#13 – Kinou Nani Tabeta? by Yoshinaga Fumi
Posted on 11. Jun, 2008 by Khursten in Reviews
Kinou Nani Tabeta
きのうなに食べた？Kinou Nani Tabeta? (What did you eat yesterday) by Yoshinaga Fumi
Serialized in Morning
Published by Kodansha.
What did you eat for dinner last night?
Fish and chips? Chinese takeout? Pot Roast? How about a grilled fish, marinated in soy and miso, but not too long to save the sweetness of the fish, matched with a clear vegetable soup and red rice? And probably at the same price as your Chinese takeout. Yoshinaga Fumi returns to us with a very delectable treat, one that we have missed ever since Antique Bakery. We now have 2 guys in their 40s, sharing an apartment, and eating some of the yummiest dinners with ingredients bought in the best of seasons and on a budget. Yes, Fumi’s back in her element with a delightfully yummy manga serving where she asks us “Kinou, nani tabeta?”, what did you yesterday?
Kinou Nani Tabeta, what did you eat yesterday, is a slice of life tale between a gay couple living together and trying to eat hearty meals under a budget. You have Shirou Kakei, a conservative gay lawyer who would rather think of how he can save 300 yen on a watermelon over confessing to his office that he’s gay. His partner, Kenji Yabuki is a flamboyantly gay hairdresser who would rather buy the newest Haagen Daaz in a convenience store than waiting for it to go on sale in the nearest grocery. The couple’s quite an odd pair, the kind that Yoshinaga-sensei loves to mess with in her mangas. But instead of getting the usual dose of scrotching,1 she illustrates a more normal, less raunchy couple who seem to be more passionate about sharing dinners than letting Yoshinaga-sensei draw them doing the nasty. And it’s heart-warming to see how this series shows how important it is to share meals with other people. Really, this series is barely about the gay couple that stars in it. It is really more about the food and pleasure of saying how yummy it tastes!
It was in Manga Cast where I first heard of Yoshinaga Fumi’s seinen venture. Ed was oggling over some new series running in Morning and one of them was this said title. I’m not sure if that was Ed’s inner fujoshi that got him to talk about the series, but I’m sure his inner gourmet glossed over the supposed BL overtones and just pimped the series anyway because of the food. This series has more foodie elements than Antique. Yoshinaga-sensei goes deeper into her foodie element and dedicates chapters on the preparation of a dish or an entire menu. She thinks about costing, how to mix and match ingredients, and even how you can use the left overs for the next day. It’s amazing to read the dedication that Kakei puts in every meal. Occasionally, you get a tip or two about preparing dishes, like adding the mirin at the end of some dishes to make it sweeter. Yoshinaga-sensei encapsulates the love and art in food preparation in this manga and god, I do wonder what her Morning editor ate when she came up with this manga.
Okay, so I can’t disregard the fact that they’re both gay
Fine, I’m somewhat obliged to write it because as much as I love the food in this series, I am also amused with how Kakei and Yabuki get by with their relationship. I can’t help it, my fujoshi instincts cannot deny how amusing Kakei and Yabuki are. In between the food oggling, Kakei and Shirou would find themselves in situations wherein they would have to tackle their homosexuality. Unlike most BL which forgets the idea of homosexuality and just let them have it, this couple has to deal with their homosexual reality in conservative Japan. Of course, with Yoshinaga-sensei, she does this with great humor, often forcing Kakei to come out of the closet or getting into a jealous spazz because Yabuki can’t get his tongue tied when it comes to their relationship.
I cannot say if sensei is trying to do this in order to give voice to homosexuals in Japanese society, but either way, the manga does pleasantly represent a social stigma that most homosexuals of this day face. You have overly-concerned mothers, flamboyantly gay friends, suspicious women, and a slew of supporters. Of course, she does this in a very light-hearted fashion and more often than not, you gloss this over because of the food. Now that I think about it, maybe she’s using the food as an avenue to open awareness to homosexual issues to Morning readers. Perhaps, how normal most of them act despite being homosexual. In the end, despite the presence of the homosexual couple, I wouldn’t say that this title is her shot at getting back to BL though. This is closer to Antique than it is to Gerard and Jacques. More so, romance is barely the key in this manga. I seriously doubt you’ll be seeing some action in it too.
Whichever way I look at it, whether it’s the food or the gay, Kinou Nani Tabeta is a hearty manga that warms your heart with every story. It shows to us the joys of preparing food and the importance of sharing that meal with others.
On a side though, since this manga is still unlicensed and deserves some attention, my friends and I have scanlated the manga to share it to fellow fans of Fumi Yoshinaga’s works. You can download the first chapter of Kinou Nani Tabeta here.
- I have to thank Dan for this term… even if it wasn’t for BL [↩]
Stephen
Jun 12th, 2008
As you said, homosexual themes in a seinen manga? I am really a manga noob but is there a precedent in that case? I am still stuck with the impression that seinen is for “older men”. XD I know that I have been told countless of times to remove that from my thoughts but it somehow still persists.
Reading your review really made me want to read it. Too bad I cannot offer my services in scanlating because my skills are way below yours. I highly appreciate that you make an effort to share gems like these.
Ed
Jun 14th, 2008
There is homosexual themes in many seinen manga. But then again seinen is not limited to adult men. Seinen as a demographic is the “mature reader” (seinen itself means adult). And as such a magazine like Morning has a title like KinoTabe with gay undertones, it can have a hardcore yuri drama like Gunjou, it can have josei titles like Nurse Aoi, Himawari KENICHI LEGEND, or ShimaShima and it can even go alternative like Mu-tachi or pet manga like Tori-pan and Chi’s Sweet Home.
Seinen is manga for the manga reader. I know I have gone on “seinen up” rants at my blog before and it may occasionally sound like a “manly manga for manly men” affair but I do not mean to exclude anyone who really loves, studies and lives manga from reading seinen.
Scanlation huh… I’ll ignore that for now. But I have a hunch that series will be available someday. Though the fact that it comes out infrequently may hold it back a bit.
Khursten
Jun 15th, 2008
@Stephen… when we get to meet, you can borrow my manga and put your kanji studies to good use. :3
@Boss Ed. Just spreading the love with the scanlation. (^^v) Promise I will drop this once someone picks it up. :3 I’m sure this title will be picked up. Fumi has a great following already and if they hear that she’s back with her food, they’ll definitely pick this up. I was quite surprised how although Kinou Nani Tabeta and Saint Oniisan’s first volumes almost came out at the same time, Saint Oniisan seems to be more regular in releasing stories that they’re already bringing out the second volume soon. ;_; And Kinou doesn’t even have enough yet to make a volume. *sniff*
Thanks for giving me the lowdown on seinen manga. I somehow haven’t let go yet of my misconception of seinen manga. My first exposure to it was Big Comic Spirits and Original and those usually are very serious and manly. lol. My second exposure to it involves Megastore comics. X3
But thanks to the Morning habit, I’m realizing more and more how varied seinen can be. Thank you for the invaluable knowledge you’ve shared with me Boss. べんきょう！べんきょう！べんきょう！
2008 was all about Morning
Jan 8th, 2009
[...] Kinou Nani Tabeta (The Yoshinaga Fumi foodie manga we long to read about.) [...]
Heuyie
Feb 10th, 2009
Hi, Khursten!
I am surprised that you got this comics and read in Japanese! I like Fumi Yoshinaga too. Her expression of human feelings are delicate but clear. Iy you like her in general, I recomment that you read “Aisubeki Musume Tachi” （ISBN-10: 4592132955). This is not Yaoi but an exellent comic about women’s life. Once Fumi Yoshinaga commented that she has special feeling toward this comic too.
Take care!
Khursten
Feb 12th, 2009
Thank you for visiting Heuyie
Her expression of human feelings are delicate but clear.
Yes! This is one of the things I love about her as well. <3 You could not have said it any better.
I’ll take a look into Aisubeki Musume Tachi. :3 I’m actually excited to read more of her works outside of BL so this will definitely be in my list. Thanks! o/
ピザデブ[pizadebu] « Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans
Feb 20th, 2009
[...] did you eat yesterday?] which follows a gay couple(you can see this comic’s review here). When one of the couple who is a 44(or so)-year-old lawyer wonders why a lot of women have [...]