Bartender

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TLDR: read it, enjoy it, mull it over, and try not to become a drunk in the process (xD).

As is the case with stories such as these, Bartender is about the characters. A brilliant young bartender plays therapist/life coach to a vast variety of folks that enter his bar, they come with problems and leave with insights that help them face their life.
This type of story format has a lot of strengths:

- It is beginner friendly, there are few recurring characters and the plot relevant characters, change from story to story until about the end, so you can pick it from mostly anywhere.

- ... Flexibility in story telling, the cast of characters, save for the bartender, change every few chapters, so even if you may not be too wild about the current story, you wont have to stick with them forever. It also allows for vastly different sets stories to be told.

- You can pick up whenever, since the story is largely episodic, you dont have to keep reading it, you can read it between breaks, leave and then pick it up whenever the mood strikes you. Its a very forgiving read. If you're like me and have a bunch of long running manga/anime on your watchlist, and still have to do stuff irl. You can appreciate how such a manga might be something you wanna relax with.

- It offers endings, every couple of chapters the story ends, so you get that sense of completion, before the last like 10-20 chapters, the bartender manga could've ended within a couple of chapters and it would have been satisfying due to the nature of the story.

It's well researched, the cocktails are a gimmick but the author researched them pretty well and manages to tie it to the story being told. Usually the bartender makes a drink, he thinks sums up the person's situation and provides the story behind naming them. I also had a lot of fun trying some of them, since a lot of these are classic cocktails that most bars wont place on the menu but you can still order them.

The story telling is mature, there's no over the top antics, fan service, people punching others on a regular basis for the pursuit of a gag. If this sounds appealing to you go ahead.

By far one of the best stories, that has really drawn me. The story is also by far one the most different ones, even if all we see is customers having drinks at the bar, and Ryuu Sasakura is the one that serves them. But each inidivudal character, that finds themselves wondering into the bar, have such varied stories, which really makes you want to read on. Also, I find it quite interesting that some of the chapters, even include the recipes for the drinks, which is something that is rarely found in any manga. This makes it set apart from other mangas, with it’s ... varied content as well as characters that are unique, in their own way. The only pointer I have, is that the art of the manga could have been a bit more clearer at some points. Other than that, if you want a different story line, with a great leading character, and with each chapter introducing you to new stories, then you need to have a read of Bartender.

I gotta say, the amount of alcoholic drinks that I've learned from this manga, might as well be bigger than a thesis. I didn't even know there were actual drink names called Cinderella, Eye Opener, Red Eye, Didercar, Black Velvet, so much more that you just get overwhelmed so quickly haha! Honestly I just couldn't keep up with this manga with so alcohol drinks that involves different characters in every chapter! While this manga was different, it became just pretty overwhelming! Unless if you were serious about wanting to learn different types of drinks, you would find this particularly boring.

Also the design changes near the ... end so that was a big of a letdown cause I preferred the original art in the first place...

Btw to those wanting to give a read of this manga, drink responsibly and please don't drink until you're at the legal age in your country to drink alcohol thanks!