When I went through my massive manga streak while slogging through the Hockey Ever After series, this was one of the ones that was immediately available via my local library. It had older characters who I thought might be nicer to read, there seem to be a lot of high school/university age character manga, with fewer adult and real-world overall.
This is the story of Toshimitsu, a real estate business owner who bakes in his spare time, and Gonta, a care giver, who have been together for some time. The story revolves around their day-to-day lives and the stresses at work (both business and personal) and their ability to relax at home.
Gonta is open and comfortable with his sexuality, but Toshimitsu isn’t—and this is what leads to some of the angst in the manga. Toshimitsu has an employee that is all about expanding their client base to specifically advertise they’re LGBT friendly, and he’s hesitant to do that in case someone might think he’s gay even though he is. When he tells Gonta about this, Gonta is rightfully upset that he won’t own up to their relationship. But with delicious baking they return to the status quo.
I’m not sure if in the later novels if this changes, but it was enough to put me off from wanting to read the rest of them. I will say, however, that looking at the covers of the other three the art style seems to have been refined a bit more, so that would take away one of my major hesitations, but when there are so many other manga out there why keep reading a series that just doesn’t vibe for you?
Recommendation: It was okay, however the internal-homophobia was a bit too much and over the top. It also isn’t my favorite drawing style, so with those two things added together, for me it’s a pass. The story is nice enough and is educational for non-LGBTQ+ individuals, but it falls short overall for me.
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