Yakitate!! Japan Episode Rating Graph

At the beginning of the episode, Azuma quickly loses another 2 points for his hair being messy & another 2 for (inadvertently) insulting the examiner. He is given a hairband by a girl who is in the competition. Azuma then meets Kawachi Kyosuke, another applicant. Compared to Azuma, who is relatively simple and has only ever made Japan (bread), Kawachi is quite knowledgeable about bread. As he sees Azuma kneading his bread, he determines that Azuma has the Solar Hands. After tasting a sample of Azuma's bread, he realizes that Azuma is strong competition and must lose quickly. While Azuma is preparing his dough, he rolls a rolling pin behind Azuma, which Azuma slips on, ruining his bread. However, Azuma rebounds to make a Mount Fuji-shaped bread, and gains two points back - comparatively, the strongest competitor otherwise, Suwabara Kai, has a zero point deduction.

Azuma Kazuma is an aspiring baker who has left his small town for Tokyo to fight for his dream of making a bread for all Japan. The story starts when Azuma is 5, living in the country with his grandfather, a rice farmer, and his sister. Although his family only eats rice, as they are rice farmers, Azuma's sister wishes to eat bread for once. Azuma's grandfather refuses, and Azuma has to make a bread that even his grandfather will eat. Little do they know, Azuma has the legendary "Solar Hands". These allow bread to ferment more quickly, and he is able to make a bread that his grandfather loves. 10 years later, he travels to Tokyo to compete in the Pantasia recruitment competition, to try to get accepted to Pantasia, the best bakery in Japan. The test uses a 10 point system, but Azuma immediately loses 5 points due to being late...