Sep 7, 2025
As much as I am a fan of both yuri and gourmet series, I can't really recommend this one. There's only about half of it translated and I can't say I blame the translators for giving up after the first volume, as it doesn't really show a lot of promise.
I think the weakest aspect of the series, and what makes me think that it ultimately failed as a romance series is the lack of a dynamic and commitment between the two leads, as both appear pretty selfish and dismissive of each other. Granted, I haven't finished it, but I can't really see how they would
...
redeem them to the point of me really enjoying them at the very end.
Id say its definitely playing into that "(gay) women just hate men and want to use them", which I do think is a bit of a harmful trope, that takes away from the identity of who they even are, focusing more so on their approach to men, rather than the one towards women. Seiko is a selfish gold digger who hates men but constantly lies about pretty much everything so she can score a good husband, while Nagisa is just a bi girl who changes partners like gloves and doesn't really treat them seriously. I must say, it is a pretty weak first impression, to make me invested in the characters, when the main trait of one of them is being a compulsive liar to get the things she wants out of a man, even if she stops herself at the last moment before committing to getting married to each of them.
The series does make an attempt to show us that "Hey look, they are kind of into each other!" but they definitely don't treat each other very seriously, so the dynamic of Seiko and Nagisa is sadly lacking and we don't get a lot of insight of why they would be interested in each other, only that they are. It does feel a bit surface level, as they only seem to compliment each other's superficial traits.
Granted, Nagisa had hints of a sympathetic backstory that she was groomed by an older divorcee guy, as well as she felt inferior to the other main girl, but there really isn't enough. There are also certain hints about her having a ex who cannot let go. Not sure if that's meant to be the same person or not. Maybe it was explored further in the later half, but I would've preferred to be shown her backstory in full rather than being teased about it, when they were trying to have a character moment. It's a bit of a "eat your cake and have it too" sort of situation, when instead of keeping me engaged and wanting to know more about her, it seemed like the little bits teased were just ultimately quite meaningless and didn't allow me to understand her better in any capacity.
One might think that presenting Seiko as hunting for a husband, despite how she hates all men, is a way to add some social commentary about how women are forced to those role in a patriarchal society. But I'd argue the commentary is not really there and what is there is extremely shallow, so I cant in good faith take this character as criticism of the modern Japanese society and how it treats (queer) women, since most of her insight revolves around "I sure hope I get to eat lots of food for free". Don't get me wrong, the men she dates are certainly meant to be viewed negatively too and I think the implication is "This is the only way", but the fact her motivation is so surface level and how she feels no remorse for lying through her teeth to everybody, doesn't really make her a sympathetic protagonist. It isn't really a story of how she "plays this crooked game to get ahead in life, because that's the only way a woman can succeed in society", her approach is entirely selfishly cynical. I hope I can present my point well enough here that it doesn't seem like it's entirely flying over my head, because I certainly acknowledge the attempt (more or less), but the way it's treated doesn't really allow for much depth and boils down to her just wanting free food.
That's another point I could bring up, that for a series that advertised itself about how Seiko loves food and eating lots of it, I never felt like it committed to it. We're certainly told a bunch of times that she loves eating a lot, but never really shown much of it. The little bits we do see is just her having a pretty regular meal and the narration trying to sell it as something much more grand. It certainly plays into that "women shouldn't enjoy eating so they can be skinny" stereotype, but it doesn't feel like it has much to say beyond its acknowledgment, since again it offers a rather shallow look at it, as if the manga itself couldn't really bring itself to show us the problem it wanted to tackle. And then again, I'm not really feeling for Seiko, if her love of food mostly boils down to her just wanting to be treated by others for free, be it her wanna be husbands and Nagisa as well.
There were seeds here of a story about being unapologetically feminine, while breaking stereotypes, offering commentary on women's role in patriarchal society and challenging heteronormativity, as well as abuse, but I can't really say it did any of those subject matters justice, so ultimately I can't say I can recommend it at all.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
