Ryuusei Noodles
It’s done!
dles
Noo
Let’s see...
That’s amazing!
How do you do that, Kawachi?
Like I’d know...
Note: In case you didn’t notice in the last episode, there’s no prefecture by the name of Kansai in Japan. It refers to the whole southwestern part of Japan.
Kansai-prefecture person, you’ve improved even more, haven’t you?
With this, you might win, yeah, you might.
Yes!
Hairband person too, a little improvement, so I give 2nd class official certification.
You give approval?
There’s no prefecture named Kansai, but...
you did it, didn’t you, Azuma?
Yeah.
But, you know, at that level...
Huh?
I really don’t think you can win against Shachihoko.
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 best possible team!!
We’re going to win with Onono Komachi-san!
The best possible team!
We’re going to win with Onono Komachi-san!
No matter how good your noodles are,
your opponent has the famous
Nagoya’s local chicken, Kouchin, and the strong-tasting Koumi sauce.
Unless you prepare some scheme as well, it’s no good.
A fundamental scheme, huh?
Oh, yeah!
Ryuu-san, I think that...
Like this... and like that... and then go with that...
Oh! That’s amazing, I’m sure it’ll go well.
You think so?
However, I think that you could win without doing something like that.
Even so, Manager has taught me that...
Letting your guard down is your worst enemy.
Blood had gone to your head.
You need to have the spirit to go with all you have,
without falling back, no matter who your opponent may be.
I don’t have an innate talent like that moron Azuma.
For that very reason,
I have no choice but to desperately face up to any opponent with all that I have.
Anyhow, for this second round, my B group goes tomorrow.
And Azuma’s A group goes the day after tomorrow.
I’ll definitely win and come back.
You work hard in order to win, too.
Okay.
B group
The day of the 2nd round
B group.
I shall begin the judgement for the second round.
Victor: Umino Katsuo.
Yeah!
Way to go! I worked really hard.
The sniff-sniff boy made it this far, eh?
So that means...
Umino Katsuo
Kawachi Kyousuke
I’ll be going against him next time.
However, that’s only if I win against this guy.
I won’t lose.
Tosa Branch
Chousokabe Makoto
Note: Tosa (土佐) is a city in the Kouchi (高知) prefecture in the southern Shikoku region.
I did it. I did it. I did it.
Next, it’s Kawachi and Chousokabe, eh?
Octopus, squid, shrimp, abalone, scallops...
T-This is...
the Naval Battle Yakisoba Bread, made from a variety of seafood.
You can only get this at Shikoku’s Tosa Branch,
and it has a lot of pretty tasty-looking ingredients in it, doesn’t it?
By the way...
what the hell is this thing of yours?
You should be able to understand simply by looking.
It’s a hot dog.
Don’t mess with me!
The theme is yakisoba bread, isn’t it? Anything else is unacceptable!
Are you trying to insult the newcomers’ battle?
That’s quite an insulting thing you’re saying there.
This is a genuine yakisoba bread.
What did you say?
It’s just that the shape is that of a hot dog.
Is he being influenced by Azuma Kazuma?
Even this guy is beginning to make these weird breads...
I don’t think that such a thing will be delicious.
However... the bread from the Southern Tokyo Branch has...
I can’t let down my guard.
Kuro-yan.
Yakisoba...
Dog!
Note: The character for person (hito) is 人. The character for dog (inu) is 犬. Thus, the dog is there to add the dot on the top of the character for person.
The sign for a person! That dog is the dot!
This thing!
You’ve minced up yakisoba and made it into a sausage, haven’t you?
It’s understood that the taste of things like hot dogs and hamburgers
that are put into bread must be strong,
but drawing it into a sausage... no,
and to think that just one more step like that
could turn the richness of the yakisoba taste into something so subtle...
It’s magnificent!
Victor: Kawachi Kyousuke.
All right!
Just wait one moment!
I can’t acknowledge your deciding upon the victor without tasting mine at all!
In that case, you taste this, too!
You’ll end up like me!
We have plenty of dogs ready, if necessary.
You can rest assured and eat it!
I-If I have to do something as embarrassing as that, then I...
I don’t care if I have to lose!!
You did it, didn’t you, Kawachi-san?
I guess...
But where did you get that idea from?
My home was really poor,
so we could almost never eat meat.
But my siblings were growing children,
and both of them loved meat.
So, if we minced up tofu or sardines,
we could make tofu hamburgers and sardine sausages,
so we’d be able to get the satisfaction of having eaten meat.
If you want a “driving force,” I guess that’d be the driving force behind the concept.
Is that so?
It looks like you won, eh, Kawachi?
Congratulations.
Yeah. Thanks to you.
He really tires me out.
Oh, come to think of it...
I don’t see Azuma anywhere, eh?
If it’s that moron, then he’s probably in the middle of some intensive training to beat you.
Oh?
It’d be a good idea not to underestimate him. That moron’s a genius.
If he gets serious, a person like you is nothing.
I don’t understand your meaning when you say he’s a moron and a genius.
Well, in making bread, Azuma may definitely be very strong,
but yakisoba is very different.
I don’t think that he can match up to me.
That’s why I’m telling you he’s in the middle of intensive training.
Kawachi.
Manager...
What are you getting all bothered about?
Well...
Well, give it all you have, okay?
To think that someone with all that talent in making bread
would have none at all for regular cooking...
It’s really no joke.
Yeah...
At least... if it were a competition over making bread,
then Azuma-san, who has Solar Hands, would...
That’s right.
If it were a competition over making bread, there’d be no way he’d lose to that Nagoya alien.
Exactly!
It’s bread!
What’s with the bread?
No... it’s nothing, really...
For now, let’s go to see how Azuma’s doing...
Uh... Kawachi-san!
Sorry, go on ahead for a bit.
That doesn’t matter.
They’ve become a good team, haven’t they?
Eh?
Ryuusei Noodles
What should I do?
Azuma-san...
Tsukino.
Azuma-san, what’s wrong?
Ryuu-san says that there’s no need for practice any more.
“Even if your technique for making noodles improves, there’s nothing more to be done,”
“so come up with something like Kawachi.”
But...
But, I can’t come up with anything!
I didn’t think you were such a pathetic person.
Your noodles are no good, and your cooking’s bad... does it end with that?
The guy I knew was never fazed, come rain or shine.
No matter the adversity, he’d do something amazing.
He’d always make people excited.
He was such a man.
Kawachi...
Making a sound like an abandoned dog, you idiot!
Kawachi-san!
W-What are you doing?
Losers like you can just eat this.
Those are the French rolls to be used at the competition.
The French rolls will get crushed!
He still doesn’t understand?
He really has no intuition...
Come on!
Stop!
Even a moronic brain like yours
should get a good idea if you increase your wrinkles a little.
You should also get crushed like these French rolls.
Kawachi-san, that’s too much.
No, it’s exactly as Kawachi says.
You, too, Manager?
Someone like you should just get crushed along with that bread!
Note: Okonomiyaki – Pizza-like pancake, grilled with various ingredients.
Just like an okonomiyaki.
Okonomiyaki?
What’s wrong with all of you?
T-This is too cruel...
That’s right!
Someone like you deserves to be crushed!
Huh?
Me?
Someone like you, just go get crushed!
That’s... that’s cruel, Azuma-san...
That’s too cruel!
aahh...
That’s cruel!
Such things are for Kawachi-san to do!
When did such a rule get made?
Relax.
Azuma meant for something else to be crushed.
Something else?
Well... that’s if Azuma understood our process of thought properly.
It’s to be crushed!
Newcomers’ battle A group
The day of the second round
We now begin the matches of the second round for the A group.
Combatants, take your places.
Begin!
Good luck, Azuma-san.
We’ve done all that we could. The rest depends on Azuma.
Secret technique,
Dragon Twister Technique!
What’s that? That frying pan technique...
That guy was really not just anyone.
Ryuu-san!
By revolving the frying pan like that,
the flames are swallowed up, and the vapor from the sauce is not allowed to escape,
so you get noodles that are completely permeated with the taste.
There’s no doubt that Shachihoko isn’t just a baker,
he’s developed quite some experience as a regular cook as well.
Azuma-kun appears to be trying hard,
but he’ll lose if he just makes yakisoba.
No, not yet.
Azuma, of all people, can do it.
Even if he’s a terrible cook,
as a baker, he’s...
All right!
Eh?!
Hmm?
Once more!
W-What’s he doing?
Just because you can’t make it well, you shouldn’t be taking it out on the bread.
The French rolls have become flatbread!
Note: A play on words. koppe (コッペ) pan – French rolls; pekko (ペッコ) pan – flat bread
This is what happens when you get dispirited, eh, Azuma?
I’m really disappointed.
To put the French rolls aside and then press them down with the frying pan.
That was why Kawachi...
asked for that yesterday...
Time’s up.
Everybody stop working.
Well, I’m starting the judgement.
He’s starting by sampling Azuma’s right off.
What is this?
I’m really curious, but...
Each and every time...
I really don’t like to get pulled into the pace of these guys from the Southern Tokyo Branch.
Spencer Henley Hokou.
I’ll start the sampling with your bread.
Ogay.
Oh?
This is the #1 bread of the Nagoya Branch – the Kouchinmi yakisoba bread, eh?
Made by combining the best local chicken in Japan,
Note: The Kouchin chicken was created by cross-breeding a variety of Chinese chicken with a local breed in the Meiji era (1868-1912). This breed of chicken was famous for the large number of eggs the hens laid, the tastiness of their meat, and the simple feeding requirements.
the Nagoya Kouchin, and Japan’s best sauce, Koumi sauce...
It’s Kouchinmi yakisoba bread!
I guarantee that you’ll become a fan of the bread, too.
Shut it.
That decision will be made by my tongue.
Kou... chin... mi...
Note: chinchin = penis. I know, I know, it’s bad...
Kou... chin... mi...
Don’t tell me!
That’s a definite no-no!
If you show your dick here, the program will be discontinued!
T-Thank you, Kawachi.
All of you in suits also come, please!
But... that’s proof that Shachihoko’s bread was tasty to that extent.
My heart’s beating...
The fearsome Kouchinmi yakisoba bread...
The Kouchin, of course...
but the taste of the Koumi sauce also goes firmly with the bread.
The delicious, rich taste spreads all over inside your mouth.
I’m in awe.
Kuroyanagi’s also a devotee of the yakisoba bread.
Well, there’s no doubt that I’ve won, then.
Well, then,
as usual, Azuma...
What’s this thing of yours?
Yakisoba-Japan #59!
It’s an okonomiyaki sandwich!
Definitely... it does look like it’s sandwiched in between two okonomiyaki.
Well, then... what will you do, Kuroyanagi Ryou?
This bread really gives off the smell of danger.
However, I’m the examiner, Kuroyanagi Ryou.
To eat... or not to eat...
Bring that okonomiyaki sandwich to my mouth!
Azuma!
All right! Here!
Chomp.
The blossom's tint is washed away
The blossom’s tint is washed away
By heavy showers of rain;
My charms, which once I prized so much,
Are also on the wane,
Both bloomed, alas! in vain.
Onono Komachi
Rejected by my man...
drenched in rain...
Note: This verse has double meaning running throughout. He explains how the first and last couplets can represent both the loss of a flower’s hue as well as the loss of her youth.
The flowers have lost their tint in the same way my dreams have,
while I’ve been living without being able to do anything.
Present-day lament, by Kuroyanagi Ryou.
Huh?
Has Kuro-yan lost it?
I don’t get it.
You don’t understand, Kawachi?
Huh?
That song was composed by one of the six great poets of the Heian period,
Onono Komachi-san.
Get it? It’s Onono Komachi-san!
So?
It’s Onono Komachi-san.
It’s Ono no Komachi-san.
It’s Oko no Koyachi-san.
It’s Ono no Komachi-san.
It’s Okonomiyaki-san.
It’s Oko no Koyachi-san.
It’s Okonomiyaki-san.
It’s okonomiyaki sandwich.
Note: sando = sandwich. We’ll leave you to figure out how “Onono Komachi-san” became “okonomiyaki sandwich.”
Okonomiyaki sandwich!
No way!
This thing!
The French rolls of the given theme have been crushed like an okonomiyaki,
and a sauce-soaked yakisoba has been added in between.
In other words,
an Onono Komachi-san...!
I mean, an okonomiyaki sandwich!
No way! It’s true!
Victor: Azuma Kazuma!
No way!
Way to go, Azuma!
Just as expected!
Wait just one moment.
I just can’t acknowledge that.
What?
What do you mean, “what?” Azuma has committed a violation.
Hmm?
If you change the bread, then isn’t that against the rules?
Against the rules, you say...?
Don’t be making up rules just like that!
Who said that you can’t change the bread?
There was nobody who actually flattened the bread,
but there were people who scooped it, cut it in half, or cut it into circles!
I said that there was no need to make the bread,
but that doesn’t mean you can’t devise something else from these French rolls.
In addition, through Kawachi, of the same branch,
Azuma had previously gotten my permission to change the bread.
Huh? Kawachi did...?
B-But...
I still can’t agree.
Just flattened bread couldn’t possibly be delicious.
Being influenced by Nagoya for too long,
you’ve lost the pride of your own people, have you?
You Italian-trained American?
A hot press that grills bread while flattening it.
This variety of food was created by the Italians!
It’s panini!
Note: Legend has it that panini was created when the Roman god Pan accidentally dropped his lunch of bread, meat, cheese and tomatoes in the smoldering hearth. Pan pulled it out and served it anyway. Panini means “Pan’s small creations.”
Exactly.
You of all people should know...
Azuma’s bread appears to have a shape and taste like that of okonomiyaki at first glance,
but fundamentally, it’s closer to panini.
Panini was developed in Italy.
It was originally created for making soggy,
badly-made bread more tasty by toasting it.
The French rolls used for this round’s theme were a trial product:
absolutely plain bread, with nothing done to it at all.
It has no particular taste to it.
In a comparison between an item that changed the bread even a little and one that did not...
it’s crystal clear which one is better!
Azuma...
I never even thought of creating a panini using the okonomiyaki taste...
I fell too much in love with Nagoya,
and I lost the pride of an Italian-trained American.
It’s my complete loss.
Shachihoko...
That’s amazing, Azuma-san!
Winning this time was thanks to everyone’s help.
When I couldn’t come up with any ideas for the yakisoba,
Kawachi and Manager gave me that hint to crush the bread.
Thank you, Kawachi.
Huh? Don’t be too pleased.
In spite of being a baker, you couldn’t come up with the idea for even panini...
Why should I help such a moron?
Ouch...
I really thought trash that missed out on such things could be crushed.
If you want to thank someone, thank Manager.
That’s true, too...
Thank you, Manager.
I wonder what he could be talking about...
Manager...
Well, you can think whatever you like,
but if you really think so, then... the reward money should be ours, right?
Right, Ryuu-san...
Of course!
What did you come to me for, after all...
Tonight, we hit the town!
Ken Jubilee!
We’ll hit it!
Come to think of it, the best work was going to get an award, right...
This time, even I’m pretty confident, but...
No, wait!
The strongest man in this newcomers’ battle...
Suwabara, was there!
All right. I will now announce the prizewinner
for the best work in this round’s theme, yakisoba bread.
The prizewinner for best work is Koala, of the New Tokyo Branch.
We’ll award him the prize of 100,000 yen!
Ken. Should I assassinate that animal and steal the money?
That would be bad, wouldn’t it, Ryuu-san?
So... did you learn yet?
Koala-chan’s true strength.
Mizuno...
Even you have no chance of winning, Kazu-kun.
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
After the fish, we have a koala?
And now, we have the Animal Bread Competition.
What’s this? We just keep having animals coming in...
What animal do you like, Azuma?
Note: Azuma says, “Ja, panda,” which means “Well, panda.” But, at the same time, “Japan da” means “It’s Japan!”
Well, a panda!
Umm... next time,
it’s the Green Marvel!!
The Green Marvel!!
It’s the Magician Kazuma!
It’s Kazuma the Magician!
Please do watch.
Yakitate Seeds of Knowledge!!
Okonomiyaki uses cabbage!
It was used as a garnish in the Edo period,
but by the Meiji era, it was an ingredient in its own right.
It goes well with cauliflower and broccoli,
and in flower language, means "profit."
Ehh?!?