English Dub Review: Bartender: Glass of God “A Bar’s Secret Ingredient – The Face of a Martini”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ryu gives a blind taste test to a prospective chef, and later takes Miwa, Yukari, and a trainee bartender named Kyouko to a different bar to talk shop.

OUR TAKE

Well, we’re at the end of the first third of this series and I think I can safely say that alcoholic drink production has proven to not be a very compelling profession to build a full story around. Clearly there is some sort of consistent theming and a portrayal of specific character ethics that drive specific characters to do certain things, but at least so far, this has not led to many very interesting actions to follow. Quite a great deal of the show has involved people standing in front of Ryu as he pours them a drink and them finding it ending up being exactly what they need. And that’s fine…a couple times, but it’s felt kinda flat after that and I think I know why: there’s no conflict. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of story, conflict, and character that you can convey from even a small and insular setting as a bar, but there doesn’t seem to be a ton of that coming from this show. The most we’ve probably gotten was in the last episode where Ryu’s convictions and philosophy about serving drinks and bartending were interrogated by Mister Perfect, but I think I’m gonna need more than that as we continue on.

As for this week, it feels like we’re back to just giving Ryu some way of testing or helping someone else, which is becoming a little formulaic at this point. But to shake things up a bit, he also gives some guidance to Kyouko, who actually appeared last week (I guess I just forgot to mention her) feeling overwhelmed by her own bartending position and feeling like she couldn’t handle making the right drink. It paired really well with the encounter with Mister Perfect as it showed that Ryu, despite still having a lot to learn and having some choices to make regarding what he really wants from his career, can also give tough but fair guidance to others in his same position. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that Kyouko getting this advice will lead to her excelling as a bartender in the future, especially when Ryu’s colleague from the other bar (who weirdly looks very similar to his flashback self) explaining how Ryu strove for the Glass of God method, and he may find it at some point in this show if he keeps at it. So, I guess there is some blood to get out of this stone, but I really hope Bartender – Glass of God ramps it up a bit as we move forward.