Home Office Romance
Romantic comedy in the age of face masks and COVID-19.
Shall I preface this review with the fact that many people online still know me till this day as Sweat and Soap Laura? When I say I’m a fan of Kintetsu Yamada, I really mean it. I’m a super fan! Such a big fan that I’ve cosplayed Asako several times and also bought the collection of short stories they published in 2022 in Japanese. This is where we first get introduced to the protagonists of Home Office Romance and a year later I bought the series in Japanese months ahead of the English release announcement. So yes, this will be a biased review.
Genre: Slice of life, romantic comedy
Age Rating: Older teen 16+
Publisher: Kodansha
Status: Complete, one volume
Synopsis:
The story takes place in the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, where people around the world had to adjust their whole life and routines to begin working from home. We get introduced to Nokoru an overworked systems engineer who over the years had lost his passion in life, hobbies, and made his draining job his whole life. When the pandemic begins, he’s gifted with the opportunity to get proper sleep and reconnect with the things that sparked joy for him such as his fantasy manga and gaming. His rekindled love with his fantasy manga leads him to explore new hobbies and create the garden of his dreams in his little balcony. His little exotic garden happens to catch the eye of his next door neighbor, Natsu, who happens to be a graduate student in archeology.
In the age of social distancing, these two neighbors learn to let their guards down and let each other into their lives. Although they are quite different on paper, they soon find out that they both share the same passion for learning and exploring.
Favorite Things:
Nokoru: I found Nokoru to be extremely relatable for anyone who has worked a draining corporate job that felt a sense of liberation when lockdown happened and found all this free time to reconnect with their hobbies. I mean, I was him in lockdown feeling like a brand new person when I could get a full night’s sleep and just roll out of bed to work.
Natsu: Can I just say how much I loved seeing a female lead that was a graduate student? The woman was naturally beautiful, charming, and was also smart?!? Honestly I don’t blame Nokoru for falling for her, at all! She was much more confident than Asako in Sweat and Soap but still had the same vulnerability. I think Kintetsu’s way of writing women really shows how much they appreciate women in general.
Realistic: Just like Sweat and Soap, Home Office Romance feels incredibly realistic. From the casual conversations, internal worries, and navigating the world during the pandemic. I just felt like I got a nice warm hug from a familiar face while reading this. Also in classic Kintetsu fashion, the two leads communicate their doubts and wants to each other pretty well.
Pacing: Despite this story being just a one-shot, I didn’t feel like it was rushed. I got time to learn more about our leads, care for each of them, and we slowly got to see the buildup for their romance. The ending also left me so incredibly satisfied! It was just such a comfy and pleasant one-shot romcom.
Notable Things:
Female Ambition: We learn that Natsu is a post graduate student in archeology pretty early on in the story, but in this one-shot we do see her go on digs during long periods at a time. Instead of forcing her to stay or becoming intimidated by her field of work, Nokoru accepts that this is part of her life and wouldn’t change it at all. I found it refreshing to see a man just let the woman in his life follow her own ambition and encourage her instead. In the age of social media embracing the “trad-wife” pipeline, it was just really nice to see a female lead be celebrated for her brains and ambition.
Art: Since this story does deal with archeology and traveling, I was really blown away by how detailed some of the panels were! I’m talking full scenery of ancient ruins and jungles. Kintetsu really outdid themselves with the artwork in this story!
Rating: ★★★★★ / 5
Is this rating a shock to anyone when my favorite series of all-time is Sweat and Soap? This review was biased as hell because I really gravitate towards how Kintetsu writes people and how they build relationships. The people in their series aren’t perfect, but neither is the reader. I can see myself and people that I know in real life whenever I read one of their stories. Personally I appreciate how they present the beauty of mundane life in their stories, it makes me self-reflect and learn not to take things for granted. My one complaint is that I need 10 more volumes of this like Sweat and Soap, but maybe I should just continue to manifest an English release of Kasane and Subaru. For those of you that don’t know, that’s another romantic comedy work by Kintetsu which features an optimistic and forward girl who accidentally grabs her male colleague's butt one day. You know? The perfect beginning to a workplace romance but said colleague also happens to be into cross-dressing. So I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for that to get an English release!
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