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Yakumo-san wa Edzuke ga Shitai. #5
Beauty and the Feast, Vol. 5
A boy with a bottomless stomach and a lonely widow with room at her dinner table serve up a heaping helping of secret happiness in this delightful foodie rom-com!
After a disappointing outing at the qualifiers and dashed Koshien hopes, Yamato is brooding. But he perks up once the team’s former captain entrusts Yamato with his own high school baseball aspirations, motivating the first-year to carry the team to Koshien one day.
Yet as one storm fades, another comes crashing in! When a tempestuous typhoon lashes the apartment complex, Shuko reveals one of her culinary secrets!
After a disappointing outing at the qualifiers and dashed Koshien hopes, Yamato is brooding. But he perks up once the team’s former captain entrusts Yamato with his own high school baseball aspirations, motivating the first-year to carry the team to Koshien one day.
Yet as one storm fades, another comes crashing in! When a tempestuous typhoon lashes the apartment complex, Shuko reveals one of her culinary secrets!
208 pages, Paperback
First published March 24, 2018
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38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 12, 2022
Shuko and Yamato continue to cook up a storm, sometimes amidst the more literal interpretation of that word. But actual typhoons are nothing compared to the storm of emotions (eh, it was there) starting to rage in their peaceful idyll.
If you were waiting for the age gap romance to come roaring back into this one, congratulations, there’s more than a little flirtatious nonsense in this volume as Shuko and Yamato shop together and get matching bowls and other things.
They at least have the decency to keep Shuko’s dead husband in the frame, they manage to not dishonor the guy, and I like the somewhat subtle implication that Yamato is filling a void in Shuko’s life in ways that aren’t entirely romantic (or healthy, but why grief counsel when there are omelettes to make?).
But this one goes for trope upon trope. Fireworks festival? Oh yes. Yukata? Oh yes. And did somebody say night visit to the pool? Once again proving the absolute and unimpeachable law of manga - if there can be bikinis, there will be bikinis.
Despite his protestations, there’s no question that Yamato is getting more and more into Shuko. It is practically written all over his face at points. The fact that Rui continues to throw herself at him and Yamato just straight up ignores an offer of a post-bath pic from her says everything (fine, Rui’s annoying, but straight teenage boys and all).
So there’s a lot of that and some minor concessions made to the age gap and that maybe they should be super careful. Nothing really happens outside of Shuko’s fevered imagination, but it’s way more of this than the story has had previously, to its detriment.
In fact, the best story here is only about Yamato, when Shuko is away overnight and he’s left to his own devices. The way he MacGyver’s his way through a meal using some smarts plus things he’s learned along the way is really fun and has a spark that some of the other stories lack.
There are just a lot more issues than usual for me this volume. The regular cooking sections all feel very same-y and minus the above chapter of solo cooking, you’re mostly in the relationship space with some cooking asides. It’s arguably not what this story is best at.
It doesn’t hurt that the art feels incredibly weak for some reason. This is normally a reasonably well drawn book, but the whole thing seems ridiculously off-model to me.
And, geeze, not to encourage things, but stop treating Shuko like she’s a piece of meat past her sell-by date. The art doesn’t mind drawing her, but the story still acts constantly (even if it’s just in her own head) as if she’s fifty-eight, not twenty-eight. Like, damn.
3 stars - cozy was fun, leaning more into this burgeoning romance was another. Combined with the sketchy art and the way it treats Shuko as if she should be sent off on an ice flow at 28 and even the good points don’t lift this one up quite enough.
If you were waiting for the age gap romance to come roaring back into this one, congratulations, there’s more than a little flirtatious nonsense in this volume as Shuko and Yamato shop together and get matching bowls and other things.
They at least have the decency to keep Shuko’s dead husband in the frame, they manage to not dishonor the guy, and I like the somewhat subtle implication that Yamato is filling a void in Shuko’s life in ways that aren’t entirely romantic (or healthy, but why grief counsel when there are omelettes to make?).
But this one goes for trope upon trope. Fireworks festival? Oh yes. Yukata? Oh yes. And did somebody say night visit to the pool? Once again proving the absolute and unimpeachable law of manga - if there can be bikinis, there will be bikinis.
Despite his protestations, there’s no question that Yamato is getting more and more into Shuko. It is practically written all over his face at points. The fact that Rui continues to throw herself at him and Yamato just straight up ignores an offer of a post-bath pic from her says everything (fine, Rui’s annoying, but straight teenage boys and all).
So there’s a lot of that and some minor concessions made to the age gap and that maybe they should be super careful. Nothing really happens outside of Shuko’s fevered imagination, but it’s way more of this than the story has had previously, to its detriment.
In fact, the best story here is only about Yamato, when Shuko is away overnight and he’s left to his own devices. The way he MacGyver’s his way through a meal using some smarts plus things he’s learned along the way is really fun and has a spark that some of the other stories lack.
There are just a lot more issues than usual for me this volume. The regular cooking sections all feel very same-y and minus the above chapter of solo cooking, you’re mostly in the relationship space with some cooking asides. It’s arguably not what this story is best at.
It doesn’t hurt that the art feels incredibly weak for some reason. This is normally a reasonably well drawn book, but the whole thing seems ridiculously off-model to me.
And, geeze, not to encourage things, but stop treating Shuko like she’s a piece of meat past her sell-by date. The art doesn’t mind drawing her, but the story still acts constantly (even if it’s just in her own head) as if she’s fifty-eight, not twenty-eight. Like, damn.
3 stars - cozy was fun, leaning more into this burgeoning romance was another. Combined with the sketchy art and the way it treats Shuko as if she should be sent off on an ice flow at 28 and even the good points don’t lift this one up quite enough.
March 7, 2024
Things are heating up! Yamato, who'd left behind some of his childish ways in the last volume (e.g., how he asks for seconds), feels like he returned to them a bit.
Yamato is growing bigger from his sports training and looks less like the child he used to be. And he's definitely caught feelings by now...
He asks Yakumo if he can go grocery-shopping with her (offers to carry the basket!). He also invites her to see the summer fireworks together, which get rained out. But knowing the possible weather, he saves the day by bringing sparklers that they share together on her balcony.
Things get a bit more adult as he looks for a swimming pool open at night, and Yakumo innocently invites him to a night pool (with bar and pick-up atmosphere) that she heard about from her BFF Yuri. Not knowing the nature of a night pool, Yamato and Yakumo are in for a surprise. They each need a bit of a makeover to fit in at the pool, with Yamato donning a dark dress shirt and spiking up his hair, while Yakumo has to bare more of her body than she's used to in a loaner string bikini.
I'm totally invested in this relationship, though it's really been very innocent and wholesome so far. We see Yamato's shifting feelings, but Yakumo still comes off as an appreciative mother figure.
Yamato is growing bigger from his sports training and looks less like the child he used to be. And he's definitely caught feelings by now...
He asks Yakumo if he can go grocery-shopping with her (offers to carry the basket!). He also invites her to see the summer fireworks together, which get rained out. But knowing the possible weather, he saves the day by bringing sparklers that they share together on her balcony.
Things get a bit more adult as he looks for a swimming pool open at night, and Yakumo innocently invites him to a night pool (with bar and pick-up atmosphere) that she heard about from her BFF Yuri. Not knowing the nature of a night pool, Yamato and Yakumo are in for a surprise. They each need a bit of a makeover to fit in at the pool, with Yamato donning a dark dress shirt and spiking up his hair, while Yakumo has to bare more of her body than she's used to in a loaner string bikini.
I'm totally invested in this relationship, though it's really been very innocent and wholesome so far. We see Yamato's shifting feelings, but Yakumo still comes off as an appreciative mother figure.
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March 1, 2023Sigh. Moving closer to the relationship I don’t want to see…although Yamato is very good at keeping his hormones under wraps, esp compared to his teammates. I get annoyed that manga girls are always so self-conscious about wearing swimsuits - have they never gone swimming? It kept mentioning her age as if 28 isn’t the prime of life. I would like to see Yakumo expand her world and find friends in a range of ages. She only has one friend, and her whole life is starting to revolve around what to cook for Yamato. She needs to have other hobbies and interests, because currently she’s the archetype of a 50s housewife.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2023
Finally, FINALLY a not so problematic volume!
Aside from meeting Ran, but at least its reassuring to know that thristiness runs in the family. And Yuri of course, but frankly I just tune her out at this point.
But seriously, this was a really sweet volume. The rice bowls chapter was so touching, and the fireworks chapter was cute as well. When this series focuses on the wholesome parts, its so good. The art was great this volume aside from the occasional wonkiness, but overall it was strong.
Thank God we finally got a good volume after two volumes of unnecessary problematic bullshit. Dare I hope that it continues???
Aside from meeting Ran, but at least its reassuring to know that thristiness runs in the family. And Yuri of course, but frankly I just tune her out at this point.
But seriously, this was a really sweet volume. The rice bowls chapter was so touching, and the fireworks chapter was cute as well. When this series focuses on the wholesome parts, its so good. The art was great this volume aside from the occasional wonkiness, but overall it was strong.
Thank God we finally got a good volume after two volumes of unnecessary problematic bullshit. Dare I hope that it continues???
January 18, 2024
Another fun volume. We get a swimming pool misunderstanding and meet Rui's sister. Ran-San and Yuri put ideas into our MCs heads and it leads to some tense moments. There are some really sweet moments that are the reason this series shines at times. There are times that I wish the fan service was dialed down a bit as the series doesn't need it. Overall, this is still a sweet series with two strong MCs.
July 28, 2024
4.5 stars but rounding it up to 5
I love the book and the character development so far, and the series has come such a long way since the first book, but that one chapter with the new 20 year old character asking the inappropriate questions, plus the BFF of the widow implying the relationship between her and the high schooler is more than it is… why? Why can’t this just stay a cute story about how a widow feeds a hungry lonely boy?
I love the book and the character development so far, and the series has come such a long way since the first book, but that one chapter with the new 20 year old character asking the inappropriate questions, plus the BFF of the widow implying the relationship between her and the high schooler is more than it is… why? Why can’t this just stay a cute story about how a widow feeds a hungry lonely boy?
February 10, 2023
Boy, Rui and Ran are a pair (of icky people). Much more satisfying volume, largely because it handles the romance potential without being unsettling.
February 12, 2023
This mangaka has way too much fun putting the characters in accidentally sexy scenarios, but somehow I don't mind it. Maybe because the characters are such good people?
August 3, 2023
3.5/5 Stars
May 9, 2025
Full review on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews