Man Discovers He’s a Cake When a Fork Accidentally Gets a Taste
About:
Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series Lick Me, Bite Me, Kiss Me. While the manga may vary slightly from all other forms of media, it may have similar story elements and could be considered spoilers.
Content Warning: There may be references to power imbalance, overwork, sexual assault, violence, corruption, noncon/dubcon, mentions of cannibalism, nepotism, obsession, extortion, sex work (specifically sex in exchange for company support), excessive drinking, mentions of death, gossiping, prejudice, and incestuous inclinations (not between the main couple), as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
The cakeverse feels like it’s just a fairytale for most people. Rumors and news reports come up about people dubbed forks going so far as to maim or kill those dubbed cakes by trying to eat them, but even when they come up on the news, they still seem out of the realm of possibility for someone like Hiroto. Hiroto has bigger things to worry about than cakes and forks. His family’s company is failing, and he’s quit his job to return home and help get it back on track. His latest attempt is attending a networking event with people of the highest upper echelon, but it seems people are there to do some cake-hunting instead of actually networking.
Determined to see this through and get some meaningful contacts, Hiroto is planning to stay, only to be approached by none other than the heir to the Taishaku Group, Izuru. Izuru doesn’t appear all that interested, but Hiroto isn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste. He runs out to get the heir a drink but is immediately rejected when he comes back. Hiroto ends up drinking it himself, but when Izuru is distracted by a phone call, he picks up the drink and takes a sip.
This causes a visceral reaction in Izuru, leading to him grabbing Hiroto and kissing him. As it turns out, Hiroto is a cake, a person that tastes exceptionally sweet to forks, and forks are those who, after encountering a cake, end up losing their ability to taste anything but cakes. Izuru has been searching for his cake for a long, long time, and he’s willing to do anything, even using Hiroto’s desperation, to keep Hiroto.
Review:
The art in this is super rough. I want to call it antiquated, but that’s not quite the problem here. The features are just super inconsistent. The eyes are super wide and look very odd at certain angles, and even when the eyes are average-sized, the shapes of the faces are then super boxy or weird-looking. It shifts from looking old-school to appearing more modern but just ugly. I’m not a fan of this art style, which is unfortunate for such a highly anticipated story.
And on that topic, let’s discuss why this was so highly anticipated for me. I am a sucker for these unique universe settings. Omegaverse is probably one of my favorite settings of all time, closely followed by the dom/sub-universe. I’ve heard of the cakeverse before, and it always seemed like something right up my alley. Admittedly, I am very much attracted to the idea of biting and being bitten, and cakeverse revolves around this instinctual need to consume someone, usually manifesting in biting. I also love the idea of being compelled to kill someone you love and having to restrain yourself while also indulging in them. Cakeverse just speaks to me, and while I have heard of it before, this is the first officially licensed one I’m aware of, so I was all over it.
Unfortunately, as much as I like the idea of cakeverse, I’m not sure if this is the best representation of the setting. Part of what makes this setup so interesting is the danger of it. Forks are compelled to seek out and confine cakes, as cakes are the only way they can feel stimulation as far as flavor is concerned. It’s a desperate attraction that teeters the line between lust and gluttony. Every time a fork interacts with a cake, there is always a chance it could lead to the fork taking things too far and actually eating, or at the very least maiming, the cake. That isn’t all that prominent in this title. There are mentions of it in background news reports, some gossip, and a few throwaway lines by Hiroto about feeling like he might be devoured, but that fear never feels concrete in this series. Sure, Izuru is possessive, and he does bite Hiroto, but he never comes off as the predator I was really craving from the cakeverse.
However, while this is missing out on the dark and terrifying line between a fork and a cake, it explores something rather interesting: the attraction between a cake and a fork and whether or not it can actually be called love. Hiroto’s fear almost instantly transforms into love for Izuru, which makes the whole romance feel hollow and nonsensical, but what’s new with these single-volume titles? However, he determines his love is not worth exploring since he assumes Izuru’s attraction is solely based on the fact that Hiroto tastes good. There’s this fear that someday Izuru might find a cake who he thinks tastes better, which would result in Hiroto being abandoned. I’ll admit I didn’t consider this angle when I went into the cakeverse, but I really like it. It’s got a fated-mates-but-not-really feel to it that provides the romantic notion of destiny but the tension because it can be threatened at any time. Of course, in such a short title, this is resolved instantly by a short reveal that Izuru fell for Hiroto before he even knew he was a fork. I would love for this concept to be explored more thoroughly in a longer title, as it feels a bit wasted in this one.
Results:
This had a ton of potential, and the bar was pretty high because I was excited about this universe. Unfortunately, it failed to reach the bar or the potential. If you’re curious about the cakeverse, this might be worth checking out just to get the basics of it, but it is otherwise missing much of the dark potential this universe has. I wanted real danger. I wanted real desperation and hunger. I wanted much more than this could possibly give me, and much like a fork without a cake, I am left unsatisfied. I hope this leads to more and better cakeverse content, but this is ultimately a miss.
Have you read Lick Me, Bite Me, Kiss Me? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!