{"id":23984,"date":"2021-04-27T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=23984"},"modified":"2021-04-26T15:51:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T15:51:41","slug":"beauty-and-the-feast-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2021\/04\/27\/beauty-and-the-feast-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Beauty and the Feast volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Satomi U<\/strong>, translated by Sheldon Drzka<\/strong> (Square Enix)
\nISNB: 978-1-64609-062-4 (Tank\u00c5\u008dbon PB)<\/p>\n

Not all manga is gorily action-packed and overflowing with astoundingly robust wonder warriors or deeply introspective and socially redeeming: some Japanese comics just want you to have a good time and some gentle enjoyment.<\/p>\n

Here’s one of those in the form of a jolly and uncomplicated semi rom-com, rich and redolent with cultural confusion and pretty illustration from enigmatic creator Satomi U.<\/p>\n

It all begins with a revelation in ‘Yakumo-San Wants to Feed You!’<\/em> as pretty widow Shuko Yakumo<\/em> invites a rather unprepossessing young man into her apartment. It’s not the first time Shohei Yamato<\/em> has come around from his next door flat and, without preamble or converse, tucks into a vast display of succulent home-cooked food.<\/p>\n

He’s a first year High School student at prestigious Tosei Academy, on the equivalent of a baseball scholarship, with strict orders to bulk up. Shohei sees nothing amiss in a stranger and single lady indulging him in a strictly-platonic relationship: feeding up the socially-awkward, tongue-tied baseball prodigy who is unable gain necessary poundage due to a lack of funds\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

He doesn’t seem very bright – or even communicative – but sure can pack away the glorious meals she happily produces, apparently, just for the sheer joy of cooking again.<\/p>\n

It’s not a normal relationship, but both seem to get what they need out of the ritual\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Determined to be the best she can, the delirious domestic goddess constantly considers new recipes and bigger portions before ‘Yakumo-San Buys a Rice Cooker’<\/em> sees a change in the status quo as the human locust gradually shares details of his past before we see what his life currently demands in ‘A Day in the Life of Shohei Yamato’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

‘A Day in the Life of Shuko Yakumo’<\/em> moves into new territory as school pressure makes the lad miss a few visits, prompting his culinary custodian to start following him with mobile morsels and picnic treats, culminating in an actual and mutual emotional connection on ‘A Night for Cherry Blossoms’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

An old complication resurfaces as ‘Enter Rui, the Reckless High School Girl’<\/em> sees an extremely raucous and proprietary former classmate of the sporting cadet reinsert herself in his life. Little Rui Nishihara<\/em> believes she’s responsible for Shohei’s accomplishments and intends to be the wife of a major baseball superstar, and instantly recognizes a potential rival in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153old lady\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with the big boobs and always-open kitchen\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Given to histrionics, Rui is determined to regain the boy’s attention, and refuses to listen to the advice of her super-sensible best pal Ritsuko Nagai<\/em>, who calmly and constantly reminds her that she never had it in the first place\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Shuko is largely unaware of the impending storm, spending a day at her husband’s grave and catching up with old friend Yuri who reminds her that ‘Nothing Stays the Same’<\/em>. It’s a fact hammered home that night when Shohei again decimates her larder, only this time something else – something new – happens\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Supplemented by Bonus Manga ‘A Day in the Life of Rui and Ritsuko’ <\/em>offering insight into the little firecracker’s backstory; design and fact pages on Shuko, Shohei, Rui and Ritsuko via ‘The Inside Scoop’<\/em> before ending on a slapstick excerpt from Satomi U’s ‘Baseball Team Research Journal’<\/em>, this is a bright, breezy and silly, salivatory saga that will satisfy any cravings for something more tastily intriguing than substantial and heavy.
\nBeauty and the Feast<\/strong> volume 1 \u00c2\u00a9 2016 Satomi U\/SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. English translation \u00c2\u00a9 2021 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satomi U, translated by Sheldon Drzka (Square Enix) ISNB: 978-1-64609-062-4 (Tank\u00c5\u008dbon PB) Not all manga is gorily action-packed and overflowing with astoundingly robust wonder warriors or deeply introspective and socially redeeming: some Japanese comics just want you to have a good time and some gentle enjoyment. Here’s one of those in the form of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Beauty and the Feast volume 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[125,25,148,210],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humour","category-japanese-comics","category-romance","category-sport"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-6eQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}