The plot scenario is very basic: student needs place to stay in Tokyo and ends up shaking up with this white-collar guy for free...but with a catch! He must do all the cooking, all the cleaning and sleep in the same bed as him...wait? what!

Yes the handsome Roku, who's a president of a business and high earning citizen, is afraid of the dark. Not a problem, as Iori is use to sleeping with his younger siblings all the time...but when Roku 'touches' him one night Iori must comes to terms with what their relationship really is.

If you've read any of Puku's works you will know what you're in for; some cute chibis, funny scenes and strangely addictive characters! I love Puku's mangas because she delivers simple rom coms that are not over the top, smutty or demanding. Just refreshing romances based around quirky characters.

The art is also favorable. The level of detail in the smallest things: clothing, backgrounds, anatomy...even in her chibis you can see good design. I not talking 'Rihito Takarai' here but definitely in a class of her own.

I enjoy this manga because it always leaves me with a smile on my face, no matter how many times i read it. Look, nothing terribly exciting happens and the drama or scenarios are not gripping; it's simple and enjoyable. Also, although this is a yaoi - the first from Puku, as she mainly does Shounen-Ai's - it's very tame. Good, but tame.

Conclusion: If you are after a refreshing romance with loveable characters, adorable art and some good laughs, you will enjoy this.

PS: The name 'Caramel' is based around the argument between Roku and Iori about having Caramel sauce with pudding. Roku doesn't like it, where Iori does. I must say, after all the talk about delicious caramel pudding i had to make my own...and I'm siding with Iori! haha

(Copied from MyAnimeList)

Very funny and cute, like any work from this author. The uke might be a little girly and overrates at times but he is not annoying. Overall this is a good read. There is sex scenes, even though they're not really explicit.

I thought this story was pretty cute. The story is basically about an 18 year old country kid who goes to Tokyo and ends up in a 28 year old corporate worker's condo as his roommate and possibly more.

What I like about this is the whole volume is dedicated to this couple (too often random chapters go on tangents with other side characters), the relationship is relatively slow-moving (for BL land), and for BL land it's very low on the rape scale.

It's kind of hard to classify whether or not there IS non-con in this because there's a scene that seems possibly dub-con to me, but at the same time the character reacts right away in a manner that makes total sense and doesn't just ignore it as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Between that and the context of the seme's personality who we learn has some kind of skewed views of things, it actually makes sense why it happened the way it did. Also, when the uke is clearly scared about things, the seme completely backs off. For those reasons, overall it didn't bother me the way it might have otherwise.

I almost didn't even say anything about the possible dub-con because I feel like I'm blowing it out of proportion by mentioning it at all, but I also felt that I should mention it since it initially stuck out to me and because some people might want to know.

Other than that, the story did for some reason feel a little bit off to me but I haven't been able to identify why. I think it might be that I didn't get a super great read on Iori for some reason, mostly in relation to whether or not he already knew he was gay/bi or whether the very idea of men together previously never even occurred to him. It doesn't really explain that part of it and because he's portrayed as an otherwise uncomplicated country boy, it made me wonder about that.

One of the things that's really cute about it is the way they each act like a little kid in different ways. Iori is a sweet guy whose reactions are exactly how he feels... so when he's happy, he's really obviously happy, smiling and laughing and showing his excitement-- and when he's embarrassed, he gets defensive. Meanwhile, Todo acts like a kid mostly when he's sulking or in the way he doesn't take very good care of himself or his place, or how he doesn't want to sleep alone at night so he cuddles up to Iori. They end up being childlike in different ways so that the other balances him out.

Overall, the characters are cute, especially Iori, and Todo is amusingly brusque. They make a really cute couple because their personalities mix in an interesting way. Iori is much younger/smaller looking than Todo so keep that in mind if that might bother you, however he DOESN'T look like he's a wide-eyed ten year old like the super young ukes can look. He does look about his age, I think, and he's actually kind of plain looking for BL land, but I like that about him. The art style is a bit different than a lot of BL as well, but I thought it was cute. There were parts that made me laugh out loud and for most of the volume I'm pretty sure I was reading it smiling like a doof.

I'm glad I bought the volume because I think it's a cute story about two people who end up together by happenstance but who end up fitting each other well.

(By the way, if you like this, you should check out Brilliant Blue by YORITA Saemi which I have to admit I do like more than Caramel, but has a similar vibe and unique-to-itself art style)

... Last updated on April 21st, 2013, 9:32pm