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| Flour Powers A Japanese comic book brings some kapow! to the culinary arts. By Emily Kaiser Meet Kazuma Azuma, protagonist of Yakitate!! Japan, one of that country's most popular comic book series. In the opening panels, young Kazuma prepares to leave his family's rice farm to study baking in Tokyo, where he auditions for a job at a prestigious bakery. Struggling to further the cause of good bread in a country of rice lovers, Kazuma deploys his secret weapons: Hands of the Sun, preternaturally warm palms which create breads of superlative flavor and crumb. Responding to soaring interest in Japanese anime and manga (comics) in the United States, publishers are introducing English-language editions of this Japanese niche phenomenon -- food manga. "It's definitely not a serious, introspective look into the world of baking," says Kit Fox, a manga editor at Viz Media, the company releasing the English-language edition. Indeed, Yakitate!! Japan (the title is a pun on the phrase "freshly baked bread") has all the wham-bam action of traditional comics, but behind the make-believe lies a meticulous attention to detail. The series creator, Takashi Hashiguchi, is said to have consulted a Kyoto baker to perfect the look of the artfully depicted breads, and the comic even includes recipes. Intrigued? You're in luck: Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 2 will be released on our shores this month. |
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© 2001 - 2008 Emily Kaiser |
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