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REVIEW: What Did You Eat Yesterday? GN 1

For the most part I agree completely with this review, but there are a couple of points:

1. It doesn't mention Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy!, Yoshinaga's other foodie manga in English (which is even more unsuitable for reading while hungry, since it's almost entirely food porn). If you are into foodie manga, it's a must-read.

2. "While this is about a gay couple, it should not, perhaps, be classified as yaoi, or even BL."

It's a seinen manga. It can't be BL. BL, by definition, is for women. (There's one seinen exception I can think of, whose title I can't recall offhand, which probably should be recognized as BL because it's a note-perfect homage to early 70's proto-BL like The Heart of Thomas.)

3. "although Shiro himself remains nonplussed"

"Nonplussed" means stunned or astonished, which I think is the opposite of what is intended.

4. "If you haven't discovered her yet or have shied away from her yaoi or Shakespearean translations"

I assume Rebecca's talking about the, ahem, not universally popular choice of mock-Elizabethan English for Ooku. Don't let it put you off reading Ooku, it's still great.

Along with Shiro's issues, Yoshinaga covers a topic that we don't see very often in popular fiction – a husband abused by his wife. This is one of Shiro's cases at work, and while Yoshinaga doesn't spend a lot of time on it, it is remarkable simply for its inclusion. People's reactions to the case are what we might expect, although Shiro himself remains nonplussed. While readers may not be pleased with the outcome of the case, it does provide an interesting subplot.

This focus on meals and their preparation is also one of the weak points of this book. While each dish is a delight, Shiro's habit of narrating his cooking step-by-step feels like an affectation, particularly for such an accomplished cook.

2. "While this is about a gay couple, it should not, perhaps, be classified as yaoi, or even BL."

It's a seinen manga. It can't be BL. BL, by definition, is for women. (There's one seinen exception I can think of, whose title I can't recall offhand, which probably should be recognized as BL because it's a note-perfect homage to early 70's proto-BL like The Heart of Thomas.)

As for the seinen issue, not a lot of people associate Yoshinaga with the genre. Perhaps I should have just said that rather than bringing up BL, but I really wanted to stress that even if that's not your genre, this is a book worth reading.

Now, the localizations of her works is an entirely different story altogether. International publishing houses often wonder why people prefer to read fan scanlations instead of the "official" versions. I think this is an excellent case study of precisely why. Taking some liberties to increase the audience absorption rate is one thing, but creating wholly non-canon character traits out of thin air is another entirely.

I personally love Viz's Ooku translation, but most people I've talked to don't, hence my statement. I always get excited when I see the informal singular second person used. (I'm told I have problems. )

wohdin wrote:

Now, the localizations of her works is an entirely different story altogether. International publishing houses often wonder why people prefer to read fan scanlations instead of the "official" versions. I think this is an excellent case study of precisely why. Taking some liberties to increase the audience absorption rate is one thing, but creating wholly non-canon character traits out of thin air is another entirely.

What exactly are you referring to?

lebrel wrote:

2. "While this is about a gay couple, it should not, perhaps, be classified as yaoi, or even BL." It's a seinen manga. It can't be BL. BL, by definition, is for women. (There's one seinen exception I can think of, whose title I can't recall offhand, which probably should be recognized as BL because it's a note-perfect homage to early 70's proto-BL like The Heart of Thomas.)

No, but seinen can have BL-elements in them. CLAMP's Legal Drug and Drug & Drop do this. D&D is labeled as seinen, but they don't hide the fact that the 2 leads have a thing for each other. And the other set of characters (store owners), they're a couple

It is a bit rare for seinen to have it, since...well, seinen is aimed at older men and I doubt they want to see 2 guys flirting with each other.

Man, the intense categorization of japanese media with homosexual content just seems so strange and confusing to me