It has finally begun – the Pantasia newcomers’ battle.
A young girl, Azusagawa Mizuno, appeared before Kazuma.
She was Tsukino’s sister, but from a different mother.
Melon bread has been decided to be the theme for the first round of the finals.
Sumitomo
Koushi
Mizuno
Azusagawa
Kazuma
Azuma
Michiru
Andou
Mysteriously, Kazuma’s opponent in the first round of the finals was...
Mizuno.
Facing Mizuno, who wouldn’t address Tsukino as “nee-san,”
Kazuma proposed that if he was to win, she would have to call her sister “nee-san.”
Thereupon, Mizuno suggested the following if the opposite were to happen.
That’s fine, I’ll do it.
In exchange, if you lose,
I’ll have you come over to the New Tokyo Branch as an employee.
All right, then,
it’s a promise.
Hey, Azuma!
Don’t decide things so easily.
You don’t know anything about her skill...
Moreover, are you especially good at making melon bread?
Hmm... I’m kinda bad at it...
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?
Sorry for the wait!!
High on Melon Bread!
Sorry for the wait!!
Meron-meron with melon bread!
When you say you’re bad at it, you mean that you’re bad at it, right?
Yeah, I’m bad at it.
T-That’s not good!
Even now, I wonder if we can’t cancel this promise...
Ah! But considering her personality, it’s really, really...
What is it?
You think that I’d lose, Tsukino?
No, that’s not it, but...
Well...
I...
I don’t want to lose you, Azuma-san.
Don’t worry.
I’ll always be an employee at the Southern Tokyo Branch.
A-Azuma-san...
Naive!
At the New Tokyo Branch that Mizuno works at,
they use the pulp from the highest grade muskmelon,
Note: Muskmelon – often called cantaloupe, this term includes both the orange and green varieties of melon we see in grocery stores.
and have made a highly popular melon bread, surpassing even that of the Main Store.
The 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m. batches
are famous for being sold out as soon as they are on sale.
And they sell as many as 800 of them in a day!
It’s not surprising for Tsukino to be worried.
I-Is it... really that popular?
I guess I really am worried.
Azuma-san!
This is bad...
After making a promise like that,
we can’t really run away now.
At this rate... Azuma will... really...
I’ll just intrude a little.
Ah! There he is!
Hey, kid! I was looking for you!
Actually, the other day...
W-Why? Why?
Did something bad happen?
Azusagawa Mizuno
Azuma Kazuma
So, that is... in other words...
If you lose the melon bread challenge to that Mizuno girl,
the kid’ll have to move to another store.
Is that the problem?
Yeah.
It’s a serious issue.
Why, why?
Well then, it’s all fine if you win, right?
Yeah, but...
This moron’s bad at making melon bread, which is the topic.
Why?
Because, you see... I don’t quite understand it.
What melon bread is...
Why is it melon bread?
Note: Azuma is confused, as melon bread does not usually have any melon in it. Melon is prohibitively expensive in Japan to put into melon bread, which normally sells for approximately 100 yen.
You moron!
Does this have anything to do with it at such a time?
That’s right, kid.
Even I don’t ever wonder why cucumber sushi’s called “kappamaki.”
Note: “kappa” (河童) - water demon found on river beds; “kappamaki” (河童巻) - cucumber sushi wrapped in nori (seaweed). Obviously they’re not related to each other.
But that has nothing to do with it, right?
The New Tokyo Branch seems to be using real melon pulp.
In that case, it wouldn’t be odd to call it melon bread.
Should we also use fruit pulp?
That’s true, but...
Actually... Somehow, I...
can’t really like the bread itself.
Yeah... it’s not like I don’t understand that feeling.
Manager?
Melon bread is, so to speak, a Japan.
Just like an-pan and cream-pan, if was born in Japan.
It is, without a doubt, an original Japanese bread.
However, on top of that, due to pressures in history,
there’s an incomplete portion which remains within it.
An incomplete portion?
As you know, melon bread has cookie dough covering the bread dough,
bread dough
cookie dough
and the two of them are baked together, just like that.
But traditionally, in order to thoroughly bake cookie dough,
you need three times the amount of time you need for bread dough.
In other words, with the present manufacturing process,
if you bake it so as not to burn the bread dough, the cookie dough is left underbaked...
and if you bake the cookie dough well enough, then the bread dough will be burnt black.
You can’t sell bread that’s burnt black.
That’s why most bakeries sell melon bread with the cookie dough
Melon-pan
on the surface underbaked, so as not to burn the bread dough.
This is the “incomplete portion.”
It’s true that the cookie dough portion of melon bread should be baked a little more...
Fresh Melon pan
If you were to eat it fresh from food carts, as is popular in Kansai right now, it’d be fine...
But, if even a little time passes,
the underbaked cookie dough absorbs water, and its consistency becomes sticky.
If we were to find a way to conquer that incomplete portion,
we might win!
Perhaps!
However, while our history in bread has not been long...
melon bread has been around
and has been acknowledged since the 6th year of the Showa period.
Note: Showa (昭和) period - 1926-1989 CE. Therefore, Showa’s 6th year is 1931.
It’s been about 70 years since then.
It’s not an easy thing, as many an artisan has tried and
failed at giving birth to a method to fix this defect.
70 years...
This is bad...
That dark atmosphere’s coming back...
There’s no point in thinking about such gloomy things all the time...
I’ll cheer you up in a minute.
Hey, kid! The other day, I couldn’t offer you anything but wasabi, right?
It’s unacceptable to be thought of as stingy, so...
I have plenty of toppings and rice ready today.
Don’t be shy and eat until you’re full, okay?
Here you go.
Delicious!
De-licious!
u-mai!
Tuna!
Okay!
Hairtail!
Here you go.
Botan’ebi!
Note: Botan’ebi is a type of a shrimp that is very sweet.
Okay!
What happened?
Is it not tasty?
It’s sushi!
Huh? Of course it is!
It’s sushi!
Wh-What was that?
He seems to have gone off somewhere...
And how can you people be eating so calmly?
Is it okay to leave him?
Oh, yeah.
It happens all the time.
In a way, when Azuma suddenly runs off somewhere like that,
it’s okay to assume that everything’s all right.
Is that so?
Sir, salmon roe, please!
Salmon roe...
Sir, one more!
Huh? Mizuno!
What are you trying to do?
It’s not good to have a monopoly on delicious things, Tsukino-san.
Y-You’re...
That’s why I’m going to have you share Kazu-kun as well.
I’ll gobble him up quickly, just like the salmon roe.
Like I’d let you do something like that!
This is payment for the salmon roe, okay?
This is...
The melon we usually use at the store. Try eating it.
Ah, but for tomorrow’s challenge,
I’ll be using one that’ll put this melon to shame, so...
with that in mind...
Bye, see ya tomorrow!
Let’s go, Koala!
Mizuno seems to be really confident, doesn’t she?
I’m sure that this melon is an absurdly delicious melon.
Tomorrow, they’ll challenge us with a melon that’s much better than this one.
In other words, this is a demonstration, right?
Let’s eat it and see...
All righty...
This melon even looks delicious.
And this fragrance...
I can’t be patient anymore!
D-Delicious!
The moment you place it in your mouth it melts, its sweetness spreading all over.
This is the first time in my life that I’ve had such a delicious melon.
No!
Don’t call this a melon!
The melons I’ve been eating so far have been...
Stop right there!
That was close...
Ah! A melon whose skin I almost ate...
Tomorrow’s melon is ever tastier than...?!
That’s impossible!
It’s not possible to stand up to such a delicious melon.
We definitely can’t stand up to them in terms of fruit pulp.
That’s right. If Azuma wants to win,
he has to complete the incomplete portion of melon bread...
No, there’s a way besides that...
Azuma-san!
Tsukino!
Y-Yes?
Please go out with me!
Huh? Y-Yes?
Gourmet Mart
I ended up going out with him, but...
Ah, umm... Azuma-san...
Umm... what are we doing here?
Could this really be...
What? Isn’t it obvious?
Could this really be a da... da... da...?
We’re shopping for ingredients.
I forgot to bring money, so I had you come with me.
Is that the case?
I don’t mind, but...
what in the world are you trying to make?
Japan.
Japan #58. Melon sushi bread!
melon
sushi
Melon sushi bread?!
Huh?
Ah, it’s there, it’s there. That’s it.
Hmm? I guess this’ll do.
What?!
Azuma-san, I believe in you...
That you can’t possibly lose.
But...
But, is if okay to use that?!
The next day
All right, then...
From now onwards, the 30th newcomers’ finals will begin.
The people assigned to the A group, quickly go to your designated work places.
That’s me!
Azuma!
Win this one.
Rock!
You moron! This isn’t rock-paper-scissors.
You really are...
Azuma’s tendency to be out of it just continues to increase.
Ah, that hurt.
Oh, I’m sorry...
Oh, no. I’m sorry, too.
Motohashi
Hey...
You’ll remember the promise, right?
Hmm?
If I win, you’d better address Tsukino as “nee-chan.”
Whatever...
And Kazu-kun, if you lose, you’ll be my employee, all right?
Everyone is at their stations, right?
Well then, the first round of the finals for the A group... hereby begins!
By the way, miss...
Yes?
What was it that Azuma bought?
Umm, that was... umm...
Huh? What, you think that I might copy it or something?
I wasn’t thinking of something like that at all.
Because... what Azuma-san bought was...
Can you win with something like that?
Who knows...
W-What?
Amazing...
That looks like a really expensive melon...
It’s probably worth 100 times the price of Azuma’s melon.
This melon is of the highest grade, grown through isolated bed cultivation.
We use if sparingly at the store, but...
Today, we’ll go all the way, using only this pulp, 100%.
How very extravagant...
I want to eat it just like that...
Note: Play on the “Suritsubusu”. Means “to pulverize or mash.” However, it can also mean “to lose a fortune.”
To pulverize an expensive melon like that...
It’s something that could never have been possible in my poverty stricken life.
It’s something that’s definitely impossible at the Southern Tokyo Branch.
Even without tasting it, we can tell that it’ll be an extravagantly delicious bread.
I think the distance between that and Azuma’s item
is like the distance between heaven and earth, but...
will it be all right, Azuma?
Huh... to have the time to be worried about other people...
you sure have it easy there, Kawachi...
Suwabara!
But, aren’t you in the A group as well?
What happened to the match?
My opponent ran off in the middle of the night for some reason.
So, I won by default.
Is that so?
He looks lonely from the back.
What’s with him? He’s using two ovens!
Does he plan to make large quantities?
All right, while that’s being done...
Two ovens, eh?
I don’t know what the bluff is,
but it won’t work against me.
Two ovens...
It’s done.
All right!
It looks like everyone in the A block is done, right?
I will begin the judging!
Victor: Atsumasu!
All right!
Huh? Kuroyanagi’s encouraging the loser!
He’s not going to call him trash, eh?
I guess finals participants are really different.
Even if they’ve lost, they’re amongst the top 30 of the newcomers.
Trash, trash, trash, trash, trash. Go back. Trash, trash, trash...
Please spare me...
Next!
Yo, welcome.
Wha...?
Yo, welcome. The old... the young sir over there.
What will you have?
What are you trying to pull?
However, asking that isn’t much good, as we only have melon bread.
I’m asking you what you’re trying to pull!
What? Melon bread?
This is...?
All right, then. One melon bread coming up...
W-What the?
Azuma-san, what are you...?
Combine!
All right, sorry for the wait!
One melon bread, all done.
Sushi? That’s the answer to the sushi?
That’s the melon sushi bread?
This is melon bread?
He joined the earlier pieces together, almost like sushi...
Another outrageous bread...
Hmm? This is...
He’s baked the cookie and bread separately,
and put melon-colored cream in the middle, eh?
But, why do something so troublesome?
If I let down my guard here, I’ll suffer damage again.
All right.
Let’s go.
O-Oh no!
I guess it came, after all!
MELON!!
This is how he paints its deliciousness, eh?
There’ve been times I’ve thrown my head back,
but to think that it’s to this extent...
Melon bread is made by simultaneously baking the cookie dough,
which takes time to bake, and the bread dough, which requires only a third of the time to bake.
Because of that, it’s always a little underbaked, and you get a sticky consistency.
This is even called the incomplete portion of melon bread,
and many artisans have tried to aim for its completion and piled on failures,
but now, truly, an answer to it has...
A perfect melon bread is here!
Also known as Japan #58.
I don’t know of such a silly name.
How mean...
This is why you used two ovens earlier, right?
Yeah.
To bake the cookie dough and the bread dough,
which have different baking times, in separate ovens...
and to put melon-flavored cream in between as if it were wasabi,
piling them together like sushi!!
Victor: Azuma Kazuma!
Hang on, time out!
You still haven’t tasted my melon bread!
If it’s the New Tokyo Branch’s melon bread, then I’ve tasted it many times.
There’s no need to try it again now.
That’s not right!
This melon bread’s made with the highest grade muskmelon,
with a sugar content of over 15% and costing 15,000 apiece.
Also, I’m using twice the amount of pulp that we use for the melon bread in the store.
It’s obviously much more delicious than the standard bread in the New Tokyo Branch.
Ah. It must be really delicious.
See? You think so, right?
However!
It’s the melon that’s delicious!
Challenge him with the bread!
Azuma-san...
Mizuno!
You had promised. Address Tsukino as “nee-chan.”
Azuma-san...
Okay.
I’ll address her like that,
so in return, come to the New Tokyo Branch, Kazu-kun.
I’ll pay you twice what you receive now.
Moreover, I’ll fawn all over you.
I don’t need those things!
I have the Southern Tokyo Branch.
I’m perfectly happy with that.
Is that woman really that good?
You’re an idiot!
Hey, wait!
I’ll have my Koala-chan take my revenge for me,
so until then, the promise is on hold!
Hey!
Don’t just change the promise like that!
It’s all right, Azuma-san.
Tsukino! But...
It’s already settled with Azuma-san not having to go anywhere.
It’s enough with just that...
But if she doesn’t keep her promise then, what we talked about in the beginning...
That’s true, but...
to think that the melon cream made from
the 120 yen can of melon juice surpassed the pulp from the 15,000 yen melon...
When Tsukino told me, I thought he was a moron...
But imagination’s the mother of bread.
It’s not something so cheap as to be created just for a higher price.
By the way, Kawachi...
Are things all right over at your end?
Melon bread’s a specialty of mine.
In addition, I now have these Solar Gauntlets.
I’m invincible!
Note: “Oni ni kanabou” literally means “a demon with an iron club.” It’s used to describe someone or something that is invincible.
That’s not a tool to satisfy your self-conceit, Kawachi!
Now everybody move
Can you get a little somethin'
Got to do
So better believe in
Better believe in
Better believe in yourself
C'mon!
"D-r-e-a-m"
"Dream"
Kono mune ni dekkaku tsuyoku
On this chest, big and strong
Hikari kagayaite makenai manazashi
A look that glitters and doesn't lose.
Tesaguri de sagashita kaze n naka
That's what I searched for, fumbling in the wind.
Kotae nanka mada Un...
The answer for now is...
ima wa mada Chance ukagatte matsu I got shitatakasa
For now, I'll watch the situation and wait for a chance. I got the patience to wait at a distance.
Sakenderu dake no Prisoner ja dame da
A prisoner who just screams is no good.
Just Follow Me! toki ni kata kasu kara
Just Follow Me! I'll lend you my shoulder occasionally.
Yo got
"D-i-g-g-y"
"Step into tha game"
It ain't nothin' nobody can say
'Cuz I neva can let my dream get away un
Kesshite hakanai yume ja nai
It's by no means a fleeting dream.
kono omoi todokeyou Heart to Heart, Soul to Soul
Let this sentiment reach you. Heart to Heart, Soul to Soul.
meguru kisetsu Spring Storm no you ni goukai
The seasons turn. Splendid as a spring storm.
Win Big ga motto
Win Big is the motto.
Some say, "Nothin' lasts forever"
eien no mono wa hatashite aru no darouka?
Does a thing like eternity really exist?
Dakara oretachi wa C'mon
And so we... C'mon.
Sou sa oretachi wa kirameku shunkan wo furu ni ikiteitainda
Yeah, yeah, we live to touch the one shining moment.
With all tha love
1-2 S.O. Cru
Stay true to you
So, what you gonna do? C'mon!
Now everybody move
Can you get a little somethin'
Got to do
So better believe in
Better believe in
Better believe in yourself
oikaze riyoushite kyou to tatakae ALL THA SOLDIERS
To all the soldiers fighting today using the tail wind...
Better believe in
Better believe in yourself
Next Episode
Next, it’s my turn!
It’s easy going with my Solar Gauntlets.
Don’t let down your guard, Kawachi!
Your opponent possesses “a mother’s hand!”
What?!
Next time on Yakitate Japan.
Delii-cious!!
The trap of the yakisoba bread!
Note: Yakisoba bread – bread that contains fried soba (buckwheat) noodles.
Delii-cious!!
The trap of the yakisoba bread!
Be sure to see it!
Yakitate!! Seed of knowledge.
Mizuno’s highest grade melon is grown by isolated bed cultivation.
Note: Isolated bed cultivation – cultivation allowing only one fruit to grow per plant such that it gets all of the nutrition available to it. Nutrient content of the soil is carefully monitored and usually is carried out in greenhouse conditions.
Highest grade melon
isolated bed cultivation
It’s an amazing cultivation technique, so, I’d like to explain in detail, but...
even I find it impossible in 15 seconds.
Check up on it yourself!
Huh!?