Forum - View topicBartender (TV).
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mbanu
 Posts: 159 |
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Just started re-watching this show after five years, and I have to say I still enjoy it.
Those who want to liken it to a tournament show I feel are mistaken. The bartender has no supernatural powers or special abilities, other than a very good memory, a tactful demeanor, and an attention to detail. Despite the title, the show isn't really about him, drinks, or bars. It's about the regrets and struggles that individuals try to sort out at bars. It's very much a show for 30somethings that drink, or those who have had a lot of regrets in their lives. The bartenders who posted further up the thread about the disconnect between their experience and the bars described in the anime make a good point. The sort of cocktail bar that they are describing in Bartender is essentially extinct in the United States, other than a few exceptions in larger cities. These bars were a part of the post-War "Mad Men" cocktail culture, which Tokyo inherited after WWII, but which was rejected by the Baby Boomers in the United States. It isn't imaginary, though. Was this show unsuccessful in Japan as well? The manga is still going on, and it looks like the show recently got a J-drama reinterpretation... Browsing the ANN Encyclopedia entry, it doesn't look like Masaki Watanabe ever directed anything else, though. I haven't heard anything from Palm Studio either... did it disband? |
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marriejonsan
Posts: 2 |
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[EDIT; No one-liner replies. Be detailed, please. -TK]
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Anymouse
 Posts: 685 |
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[EDIT; No one-liner replies. Be detailed, please. -TK]
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mbanu
Posts: 159 |
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The staying power on this show is amazing -- another re-watch almost 4 years later, and while the CGI opening is starting to look a little stale, the music and story have aged very well. I think maybe I appreciate it now even more than I did on the last re-watch.
The real puzzler for me is that this show has completely dropped off the radar. It has no streaming in any country. No boutique release planned... according to the ANN encyclopedia entry there was a Korean release at one time, and possibly a Taiwanese rights holder still, but I'm not even entirely sure this is still available in Japan, since Palm Studio went under... does anybody know? Is this show stuck in some sort of licensing hell? |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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No one has made an effort to pull the Lunar sub off of YouTube after almost four years have passed, so I'm guessing the demise of Palm Studio has left no one to press a case for infringement.
I've rewatched Bartender a number of times over the years. Some of the episodes are personal favorites like episode two, which encapsulates the strains of postwar Japanese redevelopment. I also enjoy the historical vignettes about various liquors and drinks. In episode six, the one with the two movie makers, we learn how scotch is the "liquor of rebellion." In episode three we learn about the history of the margarita. I always thought it was native to Mexico and was surprised to learn it was invented by American as a tribute to his deceased girlfriend who was shot in a hunting accident. I don't care much for the academic's story in episode ten, but the presentation of the Black Velvet (Guinness + champagne) was fabulous. I love the scene where Ryuu says anyone can make this drink with a "double pour," and the two older master bartenders shake their heads in disagreement. Someone above suggested this was a good show for 30-somethings, but I found it very meaningful when I saw it in my mid-fifties. There are few anime shows with as well-developed a cast of older people. In a world of high-school comedies and moe~ girls, Bartender is a breath of fresh air. |
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