Talk about a read the manga ending, that’s one for the ages.
Wine Pairing: Papua New Guinea pour-over and toast with butter and honey (8 AM viewing)
One has to ask the question up front, even after what was a very good final episode of Kami no Shizuku: what was the point? I mean, seriously – WTF. As I said last week “It’s hard for me to imagine you’d do an adaptation of a long-finished manga, presumably knowing exactly how many eps you had, and just stop in the middle.” Well, that seems to be exactly what happened. Why would you even bother? It’s not like I didn’t enjoy this, and Drops of God was actually kind of important for me personally so I’m glad it exists. But to do an adaptation (so-called) under those circumstances is absolutely baffling.
Why was it important for me personally? Because this series rekindled my love of wine, and that’s no exaggeration. It’s not like I ever stopped loving it – I did say “rekindled”, not “established”. But you drift away, and since moving to Japan I haven’t drunk much wine. Kami no Shizuku not only reminded me of why I fell in love in the first place but helped me realize just how loved wine is in Japan. It was much easier to get good wine cheap here than I realized, and the hunt is as much fun and as interesting as it ever was. The wine world always held tremendous allure for me, and I’m grateful to this series for ushering me back into it.
Nevertheless, this whole idea that you’d take a beloved series, long-finished, and just stop is nuts to me. It’s not like the production committee didn’t know what they had, or that adapting 44 volumes in 24 episodes wouldn’t be crazy. But if circumstances require you to do crazy things, do them. Get to the end, establish why the adaptation exists. There’s no cake here, and we didn’t even get the pleasure of eating it. It’s a no-win decision, assuming this is all we get. I suppose it’s theoretically not impossible that there’s a shock second season on the horizon but that seems prohibitively unlikely given the obviously threadbare budget.
The anime concludes with Shizuku and Issei effectively re-creating the Médoc Marathon. It’s no surprise that Issei would get the same inspiration from their shared experience. Shizuku wasn’t initially planning to run, just re-trace the route of his strolls with Yutaka, but once Issei arrives in track gear it’s a challenge he’s not going to resist. Once word got out that Yutaka’s son was retracing his steps, the locals get into the moment and we get a sort of impromptu recreation of the event. Fundamentally these two will always be rivals but if anything, that makes them more real brothers, not less. As anyone with a brother could probably tell you.
Among the stops along the way is Chateau Pontet-Canet, a fifth growth chateau that’s a reminder that the 1855 Classification is long out of date. It’s a revered wine now (and priced like one), which Yutaka reminded the young Shizuku, and Issei affirms now. Don’t be a slave to history, trust the truth of the moment. This is all building towards the apostle of course, which will turn out to be Chateau Haut-Brion 1996. “Not an easy wine” indeed, it’s legendary for its savory character, tertiary even in early maturity. This is the wine that represents Yutaka himself, which is a moment of frankness from the old man, who clearly had no illusions about what sort of man he was.
Both men get this one right of course (Issei concedes the win to Shizuku, to the extent it matters). But this time around it’s not the Apostle that’s really the point, it’s the wine Hayama-san gives Miyabi and Loulan to take back to Japan. The Apostle was the father, these the sons – an 1870 Léoville-Barton and Léoville Las Cases. Part of the legendary estate that was divided by the Léoville brothers early in the 19th Century – still united by a name but achieving greatness on their own terms. This was always Yutaka’s aim – to make his sons realize how connected they were, and to embrace that connection as they made their own futures in the wine world.
In that sense this is a good note to end on, certainly (for the record, I believe it’s around Volume 25). If it had to stop in the middle, at least The Drops of God did so focusing on the core theme of the story. But if one wants to know what happens the rest of the way, it’s pretty much manga or bust. The 2009 drama was reportedly pretty faithful but it aired long before the original manga was finished. And the 2023 Euro version is way too much of a bastardization for me to ever take it seriously. So now I have a giant new entry on my reading list, as if I weren’t swamped enough already.
I can’t call this series a disappointment, for the reasons I’ve already mentioned. It deeply connected with me, and it’s hard to believe I never embraced this franchise before now given my tastes. It’s cheap and overall pretty uninspired as a production, which is unfortunate but for me not a deal-breaker. What’s essential is that is is, as far as I can tell, faithful and as such gives one an authentic sense of what Kami no Shizuku is. For all that one could criticize about the anime, the only thing that really tarnishes the experience for me is that it chooses not to adapt the entire story. If there’s a “first do no harm” of manga adaptations, that’s probably it. But it is what it is. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s after ten and I’m going to pour myself a glass of wine.
