OK, lest I sound like a sour old man (“Hey, you kids, get off of my lawn!”), there is nothing wrong with all-girl animes…..to a point. It’s just that you need to have something more than moe girls or full-figured femmes or luscious ladies cluttering up the screen. I do like (wait for it)…plot. Wait a tick…..why does this opening sound so familiar? Because this show, “Pan de Peace” (“Pan de Pīsu”, “Peace through Bread!”), is honestly no different than “Usakame”, save that instead of tennis, it’s bread.

The tale centers around Minami Tani (at the right), an airheaded girl, who is starting high school. She also loves eating bread for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. Baked goods bring happiness every day to her and her classmates (left to right); the reliable Yū Aizawa, the independent Noa Sakura and the pastry-baking Fuyumi Fukagawa. Oh, and (not seen) Ami, Noa’s little sister. Together, they bake bread and eat bread and talk about bread and fantasize about bread when they are not thinking about bread.

This started out as a 4-koma, and the tales really feel it; just enough time for a small crisis to go along with that sweet roll or a hot baguette. Or perhaps something a bit more involved, like the cultural festival or a trip to a friend’s beach house. Yes, everyone is cute and yummy, much like a hot-from-the-oven melon bread. It really is a caliber of ‘nothing’ show, where any crisis can be resolved with just a little something starchy to nosh on. Again, it’s another show that benefits from chaining them together and blitzing through them over the course of an evening.

To be sure, this is a slight show, but if you are one of those anime type that like pretty girls and a plain plot, this will serve you nicely.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           8 (Boy, are they ever cute)
Plot                  7 (Pretty standard and typical)
Pacing              8 (Moves along nicely)
Effectiveness   6 (Not much beyond the friendship angle)
Conclusion       7 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service      0 (A similar show would be “Honey and Clover”)

Overall            7 (Lacking some real edge or bite to it)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. I made bread buddies!