Bartender – Kami no Glass – Episode 02 Review

「古き仲間 / One for the Road」 (Furuki Nakama / One for the Road)
Old Pal / One for the Road

I was a bit worried that Bartender would fall under a kind of pattern that doesn’t give Sasakura enough time to shine through, but this second episode of Bartender was quite a delightful way to prove that line of thinking wrong. In this latest episode, Sasakura has to figure out what he’d need to take into consideration for the most mouthy characters he’s had yet.

TRIAL AND ERROR

I was pretty shocked that they established this early on that some people might not be entirely into Sasakura’s cocktails. It was hilarious to see Miwa’s grandfather spend the first half of the episode lambasting his cocktails and being thoroughly disgusted by the basic daiquiris, bellinis, and G&Ts he sent his way. That old man gave him the most diabolical insult when he waved a 10000 yen bill in his face and told him to fetch a One Cup Sake from the convenience store instead of his drinks. I was laughing so hard at that moment that I knew right then and there that I wanted to follow this show through to the very end.

The scathing indictment he had towards the Holland-style gin he used for a martini was also interesting to see happen because it shows that some details do slip from Sasakura’s hands. Where it shows Sasakura as a character who has to learn on the job as well as outside of work, but it checks out with his methodology of showing how he comes up with his orders.

He takes such meticulous care to discover the little intricacies about the person he’s serving that he would gain sudden inspiration on the fly rather than from the direct demands of a customer. This comes at a detriment to the older man since he was so focused on incorporating the Holland gin into a cocktail that he only focused on catering to his age rather than thinking about how this style of gin should be served. It makes Sasakura feel more like a character who risks jumping the gun if he assumes too much too easily of his clientele, especially if they don’t immediately fall in love with a drink he makes.

It’s what makes it so important for Sasakura to apply his intuition towards learning about his customers. The lawyer he serves tries to clock him as an asshole and a hypocrite for watching someone pour their heart out as he pours them drinks, but this act of hearing a customer out is how he can come up with crowd-pleasing choices for them.

It takes learning about the older man’s experience with Yokohama for him to look further into the kinds of foreign liquor that the city had access to back when he knew the bar’s former owner. With this knowledge in mind, the situation suddenly starts making sense, influencing him to serve an Old Pal, which would have a deeper connection with both the older man and the former owner whom he used to vibe with.

Likewise, he needed a gist of what the lawyer would want based on her work luggage, her request for nothing hard, and her surly language. Sasakura’s sense of humor is also very comically messed up because making the Bull Shot was a way to take all of these factors into account and mock her at the same time by referencing a mystery novel about a rude lawyer. I could tell once Sasakura got the idea together, he was chuckling in his head about how he was going to serve a major dunk on his customer.

At the same time, there is enough caring and kindness within Sasakura that he wants to be someone who can reach a helping hand out towards the people he serves, even if it’s a small gesture. After the lawyer addresses her workplace woes, he uses the “one for the road” phrase as a way to help her relax after a tense, annoying day at work, and allow her to offer one last toast to the day before heading off. It’s odd to look at a bartender as someone who can offer a remedy when alcohol is more of a downer than an upper, but the warmth, the company of others, and the compassion you receive in this space can cause some misfortune to turn around.

As far as the main plotline, I’m still trying to make sense of Miwa’s motives. She seems so devoted to the idea of recruiting him but doesn’t really take Sasakura or his flexibility into consideration. He just made it to Eden Hall and she’s still acting like he could easily adjust to a new workplace even if the paycheck is fatter. He just keeps making random excuses to avoid working for Hotel Cardinal, but I’d be looking forward to seeing if there is a more direct reason why he would prefer not work there.