Kazuma, vowing victory at the newcomers’ battle,
obtained a secret weapon for that purpose.
And then, he went to face the day of the newcomers’ battle finals.
Azuma Kazuma!
For being 5 minutes late, minus 5 points!
What?!
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?
Garbage and trash!!
Kazuma selected the worst possible butter!
Garbage and trash!!
Kazuma selected the worst possible butter!
I’ve done it once again...
Is what I’d like to say, but...
this time, we’re not using a system of point reductions.
I think that it is regrettable, but it’s a lifesaver for you, right?
What the...
Quit frightening me like that will ya, old man Kuroyanagi.
However!
I am still 22 years old!
I am telling you that I am not an old man!
If you say if once more, I’ll have you permanently banned from this industry!
Make sure to remember that!
Permanently banned?
Well then... I shall start with the explanations once again.
The finals consist of 16 participants from the A block
and 16 participants from the B block.
We will have the 32 finals participants fight for the championship in a tournament system.
However, 58 people have passed the preliminaries this time.
More than the expected number of people have passed.
Therefore, we will have another set of preliminaries.
Of the 58 candidates, we shall have 32 remaining.
And the topic for the second preliminaries is...
Hang on there for just a minute!
What is it with all of you?
Note: Tsugaru is an area in the Aomori prefecture up north.
I’m Umino Katsuo of the Tsugaru branch.
He looks like...
Unable to agree with the results of the preliminaries,
I’ve come all the way from Aomori.
These people here are also people
who aren’t satisfied with the results of the preliminaries.
Exactly!
Results
Garbage!!
With just this single slip of paper, asking us to be satisfied is ridiculous!
You've failed!
Results
Baldly!!
And I’m not even bald...
Yeah, that really is a cruel method of communication...
but it’s consistent with Kuroyanagi’s character.
Oh, the trash is not satisfied, eh?
Don’t make me laugh!
In that case, you may see it!
This is the disqualified result of what you trash have produced!
Can this be...?
You said that you were Umino Katsuo, right?
Come to think of it, I remember your bread really well.
Because, at the grading stage of the bread, it was that bread which left me...
Disgusting!
with the memory of the most unpleasant bread I’d ever tasted.
Making bread with vinegar, without considering the taste...
This attitude of thinking only of clearing the topic is...
the first piece of evidence of you being trash.
Also!
Naturally, if you’re using a highly volatile ingredient like vinegar or alcohol,
then the rectangular dinner bread made using a lid is expected.
However, the bread you made was
a mountain-shaped bread that forms by rising when no lid is used.
Note: Vinegar – an aqueous solution of acetic acid. The acidic component has high anti-microbial activity, and is often used as a preservative.
The percentage of vinegar decreases during preparation,
leading to a reduction of the anti-microbial effect...
Therefore, mold grew on it as well!
That is the second piece of evidence of you being trash.
You, holding two pieces of evidence of being trash, are...
trash amongst trash.
Royalty amongst trash.
the King of Trash!
Gan
Note: “Gan” is the sound made when you’re hit on the head with a large blunt object.
Those who are still left with any objections, step forward!
I’ll tell you exactly why you were disqualified.
Old man Kuroyanagi’s being his usual, severe self, isn’t he?
I mean, Mister...
Isn’t it all right?
To let them take the exam once again, that is.
What?
This fellow seems to have come all the way here from a considerable distance,
and I think the very fact that they’ve come here shows that they have guts.
Allowing them to take the exam just once more wouldn’t be...
Don’t kid around!
In what world would you find an examiner who says “right, right”
to guts, and overturns examination results?
I understand that I’m trash.
But give me just one more chance.
I’ll do anything.
This is annoying.
Throw out this trash!
Please!
Just once more!
I can’t return home like this.
I’ll do anything!
Hey, come on!
Amazing. He’s really got some amazing guts.
What in the world...?
Quiet down there, will ya?
Umino Katsuo, and the three others.
If you go so far as to say all that, then show us your determination!
Any one of you is fine.
Let’s see you eat that trashy bread.
If you can do that, I’ll think about it.
Like we could do something like that!
If we ate something like that, what we’d get wouldn’t end with just an upset stomach...
It’s unreasonable...
If you can’t do it, then leave!
It’s the obvious outcome of the exam results.
That’s too cruel.
Note: “Black demon” is a play on Kuroyyanagi’s name. “Kuro” = black. And “oni” = demon.
He’s a demon... A black demon!
Certainly, it’s just as the examiner says.
I didn’t think enough, so...
I ended up making... trashy bread.
This is it!
This is the moldy bread that I made.
He could identify his own bread by its smell...
His nose is...
D-Don’t tell me he seriously intends to eat it...
Mommy!
That’s enough!
Stop it.
This should be enough, right? Mister Kuroyanagi?
M-Mister?
He was seriously going to eat it.
That determination is impressive, isn’t it?
Either way, you’re going to do another preliminary, right?
Just one more chance should be fine, shouldn’t it?
Azuma Kazuma!
You...
You, a mere existence of a latecomer, dare to state an opinion to me, Kuroyanagi?
Shouldn’t it be all right?
Give him one more chance.
Meister Kirisaki...
flour milling
could not possibly be here!
Um... Manager...
It’s quite obviously not him, so...
The craftsmanship was perfect, but...
No, the problem must be my stubble, right?
Whatever...
Oh well, it’s like...
I didn’t think that you’d listen to what I’d say anymore, so...
Of course!
As far as I’m concerned, you and I were finished two years ago.
It’s troublesome for you to continue to consider me your student.
Kuroyanagi,
have you forgotten?
The most important thing as a baker.
What?
It’s your heart.
The most important things for us bakers...
are the heart, passion, guts, and fighting spirit!
Isn’t it enough?
That boy has a good heart.
You’ve forgotten even that, haven’t you?
Kuroyanagi?
Kuroyanagi, try and remember.
Weren’t you once in a situation like that little boy’s?
Wha...
Please wait!
Note: “Senpai” is a way of addressing an upperclassman.
Matsushiro-senpai!!
I beg you. Please!
Please make me a student of yours!
All right.
I wonder if I should expose it? You, squirming, down on your knees...
Are you blackmailing me?
You, squirming, down on your knees...
You, boy over there!
I’m telling you that in recognition of your guts,
you are given the right to take part in the second preliminary.
This should do, right, Matsushiro!
That will be fine.
It would be a waste to lose his strength at such an early point.
Thank goodness, right?
Ah, sorry, sorry.
Thank you very much.
Don’t worry about it.
But, why did you help me?
Because you look a lot like the pig, Sanpi, that we keep at home.
I can’t think of you as a stranger.
I really can’t like that reason...
Don’t worry about it.
However, that boy even
surprised me with his fierce spirit...
There was an unnecessary interruption.
We will begin the second preliminary now, as planned.
The topic for the second preliminary is...
butter rolls!
We will have 32 left out of the 59.
The time limit is 3 hours.
That’s really dull, isn’t it?
Shut up!!
You trash who don’t understand the value of a butter roll!
All right, listen carefully...
There are over 20,000 primary schools all over Japan.
School lunches are considered to be a model meal.
Within that, the butter roll, being a standard food item,
is always included in the menu once a month.
It’s the king of Japanese school lunches, so to speak!
I’m the King-roll.
Even within the Pantasia group, it’s amongst the 10 most profitable breads.
In other words,
it’s a bread that trash, newcomer bakers like you should be calling
Lord Butter Roll!
Do you understand, you trash?!
L-Lord Butter R-R-Roll?!
Here, we have set out what can be called the lifeline of the butter roll.
From A to H, there are 8 different varieties of butter set out here.
It ranges from the world’s best butter
to regular home consumption butter.
It doesn’t matter which you use, but...
Anyhow, the top 32 to make a delicious butter roll will be selected.
However, sampling the butter is prohibited.
We don’t need a baker in the main branch
who can’t determine the quality of butter without having to
taste them, one by one.
What butter you use, according to your judgement and knowledge,
will determine the results of this preliminary.
Azuma-san...
what’s this?
My secret weapon.
Tsukino, take care of it for me.
Eh? Secret weapon?
Hey!
What should I do?
Main Branch employees are exempt from preliminaries.
You are automatically included in the 32.
Just observe or something.
Observe?
All right.
It’s not a bad idea to just see how far those two have matured.
All of them appear to be the same butter.
What can possibly be different?
Certainly, if you can’t taste it,
then the criteria for judgement would be color and such...
In other words, its external appearance.
In that respect,
they’re all pretty similar.
I can’t be careless here.
I don’t really understand, anyway...
Okay, then... C!
I’ll just go with the C butter.
Give me that one.
What?
“Just go with,” he says...
Azuma Kazuma.
To think that you’d select C...
You fool!
With this, you’re done for as well.
That which you have chosen is...
Who is he?
He selected it, just like that...
Is that an amazing butter?
He said something like “I don’t understand, anyway...”
No! Saying that is a plan, so that we don’t copy him!
What?
Note: Kachuusha – a hairband, made famous in a Japanese song “Kachuusha no Uta,” by Nakayama Shimpei in a dramatization of Tolstoy’s “Resurrection.” The song was taken up by enka performers, who sang it on street corners, and is said to represent the birth of Japanese pop.
I just remembered, because of that hairband...
At the St. Pierre new product competition,
he was the fellow who came to a draw with the manager Mokoyama.
The one that was on television?
So that means, undoubtedly, that he’s considerably skillful.
I’ll have C, too.
Me, too.
For me as well!
C for me.
C, please.
Oh my...
Led by Kazuma, a lot of people are going for C, but...
is it really that good a butter?
Probably not, right?
Azuma is not the kind to lie.
If he says, “I don’t understand, anyway,” he probably really doesn’t know.
Well, if the number of competitors reduces quickly in this way...
it’s good for me, as it makes things easier, but...
What an idiot.
He’s not an animal,
so he can’t possibly figure out the butter by something like smell...
I’d like A.
W-What?
What’s with this confidence?
Did he really figure it out by its smell?
Note: Echire is a village in France, which is known for the excellence of the butter it produces. It has very unique pastures due to a special type of soil. The milk from cows grazing there gives the butter a different taste – subtle, fine, delicate, and of unique elegance.
A is the world’s best butter, Echire butter.
It certainly is a fragrant butter,
but to be able to discern that by smell...
Note: Truffle hunters in Italy and France use pigs and mixed-breed dogs to sniff out truffles (a very expensive variety of mushroom). Dogs are preferred to pigs because pigs love to eat the truffles.
In France, while looking for truffles in the mountains,
they are said to use pigs...
He’s really like that, isn’t he?
The fearful, pig-snouted man!
Almost everyone has chosen a butter.
Azuma’s already kneading the dough, is he?
Well, there is a time limit, so...
I should also decide soon, or else...
For now, that “snort snort” fellow seemed confident,
so let’s go with A...
This is already melting from the heat of the lights.
It’s like it’s mocking me for being indecisive for so long...
Oh well... after having waited for so long, all the other butters must have also...
W-What the...?
The G butter hasn’t melted at all.
I see... I’ve got it!
This is it... this is it!
It’s G. I’ll have G.
Huh? Kawachi chose the G butter, did he?
That’s butter with low water content.
Just as the name implies,
it has an overwhelmingly lower water content than other butters, and thus,
the taste of the bread is not overpowered and...
the weak point of the butter roll, its stickiness, is reduced.
In a way, it’s more suitable for the butter roll than the Echire butter.
He seems to have matured a little since that time, hasn’t he... Kawachi.
At any rate...
Azuma Kazuma,
I’m disappointed in you.
Even within A-H,
the one you chose is trash.
It’s a thing that can’t even be called butter.
Following Azuma,
the people who chose C will almost entirely fail.
I’m sorry, Suwabara...
but one of your goals
seems like he won’t even make it past the preliminaries.
Azuma-san seems to be proceeding at a fairly high pace.
I wonder if it’s okay...
At this rate, it’s probably bad.
Bad?
His butter roll has a fatal deficiency.
A fatal deficiency?
Azuma Kazuma,
learn from this.
How very fragile you are...
Until now,
your genius-like talent, and the things you were blessed with,
probably supported you as a baker.
However,
there’s one definitive trait that you lack as a baker.
That is... the knowledge required of a baker.
No matter how much of a talent you’ve been blessed with,
if you don’t have the knowledge required of a baker,
and haven’t worked extremely hard, you can’t possibly make a delicious bread.
It’s done!
W-W-What?!
It’s done already?
What? He’s already done baking it?
It smells good.
Oh, I see... that’s how he did it, eh?
What does this mean?
Baking a butter roll normally takes 15 minutes in its entirety.
However...
Azuma placed the dough in the oven only 3 minutes ago.
Having noticed your failure in choosing the butter,
have you decided to forfeit this challenge, as you couldn’t possibly have any prospects for victory?
Have you realized your worthlessness on your own?
It’s really fragrant. Perfect.
Yeah, my butter roll really is the best.
What?!
But it seems to have a vaguely different fragrance from the usual.
Oh well, it’s all right.
Hey, Ol... Mister Kuroyanagi.
It’s done already, so... I’ll leave you to the sampling.
Not possible, not possible.
I will do the judging after everyone is done.
Wait.
Is that so?
Oh well...
After using the absolute worst C butter,
there is absolutely no way that you can make a delicious butter roll.
You may have thought that making me sample it while
it was still freshly baked would cover up the taste a little...
But that’s not going to happen.
Winning or losing here is 100% determined right when you choose the butter.
However much you flail about, you’re going to fail.
Time is up.
All right, then. I’ll announce the people who’ve passed at this point.
Huh? What about sampling them?
This can’t be, can it?
What’s happening?
First, the 16 participants who chose G, the butter with low water content...
That’s me.
Congratulations on finding the most suitable, low water content butter for a butter roll.
There’s no need to even taste them.
You’ve all passed.
All right!
Yahoo!
We did it, didn’t we?
Such a little girl is also in the newcomers’ battle...
Moreover, she also chose G, did she?
No. Other than her and myself,
there were 14 other artisans who had the insight to choose G.
Just as expected of the people who passed the first preliminary.
To continue...
The next batch of people who’ve passed are the 13 people who chose A, or Echire butter.
That’s me.
I can’t call it better for making butter rolls than the low water content butter.
But that is, without a doubt, the world’s #1 butter.
Those of you who picked this also pass without complaint.
Everyone’s able to properly determine the difference between the butters, huh?
Someone like me has always used goat milk butter.
So, I couldn’t make out which one was the better butter at all.
Manager...
I wonder if Azuma-san’s okay?
I’m not worried at all.
But, earlier you...
The circumstances have changed.
No... he changed them.
What do you mean by, “the circumstances have changed?”
The trouble is whether that fool
Kuroyanagi will notice “that.”
What is “that?”
He has...
Azuma has created a miracle.
By his being stuck on the de-licious bread, his passion has...
turned a difficult situation into a chance!
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
I’m gonna win!
Plucking up his courage,
he kneads in a way that reminds him of his home in Aomori.
So, the next Yakitate Japan is:
Kazuma Disqualified!? Resurrection from the brink of death by Ultra C!
Kazuma disqualified!?
Resurrection from the brink of death by Ultra C!
Be sure to watch!
Yakitate Seeds of Knowledge!!
Everybody loves school lunches.
By the way, I love agepan, but that’s irrelevant!
Japanese school lunch was first served at Yamagata Elementary in 1890.