The Bartender is Kotaro’s acquaintance who works at The New Jofuku Bar. He is also so far the only other living soul who knows about The Zombie Land Saga project.
He is also shown to be familiar with Yugiri and warns Kotaro to not mess with her as the bartender owes her a lot.
A fairly old man, but appears to be immortal, wearing a bartender uniform. Several hints point out that it is intrinsically related to the way the girls were resurrected.
History
Appearing for the first time in episode 11 of the first season, he is one of the most mysterious characters in the series so far, the bar he serves is called "New Jofuku"
His vague history with Yugiri and his brief confusion from the Zombie Land Saga Project over Hizen province, a territory that was dissolved in the early Meiji period, suggest that he is much older than he appears. It is our first hint that there is a larger story about the environment beyond the girls, and Kotaro is part of it.
He is called "Master" in the Japanese credits, which is just his profession, but that is all we know for sure. Although the name of his bar, the images and the oddities in its background seem to indicate that he is Xu-Fu.
The official Blu-ray of the series dubbed into English confirms that his name in the English credits is "Jofuku."
Personality
From what little we know about him, he is a mature man who is not afraid to talk to people and is direct with his conversations, although he likes to play a bit to be cryptic with them too, during his appearances during the series he is direct with Kotaro calling his plan insane but worrying that Yugiri is okay. In episode 13 and the first of the second season this attitude goes a little further by insulting Kotaro for his vagabond appearance and purposely mistaking Franchouchou's name for "Saga ettes" in reference to the stadium where they failed, in addition to intentionally provoking Kotaro with telling him to tell the girls that it's over for them, so that he comes out of his depression and goes directly to save the group.
Trivia
The name of the bar "New Jofuku" is a clear reference to the legend of the same name in the prefecture of Saga, Jofuku is the Japanese name of Xu-Fu, a sorcerer of the court of Qin Shi Huang, His boss ordered him to look for an "elixir of the immortals" on the top of the mythical Mount Penglai. [1]He found the elixir whose name is "Furofuki" on the top of Mount Kinryu after reaching Saga and meeting the inhabitants of the area, indicating that the island he was looking for is actually Saga prefecture,[2] the elixir was given by a magician leader of the 8 immortals Anqi sheng, this place is known in Chinese mythology as the place where fruits grow that give immortality and that are capable of reviving the dead, strongly indicating that this is the reason why the girls were revived.
The series has only confirmed that the legend of Jofuku exists in the series, but we have no confirmation of what role he will play in the series or if the guy at the bar is Jofuku himself or someone related to him.
The images hanging in the bar (including one of statue of Xu-Fu himself) suggest that the association is quite intentional in this Universe, and considering his apparent age, they are probably indications of his identity as well.
Both images in the background of the bar belong to the Jofuku Chojukan, the museum and park dedicated to the legends of xu-fu in Saga.
The "Genkai Zombie Energy Park Project" that he mention in season two is probably a reference to Genkai Energy Park, which is a kind of park in Saga adjacent to a power plant with some exhibits and assorted things.
