Although this is one of the more obscure June titles it’s not that pricey, it’s pretty decent! I might even say it’s a hidden gem.
“X, are you sure you’re not just saying that because it has random scenario you find really hot, like clothed handjobs?”
Man, ya’ll know me too well…
Asada is a frustrated salaryman who drinks himself into a stupor one night and collapses into a bush. He is found a bit later by Nao, an aspiring pastry chef who is out for a jog. The two strike up a casual friendship, in which Asada helps Nao by tasting and giving feedback on his dessert creations.
They spend more and more time together until the realization hits Asada that he is in love with Nao, and ends up pushing his friend away over a misunderstood comment to avoid facing his feelings.
Nao leaves to study in France and returns to Japan three years later, and begins to make a name for himself as a young patisserie. Meanwhile Asada gets a promotion he always wanted at his job and thinks his unresolved ordeal with Nao is long buried – until their paths cross again.
The story is strong and very sweet, which I guess is appropriate since it’s dessert-themed and all. The pacing was great, both MCs were likable, and there was even actual character development (which you might think would be a standard feature of manga stories but the BL genre in general would prove otherwise). I really liked Asada and Nao as a couple and as their unspoken feelings raced towards a climax – also that kind – I couldn’t help but be excited for them.
I wasn’t joking by the way about there being a clothed handjob scene which turns me into heavybreathingcat.jpg whenever it pops up in BL. Oh, business suit handjob even, double the fun! This scene really feels like Asada’s feelings being released too, so it’s sort of like a 2-in-1 climax…the mangaka builds this manga like a layer cake (badum tisch) and this scene was the topper.
I’m just gonna post the scene in full for no other reason than to spread my love of clothed handjobs around the internet.
You even get your icing on the cake (no? should I stop with the bad cake puns?) with a sex scene at the end, which I actually thought it was a little awkward looking, you didn’t really see any dick either. Guess they had to do the ol’ fuck-an-M-rating-into-it but I won’t complain.
More than the physical stuff actually I more enjoyed the sweet and tender romantic moments between them and the emotional tension that you could, say, cut with a knife (ok ok I’m really done this time!).
I liked the art fine, it’s a little bit average in some parts but it’s more than adequate for 2008. This is more of a nitpick though and even people who only read recent BL with shiny modern granite countertop art styles probably wouldn’t care.
Yukimura does romance of all kinds, BL or otherwise, and is still an active mangaka actually. If you read BL from this decade like the normies you might even recognize her as the illustrator of the novel Yes No Maybe that Seven Seas put out. She also has some of her older work scanlated, which I’ll likely check out at some point. This title isn’t one of them though and it’s not pricey either, so you can truly…shall we say…have your cake and eat it too…
TL;DR: Really cute friendship-turned-romance between a salaryman and a pastry chef with good pacing, buildup, and character development. One of the more obscure of June’s oversize dust-covered titles and a bit of a hidden gem, and I’m not just saying that because there’s a clothed HJ scene which is a scenario I always find hot for some reason. Great read, very sweet and easy to enjoy, wish it had a part 2.