A review by shidoburrito
Old-Fashioned Cupcake with Cappuccino by Sagan Sagan

4.0

So in BL manga, m/m relationships are very rarely realistic and often times there is much reluctance from one of the characters to admit love, hold hands, kiss, or engage in sexual activities (and its in these cases where I start to feel uncomfortable because I am no longer a teen in the early 2000's). While this has a little bit of that reluctance from Nozue, these are both men in their 30s and 40s and it's nice to see them communicate (to the best of their ability in Japanese culture) their feelings and wants and expectations. I also appreciated how they brought up how far behind Japanese culture and businesses are in accepting LGBTQ+ workers and relationships, and how Nozue knows that if he and Togawa are found out in their relationship there is a very real possibility they'll lose their job. There is a very excellent scene in this manga with Nozue talking to his coworkers and how accepting they are until he mentions his current dates have been with a male.

On the OTHER hand, in this and the previous volume, I feel like the Japanese work ethic was a little heavy handed. Nozue keeps talking about how life has become routine and boring, but boring is safe. What does he need to make his life better? Sure, the unexpected friends to lovers romance is great, and their pursuit to re-experience the world through younger eyes and become revitalized. But everything seemed to boil down to his job, his career, his work, his coworkers. Work and the office is the center of his life. The plot points and stress points are work-centered. Oh boy! Look how much my work is improving now that I've got a fresh new look on life and am in a relationship! Yeah, sure a big plot point is that Nozue is Togawa's boss, kohai/sempai relationship, but I think my favorite parts of the manga was when they got to be together and be themselves and banter and work wasn't a part of it.

I did like how everything worked out though!