Yes, Bartender won the Patron Pick vote for Spring (for those who aren’t supporters and don’t see my twitter, the other choices were Koi to Otome, Astro Note, The Fable, and Sentai Daishikaku). To be honest that came as a real surprise to me – I kind of expected Kamikakushi to win, but Bartender certainly wasn’t my bet. I think there’s a possibility I’d have covered it anyway – it was close – and of course I could still keep one or more of those other candidates. But Bartender is in the rotation for sure, thanks to the voters.
Back to the horses for courses thing, which is a major theme for this season around here. I’ve pretty well decided that Kai to Otome doesn’t fit me (I’ll go deeper into that in its own post). Bartender, OTOH, does. It just checks a lot of my boxes, and in going all-on on whisky and cigars in the last two episodes it pretty much gilded the lily. The two cocktails in focus this week were the Bamboo (which I’ve never tried, actually) and the Alexander (which I quite enjoy, though it’s undeniably a sweet one).
Like most cocktails, thee Bamboo’s creation is credited to multiple inventors. There is a credible argument that it’s “Japanese” as Sasakura says, but that origin story attributes it to a famous German bartender (Louis Eppinger) brought in to work at a Yokohama hotel bar by a bunch of American navy men. And even if that is true, he actually started serving it earlier while he worked in San Francisco. It consists mainly of dry sherry, vermouth, and bitters, and I suppose that would make it a somewhat delicate concoction.
Regarding the incident between the neonatal physician and the mid-boss salaryman, in my view he was the only one who should have been apologizing. I’m sensitive to cigarette smoke (as in, I hate it). But if I go into a place I know allows it, I don’t complain when someone is smoking. Fine cigars are a part of the bar experience, certainly in Japan. She had every right to smoke one in a bar that allows them (not all do) – or indeed, to hold one and not smoke it, though they do go out in about two minutes when you do that. He was a totally A-hole about the whole thing and if he’d done to me what he did to her, he’d have been on the floor pretty fast.
Full disclosure: I love good cigars. Habanos prices have exploded so much that I almost never smoke them specifically any more, but there’s nothing more conducive to good conversation and a relaxing evening than a really excellent cigar (and some Romeo y Julietas certainly are). Bars certainly will store cigars for customers, so that part was realistic enough – it’s not like most people smoke them in their apartments anyway. A little hamaki romance develops, though with the doc off to Sendai it seems like it’s going to be a brief one.
The B-plot involves Yukari (the sidekick) and the Brandy Alexander. She announces that she’s getting married but it’s pretty obvious this is a flighty girl, so grain of salt. The Alexander does have that nice romantic origin story, though the bit from Days of Wine and Roses was pretty heavy for a mixologist to share. No surprise Yukari bailed on getting married – certainly she shouldn’t for the reason she was considering it. Sasakura has a line for everything, and it strikes me that you know, nobody in the world actually talks like he does. But in spite of its resolutely realistic settings, Bartender is actually not a series that’s trying to be realistic I don’t think. It’s kind of a modern urban folk tale as much as anything.
Joshua
May 10, 2024 at 3:03 amPresumably you just didn’t feel the need to cover Astro Note or The Fable moving forward this season? A shame on the former, since it did get interesting now that Takumi discovered who Mira really is. Not to mention a surprise subplot where the little boy Ren is curious about wearing a skirt much to the concern of his father (and it’s not portrayed as a homophobic joke in fact since he’s more concerned about other kids bullying him if he does wear one).
Meanwhile, Bartender continues to be a pretty chill series, even through this more narrative-driven remake in contrast to the more arthouse episodic 2006 series. I can see why it won out over the other choices.
Guardian Enzo
May 10, 2024 at 6:18 amThe most recent ep of Astro Note was indeed interesting, and the Ren twist was unexpected. Not ruling anything out if it continues to improve.
As for The Fable well, I haven’t skipped an ep yet so it’s still officially on the bubble.
Nicc
May 10, 2024 at 8:11 amCheers to “Bartender” for winning the vote, though I’m thinking that Sasakura already knew that was coming… After a visit to the distillery last week, it’s back to the cozy confines of Edenhall in this episode. Right, there’s a concurrent plot here. The first one features Yukari, normally only seen with Miwa. She gets the spotlight this time as she announces that she’s getting married. It seemed apparent early on that something was a bit off about that. Then, two new characters are highlighted; a middle-manager and a doctor who caught each other on a bad night.
Right, Yukari’s plot is tied to the Alexander cocktail. Sasakura already figured out what was really going on with her getting married and she’s only doing so for the sake of her grandma. That’s not really a good reason to get married. I liked how Sasakura stepped away when she was crying and gave her privacy that way.
As for the doc and the middle-manager, a cocktail is not what ties their plot, though the Bamboo cocktail is mentioned. This time it’s cigars. And, of course, Sasakura seems to have encyclopedic knowledge about stogies as well. The manager, Hayase, had a bad day at work and eventually wanders into Edenhall. The neonatal doc, Kimishima, has been visiting there for quite some time. She’s just holding a lit cigar, but not smokingit. Yep, that was really rude of Hayase to just grab her cigar like that. At least he felt bad about it later and then kept on stopping by at Edenhall night after night for a chance to meet her again and apologize. The persistence pays off and they both apologize to each other. They eventually bond over a box of cigars (They’re both sitting at their own corner. A sideship, eh?). I was amused how the rest of the episode was going along when them smoking at the corner. It turns romantic, but you’re right that it may turn out to be a short one as the doc is going somewhere else. It looks like Sasakura is going to lose a pair of regulars to Edenhall, but I’m sure that there will be more who will be unexpectedly drawn in.
Alyssa Jones
May 12, 2024 at 1:03 amDid you warm up to Hayase at all in the end? He was an ass but you can’t say he didn’t apologize and beat himself up over the incident.
Guardian Enzo
May 12, 2024 at 1:23 amYeah, he apologized and that’s fine, but my point was just that she wasn’t remotely in the wrong and shouldn’t have apologized to him.
Alyssa Jones
May 12, 2024 at 4:19 amI know and I agree, I was just curious how you felt towards him in the end
Guardian Enzo
May 12, 2024 at 10:47 amI didn’t hate him or anything – he did the right thing in the end. I just got annoyed that she apologized and if the genders were reversed, I doubt it would have been written that way.