Yankee & Carameliser

by Chiuko Umeshibu

Genres: Manga, Romance
Pages: 164
Rating:

Synopsis:

Take one influencer and one bad boy extraordinaire, whisk in a sprinkling of sweets, a scoop of social media and you get...? Maki and Akito's love story, hot out of the oven! After all, even though Maki might have a bit of a bad rep, the guy must be just as gooey on the inside as the glorious goodies he posts all over social media. So when Akito gets a taste of how dangerously delicious his desserts are, he can't help wanting a taste of the man himself...

Chiuko Umeshibu’s Yankee & Carameliser is pretty cute: a bad boy teenager, Maki, gets caught anonymously posting images of gorgeous desserts by his classmate, Akito. Akito eagerly encourages him to post videos and talk more about how he makes food, drawing him out of his shell, and as they work together on that, Maki quickly falls in love.

There’s a pretty standard misunderstanding bit when Akito runs into Maki coming out of a love hotel with another man; Maki thinks Akito’s relieved when he says he didn’t have sex with the guy because Akito thinks that means he’s not gay (and to be fair, Akito’s sentiments are extremely badly expressed), while Akito simply means that he’s glad that (older) guy didn’t do anything to him that he didn’t end up wanting.

There’s also a bit of homophobia/transphobia in the air, since Maki’s cultivated the bad boy image to look ‘less weird’, after a childhood interest in playing cooking and liking cute things. He blames himself for his parents’ breakup after they caught him wearing lipstick. This is handled relatively lightly and isn’t addressed specifically between Akito and Maki: Akito just keeps being enthusiastic and loving Maki’s baking, thinking he’s cute, and eventually realising that he returns his feelings.

The result is a short-and-sweet love story that doesn’t really dig into the darker stuff implied at its edges. The relationship maybe feels a tiny bit rushed, but the chemistry does genuinely feel real, and Maki’s embarrassment at his growing feelings (and Akito’s returning them) is adorable.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)