I read this and vol. 2 years and years ago but it must've slipped through the book-logging cracks. Re-read because I'm restarting the series now that there's a billion volumes. I love Fumi Yoshinaga. ( )

I picked this up today because it was about a "cute gay couple". it turns out it's also a great set of recipes and i'm gonna have to try cooking them all soon. i'm not sure if that's truly a good thing lol... anyway it made me hungry.

the translation left a little to be desired - especially converting the measurements to imperial - so if i get the next volume i might try to find it in japanese. but it's nice to have the prices in yen of things i'm likely to find in shops here in japan, even if the prices are a decade out of date. ( )

I received a digital copy from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Since this is a slice of life manga I didn't expect much, the couple was only ok and I couldn't care enough to read the next volumes. It's interesting having a plot around the food, but it was poorly executed. ( )

The food aspect is the best. The 43 year old lawyer Shiro Kakei displays little pleasure in anything but planning, shopping for, preparing, and eating food. He has a live in boyfriend Kenji, but is not openly out except to his parents and seems closed in and angry. ( )

Mostly enjoyable fluff. Don't come expecting too much of a story, as the cooking scenes take up significant chunks of each chapter. I would recommend it for the recipes and the (mostly) realistic take on an older gay couple. But the lack of a real storyline (so far, maybe it develops more in later volumes) and some clumsy handling of the LGBT storyline keeps it as closer to 3/5 than anything higher. The latter issue particularly bothered me a bit, not because I think the author is homophobic or anything, but (as a queer person myself) there are some clumsy moments that remind you this is being written by a (probably) straight woman whose knowledge of gay men is somewhat limited. The painful exchanges where the gay couple accept the ignorant premise that gay relationships have a man and a woman were particularly bad. There is a definite undercurrent I picked up on that being the bottom/"woman" is slightly comical, and it gets played for laughs a bit. But still, it's more sensitive than not, and I've mostly enjoyed it. ( )