I found “What did you eat yesterday?” to be a charming, fresh and unique cooking and romantic comedy manga series worth reading! Recommended!
Image courtesy of © 2014 Fumi Yoshinaga. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: What did you eat yesterday? vol. 5
BY Fumi Yoshinaga (よã—ãªãŒ ãµã¿)
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Weekly Morning
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Vertical, Inc.
RELEASE DATE: November 4, 2014
A hard-working middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo come to enjoy the finer moments of life through food. After long days at work, either in the law firm or the hair salon, Shiro and Kenji will always have down time together by the dinner table, where they can discuss their troubles, hash out their feelings and enjoy delicately prepared home cooked meals!
Accomplished home chef though he might be, Shiro proceeds on the assumption that no two of his curries will ever taste the same.
Mangaka Fumi Yoshinaga is one of the well-known Shojo artists in Japan.
Having had written seven manga series including the popular “Seiyo Kotto Yogashiten” (Antique Bakery), her seventh series titled “Kino Nani Tabeta?” (What did you eat yesterday?) is now being released in the U.S. courtesy of Vertical, Inc.
The series is currently serialized in the manga magazine “Weekly Morning” and was nominated for the first Manga Taisho (an annual Japanese manga award for a series that has less than eight collected volumes).
“What did you eat yesterday?” revolves around Shiro, an accomplished home chef and his relationship and doing what he loves the most…cooking and spending time with his boyfriend Kenji.
This is the first time I have read Fumi Yoshinaga’s “What did you eat yesterday?”.
It’s a fresh spin compared to other cooking manga that I have read in the fact that while you have a story, you also read through the actual cooking recipes as Shiro makes his dish.
Many other manga focus on the food, the taste of the food and what ingredients were utilized. Sometimes, you get a recipe at the end or at the beginning of the manga but the actual cooking is integrated into the storyline.
But it’s not all about cooking as the manga also explores life of a gay couple.
Chapter 33 focuses on Shiro visiting a friend’s home and her husband bringing a gay friend to meet Shiro (despite Shiro already being in a relationship with Kenji) and Shiro’s experience meeting this new man, Mr. Kohinata.
Chapter 34 revolves around Kenji and his family, but also getting to know how he came from a dysfunctional family.
Chapter 35 is rather interesting as it deals with Shiro going to the market to purchase food but wondering if the cashier dislikes him.
Chapter 36 features Mr. Kohinata inviting Shiro for dinner and Shiro feeling guilty about going.
Chapter 37 features Kenji wanting to get an engagement ring with Shiro.
Chapter 38 features Shiro and Kenji going out on a double date with Mr. Kohinata and Wataru.
Chapter 39 features Shiro going to his parents home every New Year’s Eve.
And Chapter 40 deals with a lawyer who needs Shiro’s help for a jury trial.
For the most part, I found “What did you eat yesterday?” to be a charming manga about love, life and cooking. It’s definitely a fresh and unique take on the cooking genre as Fumi Yoshinaga does a great job of balancing the cooking and story, but also a different perspective as it deals with Shiro, a gay man trying to maintain his relationship with Kenji and exploring his life with other random characters which is fun and interesting.
The artwork has a blend of shojo style but instead of making everyone look glamorous, Fumi Yoshinaga doesn’t do that. It’s more of a natural and realistic take which I enjoyed and her artwork is not too busy!
Overall, I found “What did you eat yesterday?” to be a charming, fresh and unique cooking and romantic comedy manga series worth reading! Recommended!