Jun
11
#13 - Kinou Nani Tabeta? by Yoshinaga Fumi
Filed Under Comedy, Gastronomic, Reviews, Seinen, Slice of Life | 3 Comments
きのう何食べた？ (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?
May
22
A very sweet summer
Filed Under Gastronomic, News, Seinen, Series Updates, Slice of Life | 4 Comments
For me, summer has come to an end, but for everyone else, summer’s just about to begin. Particularly this season, a couple of tastefully sweet mangas are either being animated or is being enacted into live action. And I say you shouldn’t miss them. And no, it’s not because they’re BL (actually, only one of them is) but it’s because for those who have a sweet tooth, it would be great to finally see, in full motion, how some of the sweets featured in these mangas were made. Because of series like Antique Bakery and Andou Natsu being animated, this summer is more than just watermelons.
To start with, we have strawberry shortcakes coming from the cast of Antique Bakery. By now, everyone knows about Antique Bakery. A lot of girls started professing eternal support for Fumi after reading this series. And boys pretty much got the jist from their girl friends and is relieved that at least the j-dorama didn’t make Ono gay. However, once Toshokan Sensou ends in July, Fuji TV’s Noitamina slot will be featuring Antique Bakery. And yes this time round, Ono will be gay. I will not go at length on how much I’m excited about this. I think I’ve mentioned it before already, but yes, expect to see some care in the creation of really yummy pastries from them. The detail Fumi places everytime Ono whips up a desert always made me hungry. I have to make sure that I have a cookie with me while watching this series. I think my tummy will be crying the whole time if I didn’t.
On the other hand, I am just as excited for Andou Natsu. It was announced last week that they’ll be bringing out this yummy manga about an aspiring pattisiere who eventually dedicated her craft to the creation of okashi or Japanese sweets. I first crossed this manga when I was reading Big Comic Original (blame Pluto). It really didn’t leave a great impact to me then, but somehow fate wants me to read this manga that when I asked my teacher1 to send me a manga of his choice as a recommendation, he sent me Andou Natsu. I know Karl loves his food mangas so I know that this has got to be something that he has sifted through the lot. And surprisingly, this manga is more than just sweets, but it also speaks of the preservation of the trade of Japanese sweets, one craft that is slowly losing out to the likes Antique Bakery (lol.)
Yes, I love Andou Natsu because it shares to us readers something that we can definitely find only in Japan (or if you’re lucky, at your local grocery). Okashi is a delicate trade of making sweets using ingredients that are indigenous to Japan. So some of these okashi are your mochi packed with sweet an, colored in naturally edible dyes, made painstakingly with much dedication and brute strength, and perhaps served fresh every day.
What is great about the story is it’s not just about a girl trying to get in the trade, but rather, just like the girl, it raises your level of awareness on how the sweets were made and the lengths that people are doing in order to protect their craft that is slowly losing to Hersheys and Meiji chocolates. More than that, the manga has a nice warm feeling to it wherein the characters nurture not only their associates in the store, but also the nearby community that supports and patronizes their sweet.
These two great mangas may not have big cook-offs and shining dishes, but their sweet tales is something that’ll make you think how life is more than a box of chocolates. My sweet tooth will definitely be spoiled this summer.
- I’m forever grateful, Karl-sensei!! [↩]
Mar
21
#12 Saint Young Men by Hikaru Nakamura
Filed Under Comedy, Reviews, Seinen, Slice of Life | 5 Comments
Saint Young Men (聖☆おにいさん) by Nakamura Hikaru
Serialized in Morning Two
Published by Kodansha
Lent is the perfect time to reflect over our past sins and contemplate on how THE MAN sacrificed his life for our salvation. In the modern world, this religious ritual becomes a chore, often forgotten, maybe even neglected. In my country, Lent’s a holiday, a 5 day weekend where you can relax from the nitty gritty of work, ideally to reflect, but more often spent on frolicking in beaches and family picnics. But somehow, The Lord finds his way to sneak up on you, in ways you can’t even imagine. And in this case, he even partnered himself with Buddha to create a light-hearted comedy about two deities living a life in the modern world.
Whatever divine crack you sniffed Hikaru Nakamura, YOU ARE A GENIUS! JESUS AND BUDDHA FTW!
Dec
31
Welcome to N.H.K (NHKにようこそ)
Published by Kadokawa Shoten
Serialized in Shounen Ace
Translated by Tokyopop
A new year’s about to start so let’s talk about a manga about starting things anew. This is a story about changes. A rude banter from a classmate has turned a man into an anti-social NEET. A girl who has not coped with change convinces herself she can change another. Contrary to popular belief, Welcome to N.H.K is not a story about otakus and the otaku experience. It is a look into the darker side of our humanity, a depressing loneliness only brought about by a conspiracy that doesn’t bring to people together but tears them apart. A painful yet beautiful romantic tale about two people who are trying their best to defeat this great conspiracy. Welcome to NHK.
Oct
14
#09 - Mousou Shoujo Otaku Kei by Natsumi Konjoh
Filed Under Comedy, Reviews, Romance, Seinen | 2 Comments
Mousou Shoujo Otakukei by Natsumi Konjoh
Published by Futabasha/Comics High
Translated by MediaBlasters. Coming Soon though.
This is a fujoshi story1 . Yes. It involves fangirls oggling over BL with their crazy imagination at work. I’d like to warn people that the world of the fujoshi is insane, and as the title of the manga captures it, even delusional. However, it can also be charming and outright hilarious. In the tradition of non-otaku men falling in love with rabid female otakus is a story of a boy that explores the world of the fujoshi and everything else in between — Mousou Shoujo Otakukei. The Delusional Girl Otaku.
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Otaku Champloo is...
a small serving of bittersweet manga bits by a manga addict named Khursten.
She currently digs mangas about boys who live to be men. -
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