Links:

MediaFire

MangaHere

Drink of the Day:

Elijah Craig

Thoughts (Spoiler Alert):

An interesting 3-chapter story involving 3 different Bourbons.  It’s an interesting format that the author chose.  Three different customers with three different problems, and yet they all know each other.  Sasakura was able to help them individually, and they were able to come together and come to terms with their past.

The author did a good job to build these characters.  Kuramochi lives with a routine, he just want to get by, not really pushing forward.  He probably felt bad about betraying Fujiki and could not allow himself to live happily.  He probably thinks he does not deserve it.  On the other hand, Ogino’s constantly pushing, doing anything he can to get ahead.  He wants to keep going forward and forget about the past.  He doesn’t want to face it, and constantly tries to avoid the issue.  And Fujiki Jr. is furious not only with those two, but also with his own father.  He believes that his father shouldn’t forgive them for ruining his life.

The ultimate irony here is that Fujiki is the only one who got punished for the fire, and his life wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but he seemed to have lived happily.  In contrast, Ogino and Kuramochi got away from their crimes, but they had to live with their guilt.  So one moral is that people will have to face consequences for their actions one way or another.  You may have escaped for the moment, but it’ll affect you somehow, some way.

Links:

MediaFire

MangaHere

Drink of the Day:

George T. Stagg

Forgot to mention.  I’m going on vacation for two weeks, and since it usually takes me about 1-2 weeks to do one chapter, the next release won’t be out until late May.

Links:

MediaFire

MangaHere

Drink of the Day:

Maker’s Mark

Links:

MediaFire

MangaHere

Drink of the Day:

Tennessee Waltz

• 40 ml Creme de Cacao
• 10 ml Pomegranate Syrup
• Soda
• (Optional) Lemon Juice

Thoughts (Spoiler Alert):

Didn’t really like the second part of this story.  I always disliked it when the author made it so the conversation is one-sided.  So Itami made some comments about Sanae’s health, and when Mari questioned him “overexert herself?”, he goes off on another topic about her parents.  I really don’t like the disconnect it creates.  Some may argue that Itami’s sort of just talking to himself, but I still don’t like it.  Especially since Itami and Mari are already having a conversation.  It seems like the author had no choice but to just let Itami change the subject so the backstory will be brought out.

I also don’t quite understand the story… I’m not sure if it’s the Chinese translation that I got is kind of weird, but I read this chapter 5-6 times, and I still can’t figure out exactly what happened.  So did the chain of events happen like this?

1. Mari’s mom and Sanae are friends
2. Sanae had a relationship with Mari’s father
3. Sanae introduces Mari’s mother to Mari’s father
4. They get married and conceive Mari
5. Mari’s mother leaves them for some reason, and Mari’s father goes back to Sanae

Is that what happened?

Links:

MediaFire

MangaHere

Drink of the Day:

Take Five

• 30 ml Vodka
• 15 ml Chartreuse Verte
• 15 ml Lime Juice

I still couldn’t find a set of raws that are at the same standards as the ones I’ve been using.  The best ones I can find are the Chinese raws, and they’re quality is good enough, but the resolution is lower than what I had before.  Please let me know if you find any raws that are of higher quality.  Thanks!

Links:

MediaFire

MangaHere

Drink of the Day:

Hair of the Dog

• 30 ml Scotch Whisky
• 15 ml Cream
• 15 ml Honey

Thoughts (Spoiler Alert):

In short, the theme of this chapter is being elf-centered.  Yamaguchi is a hard-working person, and he tries very hard to make his wife happy.  However, he never stepped back and think about what exactly is it that his wife wants.  He believes that he’s giving all he’s got, but he’s going in the wrong direction.  I think this is a common problem that can exist in any kind of relationship.  It can be between spouses, friends, or even co-workers.  People can never get all the information before they make a decision and act on it, but it’s important to keep attaining more information as you work.  Yamaguchi’s the worst example, since he just give what he believe his wife wants without confirming with her.  Even if he did find out what she wants, and they set out on their journey to happiness, he needs to constantly communicate with his wife to make things work.

I really liked the part where Yamaguchi said he doesn’t understand what Sasakura is talking about, since that’s how I feel most of the time when I read Bartender.  Sasakura is too cryptic for my taste, but I guess it would be bland if he come straight out with what he’s thinking.

So volume 11 have ended, and I’ve been trying to find raws for volume 12+, but all the raws I’ve found so far are uncleaned, and quality is subpar.  I don’t really want to spend too much time cleaning the chapters.  Does anyone know where I can get a copy that’s clean?  At the very least, I want a version that’s not obviously scanned from a book (so the image is straight).

Update: I’ve downloaded about raws from about 10 different sites, and all of them contained the same raws.  Most of them have a “BTD” prefix, but the quality isn’t good.

Thanks!

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Links:

MediaFire

MangaHere

Drink of the Day:

Yang GuiFei (Yokihi)

• 30 ml GuiHua ChenJiu (Sweet Osmanthus Liqueur)
• 10 ml Lychee Liquor (Dita)
• 20 ml Grapefruit Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Bols Blue Curacao

Thoughts (Spoiler Alert):

The main story portion of this chapter is relatively short.  Some time was taken to develop the character Kimura Teppei, but his arrival at Bar Eden Hall and resolution of his doubts came rather quickly.  It seems the focus of this story is more about Sasakura and Kurushima, and how helpless Sasakura feels about the situation.  I’m actually still a bit puzzled why Sasakura have such loyalty for Kurushima.  I know he’s a regular customer even when he worked elsewhere, but I don’t quite understand how they started to transcend into a father-son type of relation.

Back to Kimura Teppei, I think his concerns are true.  I would agree that he is being exiled.  If something like this happen to me, I would definitely think that the company is trying to get rid of me.  I guess it really depends on the circumstance, but either way, going to a place where you will be the only employee of a company just doesn’t sound fun.  I’m sure there are adventurous people out there who would welcome such an opportunity, but I would have a hard time being optimistic.

The liquor of choice is quite unique.  I actually couldn’t find much about this cocktail.  I’ve only found one reference of it in a Taiwanese blog, but not much details were given.  If anyone have more information regarding that cocktail, please feel free to share in the comments.  I’m really curious to learn more about this cocktail, including where/how it originated.

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