wo miageteru hito ga iru
Under the night sky, we, who are whistling...
yozora no shita de kuchibue fuiteru bokutachi wa
without words, are just tracing constellations with our fingers.
kotoba mo nai mama yubi de tada seiza wo nazotteru
The dreams of the cold-sensitive... Your cold hands...
samugariya no yume tsumetai kimi no te
The warming magic is to believe in one path.
atatameru mahou wa hitotsu no michi wo shinjiru koto
The single star found on the other side of the comet cloud...
houkigumo no mukou ni mitsuketa hitotsubu no hoshi wa
whether it be a shining or a faint star...
kagayaku hoshi demo kasukana hoshi demo
is the light of only you.
kimi dake no hikari
On the other side of the cloud in your heart,
mune no kumo no mukou ni mienai mama no michishirube
is a sign post that remains unseen.
Now, opening these hands, what will you believe in today?
saa kono te wo hiraite ima nani wo shinjimasuka?
The boy who possesses Solar Hands!
He has arrived!!
Well, I’ll be going then.
You’re really going away.
To become a baker immediately after graduating from middle school...
You’re a curious grandson.
But to think he would be employed by a really famous bakery that competes with the best,
it’s incredible! Yeah!
If you’re sent back with complaints,
I’ll beat you!
O-okay.
Kazuma,
this is from me.
Thank you, Baa-chan.
This really is goodbye... to your warm hands, too.
Niigata
Time flies, doesn’t it?
It’s been about 10 years since our breakfast became bread.
Yep.
That’s something which happened 10 years ago.
It was back when I, Azuma Kazuma, was only six years old.
Mama.
That’s displeasing, call me Okaa-chan.
Okaa-chan, I’d like some bread for a change.
Don’t utter such foolishness! You’re asking a rice farmer to have bread for breakfast?!
Our family’s the only one still saying that.
At my classmate Manami-chan’s place, they all eat bread with their meals.
Well, they grow wheat there, too.
That isn’t the problem, Baa-chan!
Say, Kazuma, what do you think?
I like the rice we grow here.
Bread is all dried-out, I don’t like it.
Oh?
I’m going to die!
Nee-chan, I’m going to die!
You only say that because you’ve never eaten tasty bread.
I’ll make you try some real bread now, so be prepared!
I’ve fallen, I’ve fallen, Onee-chan!
Oh?
Huh, was there a place like this here?
Come on! Hurry up and stand.
It’s a windmill!
And a reindeer!
It’s like...
a toy store.
Those are all edible.
Because they’re bread.
Good morning, Mister!
Good morning.
This is my little brother, Kazuma.
Welcome, Kazuma-kun.
Y-Yeah.
But I really am surprised...
All of these are made of bread.
Mister,
I’d like this dinner bread.
Thank you for your business.
Kazuma-kun.
This is...
the taste of...
real bread!
Ouch!
That was delicious!
Ouch...
You understand now, right?
The reason why I want our daily food to be bread.
How do you make such tasty bread?
Would you like to watch me make bread?
Really? Is that okay?
Inaho-chan, what about school?
I’m going to be late! Please take care of this kid!
Want to see?
Yeah!
Okay?
Flour and sugar, salt, butter, yeast germ, water,
non-fat milk, and milk all are mixed together.
If starts off sticky,
but after about five minutes, glutin is produced, and it settles.
After kneading it for 12 to 15 minutes,
you round it.
You let this ferment until it expands to many times its size.
What’s “ferment?”
Well, it’s a bit complicated, but...
It’s when microbes such as yeast and bacteria break down organic matter,
producing carbon dioxide, which causes it to expand.
Would you like to try it up to this stage?
Yeah, let’s do it!
Hey, you have strong muscles.
By the way, your Onee-san seems to like bread, but what about you?
Yeah!
I just started liking it.
But I still prefer rice.
You’re a very outspoken boy.
I’m an honest person!
I see, I see. I’m sorry.
To tell you the truth, I’m a rice man, too.
I love rice.
What? But this is a bakery!
Then why did you become a baker?
Well, let’s see...
Rice tastes good to eat, but bread is fun to make.
For Japanese people, I don’t think bread can beat rice as the staple.
But one day, I’d like to create a bread that surpasses rice in taste.
Namely, Japan.
A Japanese bread that can be presented to the world proudly.
To create that is my dream.
Bread that tastes better than rice... Japan.
I want to eat it!
But although I say that...
Before that dream is realized,
this shop may be gone.
I studied a lot of things in France,
and succeeded well as an artisan over there.
But you know,
to make the Japan dream come true,
I had to return to Japan.
Thinking I would make my hometown my destination,
I set up store here, which was fine...
But due to the nature of this locality, my bread won’t sell!
They’re this tasty, but they won’t sell?
Although telling you these things won’t do much good...
Would you like some juice or something...?
Leave it to me.
Leave it to me!
I will get Jii-chan to like bread, and increase your customers.
I’ll give him your bread.
K-Kazuma-kun...
Customers, huh?
I’m grateful, but truthfully, this store is already...
Oh?
This is the dough Kazuma-kun was kneading until just now...
It can’t be...
That boy’s hands are...
What’s this?!
What happened to my rice?! My rice?!
Kazuma and Inaho...
they got us good.
Jii-cnan!
This is toast!
Please try it, even if only once!
I promise it’ll taste good.
Kazuma...
this was all Inoha’s idea, right?
You really like rice, don’t you?
Eat it!
Kazuma has betrayed me...
Note: “Nattou” is fermented soybeans, typically served over rice.
Hieko-san, give me my usual nattou and miso soup.
Jii-chan!
Don’t get me wrong, grandchildren! I’ll eat the toast or whatever.
But I cannot part with the nattou and miso soup that I have every morning!
They don’t go together!
Of course they don’t!
Your dream of toast is still just a dream.
No way...
If you really must make toast our breakfast,
then bring me toast that goes with nattou and miso soup!
End of story!
Toast that goes with nattou and miso soup... That’s definitely impossible.
Jii-chan is a rice lover by nature.
Baa-chan said so.
At the end of the war, the supplies from the American army
were just lousy hardtacks and rolls.
To be able to fill his stomach with rice again someday,
that was Jii-chan’s dream.
Because he had such feelings,
the rice grown from Jii-chan’s rice fields is so delicious.
To give bread to that Jii-chan...
Toast that goes with nattou and miso soup...?
It might not be impossible.
What?
You can do it?
To begin with, bread is purposefully designed...
to have the potential to go with any given type of meal.
The idea, and love, would create the ultimate hidden taste.
Kazuma-kun.
You will create Japan for your ojii-chan.
I will create Japan?
Yes. Japan that people like your ojii-chan will approve of.
I want to test how far my bread will go.
But for that, I need your power.
I’ll do it!
Good.
Way to go, Kazuma.
By the way, Inaho-chan, what about school?
Late again! I’ll leave the rest to you, Mister!
Flour and sugar, salt, egg, butter, yeast germ, water, non-fat milk...
and then...
let’s put this in, instead of milk.
What’s that?
A little hidden taste.
Now, Kazuma-kun, knead it with all you’ve got.
Right!
The fermentation’s speed is different from normal, just as I thought.
There’s no mistaking it.
Kazuma-kun possesses those hands.
Even amongst the first-class bread artisans of France,
they’re said to be very rare.
Those magical hands.
This kid has those hands...
Come on, give it some more work.
Okay!
That’s good! Just like that.
Completed 2nd fermentation
Final fermentation
Split the dough into four pieces, and put them in that pan.
Try not to let it lose its shape.
After putting it in the proofer like this for final fermentation,
bake it in a 220°C oven for 45 minutes, then it’s done.
Wow.
This is splendid, Kazuma-kun.
With your hands, a miracle is sure to happen.
I don’t see any change.
I’d rather not remember such a horrible taste.
Hieko-san, white rice...
Just eat it!
Very well.
If this time tastes so bad again that I feel like dying, I won’t hear of it ever again.
I will not forgive any mention of the word “bread” around here!
Fine!
God, be with me...
T-This can’t be...
Note: This is a play on words, “nattou” (fermented soybeans) followed by “nattoku,” which means approval.
I ate nattou, and I approve!
Mito Nattou
Note: Wordplay hidden in this prayer incantation, “kami no misoshiru” means “miso soup of the gods”.
Mizoshirumunmatau kaminomizoshiru...
Oh my god!
Test... Toast!
Watch out!
Nattou miso soup!
Here you are!
Not half bad.
It’s not bad!
What’s going on?
We did it!
Yeah!
Why does it taste so good?
Of course it tastes good!
Because it’s bread made especially for you, Jii-chan.
Kazuma...
For... me...
Kazuma...
Mister!
Hey, Kazuma-kun.
Well, that’s really great.
Your ojii-chan was happy, wasn’t he?
Yeah!
By the way, what was that stuff you put in instead of milk?
That was soymilk.
Soymilk?
Nattou, miso soup, and soymilk, too... They’re all made from the soybean.
That’s why the matching was perfect.
I see.
But you know...
What made it possible to bring out so much good flavor from the soymilk toast...
were those magical hands of yours.
It’s because you have Solar Hands.
“Solar Hands?”
You see, bread doesn’t ferment unless it’s warm.
So, the temperature inside the shop is set to about 30°C.
But you know...
No matter how superb the air conditioning equipment you use to warm it is,
the temperature of a person’s hands doesn’t change.
That’s why, at the center of production in France,
they call warm hands like yours Solar Hands.
Kazuma-kun,
I’ve decided to go to Tokyo.
H-Huh?
In order to give birth to Japan, and spread it all over the country,
it has to be done in Tokyo, after all.
When I returned from France...
To be honest, I didn’t have the confidence to manage in Tokyo, so I ran to my hometown.
I left something precious behind in order to come back, too...
But, it’s different now.
Watching you try so hard...
I cannot lose, either. That’s what I thought.
Will I... ever see you again?
Well...
If you aspire to be a baker from now on,
and are able to continue pursuing your dream of Japan...
we may be able to meet again one day.
10 years have passed...
To tell the truth, I don’t exactly remember his face anymore.
However, those words I still remember clearly, even now.
And I’m still chasing after my Japan.
Soymilk bread was...
my Japan creation #1.
Producing one after another since that time,
I’ve now reached #55.
Here, at the center of Japan, Tokyo,
I’ll start with #56.
My battle to find the new Japan will begin!
No matter how many if takes before I’m finished...
I’ll definitely make it!
Whoa!
That’s a huge store!
This is Japan’s number one bakery...
Pantasia!
Okay!
Hello!
I’m counting on you from today on!
I’m Azuma Kazuma.
Azuma Kazuma, eh?
You’re five minutes late.
O-Oh... I’m sorry.
Five point deduction.
Huh?
Late, apparently.
That guy’s already down to half, and hasn’t even done anything yet.
I guess it’s over for him.
Moron.
I’ll beat him.
He came all this way, too...
It’s unfortunate.
Got it, people?
This examination uses a point deduction system.
You begin with 10 points.
If you lose all your points, you’ll be disqualified.
If you’re disqualified, gather your belongings and go home.
Understand?
What the...?
In that case, we’ll begin the Pantasia main store’s new employee examination.
All of you, line up on one side.
What are you doing?
Don’t be slow, kid with only five points.
Huh?
I’m the person in charge of this examination, Kuroyanagi Ryou.
Pantasia’s Tokyo main store new employee recruitment
will be decided by the trials to follow.
However, there will be only one chosen out of the 35 here.
One?
Whoa, this is really serious.
But oh well, I’ll just do my best until the end.
Yeah!
That confidence...
Perhaps that person...
has the legendary Solar Hands...
I won’t lose!
I’ll fight with Japan!
Azuma Kazuma’s battle for Japan...
begins now!
If I think of you, and even utter the clichéd phrase “I love you,”
tsukaifurusareta “aishiteru” mo kimi wo omotte kuchi ni sureba
it makes such a nice sound, and you continue talking.
konna ni suteki na hibiki ni naru soshite kimi wa shaberi tsuzukeru
The hopeless tears your bold self sometimes shows me form flag of truce.
tsuyogari na kimi ga tokodoki miseru hakanage na namida nya shirohata desu
If nothing is said, then all the more,
nani mo iwanakerya iwanai dake ni
I just can’t look away. Things like sadness and pain...
yosomi nante dekinaindayo kanashimi dano kurushimi dano
Well, that happens a lot in life, after all.
sorya ikiterya yappari iroiro aru kedo
When you casually say, “Do your best,” it gives me strength.
nanigenaku kimi ga iu “ganbatte” ni chikara moratteruyo
Whenever your small back trembles, I will embrace you right away.
moshimo chiisana senaka furueru toki ni wa boku ga sugu dakishimeru kara
Even if the scenery outside my window changes...
mado kara mieru keshiki kawatte ittemo
Stay with me as you are, bad sleeping habits and all.
neguse no hidoi kimi no mama de soba ni ite
If you sulk, and utter
tsukaifurusareta “daikirai” mo
Even the clichéd “I hate you,” it comes across as the opposite.
kimi ga fukurete kuchi ni sureba hantai no imi ni kikoeruno sa
I will love you, no matter what. It’s just another Sunday to me.
donna toki datte aishiteru itsumo to onaji sunday
Next Episode
In that case, we’ll begin the Pantasia main store’s new employee examination.
I’ll fight with Japan!
What’s Japan?
Is this guy gonna be okay?
Next episode, Yakitate!! Japan.
Maharajah!! The day Mount Fuji fell!
Maharajah!!
The Day Mount Fuji Fell!
Be sure to see it!
Yakitate!! Seed of knowledge.
Slices of bread are not counted with “ikko” or “niko”.
We count them with “ikkin” and “nikin.”
Kin
“Kin” has been used since the time of ancient China, and is a unit of weight!
Wow!