, also known as ''Mix Vegetable'', is a Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

series written and illustrated by

Ayumi Komura is a Japanese manga artist who writes mainly ''shōjo'' manga. Her works are primarily serialized in ''Margaret'' magazine, with series published in collected volumes by Shueisha under their Margaret Comics imprint. She contributed to a charit ...

. It was serialized in Japan by

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The fol ...

in the ''shōjo'' manga

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

'' from 25 October 2005 to 22 November 2007, and collected in eight bound volumes. It is licensed in English in North America by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

. ''Mixed Vegetables'' is about the relationship between the daughter of a

pastry chef A pastry chef or pâtissier (; the French female version of the word is pâtissière ), is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods. They are employed in large hotels, bi ...

who wants to become a

sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is "sushi rice," also ...

chef and the son of sushi chef who wants to become a pâtissier.

Plot

The plot revolves around Hanayu Ashitaba, a chef in training. Hanayu is the daughter of the celebrated pastry shop, Patisserie Ashitaba, but all she wants to do is become a sushi chef. Hayato Hyuga is the son of the prestigious Sushi Hyuga, but he wants to be a pastry chef. They go to Oiwaka High School together. Hanayu knows she will break her parents' heart if she does not continue the bakery and become a pastry chef, but thinks if she marries Hayato, they will understand her decision.

Main characters

* Hanayu Ashitaba is a 15-year-old pastry chef attending Oiwaka High and training to be a sushi chef. Although her family owns Patisserie Ashitaba, one of the most prestigious patisseries in Japan, she wants to become a sushi chef. She has a best friend named Ichii and a little brother named Natsume. Natsume takes after his father in the fact that he doesn't want any boys to come near his sister. She doesn't think that her parents will let her be a sushi chef because they want her to take over the shop (Natsume's dream is to be a baseball player, so she doesn't want to put the burden of being the owner of the shop on him), so she tries to get Hayato to fall in love with her by displaying her cooking skills. * Hayato Hyuga is in the same class as Hanayu Ashitaba and Ichii at Oiwaka High, and even though his father owns the prestigious Sushidokoro Hyuga, his dream is to become a pastry chef. He appears to be very kind and very skilled with making sushi. He usually helps out at his family shop. When he was younger, he made cakes for his grandfather; It's stated that he doesn't have anyone else to taste his cakes anymore. Hanayu Ashitaba is very important to him, since he has told Hanayu about his dreams, reasons why he wanted to be a pastry chef, and about his grandfather. Hayato said he will give up his dream of being a pastry chef and take over Sushidokoro Hyugo. * Maezawa is an assistant at Patisserie Ashitaba. Maezawa is nine years older than Hanayu. Ichii stated that Hanayu doesn't like anything but sushi and that it was unusual for her to express her dislike for Maezawa. Maezawa also has very sharp taste, as shown when he is testing Hayato's sushi and tells him to keep his emotions out of his food. Hayato tends to get jealous over Maezawa, assuming he wants to be in a relationship with Hanayu, however he later find out that Maezawa is already married.

Manga

''Mixed Vegetables'' is written and illustrated by Ayumi Komura. It was serialized in Japan by

in the biweekly ''shōjo'' (aimed at teenage girls)

manga magazine Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

'' starting with issue 10 of 2005 on 25 October, and running until issue 18 of 2007 on 22 November. The 54 untitled chapters, called "menus", were collected into eight ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes. The series is licensed in English in North America by

, who has published all eight volumes.

Reception

Deb Aoki of About.com calls the series a "textbook (or rather, cookbook) example of the standard recipe for shojo manga romantic comedy." She dislikes Hanayu's character as well, calling her "selfish and dense." Carlo Santos of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ...

gives the first volume a B− for what he calls a dragging plot, but with a "A different sort of couple in a different sort of setting, with a lively sense of humor". Leroy Douresseaux of Comic Book Bin says that while the first volume isn't "standout material," the art and setting are "a recipe for a happy, romantic dish." Douresseaux gives volume 3 of the series an A for being "Beautifully drawn and heartfelt in its storytelling." He gives the following volume an A−. Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime says the characters are "likeable" and calls it an enjoyable read. Ellingwood calls the second volume a "tossed salad of emotions."

References

External links