Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

YAKITATE!! JAPAN, VOL. 4

VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Takashi Hashiguchi
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Drew Williams
ISBN: 978-1-4215-0721-7; soft cover; Rated “‘T+’ for Older Teen”
200 pp., B&W w/4 color pages, $9.99

When he left his rural home for Tokyo, 16-year old Kazuma Azuma dreamed of creating a national bread for Japan, just as some European countries are known for a distinctive bread.  Hired by the South Tokyo branch of Japan’s premier bread chain, Pantasia, Kazuma finds himself part of a team that includes Tsukino Azusagama (the granddaughter of Pantasia’s founder), fellow student Kyosuke Kawachi, and store manager, the afro-wearing, bread-making, warrior philosopher, Ken Matsuhiro.

Now, Kazuma and Kawachi are competing in the Pantasia Rookie Tournament, with a job at the main store as the top price – the only prize.  As they work their way through the tournament’s three stages, the duo encounter ever more strange characters, including Koala (who wears a koala head), Shachihoko (an Italian-American with a Japanese fetish), and Ryu Romen, the master of noodles and ancient Chinese assassination arts.  Still, nothing compares to the heat of competitive bread making.

With Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 4, the cast mangaka Takashi Hashiguchi has created grows both in number and peculiarity, but the series’ strong points – its broad comedy and bread making – remain strong.  As peculiar as the series is, this is the kind of manga that might peak the interest of comic book and comic strip readers simply because it is so strange (a comic about bread with a large oddball cast) and so well done.

Perhaps, the one underrated aspect of this series is how good an artist Hashiguchi is.  When it comes to cartooning the human figure, he is a draftsman.  He can exaggerate for comic effect without using super-deformed, and even when abstracting or exaggerating cartoon bodies, the basic figure is still perfect.  When I’m not marveling at this title’s spirited weirdness, I’m admiring the work of a skilled artist.