Previously, I reviewed four more comics for this Webtoons article series. In this article, I cover one ongoing and one completed series.
All You Can Eat
All You Can Eat, Season 2 cover art. Creator: theyaoiarmy
All You Can Eat is a gay romance with a food theme, but each season is an independent story. Right now, it is on Season 2. The tone of the first season differed greatly from the second, as it was lighthearted, heartwarming, and sweet. This second season, in contrast, has a huge drama element thus far. Having read the first season after completion (binge!) and the second season as it’s posted, it was easier to read as a binge and this is especially true for this current season early on. That said, the pacing in the second season has much improved.
Season 1
With that in mind, I loved the first season. This was my first gay romance full comic reading (versus the few episodes here and there in Kind of Love). They had me at ‘food’ in the description. The dynamics between Ashe and Matteo were believable and funny, and my favorite line was early on when one lead encountered his new neighbor wearing sweats and struggled because “sweatpants are gay lingerie.” So refreshing! Like I’ll be in Your Care, one character could cook well and the other definitely couldn’t, but it gave them an opportunity to eat together. Talk about a boy next door story! But more than anything else, it was a slow build up of two humans getting to know one another. Admittedly, I was ready to dislike the stereotypical “fruit fly” (think Grace from Will and Grace) group that surrounded one lead, claiming to be his flock and demanding he cook and care for them. However, I was so relieved to be wrong about how that played out, as the ladies were very protective of him instead and were excellent wing women. This chapter turned out to be a sweet, honest, and genuine story.
Season 2
Season 2, I will reserve some judgement on while acknowledging that it is packed with drama and some comedy. Will, a restaurant owner, has a new work neighbor who tries to buy his restaurant. Will seems internally conflicted between that and somewhat awkward about aspects of his life in general. Thankfully, the supporting characters in Will’s restaurant are pretty loveable and have their own fans, especially for the amount of crap they give Will. Alexander is a fancy chef who bought the space next to Will’s restaurant and is trying to buy his. He seems pretty snooty thus far, likely because we know little about him yet. The dynamic between these two is more of a love-hate relationship, though they aren’t in a relationship yet. We’ll see where it goes from here.
A Good Day to be a Dog
Creator: Lee Hey
A Good Day to be a Dog tells of a teacher whose family was cursed by a spirit for generations to turn into dogs at midnight until dawn after they have their first kiss. They could only break this curse if a true love kisses them again in their dog form. Through liquid courage and trickery, Hannah accidentally kisses a colleague on a night out, only it wasn’t the intended one. Instead, she kisses a colleague who is terrified of dogs. The rest of the story is a mix of comedy and tragedy as she and her student, who is his nephew, try to scheme in order to find a way to break her curse, along with additional drama.
This story started out fun and lighthearted, but then became deeper, dramatic, and frankly, super complicated. I felt like some parts may have been a bit too complicated, or unnecessarily so, almost as a way to throw monkey wrenches into the dynamics and create conflict for its own sake, perhaps. Surely there should be some limit to the level of rollercoaster of feels allowed! Perhaps notably, this shares a creator with See You in My 19th Life, which I reviewed in the first article of this series, so this shows some progression in the creator’s work. The art style is consistently good.
Join me next time for even more Webtoons to read.
