Kumika no Mikaku (The Many Flavors of Kumika)

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Japanese: クミカのミカク

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Type: Manga

Volumes: 6

Chapters: 39

Status: Finished

Published: Aug 19, 2015 to Jul 20, 2018

Genres: Gourmet, Romance, Sci-Fi, Slice of Life

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Comic Ryu

Authors: Ononaka, Akihiro (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.65¹ (scored by 2,535 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2031²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #3690

Members: 6,145

Favorites: 52

7.65

Ranked #2031Popularity #3690Members 6,145

MangaComic RyuOnonaka, Akihiro (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /6

Chapters: /39

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Synopsis

In an Earth that has opened its borders to a variety of aliens, Kumika is considered an oddity by her coworkers, being an alien that doesn’t eat or drink at all, instead sustaining herself solely on the air's nutrients. Due to this ability and her poverty-ridden past, Kumika regularly rejects after-work invitations to restaurants and bars, and seeks to spend her time on Earth solely to work—causing her coworkers to perceive her as a cold person.

However, Kumika finds that she is unable to keep up a work-only lifestyle, as she ends up collapsing at work from exhaustion one day. Noticing that she is malnourished, her coworker Chihiro serves Kumika her first meal ever: a bowl of hot udon. Instantly revitalizing her, Kumika awakens to the joys and pleasure that food has to offer, with a stomach that growls and craves for flavors and textures to explore—thus begins Kumika's journey to eat the various cuisines that Earth has to offer.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Kumika no Mikaku was published digitally in English as The Many Flavors of Kumika by Fantasista Inc. through Manga Planet from June 13, 2020 to September 5, 2020.

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Reviews

Apr 18, 2019

Demundo

Recommended

To start off, unlike the previous review, this is a completely biased opinion of mine that will reflect how I feel on this series. This review will contain spoiler to a certain amount. I can't say how much, but it will.

Kumika no Mikaku, or Kumika's Taste is very much a food Manga while being not about food. As you can see, it involves food, eating and food appreciation through out from the start to the end, true to its name.

However, the food aspect really was just a base to tell another story, the story of a fool traveling through the Arcana and learn new ... things to grow up. As you see very soon after the series started, the fool Kumika Hality was bland, too focus on work, overly serious and very much anti-social. That was until there was this guy who took the advantage of her when she caught a cold to poison her with the evilest of all thing: good food! How despicable. That drug called food was taking over the fool with joy for the first time, she then started to eat more and more, blowing lots of the money she made onto food even though she originally only need to breath to sustain her life. The more Kumika the fool keep eating, the more she's unable to get away from that devil's drug called food. She did feel sorry for her parents at home for eating the food they can't have, guilty for eating away lives somewhere among her... How truly evil! To top it off, the guy who poisoned her started doing it all because he has that selfish lust after her. What can be more evil than that?

But... There is a catch.
Kumika the fool learned the taste of food. She then started to open up to her co-workers and they openly accept her. She took the first childish steps into a world with color, with more emotions, with worries, with happiness, with laughter, with love. She started to notice more about what is around her. She learned that eating is to take lives into yourselves and started to appreciate food. She learned to cook and season her life with the spices she has. She noticed her neighbor works just a floor under her. She reached out to a stranger. She taught someone else how to cook. She was able to confess her love to the man she was in love with.....

The fool started her journey. And she reached a place she never had the idea she would reach one day.

Like the previous review mentioned. This Manga has a lot of a josei (targeted at mature women) Manga. It was so expressive in its art while staying rather simple throughout ever page. It's like you can feel the joy of the main characters, especially Kumika, as they taste the food which might have been ordinary to us with joy and to be honest, I was drooling during my read too. The way each food gets described and their taste as well as how they are made are so simple, yet so magical it feels like I was reading a fantasy instead of reading about food you can get in restaurants. There was this child like unsettling feeling inside me urging me to get that exact same food right there and then.
Its food is so, so expressive and seem so good. Yet, the reaction is not over the top like in other food Manga like Shokugeki no Souma. It doesn't feel out of place because the one reacting is an alien who didn't know anything about food! She reacts to the food with every emotions she can express and with everything she learned the previous days.

It's really like a joy watching a child learning new things and growing up. The kind of subtle joy any working adult might appreciate.

Overall. Kumika no Mikaku isn't that impressive of a Manga series. But in the mini adventure it is, in only 1 year, it gives you a kind of joy and appreciation you might never have realized in your daily life. While not that good. It was certainly enjoyable. 10/10 for enjoyment.

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May 19, 2020

Paranolius

Recommended

Excellent romantic slice of life with a unique twist. As you can probably already tell, there's a heap of aliens in this manga and they're all great. Objectively the pink lady alien is best girl. The focus on food being the driving force behind the love interests' relationship is an excellent one as it allows for an interesting form of character introspection, development and fluff. Character designs for the aliens range from "fair" to "very unique and interesting" and the flow of extra characters isn't so slow that it stagnates the plot or too fast that it derails the plot entirely and I can safely ...

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May 24, 2020

Shiniman1

Recommended

My Synopsis: Set in a futuristic Japan (you won’t really see too much stuff outside earth) where Earth’s borders are open for space travel . Aliens are common place and come to Earth to visit/work (you’ll get some world building as you read through.) Our main character is Kumika a chick who doesn’t need to eat because her species can absorb the nutrients needed through the air. (again enough exposition is done to know how this is done)
It’s a good manga with some really cute moments. It makes you feel nice and fluffy when you read it.

Story 7: Again fluffy manga so the story isn't ...

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Poll: Kumika no Mikaku Chapter 38 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 17, 2019	6 replies	by Shouto1940 »» Sep 7, 2024 9:35 AM
Poll: Kumika no Mikaku Chapter 37 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 16, 2019	1 replies	by Butashi »» Apr 17, 2019 2:07 AM
Poll: Kumika no Mikaku Chapter 36 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 15, 2019	2 replies	by ReaperCreeper »» Apr 15, 2019 10:53 PM
Poll: Kumika no Mikaku Chapter 35 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 14, 2019	0 replies	by Stark700 »» Apr 14, 2019 9:06 AM
Poll: Kumika no Mikaku Chapter 34 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 13, 2019	0 replies	by Stark700 »» Apr 13, 2019 8:02 AM

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