Bartender
The shows story follows Sasakura Ryuu as he helps his customers, he doesn’t always directly help them but helps them realise there own problem through a drink. The Anime is episodic and deals with a different story each episode. Just about every aspect gives off a ralaxing feel.
Using different forms of narration Bartender offers us some interesting facts at the begining of each episode along with the recipe for the a featured cocktail at the end. The narration also breaks the fourth wall slightly by talking to the viewer directly even in the middle of the scene a character we talk to us.
The art is pretty decent, it is genrally well drawn but does use quite a bit of CG for the bottle and close ups of drinks and the liquid. Often when it cuts to a flash back it seemlessly merges the present with the past as if the character in question never moves. It at times can use some different effects to blend in narration than simply having it voice over, a character will appear in the spotlight or simply standing behind his own bar. Animation is smooth as CG is often used for glasses and the animation of Sasakura shaking the shaker is very fluid. The color tone is brown and really makes you feel part of the relaxe3d atmosphere.
The sound is great, the opening a nice fast paced male female duet, im no expert at music but the genre of all the songs present i believe is jazz and the piano and creates a soothing feeling, the ending is great and actually uses live action video of a similar looking bartender at work. The voice actors did a superb job, no one sounded horrible or annoying and everyone gave a soft touch to the voices.
The character were great, each episode focused on one or maybe two people who had different problem, whether it was a couple who never had time for each other or a con man, the characters were given some but not much development. Sasakura Ryuu is the lead but that about it, he get basically no development as even little screen time compared to each focused character but he is a nice person just not a lovable lead character. The show is narrated by various people, two guys who appear to be much older than Ryuu and are bartenders of their own and then there is Miwa who is the first cistomer at the bar and then along with the other two bartenders appear numourus times as either a customer again or narrating and giving facts out to the viewers.
Bartender isn’t a show for everyone, its slow and sometime i felt like the episode lasted forty minutes rather than the twenty due to its slow pace but that is not a bad thing, it gives such a relaxing feel that it is the perfect show to watch at night. I found while watching the show it will give various information on cocktails and the history behind a cicktails creation or it name and you may even pick a few things up and learn something you otherwise might not of ever cared about.
