Bartender (manga)

Bartender
Cover of the first volume of Bartender, as published by Shueisha on December 3, 2004
バーテンダー (Bātendā)
Genre	Drama, slice of life
Manga
Written by	Araki Joh
Illustrated by	Kenji Nagatomo
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Super Jump (2004–2011) Grand Jump (2011)
Original run	May 2004 – December 2011
Volumes	21 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Directed by	Masaki Watanabe
Written by	Yasuhiro Imagawa
Music by	Kaoruko Ōtake
Studio	Palm Studio
Original network	Fuji TV
Original run	October 15, 2006 – December 31, 2006
Episodes	11 (List of episodes)
Television drama
Directed by	Osamu Katayama
Written by	Natsuko Takahashi
Original network	TV Asahi
Original run	February 4, 2011 – April 1, 2011
Episodes	8 (List of episodes)
Manga
Bartender à Paris
Written by	Araki Joh
Illustrated by	Osamu Kajisa
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Grand Jump
Original run	January 4, 2012 – 2013
Volumes	6 (List of volumes)
Manga
Bartender à Tokyo
Written by	Araki Joh
Illustrated by	Osamu Kajisa
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Grand Jump (2013–2015) Grand Jump Premium (2015–2016)'
Original run	November 6, 2013 – 2016
Volumes	8 (List of volumes)
Manga
Bartender 6stp
Written by	Araki Joh
Illustrated by	Osamu Kajisa
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Grand Jump Premium
Original run	August 24, 2016 – present

Bartender (Japanese: バーテンダー, Hepburn: Bātendā^?) 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. Two spin-off manga have been serialized in Grand Jump in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In Japan, Bartender has sold over 2.8 million copies, while it received a mixed reception from English-language manga and anime publications.

Bartender follows the nightlife of Ryū Sasakura (佐々倉 溜, Sasakura Ryū) (voiced by Takahiro Mizushima in the anime), 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 Eden Hall (イーデンホール, Īden Hōru), 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 "Glass of the Gods" (神のグラス, Kami no Gurasu), a way of saying that he knows just the right drink to serve in a particular situation.