is a Japanese manga series written by Araki Joh and illustrated by Kenji Nagatomo. Its focus is Ryū Sasakura, a genius bartender who uses his talents to ease the worries and soothe the souls of troubled customers. The manga was first serialized in Shueisha's Japanese seinen magazine Super Jump from 2004 to 2011. The individual chapters were collected by Shueisha and released in twenty-one tankōbon volumes.
Bartender was later adapted into an anime television series, broadcast in 2006 on Fuji Television. The manga was also adapted into a Japanese television drama in 2011 that aired on TV Asahi. Three spin-off manga (Bartender à Paris, Bartender à Tokyo, and Bartender 6stp) have been serialized in Grand Jump and Grand Jump Premium between 2012 and 2019. In Japan, Bartender has sold over 2.8 million copies, while it received a mixed reception from English-language manga and anime publications.
A new anime television series produced by Liber, titled Bartender: Glass of God, is set to premiere in April 2024.
Plot
Bartender follows the nightlife of (voiced by Takahiro Mizushima in the anime and played by Masaki Aiba in the drama), a bartending prodigy who is said to mix the best cocktails anyone has ever tasted. Upon returning from his studies in France, Ryū works as an assistant for a senior bartender at the bar Lapin. He later opened his own bar, the , which is hidden in a nook of the Ginza district in downtown Tokyo. Rumor holds that potential patrons cannot simply find and enter Eden Hall; rather they must be invited in by the host. Sasakura is known to serve the , a way of saying that he knows just the right drink to serve in a particular situation.
The only other regular character is (voiced by Ayumi Fujimura in the anime and played by Shihori Kanjiya in the drama), the granddaughter of the owner of the Hotel Cardinal, . She is the office lady of the company and requires him to compete for the job of bartender in the hotel. Ryū is initially rejected by , the manager of the hotel beverage department. However, upon Miwa insistence, Taizo meets Ryū and becomes fascinated by his abilities, requesting her to insist on Ryū to bring him to work in the hotel.
Over the course of the manga, various other figures, all of whom share unusual troubles and heavy burdens, are invited into Eden Hall and are treated to Sasakura's fine drinks, which, with guidance from the young bartender, lead the customers to reflect upon their lives and decide on a course of action to tackle their problems.
Themes
Bartender is predominantly an episodic series, and although the clients and problems vary, each story revolves around problems being resolved through the right drink. Alcohol is not depicted as a potential problem that might have negative effects such as drunkenness in the series; instead, "Bartender insists the right drink at the right time ... is about starting an earnest conversation with oneself." To know which beverage is the most appropriate, according to the series, a bartender must be more than a liquor connoisseur; he or she must be a good observer. For example, Ryū can deduce one's feelings by looking at one's hands and can know if someone is telling the truth or not. As such, it is not just about drinking; "the stories of the customers are sometimes, if not almost always, as important as and at times even parallel to the history of the liquors imbibed."
Publication
The Bartender manga was written by Araki Joh, illustrated by Kenji Nagatomo, and serialized in Shueisha's biweekly seinen magazine Super Jump between May 2004 and September 2011. With Super Jumps cancellation, the series moved to the then–new Grand Jump, in which Bartender was serialized during November and December 2011. Its chapters were eventually collected into twenty-one volumes, with the first volume released on December 3, 2004, and the final volume on February 17, 2012. An , which follows Ryū's return from Paris, was released into four parts, with the first two volumes released on September 18, 2014 and the last two volumes on October 17, 2014.
The series was completely published by Haksan Publishing in South Korea, and by Sharp Point Press in Taiwan.
Spin-offs
A spin-off series titled Bartender à Paris, with a new protagonist, , began in Grand Jump on January 4, 2012; Nagatomo was replaced by Osamu Kajisa for the series. The series finished on October 2, 2013. It was collected into six volumes; the first was published on June 19, 2012, and the last on December 19, 2013.