SoraRabbit Short Hop 015: Bunny Snacks Part 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of my (hopefully extensive) summary and review of the hyper kawaii digital manga Taberareusa, otherwise known as Let Me Eat You. If you missed Part 1 or need a refresher, here is a segment I would like to call “Previously On Taberareusa!”

I think I have a pretty good recap game. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

All caught up? Good! Moving right along…

Where we last left our intrepid father-son rabbit-food duo, they were again reincarnated as food… Rabbit Dad was a bunny-eared rice ball floating in red bean soup, while Rabbit Son was a chestnut in a matcha roll. The other rice ball in the soup turned out to be Pigeon-Sempai, a stoic and serious bird who had also died of starvation and been reborn as food. We soon get a new plot development as Pigeon-Sempai reveals that he is also seeking his wife. But his wife has gone further in the evolution chain than him and has become a cat!

Hehe. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

Pigeon-Sempai explains that not only would they gain the ability to move from eating, but they also get reborn as more complex beings. He was too shocked at their unexpected fate to realize that his wife was eating much more than him, and she quickly left him behind as they continued to be reborn. She became a mouse, and now a cat. And she’s lost the ability to recognize and hear her husband now since they’re so far separated. (Just like what happened with Rabbit Wife.)

So Rabbit Dad’s goal is clear— he must eat as much as possible so he can get to a human state and reconnect with his long-estranged wife. But the big problem with that is that he’s a picky eater while his son is most definitely not. If they’re not careful, the gap between them will grow and they won’t be together anymore. Neither father nor son can bear that thought.

Oh no! (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

Rabbit Dad has trouble tolerating sweet things, so he decides he needs to eat a chestnut instead. They have some misadventures during which Pigeon-Sempai is cut in half and donates his legs to Rabbit Dad before getting eaten. (Poor rice birdy.) Rabbit Dad misses out on the chestnut and can’t stand the sugary cream, so Son offers him his own ears.

Aww. This is touching. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

Rabbit Dad decides not to do this, because they have to take care of their ears so they can do ear touches when their journey is over. Instead he eats as much of the matcha roll as he can, deciding it’s a more adult taste than all that sweet stuff. Son is eaten and Dad is left on the plate, discovering a new danger of their lives… what if he’s thrown away instead of eaten? Then he can’t be reborn. Luckily Pigeon Wife (who’s actually a cat right now, remember) jumps in and gobbles him up. (He sees this as her helping him out, but honestly the cat was probably just hungry.)

After this there’s a couple chapters about Dad and Son being chocolates. And then we see that Pigeon Wife Cat died and her spirit has entered the void. The rabbits are reborn and are reunited with Pigeon-Sempai! I was honestly surprised to see him. For some reason I thought he wouldn’t show up again, but I’m glad he did.

Sooo cute! (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

In this life they’re Dango, which is a colorful rice dumpling. Rabbit Dad learns that because of all he ate in his last life, he can now move his ears. (And nothing else.) They make an “uin” sound effect, which becomes a running thing in the story. From what I understand, this sound effect is usually used to represent the flapping of insect wings.

This is also where we get a new plot twist and meet one of the two villains of the story. (That’s right, this story has villains!)

He thinks he’s a bad guy. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

This is Burakku (which means black, since he’s a dark and evil figure, haha) and he chased down Pigeon Wife before she was reborn as a dog. She’s now a sakuramochi, like Burakku. (This is a mochi wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf.) Burakku explains that the pigeons are in the reincarnation cycle without permission and he’s only concerned with the rabbits. He wants to stop Pigeon-Sempai from interfering so he kidnapped his wife. Or so he claims. What actually happened was Burakku stopped her rebirth and she bit his ear, thinking he was food. This startled him into falling into the doorway to this new life. He also hints that someone has put him up to all this. Rabbit Dad decides that Burakku isn’t really bad, he’s just a moody teenager. He’s a chuunibyou— a middle schooler that is going through a dark and self-important phase. Rabbit Dad believes that he just needs to grow up and he’ll be a fine, upstanding rabbit. Possibly a domesticated one! He starts calling the new bunny Bura-chan, which annoys Burakku. (He also says that his puberty was a long time ago, so Rabbit Dad is way off base.) (Chan is a term of endearment for one younger than you.)

An epic battle ensues in which Rabbit Dad vibrates his ears at an annoying velocity and disgusts Bura-chan into talking. Uin power! Before he can reveal anything, however, he’s snatched up by a mysterious purple-haired girl who chides him for saying too much and then eats him. The mystery deepens!

Ooooh mysterious! (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

The next two chapters involve them becoming 3-D latte art and then macarons. Rabbit Dad gets a bit distracted with his need to be popular and Rabbit Son is worried that he’s forgotten about his wife. There’s some silly parts in this, like when they imagine themselves as Super Sentai/Power Rangers characters. (Including Bura-chan, who’s not even in this lifetime.)

I would watch this show. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

For some reason Bura-chan didn’t follow them in these lives, and the pigeons weren’t in the latte chapters, so it seems sometimes the characters go to different places until fate brings them back together. I’m left with several questions about how this all works. Like, for instance, is time passing between the lives? Why was Rabbit Wife a woman in her teens or early twenties if Rabbit Dad and Rabbit Son just recently died? And Pigeon Wife was a full grown cat! Is it the sort of thing where time is irrelevant and they can be reborn at any point in the timeline? Or do they stay in limbo for a while between lives? In that case, how old is Rabbit Wife by now? She hasn’t been shown for several reincarnations. I dunno… maybe it’ll all be explained further on in the story.

Rabbit Dad is so weird. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

The next story arc is a lengthy episode where they find themselves in a big bowl of fruit punch. Son is a peeled melon piece and Dad at first appears to be a ghost. It turns out that he’s actually Kanten, which is a type of jelly made of seaweed. Bura-chan is also Kanten and Son tries to eat him. He reveals that he’s also trapped in the rebirth cycle now because of his failure.

This comic is adorable. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

As they evade thirsty human children, the animals eat and drink as much as they can using teamwork. (Rabbit Dad has to eat the Kanten because the fruit punch is far too sweet for his palate.) Bura-chan manages to explain a bit more… the facts of the cycle are simple. Because they died hungry and helpless, they now have the chance to eat. The purpose of the rebirth cycle is for them to become more complex beings so that they can live out their lives.

Before Bura-chan could explain more he’s again snatched up by the purple-haired girl who eats him. There’s another tantalizing hint as the girl thinks about how she can have the bunnies by her side even though she’s no longer a rabbit. Which means she must have gone through the same thing as them! Is she behind this?

I don’t like macarons, but they look tasty. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

And that’s as far as I’ve read so far. This takes us up through Chapter 27. As I mentioned last time, the series ended with Chapter 154, although not all of them have been translated yet. Note that I’ve skipped over a lot and really summarized what all happened.

So let’s break down the mystery so far: the five animals (including Bura-chan) have been sent off on a rebirth loop where they must eat enough to be reborn as higher beings. Rabbit Wife and the (so far nameless) purple-haired girl seem to have escaped this cycle. But who is the purple-haired girl? How does she know the rabbits? What is her true agenda and what could it mean for Rabbit Dad’s quest to reunite with his wife? I’m excited to find out.

The characters have a surprising amount of depth to them. Rabbit Dad is silly and very imaginative. Aside from his need to reunite with his wife, his greatest wish is to be seen as awesome by his son. He also has a weakness for attention, wanting secretly to be popular. Rabbit Son is big-hearted and excitable. He loves sweets and looks up to his dad with the unflinching faith of youth. Pigeon-Sempai is about as imposing as a little cartoon birdy can be, having an intense gaze and a serious nature. He would do anything for his wife and his new bunny friends. Bura-chan is hard to figure out. He writes moody poetry and wants people to be intimidated by him, but underneath he’s just a silly, bumbling rabbit. He’s very proud of his stylish bangs, which Pigeon-Sempai keeps threatening to cut off.

Owwww. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

I actually learned quite a bit in reading this… several Japanese words, some slang terms, and a lot about food! I looked up each food as it appeared in the story. For someone who’s (slowly) learning Japanese, it makes it a lot easier to learn while you’re having fun and enjoying a good story. Seeing all the Japanese cuisine made me really want to explore more dishes, so this weekend Cocoa and I had a little date to a nearby Japanese restaurant. I had pan-friend gyoza, miso soup, and a sake-don donburi. Mmm.

My favorite part of this manga is how it plays with expectations. The jarring introduction where the main characters died, the harsh and abrupt ways they continue to die, and the overall darkness of the concept of rebirth only to be eaten… these elements are at stark contrast with the sugary cuteness of the characters and art, the delicious-looking food, the sweet and silly story. It’s like the undertones of bitterness Rabbit Dad prefers in his food to combat the sweet tastes that he can’t tolerate. The suddenness of the animal’s fates are generally depicted with sharp lettering and action lines, as shown above. These moments serve to unsettle the reader, to keep them from getting too comfortable with the saccharine qualities of the manga. No matter how goofy the stories get, the end result is always lurking just around the corner. Their fate, after all, is to be eaten, so these silly moments are just interludes in the cycle of rebirth and death they are trapped in.

I had to include this screen grab. This is the cutest Godzilla ever. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

This manga is super cute, but also super dark. The premise is kind of messed up, but once you get used to that, the story is engrossing and the characters likeable. Taberareusa is a weird but well-executed mix of two dissonant tones. It’s one of those works that draws funny looks as you explain it— it doesn’t sound like it should work… heck, it doesn’t sound like it should exist… but it manages to do both very well. I’m totally on board with the journey of Rabbit Dad, Rabbit Son, Pigeon-Sempai, Pigeon Wife, and Bura-chan and I can’t wait to see how it all turns out!

Uin uin. (Credits: Umibird, Coffee Break Scanlations)

Thank you so much for joining me on this odd, but adorable journey. I hope you enjoyed your first taste of Taberareusa. Like I mentioned, much much more happens than I have talked about here. If you’re at all curious and want more, I can’t recommend this series enough. Look it up and enjoy! And if you would like to see more recaps and thoughts from me on this series, leave a comment or drop me a message. I would really like to continue covering this, but only if you all would like to keep reading it.

Again, thank you for reading. I appreciate you all. Now go have something sweet to treat yourself! (Just make sure it doesn’t have bunny ears.)