Bartender (manga)

Bartender (バーテンダー) is the title of a Japanese manga series written by Japanese mangaka Araki Joh and illustrated by Kenji Nagatomo. Its focus is a genius bartender who uses his talents to ease the worries and soothe the souls of troubled customers. The manga was first serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Super Jump. The manga was later adapted into an anime which broacasted between October and December 2006 on Fuji TV.

Plot
Bartender follows the nightlife of Ryū Sasakura, a bartending prodigy who is said to mix the best cocktails anyone has ever tasted. Sasakura bides his time in a bar named Eden Hall, hidden in a nook of the Ginza district in downtown Tokyo. It is said that normal people cannot simply find and enter Eden Hall, but they must be invited in by the host. Over the course of the anime, various figures of high and low stature, all of who share unusual troubles and heavy burdens, are "invited" into Eden Hall and are treated to Sasakura's fine drinks, which, with guidance from the young bartender, lead the customers to reflect on their lives and decide on a course of action to tackle with their problems.

Characters

 * Ryū Sasakura (佐々倉 溜)
 * Ryū is a genius bartender who helps the people who come into his bar. Although not thoroughly explained at first, Ryū actually runs the bar by himself, and Eden Hall was his first bar. He worked as an assistant for a senior bartender before he opened Eden Hall, and that gave him the experience he needed to handle the job. In episode 9, it is revealed that Ryū has in fact made a mistake by serving an incorrect cocktail to a lady, as she requested a different drink afterwards, despite his almost flawless outlook. Due to this, for every year after he opened Eden Hall, Ryū has reserved that one special night for the woman's husband, and he was Eden Hall's first customer. Often, Ryū maintains his composure and throughout the story, puts on a brave and sincere effort to help the customers who fret and seem disturbed in his bar. He has been shown to handle all sorts of spirits and know most of the history of the drinks he serves. Ryū is also known to serve the "Glass of the Gods", and being entitled to this, made Eden Hall a pleasurable venue for customers seeking the menu of their hearts. According to the manga, Ryū is 26 years old.


 * Miwa Kurushima (来島 美和)
 * Miwa initially comes to Eden Hall to ask Ryū to define what spirit was contained within a bottle she broke during her childhood. Miwa, when she was little, was shown to be the only child of the family. Her father decided one day, that he'd propose to Miwa's grandfather to change the inn that he has been running into a fully-comfortable hotel-like bar, due to the change in era and customer's requests. However, Miwa's grandfather was hesitant, and decided not to take in his son's proposal. They later became apart and distant from each other, until the day came when Miwa's father called her grandfather and asked him to taste a special drink that he would like to present to him. On that fateful day that Miwa broke the glass as she gripped the bottle and ran towards her grandfather. She tripped and the bottle, which was encased in a bag, broke and its contents spilled. Miwa felt guilty as she thought if only they had the drink together, her father and grandfather wouldn't be apart like they used to. Not long after that, Miwa's parents were killed in a car accident, and this has halted her chance of ever finding out the name of that special drink. After much discussion with Ryū, the mystery of the drink was solved, and Miwa had the chance to finally allow her grandfather to have a taste. The drink was Suntory's Kakubin (referred to in the show as "Kaku"), and shortly after this episode, Miwa appears almost in every other episode as a side or minor character, and she usually narrates part of the story. She has been known to be a regular visitor at Eden Hall, and has invited one of her friends to the bar. In episode 7, Miwa takes care of Ryū after he has fallen sick, although she was unable to fetch a doctor. In the manga version of Bartender, Miwa works for Kamishima, the first customer featured in the anime.

Manga
The Bartender manga is written by Araki Joh and illustrated by Kenji Nagatomo. It was serialised in Shueisha's biweekly seinen Super Jump magazine and the chapters collected into fifteen volumes with first one released on December 3, 2004, and the final one on November 4, 2009.

The series is licensed by Haksan Publishing in Korea.

Anime
The Bartender was adapted into an eleven episodes anime series, and broadcasted on Fuji TV with the first episode on October 15, 2006, and the last one on December 30, 2006.

The anime opening theme "Bartender" (バーテンダー) is sung by Natural High featuring Junpei Shiina while the ending Theme "Hajimari no Hito" (始まりのヒト) by Natural High. Both themes were released inside the single "Hajimari no Hito/Bartender" produced by Sony Music Entertainment Japan under DefStar Records label on December 13, 2006.