Told through the visage of cute animal avatars, this delicious manga travelogue follows the journey of a mangaka and friends’ as they explore Taiwan via both illustrations and photography. Readers can pull up a chair and enjoy the deliciousness in this release without the need to worry about calories!
This is an adorable manga that doubles as a brief travelogue of Muta Yuki’s three-day tip to Taiwan. Not only does the manga use animal avatars for everybody (ah, the cuteness), but the book has photographs, explanations, and fun tidbits about the areas Muta travelled to, plus the food that was eaten.
To be honest, I hardly know anything about Taiwan. When I worked for a tire manufacturer (I know, what a mismatch of a job), I ordered tires from a factory there in Taipei…and I’ve seen photographs of Taipei 101. And then it’s crickets from me from here on out. I regret being so clueless about this island country, so it was nice to get a fun snapshot of it through this manga.
It makes sense for the manga to view Taiwan through the lens of good food. When I lived in Japan, I quickly learned that over there, food is culture. There are television shows dedicated to cooking, and then zooming on people eating the freshly made food exclaiming, “Oishii!” Whenever I ate food in Japan, my fellow coworkers or Japanese friends would watch me eat and wait for my opinion. Chefs in the restaurants would ask me openly if I enjoyed their food. Food is a huge deal in Japan.
Muta, who is Japanese, clearly embraces the food culture of Taiwan, eating familiar foods like nabe (hot pot) and zenzai (dessert soup served hot, made with azuki beans, rice cake, and rice flour dumplings). But the familiarity stops there as Muta and the family quickly learn that their favorite foods have a distinct Taiwanese flair. Even barley tea tastes completely different over there!
Overall, this is an enjoyable look at a first-time experience in a new country through the lens of its culinary delights. I had fun learning about Muta’s adventures and appreciated the tidbits and photographs that enriched the story.
My only complaint is that this is so freaking short. 44 pages. I think this would appeal to die-hard collectors, fans of manga that celebrate food, fans of travel, and fans of Taiwan. In all honesty, it seems more cost-effective to invest in this as a digital copy, although the forthcoming physical print of the book looks to be lovely. I really wish there was more to this manga. It felt like just as I was familiarizing myself with the author’s journey, it was over. I know it was only three days, but I feel like it could have been expanded upon.
Nonetheless, this is a really cute manga with an additionally cute story, and I enjoyed myself.
First Time In Taiwan: A Delicious Adventure is published by Manga Mavericks Books. The digital publication went live October 22, 2025 and is available now. The print versions have an estimated release date of December 16 of this year (so you can preorder now!).
Kristina Elyse Butke 
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