Love from the Tip of the Tongue Volume 1 Manga Review

Is this the first official license of a cakeverse manga? I'm not sure, but I can say that it's the first time I've encountered this omegaverse spin-off. For the uninitiated, “cakeverse” is a variant of the increasingly omnipresent omegaverse where, instead of people being classified as alphas, betas, and omegas, they are separated into cakes and forks. Forks cannot taste anything in the way of normal food, and are therefore attracted to cakes, which give off a delicious sweet smell only forks can perceive. They naturally want to eat the cakes, and you can probably guess what that's a metaphor for.

While there are some very clear problems with this as a setup – if eating is a euphemism for sex, how does the whole “can't taste food” thing actually work? And if it's not, how is cakeverse not a zombie/cannibal thing? – It's at least creative. Unsurprisingly, this is a world type that comes out of fanfiction, and like other writing styles and worlds, it's making the jump from fanworks to officially published ones. Often this means that authors then have to put a bit more thought into how it functions, and for An Momose, that's positioning forks as people suffering from a condition that's not particularly well understood by medical science. Forks in Love from the Tip of the Tongue are suddenly unable to taste food normally, and with that comes the ability to smell cakes. Because of their urges to devour the cakes, forks are generally looked upon with suspicion, with the implication that they're all just genetically predisposed assailants who will destroy any cakes they come across. And since only forks can spot cakes, that raises a good deal of fear.

Tatsunari, the fork in this book, is very well aware of these issues. He manifested very young and has taken care to make sure no one can tell he's a fork. He's become adept at eating normally and stays away from any cakes he notices. But that all changes when he meets Naruse, a boy one year behind him in high school. Naruse is a cake, and there's something about him that Tatsunari can't leave alone. Out of desperation, he strikes up a bargain with the younger boy where they'll essentially meet for make-out sessions on the roof during lunch. Tatsunari seems to think Naruse has agreed to this out of fear, but readers can spot the real reason: Naruse is gay and has a crush on Tatsunari, so this situation benefits him as well.

This is a very difficult thing for Tatsunari to wrap his head around. He's spent so long believing that he's a dangerous predator that he never stops to question Naruse's physical reaction to their sessions, nor his own immediate attraction to him. In fact, after he notices Naruse's erection, he calls the whole thing off, terrified that he's forced Naruse into a sexual situation he has no control over and doesn't want. The two don't meet again until they're both in college, at which point Tatsunari struggles to maintain his distance, still convinced that he's the only one who wants this and that it's solely a cake/fork thing with no actual emotions involved.

That makes Tatsunari feel unique in the omegaverse and omegaverse-adjacent genres. Since forks are analogous to alphas, Tatsunari's self-awareness and fear of his own body run contrary to what most other people with his condition do and act like. He thinks of himself as dangerously ill and Naruse as his prey, something Naruse inadvertently leans into by telling Tatsunari that his physical pleasure is simply a modified fight-or-flight response. He says this in an attempt to distract Tatsunari from something he's never even thought of, that Naruse might actually like him, and Naruse's well-meaning misdirection only makes things worse for the other man. In simpler terms, Naruse is worried that if Tatsunari learns he's gay, he'll be scared off, while what Tatsunari is actually concerned about is that he's sexually assaulting Naruse.

Interestingly enough, Tatsunari uses the “but I'm straight” argument on himself to deny that he has any feelings beyond those mandated by his condition. This is less homophobia than it is genuine fear; in his mind, Naruse is only acquiescing because of the cake/fork situation, and if he allows himself to admit that he likes Naruse, he's at risk of being in deeper than his partner. Thus, Tatsunari's journey is one of acceptance, both of himself and of Naruse's real feelings, which in turn means that he has to acknowledge that he's afraid of himself as a fork. It's the most interesting element of the book.

As you might guess, this volume has a lot of sex and sex-adjacent scenes, with anything beyond kissing waiting until they're in college. It's one of Yen Press' most explicit titles, with little to no censorship, so unlike in the past, this one comes wrapped in plastic for a real reason. Momose's art is generally good, although there are a few anatomical issues, and the panels are easy to read.

I can't say that I'm enamored of cakeverse after reading this. It still feels particularly silly to me, but I do appreciate how Momose uses it in this story. If you're a genre fan, though, I think you'll enjoy this take on it, and it will be interesting to see if more titles in the subgenre follow this one.