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Wakako Zake Volume 1
Wakako Murasaki, 26, lives to eat. She was born with a taste for alcohol and good food, so every night she searches for a good place to enjoy her meals alone. Perhaps she will sit next to you tonight? These popular shorts featuring the solo heavy drinker have been successfully turned into an anime and a drama!
158 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 2, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 8, 2018
"‘Wakako Zake’ is the Perfect Manga for Foodies and Slice of Life Lovers"
Our strange and endearing main character Wakako Murasaki is 26 years old. She loves to eat, in fact, she lives to eat.
We are told that she was born with a taste for alcohol and good food, and so every night she searches for a good place to enjoy her meals alone. This is how the manga starts off with Wakako out for salt grilled salmon with cold Japanese sake in her own little world and someone else notices just how much she’s enjoying her meal and how well she eats. Before you feel sorry for her, she does have a life of her own: a career, family, friends–yet her adventures of going out to find great grub and drinks are solo dolo, and that’s just the way she likes it.
The art is mostly simplified which adds to the comedic effect of Wakako’s expressions when she’s satisfied or irritated which leads to some amusing situations in the panels. I need a montage of the close ups of her going “PSHEWWHHHHHHH” at the end of each meal sitting, happily full and content. The simplified art angle works just fine, because the true attention to detail is focused when the food appears on the page.
I absolutely adore the attention to detail regarding not just what ingredients go into certain dishes, because that itself is a core piece of each dish and each chapter. There is also attention to how some foods are prepared and the circumstances on how you should eat them. Every now and then our main character gets a mini flashback from her past, a glimpse of her with a dish she’s set out to eat and helps bring context to her actions and craving now.
From being very small and wanting to devour her yaki-tori, her chicken skewers, all at once in an attempt to savor more than one flavor, not one at a time–to overhearing some younger adults talk about how they can prepare their own seared mackerel at home because they went out and bought a gas torch (Wakako failed on a epic level her first try and even broke a plate!), the love that Wakako has for her food is so over the top enjoyable.
Wakako Zake is the manga that I’d suggest to my fellow lovers of food and drink that has that slice of life feel.
See my more in depth review here: http://blacknerdproblems.com/wakako-z...
Our strange and endearing main character Wakako Murasaki is 26 years old. She loves to eat, in fact, she lives to eat.
We are told that she was born with a taste for alcohol and good food, and so every night she searches for a good place to enjoy her meals alone. This is how the manga starts off with Wakako out for salt grilled salmon with cold Japanese sake in her own little world and someone else notices just how much she’s enjoying her meal and how well she eats. Before you feel sorry for her, she does have a life of her own: a career, family, friends–yet her adventures of going out to find great grub and drinks are solo dolo, and that’s just the way she likes it.
The art is mostly simplified which adds to the comedic effect of Wakako’s expressions when she’s satisfied or irritated which leads to some amusing situations in the panels. I need a montage of the close ups of her going “PSHEWWHHHHHHH” at the end of each meal sitting, happily full and content. The simplified art angle works just fine, because the true attention to detail is focused when the food appears on the page.
I absolutely adore the attention to detail regarding not just what ingredients go into certain dishes, because that itself is a core piece of each dish and each chapter. There is also attention to how some foods are prepared and the circumstances on how you should eat them. Every now and then our main character gets a mini flashback from her past, a glimpse of her with a dish she’s set out to eat and helps bring context to her actions and craving now.
From being very small and wanting to devour her yaki-tori, her chicken skewers, all at once in an attempt to savor more than one flavor, not one at a time–to overhearing some younger adults talk about how they can prepare their own seared mackerel at home because they went out and bought a gas torch (Wakako failed on a epic level her first try and even broke a plate!), the love that Wakako has for her food is so over the top enjoyable.
Wakako Zake is the manga that I’d suggest to my fellow lovers of food and drink that has that slice of life feel.
See my more in depth review here: http://blacknerdproblems.com/wakako-z...
September 15, 2019
Wakako Zake follows a woman on a very specific quest: to eat some real, real good.
And honestly? It works: it works really well. Each chapter is a bite sized piece, making for twenty-eight chapters -twenty-six "menu" entries and two "specials"- across the 158 page run. They're each episodic, folliwng the author's crawl through pubs, resturants, izakaya, and more!
All that being said, it's easy to recommend Wakako Zake as yet a0 nother stellar entry in the "Woman enjoys food alone and lives her best life" genre that we're luckily seeing more and more outside of Japan. Hopefully, we'll get the rest of the volumes: so far, a total of 13 have been released in Japan, so there's a lot of content for us foodie fans to enjoy!
And honestly? It works: it works really well. Each chapter is a bite sized piece, making for twenty-eight chapters -twenty-six "menu" entries and two "specials"- across the 158 page run. They're each episodic, folliwng the author's crawl through pubs, resturants, izakaya, and more!
All that being said, it's easy to recommend Wakako Zake as yet a0 nother stellar entry in the "Woman enjoys food alone and lives her best life" genre that we're luckily seeing more and more outside of Japan. Hopefully, we'll get the rest of the volumes: so far, a total of 13 have been released in Japan, so there's a lot of content for us foodie fans to enjoy!
January 15, 2020
This is such a sweet manga, and has given me a lot of ideas for recipes to try. Wakako, our heroine, is an office lady who loves to dine out. That's really the premise of the story. Each chapter is fairly short, but each section is about a different type of food. The illustrations are done with care, and sometimes one can practically hear Wakako's satisfied "Pshuuuu" sound when she has something good to eat. Highly recommend for slice of life genre fans.
October 24, 2018
Amusing and delicious!
November 29, 2021
I really like how low stake this is, also the food looks amazing. It truly feels as nice as having dinner myself !
May 28, 2024
The perfect manga to read after a busy workday. Makes you want to pop open a beer/sake and have some lovely izakaya food.
October 24, 2025
Felt seen
April 1, 2025
Second time reading:
(3.75 stars)
Now that I’m used to Japanese dishes, this didn’t bother me that much. I still would never eat most of these dishes though. I find them unappetizing but they’re interesting nonetheless.
I usually don’t pair an alcohol with food and just drink whatever; but maybe I just haven’t found the right combination yet.
Wakako is so cute and I love the art style. I like that it’s focused on Wakako but I’d like to hear more about her boyfriend. A relationship was mentioned, but it honestly seems like she doesn’t even care for him…
I’ll definitely read the next volume when I’m in the mood for more foodie mangas.
I thought I only read 1 chapter but I actually had read the entire volume…
First time reading: June 15 ‘24
I have to drop this. I tried my best to get through it because I saw the anime, which was good.
But I just can’t stomach some of these dishes.
Examples: horse sashimi, skin, tail bones, intact liver... (This was just the first chapter!)
The detailed descriptions and watching her eat them... Blech.
For some reason I didn't pick this up while watching the anime?
I understand this is because I'm not used to those types of dishes in the USA, and for Japan, this is normal. So personally, it's just too cringey.
Maybe I’ll try again a different time.
(3.75 stars)
Now that I’m used to Japanese dishes, this didn’t bother me that much. I still would never eat most of these dishes though. I find them unappetizing but they’re interesting nonetheless.
I usually don’t pair an alcohol with food and just drink whatever; but maybe I just haven’t found the right combination yet.
Wakako is so cute and I love the art style. I like that it’s focused on Wakako but I’d like to hear more about her boyfriend. A relationship was mentioned, but it honestly seems like she doesn’t even care for him…
I’ll definitely read the next volume when I’m in the mood for more foodie mangas.
I thought I only read 1 chapter but I actually had read the entire volume…
First time reading: June 15 ‘24
I have to drop this. I tried my best to get through it because I saw the anime, which was good.
But I just can’t stomach some of these dishes.
Examples: horse sashimi, skin, tail bones, intact liver... (This was just the first chapter!)
The detailed descriptions and watching her eat them... Blech.
For some reason I didn't pick this up while watching the anime?
I understand this is because I'm not used to those types of dishes in the USA, and for Japan, this is normal. So personally, it's just too cringey.
Maybe I’ll try again a different time.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews