Nerd Pride Radio

(I included the link to the Dynasty Reader site, because the site that releases it normally has NSFW ads and Dynasty doesn't, but it usually takes a day or two for new chapters to show up on the Dynasty site.)

A while ago I ran across this cute little manga about two high school girls who suddenly become step-sisters and are sharing a house by themselves. They both are accustomed to being alone because of the age old manga trope of parents who roam the globe leaving their children to fend for themselves. The main protagonist, Sachi, is the older of the two and feels she needs to be the "responsible big sister", much to the amusement of her friends, who know she is entirely not suited for the role. Ayari is painfully shy and doesn't really know how to connect with her new step-sister, however, she does have one passion in her live: cooking. Fittingly, Sachi is a huge fan of eating, so they seem to be a perfect match. To make things better, Sachi's father tends to send home gifts from his travels around the world, frequently in the form of food items. The story follows the life of the two girls as the get to know each other through sharing meals, Ayari teaching Sachi to cook, and having special meals for special occasions.

Each chapter ends with the recipe for the food they made in the chapter, frequently with a discussion of the details about the type of food or some alternative ways of making it. It is scanilated by the group "Yuri-ism" and is generally classified as having GL subtext as opposed to having actual yuri. (At least not in the first 16 chapters.) Though the amount of blushing Ayari does would make you think she is surly in love with her step-sister, it isn't clear that is the intent. She is also her first real friend and someone who she can share her passion for cooking with, so it could be more innocent. In any event, it is sweet, and very clear that the two girls care a great deal about each other.

The real star in the story though, is the cooking. It is really pretty interesting. It goes into fairly minute detail on how to make the dish they are preparing in the chapter. I actually tried one of the recipes once and, while it didn't turn out great, it was pretty good.

I browsed and it looked cute so far. I'll have to go back and read it later.

On the topic of Japanese cooking, there's a series on Netflix called Midnight Diner Tokyo Stories. Each episode ties in a different dish. It's a good show for late night winding down. There are recurring characters but each episode is a self contained story that wraps up in 25 minutes.