Reading Diary: Confessions of a Shy Baker by Masaomi Ito

Here is a synopsis from the publisher's website:

Toshimitsu Yamamura owns a real estate company and loves baking delicious, healthy snacks in his spare time. When his coworker comes to him one day with the idea of advertising their real estate agency as LGBT-friendly, Toshi realizes this little change could really help people who often face discrimination in his industry. He's terrified, though, because he worries this move will out him as gay. Joined by his boyfriend Gonta who inspired him to bake in the first place, Toshi navigates a changing world that's slowly becoming more accepting, faces his fears and discomfort, and bakes some incredibly lovely treats along the way.

I tossed a novel onto my DNF pile and needed something to cleanse my mental palate, so I read the first three volumes of this very sweet manga. I'm always on the lookout for manga in which the characters are fully proper adults -- middle-aged is even better than college-aged for me. I also love a good slice-of-life series. This series starts each chapter with a dessert that Toshi makes for Gonta. It's his Wednesday ritual, a ritual that started because he wanted to have a cake for Gonta's birthday when they started dating but got worried people would find out he was gay because he was a man buying a cake for a man. As their relationship progressed, Toshi took it upon himself to bake healthy treats to encourage Gonta to be healthier.

This series reminded me a lot of What Did You Eat Yesterday?, which is one of my favorite manga series (I really need to get back into it!). I enjoyed Toshi's character growth through the volumes so far. I also enjoyed the fact that Gonta's parents are accepting of him being gay, and while Toshi isn't out to his parents, you get the feeling that if he can ever work up the courage to tell them, they will also be accepting. Some characters aren't accepting, and some characters have families who do not accept them, reflecting the current landscape of LGBTQ life in Japan (as far as I can glean from what news I do keep up with). However, this landscape isn't the sole source of conflict in the stories, which I appreciate. For example, in one chapter, Gonta comes home with a dog one day because one of the women at the care home where he works can no longer care for the dog. Toshi doesn't want to adopt the puppy, but in the end, they keep it. I don't always love how very focused the recipe parts of the stories are very blunt about cutting calories (I'm sure I'm not the only one who can be sensitive to this in fiction because I get bombarded so much in real life), but it's obvious that Toshi does this because he cares about Gonta and wants him to be around for a long time, and he really strives to make things taste good in addition to being healthy. I adore that part of their relationship.

Volume four comes out on Friday, so I've preordered it, but I hope this series continues for a long time.