Yaoi Menace: Love Recipe, or It Isn’t Rape If He’s Too Nice to Say No
Rating: 
If you read my previous ‘Yaoi Menace’ review (on the manga Freefall Romance), you are already familiar with the Three Basic Yaoi Plots. If you haven’t read it, go do so now. I can wait. OK, all finished? Then you’ll know what I mean when I say the first volume of Love Recipe by Kirico Higashizato follows Plot # 3.
Tomonari Ozawa is and has just landed his first job in the big city at a publishing company. He’s ecstatic until he reaches the department he has been assigned: Rose Boy, the firm’s very successful boy’s love magazine. He’s utterly horrified at the prospect, but, in true Japanese style, is still determined to do his best. Thus he begins his career making coffee, answering phones, and replying to fan mail, all under the watchful eyes of his co-workers, every one of whom is a BL fangirl. They’re all enchanted by his adorable looks and sweet personality, and before long Ozawa is being sent to retrieve manuscripts from writers who are pushing the magazine’s deadline. The writers (who are nearly all female) are equally charmed by Ozawa, and he quickly becomes the magazine’s most popular employee.
Eventually Ozawa is trusted enough to pick up a manuscript from Rose Boy’s most popular managaka, Sakurako Kakyoin. Ozawa is surprised to find that Kakyoin is a man, and despite his trio of female helpers (who wear frilly maid costumes), he definitely likes men. Kakyoin is stuck on a particular steam scene, and he decides the best way to fuel his creativity is to act out the scene with Ozawa. Ozawa doesn’t like men, but the magazine desperately needs the completed chapter. He submits to a groping session that sends Kakyoin’s helpers into paroxysms of ecstasy.
When Kakyoin requests Ozawa be assigned as his personal editor, Ozawa’s boss is more than happy to comply; anything to keep her star writer happy. And Ozawa doesn’t exactly hate his new duties; he likes the challenge of being an editor and find he doesn’t actually mind getting felt up by a dude; he doesn’t even protest when Kakyoin goes all the way with him (away from the prying eyes of his helpers, thank God).
Love Recipe is less disturbing than many yaoi manga, but it does have its moments. Though he’s a college graduate, Ozawa looks no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. His youthfulness is part of his moe appeal, but it looks a little weird to see him so passively submitting to Kakyoin’s molestation.
Moe is one of those terms that is hard to define in English. In one context it can refer to a fetish; a person who likes girls with glasses, for example, or long-haired men. But moe also applies to cute little characters, who are so sweet and earnest that they inspire feelings of love and protectiveness in those around them. Ozawa, of course, is the heart of Love Recipe’s moe obsession, and the characters spend a lot of time exclaiming how moe he is, and then explaining the term to each other.
Since Love Recipe is a yaoi manga set in the world of yaoi manga production, it provides fans an interesting look at the process, from breaking down the hierarchy of editors to explaining why certain fonts are used in certain scenes. The story could easily have become bogged down in these details, but Higashizato keeps the explanations succinct.
The manga contains a great deal of humor as well; it’s amusing to watch the office fangirls (including his flamboyant boss) fall all over Ozawa. Ozawa also writes letters home to his parents about his new job- with the omission of certain unsavory details, like that he works at a boy’s love magazine and is sleeping with a guy.
The art is relatively generic, with lots of huge, damp eyes; Kakyoin is the stereotypical pretty boy, tall with long hair and a chin sharp enough to put an eye out. Detail has actually been put into the female characters as well, both in design and characterization. This is nice to see as most yaoi manga refuse to admit the existence of women except as waitresses or the occasional annoying little sister or nagging fiancee.
In the end, Love Recipe has enough story to keep the serious readers happy, and enough sex to keep the yaoi fangirls happy as well. As long as the reader can get past the fact that Ozawa looks like a kid, they’ll probably find it pretty enjoyable.
Details
Publisher: Digital Manga
Author: Kirico Higashizato
Pages: 180
Format: Manga
MSRP: $12.95
Date of Publication: 07-04-07
Buy:
http://www.amazon.com/Love-Recipe-Yaoi/dp/1569708258/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212345780&sr=8-2
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