is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Takashi Hashiguchi. It was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

's manga magazine ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...

'' from December 2001 to January 2007, with its chapters collected in 26 volumes. A 69-episode

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

was broadcast on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

in 2005 and Nozomi Entertainment licensed the anime series in 2014. In 2004, ''Yakitate!! Japan'' won the 49th

Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is ...

for the category.

Plot

Kazuma Azuma is a boy on a quest to create ''"Ja-pan"'', a national bread for Japan, as many other countries have their own signature breads. He heads to Tokyo with the intention of working at the famous bread-making chain Pantasia. Along the way, he meets other bakers, both learning from and competing against them. The characters bake their bread using their burning passion and even anger, similar to the legendary cooking style of Hokkaido. Besides a desire to create Ja-pan, Azuma also possesses legendary : hands that are warmer than typical, prompting dough to ferment faster. While this gives him an advantage early on, his innovation is his greater talent.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Takashi Hashiguchi, ''Yakitate!! Japan'' was serialized in

's manga ''

'' from December 26, 2001, to January 10, 2007. Shogakukan collected its chapters into twenty-six volumes, published from March 18, 2002, to April 18, 2007. In North America,

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

licensed the manga in late 2005. The twenty-six volumes were released from September 12, 2006, to April 12, 2011. Hashiguchi started another series, titled , on Line Manga app on August 16, 2019. The manga is written by Kenzo Irie and illustrated by Hashiguchi. Its chapters were collected in five volumes, released from April 17, 2020, to December 17, 2021.

''Yakitate!! Japan''

''Yakitate!! Japan Super Real''

Anime

''Yakitate!! Japan'' was adapted into a 69-episode anime television series. It aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.

Aniplex Aniplex, Inc. (株式会社アニプレックス, ''Kabushiki-gaisha Anipurekkusu'') is a Japanese entertainment company and a subsidiary of Sony, Sony Group Corporation, founded in September 1995 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The company fo ...

collected the individual episodes on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. The first arc, ''Pantasia Newcomers Battle arc'', was compiled on seven DVDs released from March 25 to September 28, 2005. The second arc, ''Monaco Cup arc'' was compiled on six DVDs released from October 26, 2005, to March 29, 2006. The third arc, ''Yakitate! 9 arc'', was released on five DVDs from April 26 to August 23, 2006. In North America, the series was licensed by Nozomi Entertainment in July 2014. Nozomi released the series on three DVD sets on March 3, May 5, and July 7, 2015.

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

started streaming the series in November 2015. In July 2019,

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

announced the streaming rights to the series on its FunimationNow platform. In Southeast Asia,

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of Japanese animation. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and E ...

licensed the series and streamed it on its Muse Asia

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel.

Music

The music from the anime series was composed by

Taku Iwasaki is a Japanese composer and arranger. His hometown is Tokyo, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japa ...

. Two original soundtracks albums were released on March 24 and November 23, 2005. The first opening theme for episodes 1 to 29 is by Rythem. The second opening theme for episodes 30 to 53 is "Promise" by TiA. The third opening theme for episodes 54 to 69 is by Maria. The first ending theme for episodes 1 to 12 is "Sunday" by The Babystars. The second ending theme for episodes 13 to 29 is "To All Tha Dreamers" by Soul'd Out. The third ending theme for episodes 30 to 42 is by Little by Little. The fourth ending theme for episodes 43 to 53 is "Re: START" by Surface. The fifth ending theme for episodes 54 to 62 is "Merry Go Round" by Mai Hoshimura. The sixth ending theme for episodes 63 to 68 is . The first opening theme "Houki Gumo" is used as the final ending theme for episode 69.

Video games

A video game, titled , published by

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...

, was released for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

on January 12, 2006. Characters also appeared in the crossover , also for Nintendo DS in 2009.

Reception

Along with ''

Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga, manga anthology magazine ''Gangan Comics#Monthly Shōnen Gangan, Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 2001 and June ...

'', ''Yakitate!! Japan'' won the 49th

for the category in 2004.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Sunrise Aniplex Comedy anime and manga Cooking in anime and manga Muse Communication Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Sunrise (company) TV Tokyo original programming Viz Media manga Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga