I reviewed the first two volumes of this series ages ago. For those who need a refresher: Hanayu is a pastry chef's daughter but secretly dreams of being a sushi chef, and Hayato is a sushi chef's son who secretly dreams of being a pastry chef. At the end of the previous volume, Hanayu learned that the sushi chef who made the first sushi she ever ate and who inspired her dream was Hayato's father.

In this volume, Hayato takes Hanayu to his family's sushi restaurant. Hayato's father takes an immediate shine to her and tells her she can work part-time at his restaurant. It's an exciting offer and prompts Hanayu to finally tell her father about her dream. Unfortunately, the news doesn't go over well, and Hanayu spends much of the volume worrying that she's being selfish and letting her father and her younger brother (who has the makings of a pro baseball player, as long as he's not expected to inherit the bakery) down. Meanwhile, Hayato still needs to tell his father about his dream, but can he go through with it after seeing how things went for Hanayu?

Ugh. Hanayu's father disappointed me in this volume. I thought he was more easy-going than that. At least it didn't take him too long to start to unbend. And Hanayu's little brother's reaction to the whole thing was sweet.

I liked this quote (although it's a bit awkwardly worded) from Matsuzaka, Hanayu's teacher: “We adults are hopeless. Because we have a little more experience, we tend to look into the future. And we try to push you toward the path that offers the least chance of failure.” (59) It was said by way of apology after telling Hanayu to give up on her dream, and it reminded me of something my mom once told me. However, I did think it was odd that Matsuzaka hadn't already figured out Hanayu's desire to be a sushi chef, what with Hanayu turning every cooking assignment into something sushi-related.

The end of the volume showed Hanayu working at the sushi shop for the first time...as a waitress. Hanayu didn't seem particularly surprised or disappointed, so I guess this was expected? Even if Hanayu wasn't disappointed, I was, a little, especially when her first day mostly involved smiling a lot and dealing with a grabby customer.

Hmm. The main reason I read this volume was because I stumbled across it in a bargain bin. Volume 3 didn't do much to change my opinion that this is a “meh” series – not exactly bad, but forgettable. I'm kind of amazed that Komura managed to stretch this series out to 8 volumes, since all that's really left is for Hayato to tell his father that he wants to be a pastry chef and for everyone to decide what they're going to do about the two family-owned shops. I predict that Hanayu and Hayato will marry and become the heirs of each other's family shops.

At the moment, I don't plan on making any kind of special effort to continue reading this series. If I stumble across volume 4 at some point, I'll read it, but I have plenty of other manga series I'm looking forward to reading more.

Extras:

Several author sidebars, a 3-page flashback manga showing Hayato's father's POV of little Hanayu's first visit to a sushi shop, and 2 pages of translator's notes.

 

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

In some ways, volume 2 is an improvement upon volume 1. In other ways, it's worse.

The scene that began the volume was shocking, probably the most exciting moment in the series so far. Hayato revealed himself to be just as selfish and manipulative as Hanayu. Perhaps more so, considering that he briefly entertained the thought of doing away with Hanayu's little brother so that there would be no one else who could potentially inherit Hanayu's parents' bakery.

However, as great at this scene was, there were two problems with it. One, it should have happened at the end of the first volume. And two, it was almost too effective at making Hayato unlikeable.

There wasn't really much about volume 1 to inspire readers to continue on. Having nice, safe, bland Hayato suddenly reveal his true self at the end of the volume would have made for a fantastic cliffhanger. It would have been a risky move, but, I think, an effective one.

Of course, this being a romance series, Komura had to somehow turn Hayato into a viable love interest again. She didn't accomplish that quite as smoothly as I would have liked, and I'm still not sure I understand the thought process that inspired Hanayu to chase after Hayato, apologize to him, forgive him, and become friends with him again.

So, with this volume the full premise is finally clear. Hanayu is the daughter of a pastry chef and will be expected to one day inherit her parents' bakery, but what she really wants is to become a sushi chef. She has a little brother who could potentially inherit it in her place, but he has the makings of a pro baseball player, so she doesn't want to do that to him. Hayato is the only son of a sushi chef and is expected to one day inherit his parents' sushi restaurant, but what he really wants is to become a pastry chef.

Neither one of them feels like they can tell their parents. I haven't seen much of Hayato's parents yet, but Hanayu's seem pretty nice and laid back. I wanted to shake her when she talked about not wanting to ruin her brother's dream. What, did that mean her brother's dream was more important than hers? I continued to wish she'd just talk to her parents about all of this. It's always possible her dad has an enthusiastic apprentice who could inherit the bakery. Heck, if both Hayato and Hanayu talked to their parents, maybe Hayato could be that enthusiastic apprentice.

As over-the-top as Hanayu's obsession with sushi could occasionally be, I could still believe in her dream more than I could in Hayato's. Supposedly, he really wanted to be a pastry chef. Fine. There were signs of it even in volume 1. Just like Hanayu made sushi when she was supposed to be doing other things, Hayato made desserts.

However, whereas Hanayu had spent years secretly learning to make sushi and making fish-based meals at home whenever she could find an excuse to do so, Hayato didn't even have access to an oven. If he had been even half as obsessed with baking as Hanayu was with sushi, I would think he'd have talked his way into a kindly neighbor's house to use their oven.

Then there was this, said by Hayato to Hanayu: “I've never been to your bakery. It's embarrassing for a guy to be seen in such a dainty place.”

You've got to be kidding me. How am I supposed to believe that he wants to be a pastry chef as much as Hanayu wants to be a sushi chef when he's embarrassed to even go to a bakery on his own?

One area where volume 2 was definitely an improvement upon volume 1 was the increased number of food illustrations. In this volume, several students, including Hanayu and Hayato, had to participate in a make-up exam that involved baking and decorating cakes. The resulting cakes were lovely – I'd love to try a slice of Hanayu's bitter chocolate cake. A visit to Hanayu's parents' bakery resulted in more pretty dessert illustrations, and Hayato's efforts to recreate the sushi-style rolled omelets that inspired Hanayu to become a sushi chef rounded the volume off. The egg roll omelet with aojiso leaves and cheese made my mouth water, and that's with me not having a clue what it would even taste like.

I'm now officially finished with all the volumes of Mixed Vegetables that I own. If I had more volumes, I'd probably read on, but I don't know that the series is good enough for me to go to the effort of continuing it via interlibrary loan. I realized, somewhere in the middle of this volume, that I ship Ichii (Hanayu's more normal and down-to-earth best friend) and Matsuyama (Hayato's quiet and nearly invisible best friend) more than I do Hanayu and Hayato.

Extras:

There are full-page comic-style author's notes after each chapter, short author's notes at the beginning of each chapter, a couple pages of translator's notes, and a 1-page bonus comic. In one of the comic-style author's notes, Komura tried to explain what sort of hairstyle Hanayu has. I've seen this cited in other reviews for this series, and I have to agree - Komura's character drawings aren't always very consistent, and it can be hard to tell some of her characters apart. My biggest problem in this volume was telling Hanayu and Matsuyama apart, particularly in the simpler, more comedic panels.

 

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Hanayu is the daughter of a pastry chef, and it seems guaranteed that she'll one day inherit her parents' bakery. The problem: Hanayu wants nothing more than to become a sushi chef. She's obsessed with fish and making sushi. She decides that the only way to achieve her dream without disappointing her parents is to marry the son of a sushi chef. Then she meets Hayato, the only son of a sushi chef. Hanayu works to improve her skills in the kitchen in the hopes of catching Hayato's eye, but when he finally does ask her out, she feels confused and guilty. Is he really interested in her? And, if he is, how does she feel about that? Do her ulterior motives for dating him mean she's a bad person?

Review:

Okay, first off, I should mention that the description of the back of the volume contains a spoiler. While this annoys me, I can sort of understand why VIZ did it. Komura's plotting is not the best, and so this volume doesn't even cover the series' full premise.

While volume 1 wasn't bad, it wasn't terribly exciting. Hanayu basically only did two things, aside from her Culinary Arts Program assignments: obsess over ways to convince Hayato to want to marry her, and feel guilty for lying to Hayato about her feelings for him. Neither Hanayu nor Hayato were very interesting characters, and Hanayu's deep obsession with sushi was sometimes a bit much.

Hanayu deciding that marrying the son of a sushi chef was the best and only way of achieving her dream was kind of bizarre. If Hanayu had tried to tell her parents about her dream and had been shot down, it would've been one thing, but, as far as I could tell, she'd never even done that much. I couldn't help but wonder if the manga's entire premise would go down the drain if she just took a deep breath and actually talked to her parents.

For a food manga, there isn't much in the way of food porn so far. The Culinary Arts Program's first big assignment is to cut a cucumber into 80 transparent slices. Their second big assignment (or, more accurately, make-up exam) is to bake a sponge cake and decorate it. The second assignment had great potential for lovely food images, but the cakes don't actually get baked until the next volume. The first assignment resulted in a thank-you cake topped with cucumber jelly, but, other than that, this volume was woefully lacking in good-looking food drawings. There are a few interesting cooking-related details here and there, though – I liked the little bit about chefs' knives becoming shorter over time as they get used and sharpened.

All in all, this was a “meh” first volume. Not bad, not good, just “meh.”

Additional Comments:

Is it just me, or does it look like Hayato is missing his right arm on the cover?

Extras:

There are full-page comic-style author's notes after each chapter, short author's notes at the beginning of most of the chapters, a couple pages of translator's notes, and a 3-page bonus comic.

The author's notes weren't terribly interesting, but I'd like to go into a bit more detail about the bonus comic and the translator's notes. The bonus comic deals with Matsuzaka-sensei (the Culinary Arts Program director). A fan in Osaka wanted to know what Matsuzaka-sensei's gender was. When I first started reading the volume, I assumed he was a she, but then revised my opinion after a male pronoun was used to refer to him. The gender confusion bonus comic came as something of a surprise to me, because the translator's notes didn't bother to mention that the pronoun was the translator's choice. The translator's notes are almost entirely devoted to covering food-related terminology.

 

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Hanayu was born to the daughter of a pastry chef, but all she really wants is to be a sushi chef. Her parents would never understand, so she makes it her life's ambition to marry the son of a sushi chef. Enter Hayato Hyuga, the son of a sushi chef who seems to be interested in her.

So there's the manufactured drama. The first volume is divided more or less evenly between the romantic conflict and covering the culinary school they both attend. The culinary parts are by far the most interesting. I think I would like this book far more if it abandoned the romance plot and made it purely a cooking school story. Because I'll be honest, the students training to slice cucumbers is way more interesting than Hanayu and Hayato's underwhelming romance story. And honestly, I didn't like Hanayu much in this book at all.

The art does vary a bit. Komura is very, very good at drawing delicious food, but I really dislike her character work. This was actually the third time I'd picked up this manga to read. The first two times, I so disliked the way that she drew Hanayu and Hayato on the cover that I couldn't even attempt to read it.

Maybe the romance subplot will improve in later volumes, but I just don't care now.

The first volume was very cute! The art is really nice too. I will definitely continue reading/get the rest and see how this goes.