Manga Review: Komomo Confiserie vol. 1 by Maki Minami

"As a little girl, Komomo Ninomiya delighted in picking on Natsu Azumi, the son of her family's pastry chef. Ten years later, when  the family fortune is lost and she has no place to live, Komomo encounters Natsu again in her hour of need. Now that Natsu is a master pastry chef in his own right, he'll help Komomo-- but only if she works for him at his new confiserie." (back of book summary)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, first of all, I am not someone who reads a lot of manga. This book, Komomo Confiserie vol 1 is the first manga I've actually read. The description on the back of the book was promising. I loved the idea of people meeting up again 10 years later. I was intrigued. The book itself ended up being really disappointing. Komomo's treatment of Natsu as children was appalling. She was a spoiled little rich girl who always got what she wanted, including Natsu's sweets (who lets a 5 year old bake by himself?!) which would fill her with warmth and MAKE HER CRY. Seriously? His sweets could make her cry?!

Fast forward 10 years and Komomo is being forced to work part time jobs (all of which she fails at and is fired from, sometimes multiple jobs in the same day) because her family has lost their wealth, she's renting a room at someone's home (her family has abandoned her) and she's just as awful as she was at 5. Natsu is returning from France as the youngest pastry chef ever and running a confiserie. Television interviews reveal that he can't wait to see Komomo again to repay her for the way she treated him as a child, introducing a weird revenge plot through out the book. Oh! There is also the introduction of a mysterious man telling Komomo to learn not to show emotion for some reason I can only guess will be explained in a further volume.

Seriously, Natsu made me so angry throughout most of the rest of the book. I wanted to slap his arrogant attitude from his face and make him start acting like an actual human being with compassion toward Komomo and I wanted to tell her to run away from his abusive behavior. From the time the two meet up again at 15, Natsu tells others the he was the only one allowed to abuse bully Komomo. He tells her not to befriend another pastry chef (6 years older) who is coming to work the shop when Natsu and Komomo have to go to school, he constantly belittles her and treats her poorly.

I spent so much time wishing for redeeming qualities for either of them that when they finally happened, I was so annoyed I didn't care. There are at least 4 more volumes to this series and I can safely say I will NOT be picking them up off the library shelves.

Love from Library Land,
Amber