Bartender – Review | Nefarious Reviews

Japanese Title: Bartender

Similar: Ristorante Paradiso

Gallery Fake

Death Parade

Watched in: Japanese

Genre: Slice of Life

Length: 11 episodes

Positives:

Pleasant music.
Attention to detail on the subject matter of alcoholic drinks.

Negatives:

Dull unless you love alcoholic drinks’ history.
No mystery or intrigue with a slow pace.
Uninteresting characters.
Almost no animation.

With little to say about Bartender, this will be a short review. As the name implies, this anime is about a bartender who can mix drinks like no other. By observing behaviour and attire, he can discern which drink is best for the individual. He remembers every drink he has served to any given person, while being a well of knowledge on all alcohol.

Entry to a land of wonder and cocktails.

That’s really it. Each episode focuses on a few drinks, gives you their history, tells you the recipe, and wraps it in a light story of the bartender helping someone, possibly depressed, or in a search for the perfect drink, or someone in need of help. In every case, there is little conflict, if any, and most of the time passes with the facts. The lack of mystery had me dying to move on to another show.

Needless to say, this is a boring show to any but the most interested fans of alcoholic drinks and related history. It overestimates what alcohol does for people as if such drinks create miracles for your soul. While it is charming to see such passion and attention to detail for the subject matter, we all know that it’s far from reality – this isn’t the place for that debate, though.

Bartender is an alcohol history program swirling in a glass of anime with a taste of jazz and a slice of plot on the side.

Each credit sequence shows the mixing and serving of a drink.

Art – Medium

The environments are quite good, suiting the look of a bar. However, with no variety, get used to seeing the same compositions throughout. They shouldn’t have used CG for the drinks, as to stand out from the surroundings.

Sound – High

Music is Bartender’s strongest aspect. The jazz and piano tunes are fitting to the bar environment – it is exactly what you would expect from a quiet drinks lounge. Opening sequence is a mismatch, while the ending is perfect, using live-action footage of a bartender showing you how to mix a new drink each episode as musicians perform. It may be worth getting this soundtrack.

Story – Low

Not much one can do with a story whose focus is on alcoholic drinks in a bar.