The storyline is simple and easy to follow. A girl whose family owns a pastry shop wants to be a sushi chef and a boy whose family owns a sushi restaurant wants to be a pastry chef.. Can you honestly say you have heard of many stories like this? Mixed Vegetables manages to not only tell a love story but also a story about two young students who are passionate about their dreams. As a hardcore fan of shoujo manga, I do have to admit that I am mainly here for the romance aspect. However, Mixed Vegetables focuses on the main characters' striving to reach their goals, which I find refreshing.
ART - 9
The art is typical shoujo manga style.. Therefore, it is very girly and all the characters are "cute." I am honestly amazed at some of the colored cover illustrations. The mangaka did a pretty good job at drawing real life objects, such as the cakes and sushi that you will be seeing in every single chapter.
CHARACTER - 7
The two main characters, Hanayu and Hayato, are simple-minded characters (like the rest). As the story progresses, the two characters do develop and somewhat matures as they reach for their goals. All of the characters are likable in their own way. I adore how each family contributes to the growth of the main characters and how each character has an opinion on the subject of pursuing one's dream.
ENJOYMENT - 8
Before I started reading Mixed Vegetables, I was just looking for a cute and sweet romance to read. I was tired of reading stories about love triangles and love-crazy girls, so Mixed Vegetables definitely did the trick for me.
It was a light read although it did lack complexity and was not the least bit realistic. I enjoyed reading this manga. I was able to finish this in less than a day actually. Another thing to appreciate is that the problems that came up were usually resolved quickly. NOTE: This manga will not result in any wrinkles or lack of sleep.
OVERALL - 7
Mixed Vegetables has brought up an interesting question: What is more important.. your love (for family and for a significant other) or your dreams? As the main characters struggle through this question, I find myself cheering for them on. Mixed Vegetables is certainly not the best manga out there, but it can teach you a little something about achieving one's dream.
Basically, if you get annoyed of cheezy stories, stay away.. BUT if you want to take a break from all those drama-filled, tear-jerker stories, you should try reading Mixed Vegetables.
