Yakitate!! Japan's spoof on the typical shōnen manga using cooking battles continues in volume 21 with the conclusion of the pancake bake-off and moves into a pizza baking contest. Kazuma Azuma finishes his simple pancake recipe with shiratama and ground buckwheat seeds on the edge while Chef Heh goes for a more complicated multi-layered crepe-like pancake. After Mr. Heh is defeated by Azuma's simplistic, yet tasty, pancake, the group faces off against a friendlier rival—Shachihoko's younger cousin, Marco, the Italian “God of Pizza". Marco's no pushover either as his pizza has effects similar to that which Azuma's creations have on people. Now while Azuma tries to come up with his Ja-pan pizza, Marco learns to create the legendary snake pizza.
Beyond the friendlier rivalry between Marco and Azuma in the competition, not much stands out as being particularly noteworthy with this volume. As usual, Azuma beats Mr. Heh and through a simple recipe, and while Kuroyanagi has yet to taste Azuma's pizza and reveal its secrets, it's clear it was designed to be a lot simpler than Marco's while still being something the average person can't easily create because of difficulty acquiring the ingredients.
Overview:
Takashi Hashiguchi continues Yakitate!! Japan's overabundance of Japanese puns. The translators were able to translate some of these into something similar in English while others were best left in the original. Indeed, Hashiguchi seems to like using puns so obscure their references need explanation even for a Japanese audience. There is one notable exception to this rule – a Dutch pun based on a river in the Netherlands. While in the previous volume I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of puns used in it, I've gotten used to it and have come, like many before me, to enjoy them. However, like rye bread, this Yakitate!! Japan's humor is a taste not everyone will enjoy, but it's also one that can be acquired.
There is some interesting artwork for volume 21 as various foods are tasted. We get to see how everyone would look in a typical shōjo manga, for one. That particular pun is one of my favorites because of the reactions and the historical info we get on the shōjo magazine Margaret. This volume also parodies well the tendency of some mangas to take obscure characters who appear early on and make them important later. Marco is, however, so obscure that his appearance during Shachihoko's battle is like a Where's Waldo? exercise, only harder. Yakitate!! Japan makes liberal use of humor, and that includes more base types of humor. There is one somewhat disturbing part near the beginning when Kawachi falls into a traditional Japanese toilet (which is basically just a large hole in the ground which one squats over) with just the top of his head sticking out. Fortunately this gives Azuma an idea to defeat Mr. Heh, but it's not the prettiest picture in the book.
Overall Yakitate!! Japan volume 21 has some interesting content. We learn another new recipe and the history of various places while having fun reading the manga. There is a cautionary note to parents. The beginning of the volume liberally uses the word crap and variations of it to make a lot of puns, some of which are vulgar.
ComicsOnline gives Yakitate!! Japan volume 21 3 out of 5 Ja-pancakes.
