Subbed: Yakitate!! Japan 27

Since Anime-Empire has release Episode 28 I guess now is as good a time as any to blog Yakitate!! 27 (Hopefully, there will not be such a delay before the next one gets blogged).

The scene opens on the victory celebrate, with Kawachi and Suwabara fighting to stand on the third place part of the pedastal. The rewards are handing out to our winners, but much to Kawachi’s chagrin the third place reward is split between himself and Suwabara. So while Suwabara gets to study in France, Kawachi gets…that nifty Yukino card (Isn’t it something folks?) and the opportunity to move to the Main Store. Kanmuri offers Kawachi his stay in France, saying he’s already been there two years and asks Ryou to grant him a favor in a moment. Ryou asks that everyone who wishes to go to the Main Branch to step forward, and Kawachi does. Azuma, as he said he would last episode, does not. Kanmuri asks to be transferred to the Southern Tokyo Branch and things seem to be pretty much settled at that. Afterwards Tsukino’s father is discussing the three heirs to Pantasia with Meister, who logically supports Tsukino as the best pick (First and Third place, plus Second place is moving there, who wouldn’t). Yukino of course shows up to interject a few misleading words for her own purposes. Meister confronts her about the missing SP Agent (who sabotaged Kawachi’s bread) but cannot actually get her to fess up.

So we move to the gang, still with Kawachi, he’s not swapping with Kanmuri for at least a week, back at the good old South Branch Store. Mushroom Head (yes, I know he has a real name. He’s not worthy of it) is once again the only one doing work. Manager takes some time to explain that Meister is indeed the son of St. Pierre’s owner and how he came to wear his mask.

The next morning Kawachi finds the Rice Cooker running and thinks how nice it would be to actually have rice instead of bread for a change. But upon opening it he finds that it also contains bread, yet another of Azuma’s Ja-pans. Lauding the inability of a rice cooker to get hot enough to cook bread suitably, Kawachi berates Azuma about the bread. Enter the plot-vessel, I mean young child seeking a taste of the famous 0 yen Ja-pan that Azuma used to win his TV competition. Saying that they don’t have any Azuma offers him Rice Cooker Ja-pan instead, and we spend several minutes watching Kawachi get fluffy and white from the wonderful rice cooker bread while Manager explains how it actually works.

Then Azuma tells everyone how to make his rice cooker Ja-pan. Whether or not the process actually works I don’t know, I don’t have a rice cooker to experiment with. But for about 2 to 3 hours worth of effort you can supposedly create this masterpiece in the confines of your own rice cooker by following the instructions. Finially, in a stunning turn of events, the episode actually ends by setting up the next arc with Yukino scheming with St. Pierre’s owner.

All in all I’m actually impressed to have seen as much plot as there was in the episode. The setup of the next ep was expected, the other plot was a pleasant suprise. It was nice to have a break from the angst and competition for an episode though I suspect the next arc will have all that and more.