After a long day, sometimes you want to relax with friendly company and a delicious adult beverage. Slice-of-life anime can help you there if you enjoy watching your favorite characters with a cool glass in your hand. But what if your anime also had liquor in it? Anime topics are wide-ranging enough that we have genres for every hobby you can imagine. Sports, gaming, camping, cooking, and even fishing are there for you. But it’s been a while since we’ve had the laid-back pastime of sitting around drinking alcohol. Sure, we’ve had dramas based on drinking, like the movie now in Japanese theaters, Komada: A Whisky Family (2023), from P.A. Works. However, I’m talking about a relaxing setting where you share laughs or stories, imbibing premium liquor. Two anime, Snack Basue and Bartender Glass of God, come to the small screen in January and April 2024.
Komada: A Whisky Family hasn’t yet announced its home market distribution plans, so until Snack Basue debuts in January, we have to return to 2017-2018 to find the last liquor-based anime. We had the lovely short anime Love is Like a Cocktail in the fall of 2017. Then winter 2018 brought us the cute-girls-drink-cute-drinks anime short Takunomi. It helped that both shows featured attractive ladies drinking beer, wine, mixed drinks, and cocktails. They acted as commercials for Japanese brands and sources for cocktail recipes. Unfortunately, both manga title sources for the shows completed their publishing runs. But you can still watch episodes for Love is Like a Cocktail on Crunchyroll and Takunomi on Hidive.
I want to watch sexy women drink liquor again! Instead, we’ll watch a slice-of-life gag comedy and a storyteller selling drinks in 2024.
Snack Basue — Not the Snack Bar You Expected
Adapted from the currently releasing manga, Snack Basue looked like a fun comedy set in a neighborhood pub. Then I found out what a “Snack Bar” in Japan is about. Nippon.com has an informative column on the history and aspects of Snack Bars. In short, to get around laws mandating bars close at midnight, Snack Bars offered simple food plus drinks. And, to skirt regulations concerning hostess and cabaret clubs, the Snack Bar’s flirty female staff stays behind the bar counter. Now you know what to expect from a gag comedy starring a specific Japanese nightlife icon. Snack Basue will feature loveable regular customers chatting with the mama-san and her bartenders.
Judging from Studio PuYUKAI’s previous work, Snack Basue might be an anime short. Studio PuYUKAI has produced nearly all the chibi shorts of the recent isekai and adventure anime you love, including Isekai Quartet, but is best known for Yoru wa Neko to Issho. However long the show is, the cast of characters includes superstar voice actors, so let’s meet Mama Basue and her employees.
- Akemi — Rie Takahashi (So many roles). She holds the title of chi-mama (second-in-command) at Snack Basue. Her candid conversation is the highlight of Snack Basue, and her allure captivates numerous patrons.
- Basue — Character actor Kimiko Saitou (Golneri from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury). She’s the mama-san at Snack Basue. With her pompadour and sunglasses, she’s the face of Snack Basue, making all feel at ease.
- Kozure — Yume Miyamoto (Rikka Takarada from SSSS.GRIDMAN). She’s a new hire at Snack Basue. Known for her calm demeanor, she occasionally shows a humorous side.
Snack Basue airs in January 2024 but has not yet announced broadcast or streaming information.
Bartender Glass of God — Therapy Through Parables and Premium Cocktails
Bartender (2006) and its source manga (2004 – 2009) are long gone, so what can a reboot offer us in 2024? Let’s take a look at the trailer!
We can see how animation techniques have changed after almost twenty years. The old-fashioned storytelling frame of explaining a drink’s ingredients and origins to impart perspective for a troubled customer’s circumstances remains the same. The other “old-fashioned” aspect of Bartender Glass of God is how the production committee partnered with an industry marketing campaign to entice people to come to bars again. Children’s anime and cartoon creators were never shy about promoting their toys through animation projects, so I have to toast the initiative here. Will the new production from Liber studio and Suntory (yes, the whisky distiller) capture the nostalgic air and healing atmosphere of the first version? I’m curious to see if all the liquor in the anime will be Suntory products. Remember: if you drink anything from Jim Beam, 乾杯！ (かんぱい！ — kanpai!)
Manga publisher Shueisha describes the premise:
“Ryuu Sasakura, a genius bartender, makes the most incredible cocktails anyone has ever tasted. Individuals from all different walks of life visit his bar, seeking his ‘Glass of God.’ With both a compassionate ear and a divine drink, Ryuu helps people with their problems.”
Due to the episodic nature of this seinen anime, the only character that matters is the bartender himself, Ryuu Sasakura (Takuma Terashima). Anime fans can compare Takahiro Mizushima’s 2006 rendition to the 2024 one because both will be on Crunchyroll. And it looks like the official website will periodically publish cocktail recipes. I’ll have to check in from time to time!
Lift a Glass and Toast to 2024
I hope Snack Basue finds a global distributor, but I think the odds are low. At least I’ll have exquisitely detailed images of drinks in Bartender Glass of God. Will you be watching shows about hooch when there aren’t any hoochie mamas? Let us know in the comments below or online on Facebook, Twitter, or Discord.
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