manga: Mixed Vegetables Vol 1-2
Ashitaba Hanayu is the heiress of a pastry chef family who is expected to eventually take over the family business. Unfortunately, her dream has been to become a sushi chef since her father first took her out to sushi when she was a child. Since she can’t just announce that she’s abandoning the family business to become a sushi chef, Hana decides that she must marry into a family of sushi chefs. To do this, she sets her sights on Hyuga Hayato, a boy in her cooking class. Hana is the world’s worst seductress, and so ends up snapping at Hayato more than anything else. Somehow, though, this seems to work and Hayato asks her out. Which, naturally, causes Hana to be wracked with guilt, and begin to question her own feelings.
Except Hayato was only dating her because he wants to marry into a family of pastry chefs! (Which actually isn't hard to guess, as the back cover copy of vol 1 reveals his ambitions, though the actual manga doesn't.) This saved me from the “I really shouldn’t like this because it’s wrong!” feeling I had been having, though it could be guessed from the back cover, where it’s revealed on the first volume’s back cover blurb that he wants to be a pastry chef though it isn’t revealed in the manga itself until the second volume. After some angsting, caused largely by Hayato acting like a jerk so Hana will hate him instead of feeling guilty, and ending when Hana calls him on it, the two become friends-for real this time-realize that neither has a clue about how to do the cooking required for their respective dreams, and start helping each other. There’s a particularly cute sequence where he learns that it was a sushi eggroll that made Hana want to be a sushi chef, and spends hours making every kind of eggroll he can think of to learn what it was.
Cute and fluffy with lots of different food bits. I probably like it in excess of its actual quality. And…uhm…I am easily swayed and so am pleased that Hana and her best friend have a vibe that reminds me a bit of Kyoko and Kanae/Moko in Skip-Beat. I am also fond of when Hana and/or Hayato have moments and reactions in line with your normal shoujo romance, and then you remember that it’s not a real moment, it’s one step closer to switching over to being the kinds of chefs they want to be.
Except Hayato was only dating her because he wants to marry into a family of pastry chefs! (Which actually isn't hard to guess, as the back cover copy of vol 1 reveals his ambitions, though the actual manga doesn't.) This saved me from the “I really shouldn’t like this because it’s wrong!” feeling I had been having, though it could be guessed from the back cover, where it’s revealed on the first volume’s back cover blurb that he wants to be a pastry chef though it isn’t revealed in the manga itself until the second volume. After some angsting, caused largely by Hayato acting like a jerk so Hana will hate him instead of feeling guilty, and ending when Hana calls him on it, the two become friends-for real this time-realize that neither has a clue about how to do the cooking required for their respective dreams, and start helping each other. There’s a particularly cute sequence where he learns that it was a sushi eggroll that made Hana want to be a sushi chef, and spends hours making every kind of eggroll he can think of to learn what it was.
Cute and fluffy with lots of different food bits. I probably like it in excess of its actual quality. And…uhm…I am easily swayed and so am pleased that Hana and her best friend have a vibe that reminds me a bit of Kyoko and Kanae/Moko in Skip-Beat. I am also fond of when Hana and/or Hayato have moments and reactions in line with your normal shoujo romance, and then you remember that it’s not a real moment, it’s one step closer to switching over to being the kinds of chefs they want to be.