Bartender: Kami no Glass

Miwa Kurushima and her colleague Yukari Higuchi hunt for a skilled individual to run the counter bar at the famous Hotel Cardinal. The chairman of the hotel demands only one thing of the potential hire: the bartender must be able to craft the ultimate drink known as the "Glass of God." Because Miwa does not fully understand the requirement, her search runs dry after everyone she has scouted cannot get past the chairman's scrutiny.

Nestled in a quiet and secluded place among the bustling alleys of Ginza is Eden Hall. This cozy bar is maintained by Ryuu Sasakura, a prodigy mixologist who knows exactly what drink will ease his customers' worries at any given time. Every glass that he serves is garnished with humility, providing much-needed solace to people from all walks of life in their time of need.

In a chance encounter, the chairman is left speechless by Ryuu's astute bartending skills and is determined to have him join Hotel Cardinal. He becomes one of Ryuu's regulars, attempting daily to convince Ryuu to leave Eden Hall. But even with the assistance of Miwa, it is more difficult than expected to recruit this particular bartender.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sasakura, Ryuu Main

Terashima, Takuma Japanese

Kurushima, Miwa Supporting

Nanjou, Yoshino Japanese

Kinjou, Yuri Supporting

Shiraishi, Ryouko Japanese

Chen, Kelvin Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Higuchi, Yukari Supporting

Shiraishi, Haruka Japanese

Kurushima, Taizo Supporting

Mugihito Japanese

Kawakami, Kyouko Supporting

Matsui, Eriko Japanese

Nishizawa, Hiroyuki Supporting

Yamaguchi, Reigo Japanese

Ogura's Chief Supporting

Ono, Atsushi Japanese

Leslie Supporting

Matsuda, Risae Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Kuraya, Ryouichi Director

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Kamishiraishi, Mone Theme Song Performance

Reviews

May 29, 2024

n4ytcg

Recommended

Preliminary (9/? eps)

Perfect anime for those trying to justify their alcoholism.

In all seriousness, the anime goes for a pleasant, chill vibe, and achieves it. Episodes are formulaic, and essentially is a toned down, more adult iteration of food wars.

Character makes drink, gives drink to another character(s), takes a sip, insert surprised, orgasmic reaction while exclaimin how the drink is so good! Then you will get an in depth exposition dump about what ingredients were used and the methods used and some sort of backstory behind the drink or character making the drink.

Let's be real, no one watching this actually cares about the little details, and whether or ... not they're even true. They probably all are true, but I don't think anyone would care if these factoids given to us were really just made up nonsense. No one is writing notes and is like, "I'm gonna remember this obscure detail for this even more obscure drink and everyone's nips will be blown away".

I think we just enjoy the chill vibes and almost therapeutic relief the show provides its viewers. We can all insert ourselves into the shoes of one of these characters going through something bc who doesn't have hardships? so we just try to immerse ourselves in the episode, and let some bartender who has the wisdom of an ancient monk in his in his 30s(?) that can make god tier alcoholic beverages comfort us through the fake drinks he makes and through the ultimately pointless stories he provides us every episode. Idk if the age range is right but that's besides the point.

The show provides a little bit of solace for those seeking it. I find myself enjoying it for what it is, and don't think people need to make it any more or any less than what it is to enjoy it. It's nothing ground breaking, but it's pleasant enough that it may find its way onto your weekly viewing schedule like it did mine.

7/10. It's decent.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 24, 2024

Tyrraell

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (8/? eps)

Bartender is one interesting piece of media, which provides us with insight of the nightlife bar venues in Tokyo, the people whose work is to manage them and the people who provide their service to the customers. As much as the bartenders serves drinks, they also provide entertainment for those who desire it, and could be good listeners for the more somber customers - this is one of the many more points that this show proves.

This protagonist of this show is Sasakura Ryu - the prominent and charismatic bartender of Eden Hall, the so called "Glass of the Gods". In his ... representation, we see a lot of the before mentioned traits that his line of work expects him to have, but on top of that he's person who is extremely perceptive of his surroundings, and his clientele's physical and mental state, which is his personal style. On top of that, he uses his craft to cater and refine the cocktails he makes so that they'd cater to everyone's personal desires, altering or straight up re-imagining the drink in new form and way to provide perfect service to those that are in need of it.

But this story is one that is not focused on him alone - rather, it presents a view point to the whole bar entertainment industry and the proper etiquette while being in that kind of establishment, which is certainly a reflection of the experiences of Jou Araki, the mangaka that this work is inspired from.

It's impossible to not mention the first adaptation of Bartender from 2006, and their differences. The newer work sticks closer to the source material, and presents us one more inexperienced and flamboyant version of our protagonist - his laid back demeanor and more carefree attitude is hardly evident in the previous version, in which we saw him as this gallant, refined and soft spoken gentleman. The support cast is far more evident and has much more screen time than in the original series, but they feel like much different people, more playful and silly. In short, the current adaptation feels as it is much more lighter, relaxing watch, but in the same way, a bit more prone to fit in tropes - many of the characters behave and express like caricatures of their former selves, including the protagonist. Also this adaptation is much more focused on the story's plot and it's development, while the original show provided more of an episodic, self contained vignettes of stories, but the way that they were developed, and the way that it used clever, often mind-bending cinematography, as well as much more somber, almost psychological approach, made the series absolutely phenomenal for the niche of watchers that enjoy exactly this, myself included.

The dark and enveloping night, the bright street lights in defiance of that, the soft and comforting voice of the narrator, exploring yet another human fate on the canvas of this episode - a well defined character, often lost in his desires that they can hardly express properly, and the feint, gentle smile of Ryu, accepting their presence as yet another customer he'd provide his craft for, by this way alleviating their anxieties. In contrast to this, the remake of Bartender provides story that is a bit more simple to consume, and is a bit more cheerful and joyful. In the same sense it also means that this newer interpretation is more appealing to the casual watchers who are not quite ready for the contemplative psychological approach to the version that 2006 has, but in the same sense that doesn't diminishes the current adaptation's qualities.

In a sense, both adaptations provides two sides of the same coin, and in my opinion, both deserve our attention and praise.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 24, 2024

StormcasterJudd

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (3/? eps)

A show should show me, not tell me what is happening. This feels like what if Dr Stone and Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd skill get combined, only to fall flat in both the Dr Stone informative aspect and the Campfire Cooking entertainment aspect.

Note that while it doesn't contain spoilers for Bartender, it is recommended to watch Campfire Cooking and the first 6 episodes of Dr Stone before reading this due to minor plot spoilers relating to food and science respectively


[DR STONE/CAMPFIRE COOKING SPOILERS BELOW]




...


While the visuals looks okay, I find that the show heavily lacks in showcasing the viewers the different types of alcoholic drinks past the surface level. Dr Stone made science fun and I love how they are able to re-invent so many different inventions while breaking down the science that it is viewer-friendly and it made the premise engaging for the viewer.

Bartender is basically like make a drink, call it a name and didn't explain in depth as to what the viewer could possibly anticipate when drinking a particular liquor. I don't need to hear stuff like "I believe this is the best drink for you", show me the contents of the drink and give me the expected taste. This brings me to the point of Campfire Cooking, I don't have to understand what orc meat and snake meat taste like to understand what is the expected flavour profile because the show did a great job to explain it in simple terms, such as orc meat is similar to pork, even though it is an isekai, the creativity and imagination is able to turn a fictional animal meat into something that can be related to. But in bartender, I'm like okay its beef soup with vodka and that's it? How about getting more in-depth with the flavour profile, don't just stop at "it's delicious", and speaking of the tone it is delivered, third point, also compared to Campfire Cooking

I wish that there is more emotions being put into the voice actor's words. Campfire Cooking is a simple plot lighthearted show that bring smiles to my face, this is because of how the voice actors delivered, the show is able to make even the simplest pre-packaged pastry a must try because of how they made it felt like it is something heavenly from the way the voice actors delivered their lines. Bartender did the complete opposite, beef soup and vodka, I'm like okay and what about it? They should have like put more emotions into selling the drinks to the viewers and who knows, it might actually capture the interest of curious viewers to venture into something new.

I shouldn't have to have google with me when trying to look up words such as "amontillado" and "oloroso sherry", this should've been explained in the show itself. I don't like the use of all these specific terms that the general audience may not know, if they want to do that, I would prefer the Dr Stone route as mentioned above as they are able to simplify stuff like nitric acid into layman terms and then use it throughout the series and it fits completely into a regular sentence in the show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Bartender: Kami no Glass Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - May 22	23 replies	by rasterman7 »» 11 hours ago
	Poll: Bartender: Kami no Glass Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - May 29	28 replies	by KikiSohma »» Yesterday, 6:11 PM
	very underrated Benedito29 - May 8	45 replies	by Merve2Love »» Yesterday, 4:58 PM
	What's your favorite drink? davi__ - May 20	44 replies	by AshPikaKetchum »» Yesterday, 3:17 PM
	Poll: Bartender: Kami no Glass Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - May 1	63 replies	by teodora911 »» May 29, 1:47 PM