[General Discussion] Anime and Manga Recommendations

*sorry, I tried to post images and urls but I don't have enough post counts to do this. I will try to come back and insert them later.

Yakitate

Type: Anime/Manga
Genre: Comedy
Length: I think there are over 60 episodes. I'm only up to 12.
Setting: Modern Japan
Rated: Everyone. It's family-fun safe (as far as I have seen.) No violence and no romance, from what I've seen, just a really great story.

Paperback Manga: amazon.com/Yakitate-Japan-Takashi-Hashiguchi/dp/1421507196/sr=8-1/qid=1164986925/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5029583-3377748?ie=UTF8&s=books[/url]

Episodes on Youtube for your enjoyment: Episode 1: youtube.com/watch?v=CTNf8JYNLz0[/url]

Story: Kazuma Azuma (or Azuma Kazuma on the English cartoon) has a life dream to be a baker - but not just any baker. He dreams to be the one who makes a national bread for Japan. He wants Japan to have a staple bread that will be as well loved as rice. And many countries have their own signature breads (France, Germany, etc.) and he wants Japan to also have one.

So he does all these bread experiments and names them Ja-Pan (it's a play/pun on the word pan which is a Japanese word for bread). So with each Ja-Pan # experiment, he gets closer to creating that national bread.

My thoughts: The show is very fun once you start watching. It's quite comical. Also with the end of each episode you can't wait to watch the next because you must find out what happens! I like the play on words and seeing all the interesting bread combinations that Azuma makes. What is REALLY funny is when someone tastes one of his breads. They're whisked off to other worlds in their minds, other places. It's funny to see their reactions.

I bought the first manga, and it seems to cover quite a few of the anime episodes. The cartoons keep quite in line with the manga, but expand a bit on it - so when I read the manga I noticed really that nothing was missing that was in the anime episodes.

Quite enjoyable stuff, and I'd be interested in finding more anime/manga that run along these lines. There's no violence and no romance from what I've seen, just a really great story.

How ya doing, buddy?