With the success of Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, the popularity of food-themed anime has risen significantly. Although it is not recognized well by the anime community, several other titles also revolve around making cocktails and other alcoholic beverages, such as Takunomi, Waiter and Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World. However, the two that stand out the most among fans are the slice-of-life series Bartender and Love Is Like a Cocktail.
Having both received praise for stellar writing, uplifting feelings and showing how to create mouth-watering cocktails that viewers would love to try in real life, Bartender and Love Is Like a Cocktail are worth the watch for anyone looking for a relaxing slice-of-life anime featuring the usage of alcoholic drinks. Despite their similarities however, each anime has its own way of approaching its plot as well as exhibiting the process of making each cocktail shown, which is important to the viewers that are interested in making them for themselves.
The Plot of Bartender
Araki Joh's successful iyashikei series Bartender centers on Ryu Sasakura, who is extremely talented in bartending and creating cocktails. Each customer he has is going through their own struggles, and they come to his bar in hopes that they can share their stories and solve their issues with one of his cocktails. As Ryu listens to them, he observes their feelings in order to figure out which drink will help them out the most.
He is then shown mixing his client's cocktail before presenting it to them. As they drink it, they come to realize why Ryu's cocktails are one of a kind and manage to find peace within themselves. With the bar's dim lighting and calm atmosphere -- as well as Ryu's immense skills and patience -- customers are given an easier chance to achieve this as they reflect on themselves through drinking. Each episode of Bartender ends with a cocktail and a list of the proper amount of ingredients needed to make it.
The Plot of Love Is Like a Cocktail
The romantic comedy series Love Is Like a Cocktail features a young married couple named Chisato and Sora Mizusawa, who are undoubtedly dedicated to their relationship. While Chisato is a successful chief at the office she works at, she has a guilty pleasure for cocktails and loves to drink the ones Sora thoughtfully makes for her. Whenever she consumes one of these beverages, she becomes excited and lively, in contrast to her usual serene and level-headed nature.
Followed by this is a brief overview of the narrator explaining how to make the episode's featured cocktail. This is done by listing the necessary ingredients and how much of each is required. With each episode lasting only three minutes, however, there is not a lot of time to show the actual process, as the anime also likes to focus on Chisato's life at the office and her romantic relationship with Sora.
Bartender Betters Love Is Like a Cocktail in Both Storytelling and Teaching
When it comes to making these cocktails in real life, Bartender does a far better job explaining the process. Not only do viewers get to see the recipe, but they are also able to see the process that goes into mixing them. This shows them that there is more to following the recipe than just blending all the ingredients together. On the flip side, Love Is Like a Cocktail implies that one just has to mix everything, suggesting there is not much craft to making a cocktail.
Bartender also succeeds Love Is Like a Cocktail in terms of setting and pacing. In contrast to the latter's carefree tone and quick storytelling, Bartender is much more spaced out and focuses on healing oneself. It takes time to introduce the episode's client, discuss their adversary, and focuses on Ryu's attentive personality. With these aspects fitting well into the anime's iyashikei theme, Bartender shows that alcohol can indeed have positive effects on someone.