Post by crowhats on Jun 12, 2012 19:35:19 GMT -5
I have often said that there is a manga for anyone, provided they look hard enough. While there are many manga that are created for a general audience, there is also a lot of manga that specializes in specific area such as a sport, activity, or food and drink. While occasionally manga with specialization are printed in the U.S., such as One Pound Gospel, Eyeshield 21, Yakitate!! Japan or Hikaru no Go, even these works often tend to go out of print quickly. The sad reality is that only a very small portion of this style of manga reaches the states. Regardless of quality or the cultural familiarity of the subject matter present, many U.S. manga companies don’t feel that these works would sell well with the general manga fan. This is perhaps generally commercially true, as many more specialized works don’t ring with the average U.S. reader. None the less it is still sad that these specialty works are generally ignored entirely by publishers.
This sort of commercial decision has sadly barred interesting works like Bartender from being printed within the U.S. Bartender is a work that focuses on cocktail mixing, and what it is like working as a bartender. While I rarely drink, and have never had a mixed drink in my life, I was none the less intrigued by this work. Not only were its characters original, and the feeling of the story unique, but it also genuinely got me excited about the prospect of trying mixed drinks and the skills involved in being a experienced bartender. While it isn’t a must read, it definitely has a human touch that is engaging even for readers such as myself who are not experienced drinkers.
I really enjoyed the art for Bartender, despite it not being earth shaking. The art isn’t revolutionary, and at first might seem quite average. If you look closely, however it does have certain aspects that really stand out. The character design is one of these really great aspects, especially in the expressive qualities given that are given to the characters. If you look closely there is a great variety of character types and personality expressed in the art, despite the style of these characters feeling somewhat standard. Oddly enough the most emphasized aspect of this work though is the detailed bar backgrounds, and drink images. This really sets up an essential mood that really is a huge part of the story. This is clearly considered by the artist as the most important aspect of the art, and is the only aspect of the art that could be considered a stand out as extraordinary. The one flaw I could really find with the art is that it is sometime is obvious that characters have been added into the background. The characters many times have visible white outlines to hide this fact, but this actually clued me in to this aspect more. It is clear the background is the most important aspect to this work, but the other aspects of the art are generally good despite not standing out as much.
Bartender has a fairly simple plot. The story focuses on the Japanese bartender Ryu Sasakura, who is returning to his roots after training within France, and winning many cocktail competitions there. He seeks to improve the lives of his customers and employers, and to experience and learn from the bars within Japanese, while teaching Japanese bartenders more about drink mixing. The story begins with him already being an extremely talented bartender, with a number of contacts within Japan. While his nickname “Glass of the Gods,” and his skills are well known in Japan, very few people actually recognize him due to his casual nature. He soon finds a position at a bar run by an elderly hotel manager.
Most of the stories in Bartender have at least one of three major types of theme. One common style of story involves the lead solving a problem through serving a specific drink to a difficult customer. These drinks are usually related to the drinkers problem, and help them overcome or come to terms with that problem. The second type of story involves Ryu learning more about the process of bartending, and himself through observing other bartenders. The last style of story commonly used in Bartender is one where Ryu teaches a lesson about drink mixing to a less experienced bartender and encourages them to continue to improve. Many times the stories will include more than one of these themes.
Bartender is different from most manga, because it is fueled by atmosphere rather than action. The strength of this work is the mood it sets up, and the character interaction. While it does show that drink making is a dynamic and expressive art form, it is more concerned with why explaining why a cocktail is important to the drinker and the details of the drink. Bartender gives a history to certain types of cocktail, and a detailed description about how drinks are made. It highlights difference between how each bartender will mix a specific drink, and how these minor differences chance the entire feel of the cocktail. This detailed background is fascinating, and shows that a lot research went into the work. Even though I’ve never had a cocktail in my life, I can clearly tell that the writer knows what he is talking about, and it succeeds in getting me interested in the world of professional drink making.
While there are some recurring characters in Bartender, most of the work focuses on single customers. These customer characters are fleshed out within a one to two chapters, which is very impressive. Still there are a few important characters that appear from time to time. The lead character Ryu is portrayed as a serious genius, who often hides his intelligence and obsessive nature behind a casual helpful manner. He feels it is his job to help his customers, and for this reason tries to be helpful when he can with advice. Behind this carefree mask though is a character that seeks the ability not only to mix the great drinks, but also to heal the soul of his clients. He is an innovator, that creates drinks to matches his client’s preferences and needs. Like the thematic elements of this work his character depth is subtle, and his past is slowly revealed through his experiences with those around him.
Besides Ryu there are a few other recurring characters that are important to talk about. Miwa and her grandfather own the bar where Ryu is hired. They are frequent customers, and important side characters to the story. They generally are used to advance the plot, but occasionally play important roles in a story. Kuzuhara Ryuichi, also known as “Mr.perfect,” is another skilled bartender that often comes into conflict with Ryu. He isn’t really a villain though, he is just shown as a stubborn perfectionist with no patience for incompetence. Ryuichi is more concerned with mastering his art rather than helping people, and is shown as kind of the flipside of Ryu. The last character that really should be mentioned is the young inexperienced, but eager bartender Kawakami who learns from Ryu’s guidance how to be a better bartender. There are a number of other recurring minor characters that show up time to time, but these characters are more connected with overall details of the plot (which is why I won’t mention them). While usually the returning characters often take a backseat to the one shot ones, occasionally they play a really important role in the overall plot.
While Bartender is certainly a specialty manga, it has enough great elements to make it enjoyable to those not familiar with its subject matter. It has a slow informative and relaxing feel, which normally focuses more on the one shot characters rather on a central cast. It doesn’t really have much of an overarching plot, and prefers to slowly introduce information about its main characters. While this manga isn’t for everyone, for those who do enjoy a slow relaxing story it is definitely worth reading. I definitely hope that this manga is translated by a major company, but doubt it will be any time soon (if at all). If it sounds like it might interest you I’d encourage you to give it a try here: www.mangareader.net/1465/bartender.html
