English Dub Review: Bartender:Glass of God “The Perfect Taste”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ryu faces his toughest customer yet, the award-winning bartender Kuzuhara Ryuichi, AKA “Mister Perfect”.

OUR TAKE

We’ve had a couple episodes to see Ryu show off his talents with a drink and his mixology philosophy. We’ve seen he cares about being empathetic to a customer’s unique plight and wants to alleviate it, if only the tiniest bit, with a well suited alcoholic beverage, but we have seen implications that he once had higher ambitions back when he worked in a high rise bar in Paris. The guy is clearly talented in ability, but he doubts himself for whatever reason and is trying to play it safe. Now, we see him face a true master by having his skills put to the test against the so called Mister Perfect, with Miwa and her grandfather judging their methods against each other. And while Miwa’s growing affection for Ryu leads her to favor him a bit, her judgment and objectivity show that Ryuichi is the finer bartender. He cuts to the quick with a sharp accusation; that Ryu is prioritizing customer preference over his craft in making drinks more accurately. This finally shows a flaw in Ryu’s form and highlights what will likely be one of the major paths forward as he hones his drink mixing skills, or at least I assume that’s what we’ll focus on with nine episodes left.

Other than that, we’re also seeing Miwa and Ryu grow closer a bit, as was basically telegraphed from both their initial interactions in the first episode and just…well, general awareness of tropes like these. We already knew that she knew drinks pretty well, which already opens up some major commonality between the two, but her connection to her grandfather means that this is a family legacy type deal. She’s also willing to put aside whatever feelings she has for the task at hand, in this case, being objective about Ryuichi’s win between them in creating the most accurate Manhattan. Ryu’s loss may have come from him modifying the drink to be warmer to Miwa’s taste, but that wasn’t the assignment, something he’ll have to learn. Still, clearly Miwa and her grandfather see potential in the man, otherwise they wouldn’t be trying to recruit him, but it’s up to him to seize it. Something we’ll very likely see him work towards doing over the course of the remaining three quarters of the show, though even while we wait for that, I’m sure that it will involve a lot of stirring and mixing.