Bartender (Manga)

 Revisiting this particular manga called Bartender which I read halfway 15 years ago. Turns out I almost finished my reading run back then and as expected Bartender is one of those reason why Mid 2000s is the peak of Japanese Manga Genre. Taking place in Late 90s, Bartender is the story a Prodigy Bartender named Ryuu Sasakura whose skill is so renowned to be called Glass of God and used it in  Ginza Nightlife scene and eventually his own Bar of Eden Hall to soothe the souls of his Patrons with his cocktails.

Just like Kami no Shizuku, Bartender use Liquors as its main theme to drive its storyline which can be deep and profound, and having a Wounded Healer archetype main protagonist do work quite well in this instance. If you like the element of "Mono no Aware", Bartender is pretty good at this particular department and you will learn about Cocktails in this manga. Despite being an exceptional talent, the main protagonist seemingly a troubled soul himself and find solace by creating Cocktails to soothe his customers pain which Japan modern stressful life carry in spades. 

Bartender is very good at showing a glimpse of what Japan looks like in a Peak era which soon transitioned into painful decline that really shows out in the present. I haven't visited Ginza in my last Japanese trip but I would imagine their Bar scene in early 2000s somewhere along the line that Bartender depicted. 

Unfortunately unlike Kami no Shizuku, Bartender appears to be axed prematurely as the series ended in a point that we could still have more stories out of the series. It is just sad that the main protagonist storyline never really got any satisfying resolution for him and readers. I supposed the Publisher felt Bartender was not popular enough and decide to force the mangaka to end the series despite the Manga had reached over million lifetime sales milestones. Nevertheless Bartender is still influential enough to inspire other Creations like VA-11 Hall-A which is a popular Indie game that lets players to play as Bartender in futuristic settings which I probably give a try in near future. Interestingly Bartender got new anime last year even though it had one back in 2000s which I will probably give a watch.