my humble opinion on 'Bartender' (Bartenders, to be precise) - and some thoughts on manga in the whole

having finished the anime, I decided to watch the dorama, which promised to be quite different and thus, interesting. moreover, my lovely Shihori-san as Miwa was surely to add more humour and cuteness to the series

the plot and actors

I was not mistaken when thinking this way, but what puzzled me was the personality of Sasakura himself. not only he was more open and careless, he was simply another type. I cannot say he became less mature or unpleasant, but he no longer gave the impression of that caring person whom one can rely on. other characters were quite different as well, and I was constantly wondering which is the imagination of the creators, and which is the same as in the original

well, as for Sasakura's rival, perhaps 'twas good to substitute the original one for a younger boy, played by Kaneko Nobuaki, moreover. that made the character look funny like a real 'villain' with very, VERY simply portrayed resemblance of a tension on his face throughout the whole series. what was much better is his face when he was almost crying out of sadness or of joy (and there were two moment like that, !beware of spoliers! when he lost his girlfriend and when we got the position of the hotel's bartender finally)

Shihori was Shihori, same as usual (well, my 'usual' is the way she behaved in a movie and another dorama, that is all I have watched with her...). what a pity, that Shihori also created another Miwa, different from her anime and manga image. Shihori was great, but that was not the Miwa that should have been there

Takenaka Naoto-san left no particular impression, which was disappointing. but Tsugawa Masahiko was very credible in his grandpa image

nothing particular about the music

I do not remember even a single melody from the background (were there any?), and the ending by Arashi... is an ending by Arashi.'tis a dorama, never ask for anything outstanding in such a case...

as for manga itself
it has no music and no acting, so 'tis a little bit easier to write a 'review', but this time manga has other things to compensate

as for the graphics

I can understand finally that men-mangakas are great. though I am usually fascinated with the light style of shoujo-manga writing women-mangakas style (is it too difficult to understand what I am trying to say?) I should admit there are special charming points about the men style as well

I might be wrong as my experience is not that great, but the style of women-mangakas is usually quite different from that of men. I am not trying to say men cannot draw some sophisticated details, but frills, small objects, lightness, etc. is not their speciality. instead, they prefer a clear style, looking very real no matter what they draw, be it a thing that exists only in a fantastic world they create or a usual element of clothing. while women are apt to decorate everything they draw, men pay more attention to create a fully comprehensible composition and follow a certain concept, which means again drawing objects that look real. well, it turns out that women draw the real world as if it were a fairy tale, and men drawing a fantasy as if it were a real world. I am starting to doubt if there is any sense in what I have said, but I hope my honourable guests will understand me

this time we have a perfect men style in 'Bartender' and I loved all the heavy lines of the characters' faces, clothes and elements of furniture which were just as if I was myself within the picture. I should say the graphics in 'Bartender' makes the impression of a highly professional one

however, the plot was a huge disappointment. the image of the dorama Sasakura proved to be closer to that of the manga one, and though I am not against some jokes about Sasakura's lack of money or appetite or characters saying mean things to each other sometimes, there was a subconscious feeling within me which spoiled the whole atmosphere. the same Sasakura with the same striving to comfort people's souls turned into an arrogant and captious person who was never letting the chance slip away to show off and say something presumably cool

at least 'tis what he seemed to end up doing in the last chapters of manga (the translated ones, I mean)

I am especially surprised that the reaction of the other characters was just the way it should be - they got angry and shouted on him, the same as we do in the real life. this means, the authors were fully aware that such behaviour is not really appreciated by the other people, and would not be appreciated by the readers as well. still, they went on calling him 'a glass of God' and presenting him as a kind of ideal... in mu humble opinion, if a person is really determined to find a key to every soul, 'tis not only his task to find the hidden thoughts of a person, but also to find a way how to help him without being that noisy poser who literally pissed me off several times - especially when Miwa, his fellow bartender Kyoko and some other people were involved

another thing that surprised me is the episode when 'tis revealed that Sasakura is thinking himself to be responsible for a customer's death. 'tis cool that Sasakura turns out to be that sensitive and still able to hide his feelings behind a smile, but the words of his sempai never left my head. he did say to Miwa that she could bring Sasakura to that bar so that someday he would begin to trust her. and in the end he did not. well, I was not hoping he would give vent to his emotions just like that, but I was hoping he would at least appreciate Miwa's concern for him. to be precise, I was hoping for him to change just a little to become more human and understanding... but he did not. he stayed an almost perfect bartender able to teach others how to live - and nothing more

in the end I was reading a manga with the same story every time - a person with a problem, Sasakura telling him a story of a cocktail and explaining the recipe at the same time, then the face of a surprised and/or happy customer and some words in the end of the chapter to summarize the idea. and everything evolves around Sasakura who turned into a humanless form with determination fading away and words like 'I want to find 100 recipes to heal 100 people's sadness' were no longer credible for me

I only hope that there would be some change further in the plot so that I could enjoy a story which is touching as strongly as its graphics is