Yankee & Carameliser
Writer and Artist: Chiuko Umeshibu
Publisher: Yen Press (print & digital)
Translation: Emma Schumacker
Lettering: Olivia Osanz
Publication Date: Oct 28, 2025
Rating: Mature
Genre: Manga (JPN), Boys Love, LGBTQ+, Romance
Yankee & Carameliser finished serializing in 2023, so it’s not exactly a new series, but it’s Chiuko Umeshibu’s first work to be licensed in English by Yen Press. This review will go into certain events in the narrative in detail. If you haven’t read it yet and would prefer a blind read, I suggest you visit us after you finish it. For the rest, it’s time to delve into this heartwarming Boys Love manga!
What do you do when you discover the class delinquent’s secret baking account? You kindly threaten him to bake you some, of course! Maki’s careless photo angles give his identity away despite his account’s anonymity, and Akito has been following Maki, not to mention dying to try some of the sweets he’s been posting about.
Moreso, he’s certain that if he were to present himself better online, people would flock to his account, but Maki needs some coercing to start a NeoTube venture. As one whisks away under the watchful eye of the other through the camera, the two get a chance to know one another.
High school is an extremely popular setting in Boys Love manga and one of the first character archetypes a reader would think of in this setting is delinquents. The delinquent archetype, along with the yakuza, has been on the rise in recent years. Kousuke Oono’s The Way of the Househusband, a ruthless ex-gang member turned malewife, is one of the most popular examples, and the charm of the archetype lies in the stark difference between their looks and characteristics.
At first glance, Yankee & Carameliser appears to be building the narrative on a similar foundation. A smart, popular, and kind boy accidentally discovers a classmate’s “Toytter” account where he shares Western-style sweets he baked anonymously. The catch is, Maki’s infamous at school and plagued by wild rumors. He wears a screamo metal band’s tour t-shirt at all times, his hair is dyed blond, his ears are full of piercings, and his gaze just yells “Scram!”
However, as Akito convinces Maki to start a NeoTube channel with him (I love these mock social media platform names), and Maki’s story unfolds layer by layer, we discover the real Maki under his unapproachable facade. This is the real heart of the story. Their collaborative project, Sweet Life of a High School Bad Boy, becomes the secret they share.
Shopping, prepping, and baking are Maki’s responsibilities, while Akito handles filming, editing, uploading, and managing social media. The series opens with Akito talking to his friends about a dance video they uploaded on Toytter and what they should film next. Akito doesn’t seem all too enthusiastic, but we soon find out that he’s very popular on social media with over 16k followers! So it’s safe to assume he knows the inner workings of social media and algorithms, and his interest in Maki urges him to shoulder the production burden.
We’re not privy to Akito’s interest regarding filming/cinematography/editing, and I was puzzled by how readily he suggested filming his reluctant classmate at first. However, the camera becomes an interesting and meaningful tool within the context.
A character looking at their loved one through the viewfinder is not a particularly rare trope in romance fiction. The camera provides an excuse for the character’s gaze to linger on the other and capture their feelings, along with the object of their affection, at a certain time and place. Through filming Maki, Akito not only captures his friend’s love for baking and being in his element, but he also witnesses a side of Maki he doesn’t show anyone else. He looks at Maki with the intent of getting to know him, to really see him. While he records Maki’s talent to share online for everyone to see, his softened expression when he’s mixing ingredients or his blond hair that glistens like candy strands under the sunlight are for Akito’s eyes only.
In turn, when the lens, and through that Akito’s earnest gaze, falls on him, Maki receives the recognition and acceptance he yearned for deep down until now. It was his family who failed and neglected him first, and he had to grapple alone with why loving “cute things” was not considered normal, or why the gravure magazines his male friends gawked at day in and day out never managed to spark excitement in him. What the world has taught him about masculinity is to act tough and fight. If there’s any part of him that sticks out, he needs to hammer it back in. This is why the camera serves as the binding agent between two young men who are struggling to either find or own up to their passion.
During a filming day, Akito suggests he and Maki visit a trendy cafe for plating and decoration inspiration. The sight of two men eating cute and stylish sweets draws attention from the customers. Akito is nonchalant, suggesting they pay no mind, while Maki is highly self-conscious. Akito excitedly chatters about how much he enjoys running the channel together, and the increasing popularity makes him happy. But all Maki can think to himself is “If only being happy or having fun was all there is to it.”
It is, indeed, never as simple or easy as that. Loving things, nature, animals, or people is, and has been, always political, and at times, costly. Maki is estranged from his family because of who he is and his interests. He cannot maintain friendships, or never forms them in the first place, out of fear of being judged. As a consequence, he suspects Akito’s feelings and intentions behind approaching him.
In this sense, Yankee & Carameliser is Maki’s story first and foremost, and you can tell that even from Akito’s absence on the front cover. It is also a story about identity as much as it is about the budding romance between the two. As I’ve mentioned, Akito is portrayed as a character who wasn’t able to find something in life to move his heart, but now he has found it in bringing forth Maki’s fondness for baking. But that’s about as deep as his part in the narration gets. He is more of a narrative tool, just like his position in the baking channel. He’s there to embrace and cherish Maki and play a role in helping him reach his full potential.
While the main beats of Yankee & Carameliser is similar to the usual high school BL with delinquents, the way Chiuko Umeshibu approaches certain themes with a subtle touch is what sets the series apart. There’s a scene where, because he’s seen Maki coming out of a love hotel with an older man, Akito says he’s relieved that nothing happened between them. Maki interprets this as Akito being repulsed by the idea of two men having sex and responds in a way that took me by surprise:
“And what if something did happen? See? You’d start thinking I’m gross.”
This is, on the surface, a simple line, and the misinterpretation is resolved immediately. What struck me about it is that, with the rise in purity culture, queer works that depict sexuality (along with people who engage with such works) are downright demonized as if they’re fetishizing queer identities, whereas focusing only on the romance as the reader is celebrated as “the only correct way to enjoy queer works.” The same old pure/filthy dichotomy still echoes, now more dangerous than ever because it’s dressed in leftist rhetoric.
I understand this is quite the tangent I’m making. But it was noteworthy to me to see Maki internalizing harboring sexual desire for men, and Akito specifically, must be disgusting from an outer perspective. Yet, sex is a part of a romantic relationship he wants to experience. Yankee & Carameliser chooses to subtly weave these struggles and concerns young queer people experience to varying degrees into a sweet, romantic, coming-of-age BL manga.
You’ve finished reading it, but are craving another serving of these two? Fret not! The continuation, Yankee & Carameliser: Second Bake, is currently being self-published on pixiv COMICS, a digital manga platform, and when (or if) it’s released physically in the comic book format, hopefully Yen Press will pick it up as well.
I’d like to conclude by saying Chiuko Umeshibu’s Yankee & Carameliser is an absolutely adorable, heartfelt manga that perfectly balances struggles related to one’s gender identity and the sweet romance that two young boys share through mutual understanding and acceptance. Highly recommended!
Yankee & Carameliser is available digitally and in print on Yen Press’ website and other retailers.
