Confessions of a Shy Baker by Masaomi Itou was a delightful read. Although it’s tagged as BL, I consider it to be more of an LGBT manga such as My Brother’s Husband and I Think Our Son Is Gay. The main characters are Toshi - a neurotic gay guy still mostly in the closet working as a real estate agent whose specialty is anxiety and overthinking and his boyfriend Gon who's out, proud and as cheerful as a golden retriever. Gon’s openness makes him a great counterpart to Toshi's more reserved personality. Toshi’s character is the most developed and his internal conflicts drive the story forward.Him wanting to come out of his shell vs the weight of societal expectations and fear of being rejected. Sadly, what was supposed to be the story’s hook – Toshi baking for Gon is just not as enjoyable as the slice-of-life moments and Toshi's panicking. I skimmed over gourmet panels but if you’re into food then maybe you’d enjoy it more than I did.

As for the actual story – the manga opens with Toshi’s employee, Kozue, wanting to make their real estate agency LGBT-friendly as a marketing gimmick. This sends our poor Toshi into a downward spiral of thinking that his sexuality has been found out by her. Toshi fights his inner demons, comes out to people in his life and in these 47 chapters he grows not to feel ashamed of himself. The way he experiences minority stress feels very genuine, but with the help of Gon, his friends, his and Gon’s family he overcomes many of his initial inhibitions. One last note – it’s a very feel-good story in which nothing dramatic happens.

Overall score is 8/10 because the gourmet part didn’t speak to me. The reading experience was very enjoyable, characters are likable (even Pororin!). It sometimes gets a little preachy, especially Kozue, but in no way does it diminish the rest of it.