Pan De Peace! is a short slice-of-life anime based on a 4koma manga. Its story follows a group of high school girls that became friends over their mutual love of bread and other baked treats. Among them is a small girl who, despite being fifteen, looks much younger, almost like an elementary student. Because of her tininess and her appearance, everyone fawns over her. Can you blame them, though? Look at her! This adorable girl’s name is…
Sakura Noa: An Adorable Bread Loli
This post is character spotlight and an appreciation post for Noa. Because Pan de Peace! was such a short anime, it did not receive a lot of attention. On top of this, people thought it was just another cute-girls-doing-cute-things anime with no depth. While it wasn’t particularly deep or innovative, I really enjoyed this show. And therefore, it needs some exposure, along with its most adorable character.
I have a particular affinity for loli characters. And when I say this, I mean that I love their adorableness. And other than overwhelming cuteness, I like them because I can personally relate to them. I am basically a real life one. I am in my 20’s and yet I am frequently mistaken for a teenager, sometimes even younger. I have experienced first hand the pain that lolis go through.
Unfortunately, since the anime’s episodes are only three minutes long each, we don’t really get to see Noa or the other characters in a lot of depth. However, I saw enough of Noa to add her to my favorite loli list. Here is what makes Noa so great- much like myself, she loves bread, particularly French Bread. She enjoys baguettes so much that she carries several around in her backpack. She also likes to use the baguettes as weapons, claiming that they are her sword in a chuunibyou manner. Being chuunibyou is one of my favorite anime personality traits and Noa pulls it off in an extra adorable way. She is the kind of character that doesn’t speak much, but when she does, it is golden and you can easily drown in her cuteness. One other aspect of Noa’s personality that I liked was her expertise in bread. She somehow knows the history and baking process of many different kinds of baked treats. I envy her.
Inspiring Yuri Moments
Anyway, because she is so innocent and diminutive, people usually dote on Noa, as if she is a small child. Some of her fellow students do not take her seriously and squeal about how adorable she is when she is trying to tell them something important (a.k.a. my life story). Fuyumi, another main character in the show, acts motherly around Noa. For example, she wipes crumbs off of Noa’s face, or tries to protect her from strangers. My favorite part, however, is when Fuyumu visits Noa when she has a cold. Fuyumi is completely worried, but when she arrives at Noa’s house, she sees her relaxing in a giant pastry-shaped sleeping bag. Fuyumi then gives Noa some of her favorite snacks. Have you ever seen such an adorably sick loli?
Noa drinking juice when she is sick.
Fuyumi isn’t the only one infatuated with Noa. When Mai, a pigtailed character, meets Noa, she becomes enthralled with her cuteness to the point that she practically stalks Noa around town. You could argue that Mai has a little bit of yuri crush on Noa.
Mini Pan de Peace! Review
Overall, I really enjoyed this anime. As a bread lover, I liked the concept and it was refreshing to see others as obsessed with bread as I am. Outside of Noa, I liked the other characters as well, such as Yuu and Mai, and all of the wonderfully moe things they did. I enjoyed the the yuri moments, although I wish there were more. The first episode was yuri-packed, but it disappears in the later episodes. My only other complaint is the animation and the length. The series obviously didn’t have a large budget. While the animation isn’t terrible, it pars in comparison to many other current shows that have a lot more money to spend. Probably also due to the budget, the episodes are very short, only three minutes each. Because of this, we really don’t get to see the characters in depth, as I mentioned earlier. It also limits the amount of cuteness and loli-ness I can witness. With only 13 episodes all together, it amounts to a total of about 40 minutes, which isn’t even the length of two full anime episodes. However, I suppose the length can be a good thing too. You could easily watch the whole thing in one sitting and enjoy all of the adorable moments that Noa and her friends (but mostly Noa) have to offer. Altogether, if you want to watch a short anime with a lot of loli and a little bit of yuri, I recommend Pan de Peace! I would give this show a 7 out of 10 for its overall quality (but a 3948298 out of 10 for the cuteness).
To see more adorable pictures of Noa, scroll down! Or you can see some more screenshots of Noa and the other characters on my tumblr. Also, if you love these kinds of shows like I do, make sure to browse around my blog to check some of my other posts involving cute girls.
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