We often say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but that’s precisely what many of us do when scanning the shelves of a book shop or comic store looking for a new read. With so many titles to choose from, how do you know what is going to be worth your time? Perhaps the cool cover art is what catches your eye, or maybe an interesting title?
Manga writer Onta Sakai clearly felt that the latter was the best way to get his newest manga series noticed. Opting to go with the title “Ane no onaka wo fukuramaseru no wa boku” or “It is me to fill the stomach of the sister” in its slightly awkward English form, this highly suggestive title already has tongues wagging and could only be about one thing…
Cooking!
If you thought it was about something else, you just got played like all the other readers here in Japan! Still, we wouldn’t blame you.
▼Seriously, how is this about cooking???
[tweet https://twitter.com/sakaionta/status/530241946237673472 align=’center’]In English, the mention of filling someone’s stomach might immediately cause one to think of eating a hearty meal, but the wording in Japanese points clearly to one thing: getting a girl pregnant. This smutty sounding title is taken for an entirely different spin when you discover the true storyline, however: Two step-siblings are forced to live together after their parents die, and the younger brother, whose passions lie in the culinary arts, is quite literally filling the stomach of his older “sister” with his incredible cooking. That takes the smuttiness right out of the title. …Right?
▼Hmm, girl doing a bridge in her school uniform…what does this have to do with cooking?
[tweet https://twitter.com/sakaionta/status/530241224481841152 align=’center’]
The words from the author himself read, “Sister and brother cooking comedy.” That seems pretty wholesome on its own, but with a title that sounds akin to “I’m the one who got my sister pregnant” in Japanese, some readers have been taking to the net to voice their thoughts.
“I thought this was going to be a perverted manga? Too bad, it’s just a manga about cooking.”
“Isn’t this title fraud?”
“But…there are fan service scenes too.”
It turns out the author has been planning this tongue-in-cheek title for quite some time, as he includes a number of clever puns right in the manga itself. In Japanese, the word “sagi” can mean two things: “fraud”, and “heron”. Knowing full well what kind of scorn his title was likely to result in, he inserted a heron right on the sixth page.
▼The first chapter has been read and some are pointing out that there is “sagi” (fraud) from the misleading title, but probably that’s true because in the first scene there is a “sagi” (heron) that appears.
[tweet https://twitter.com/sakaionta/status/530244957957660672 align=’center’]Sakai’s play on words don’t stop there. In the first chapter of the manga, a special dish with chicken, onion, green peppers and eggplant is featured. After the young pair finish their meal together, older sister Kyoko reveals that she looked up the dish that Shinobu, the younger brother, made that night. She asks him if he knew that the dish was also a dish made in Africa. Their conversation goes something like this:
“Do you know what the name is…?” Kyoko seductively asks him.
She whispers in his ear “Chinchin-ka”.
▼”chinchin” is the Japanese word for a guy’s, you know…
Image: Flickr (Takanori)
Turns out the readers are getting exactly what they were expecting! It doesn’t help the “not a racy” manga angle when the artist drawing it, Chiro Onda, has a history of drawing some pretty racy stuff.
▼Another page from the manga…good thing the younger brother is around…
[tweet https://twitter.com/sakaionta/status/530242294708846593 align=’center’]Readers can probably expect more of the same from this crazy manga in the future, more recipes, more cheeky puns and more fan service. Look for more chapters and ideas for cooking hitting shelves in Bessatsu Young Champion soon!
Source: Net Lab
Top Image: Flickr (atl10trader), Flickr (Frank de Kleine) edited by RocketNews24
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