Title: Bread & Butter Vol. 1Author: Hinako Ashihara
Series: Bread & Butter #1
First Published: March 25, 2014
Publisher: Shueisha
Pages: 188
Genre: Josei, Romance
Format: Web
Source: Web
Rating:
Synopsis:
Life isn't going too well for Yuzuki. She's a 34-years-old and without a boyfriend. The elementary school she works at is close to firing her, and to top it off she doesn't know what to do with her life at all. But even when she quits her job and tries to have an arranged marriage things don't work out. Only the bread she eats at the small stationery store around the corner gives her comfort. So one day, she asks the storeowner to marry her on a whim and to her surprise, he agrees...?
Get the Book: AmazonReview
Bread and Butter, at least in the first volume, is a mature romance of second chances and baking bread. Yuzuki is a mid-thirties bachelorette questioning her direction in life after burning out on her teaching career. She leaves her career with the goal of becoming a wife, but finds that she doesn’t really know what she wants in a husband. All she knows vaguely is that she wants companionship.
During her search, she meets the reticent Mr. Hara, owner of the local stationary shop and bakery, and a man following his own path toward change. Though the set-up for the story is a bit silly, I enjoyed both of the main characters. I could relate to Yuzuki’s uncertainty about finding the right partner and Mr. Hara’s quiet charm.
Overall it’s a sweet beginning to what seems like a lovely romance. There’s a strong message in the first volume about how mistakes can change you, but not define you.
Quote
“I only wanted to eat with you.”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Hinako Ashihara
Ritsuko Matsumoto, known by the pseudonym Hinako Ashihara, was a Japanese manga artist.
She wrote and illustrated various manga series, including, Homemade Home, Forbidden Dance, Sand Chronicles, Piece: Kanojo no Kioku, Tennen Bitter Chocolate, SOS, and Chouchou Kumo. Ashihara won the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for her manga series Sand Chronicles, as well as the 58th Shogakukan Manga Award for Piece: Kanojo no Kioku.
Her first published work, “Sono hanashi okotowari shimasu”, premiered in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic in 1994.
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