Manga Adaptation by Liber
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Premise
A series following bartenders as they chase the “Glass of God”: the perfect drink that will change their world.
Iro’s verdict: Low Proof
The 2006 adaptation of Bartender is one of those shows that has a bizarrely large cultural footprint in the western anime fandom, which was enough to get me to check out this version. Glass of God is certainly a more faithful adaptation of the manga’s narrative, but I struggle to see the point of it all. Is the manga relevant (or, let’s face it, good) enough to warrant a full remake like this? Or are production committees just desperate to go for things they know already have a foothold?
Artemis’ verdict: I’ll Have What She’s Having
I have very fuzzy memories of watching the 2006 Bartender anime – so I could be misremembering, but I recall it being one of those purely episodic slice-of-life iyashikei/healing shows with no particular overarching storyline to speak of and no recurring characters beyond Bartender-san himself. Glass of God is definitely not that. I won’t comment on how well it does or doesn’t reflect the source material, as I’ve never read the original manga, but I did find myself pretty entertained by the sometimes hilarious one-liners here. Is Glass of God actually intended as a comedy? Quite possibly not, but that’s honestly neither here nor there – it didn’t stop me enjoying the hell out of its slightly absurdist nature and Extremely Serious™ portrayal of the art form it advertises. Whether or not I’ll be as entertained for a full 12 episodes remains to be seen, but for now, I appreciate this particular brand of ridiculousness. Barkeep, another!
The Glorio Blog 
The original manga is actually rather comedic with some serious tones. It’s also quite educational sometimes (though it also gets either boring or inaccurate sometimes); the manga once spend about three or four chapters explaining the origins of whisky culture in Japan with little to no jokes in between. My favorite chapters was when they talked about Ernest Hemingway, twice.
I actually like both versions; the old anime depicts Sasakura as a borderline bartending demigod, while this one potrays his more human side. There is an overaching story regarding Sasakura’s origins and motivations, but I doubt this anime will adapt that part. Even the old anime only very briefly alludes to it.
I will admit the funniest part of Episode 1 is when main dude does that completely busted etymology of bartender. Can’t take any of its educational parts seriously after that.