Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 8

England. France. Germany. What common thread binds these three nations together? Answer: each is famous for producing unique, distinctive, delicious bread. But what about Japan, home to rice and delicacies of the sea? Is there not a doughy, gastronomic delight they can claim as their own? The answer is no...until now! Kazuma Azuma, a 16-year-old-boy blessed with otherworldly baking powers, has taken it upon himself to create Ja-pan, the national bread of the land of the rising sun!

It's only the exhibition for the Monaco Cup--the prestigious bread tournament Kazuma and company are participating in as they study abroad in France--and the competition is already ablaze. Kawachi and Kanmuri collaborate on an outlandish decorative bread scheme to earn their team some extra points, but will their avant-garde approach hurt their chances more than help? Later, a roulette wheel is used to decide which ingredients will be allowed in the first preliminaries. Will Kazuma's trusty Ja-pan 21 see Pantasia through to victory?