This article first appeared at The Beat.

Welcome to the Cakeverse! If someone loses their sense of taste during adolescence, they are diagnosed as a Fork. The only way Forks can taste anything is by consuming Cakes, people who smell and taste sweet to them.

Ageha hates that he’s a Fork, and he makes a point of avoiding others to keep his natural instincts under control. But when his popular schoolmate Kaede stops by and visits him at the school nurse’s office one day, Ageha notices a sweet aroma. Since he thinks he must be dreaming, he goes all out and lets his desires loose. But when he wakes up, he realizes Kaede is a Cake who now has Ageha’s Fork identity all figured out!

If Ageha wants to keep the fact that he’s a Fork a secret, he needs to play along with Kaede’s urges. But since Kaede’s fluids are the only way Ageha can taste anything, this arrangement is actually extremely mutually beneficial!

Melting Strawberry Kiss is a BL manga set in the Cakeverse, and it’s a fluffy (and perhaps conceptually silly) fun romp. With gorgeous illustrations, plenty of spice (censored, but still quite a bit of nudity), and lots of fluid exchange, if you’re looking for an offshoot of Omegaverse manga, you should give this one a try. I had a good time with it. 

So…are you a Fork or a Cake?

If you lose your sense of taste in adolescence, congratulations, you’re a Fork—and your taste will only be satisfied by those who are Cakes. A Cake doesn’t know they are a Cake until a Fork sniffs them out, or if the Fork consumes the Cake’s bodily fluids. Only the taste of a Cake will bring flavor back into a Fork’s life.

Ageha is the Fork in question, and he keeps to himself because Forks have a bad reputation for losing total control when they encounter a Cake. Afraid he might succumb to an insatiable desire, Ageha avoids others, until one day he has a chance encounter with Kaede in the nurse’s office—Kaede’s a Cake! And sure enough, Ageha loses control.

Ageha’s cover blown, the two boys reach a dubious agreement: Kaede won’t tell anyone else that Ageha is a Fork as long as Ageha satisfies Kaede’s urges. Kaede points out that their agreement will satisfy Ageha’s urges, too, and thus begins a tenuous relationship between the two.

What propels readers through the manga Is the constant push-and-pull dynamic. To some readers, it may straddle the line of being interesting to overbearing or too much, but I think creator Rico Sakura keeps things evenly balanced at a fast enough pace. A tug-of-war exists in Ageha’s mind as to whether or not he should give in to his desires and identity, or to push Kaede away to keep from being used, and this drives the story.

A romance starts to bloom when things get physical, but Ageha often denies his feelings for Kaede out of fear of getting hurt. He also wonders if his feelings are real instead of simply urges, and is filled with self-doubt. Kaede meanwhile keeps going back to their agreement, all the while giving little hints or showing small actions that could suggest he likes Ageha, too. You want these characters to get together, and more than just in the physical sense. The will-they-won’t-they carries the reader through the manga briskly, with plenty of stops for some physical action.

This is my first encounter with the Cakeverse, and I was so appreciative that in the front matter of the manga, readers get a full introduction to the rules of the world. Even better, there is attribution to its creator—Magnolia. It was nice to see credit given and to trace the Cakeverse back to its origin. I feel like I don’t see this very much, so it was refreshing.

The art in the manga shows that the boys are beautiful, there’s plenty of blushing, and lots of sultry expressions. I particularly like Kaede’s character design. Something about messy hair, I guess.

There are no real issues with the art unless you are uncomfortable with nudity. There are several sex scenes in the manga, and the naughty bits are censored, but leave little to the imagination. I thought the art in these instances was gorgeous, too—the boys are well constructed—and fall into line with traditional seme/uke visual depictions.

The whole manga is a fun time. While there is some angst when it comes to figuring out sexual urges versus true love, and accepting yourself for who you are, for the most part, this is a manga that earns its 18+ rating. Expect plenty of sex scenes mixed with playful and sometimes emotional moments, and enjoy the Cakeverse for what it is—a confectioner’s delight.

If you are interested in more manga like this, try Rico Sakurai’s This Wolf is Not Scary, which is not Cakeverse, but also set in an alternate world (this time with humanlike animals!). You can also get a glimpse into the Omegaverse, on which the Cakeverse is based. Some manga to try are Love is an Illusion! Superstar and Never Let Go, both of which are set in high school.  

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Melting Strawberry Kiss is currently a digital-only publication from Animate International, but you can get it from a wide variety of digital booksellers online.