Nmura

In the real world, Hashimoto is an average office worker who feels beaten down by his boss, Shirase, who only ever has critical things to say about his work. In his favorite online game, he goes by Aaaaa. He's been playing for 2.5 years and is friends with U.M.A. (playing for 8 months), who he once helped out in the game. He's also friends with Salted Salmon, an enthusiastic younger player who's part of a different guild.

Aaaaa and U.M.A. arrange to have an IRL meetup. Due to a mix-up caused show more by a simultaneous guild IRL meetup, Hashimoto accidentally mistakes someone else for U.M.A. That's quickly cleared up, but then Hashimoto realizes that the real person behind U.M.A. is actually his boss, which fills him with horror considering all the times he vented to U.M.A. about his boss. Then a third person, Kumataro, the one Hishimoto originally mistook for U.M.A., invites himself to their incredibly awkward meetup...and doesn't immediately clarify that he's the person behind Salted Salmon.

Misunderstandings abound, eventually resulting in a weird accidental love triangle.

Gah. Because I knew it was coming, my horror at Hashimoto's situation started with his venting sessions, a couple of which we got to see on-page. Honestly, his reaction when he finally met U.M.A. in real-life could have been stronger - if it were me, I'd probably have spent that time in the bathroom trying not to throw up from anxiety.

Luckily for Hashimoto, Shirase didn't react badly, and in fact these new revelations led to them having a better work relationship. Shirase's treatment of Hashimoto didn't really change in-game, although Hashimoto understandably felt awkward enough to adjust his own behavior. That didn't stop them from deciding to start their own guild.

Meanwhile, Kumataro is on the sidelines, vastly misunderstanding Hashimoto and Shirase's relationship, which prompts him to become more open and proactive about his own feelings - he happens to have a huge crush on Hashimoto. Hashimoto is completely oblivious to this - his feelings toward Kumataro, a high schooler, are more in the realm of "affectionate older brother." A side effect of Kumataro's reactions, though: Shirase starts to become more aware of his own feelings for Hashimoto.

I've read series before where these sorts of misunderstandings were carried over multiple volumes, so it was both a surprise and a relief that this didn't happen here, although by the end of the volume I couldn't help but think that, no matter what their actual ages were, Hashimoto felt like the youngest and most naive of the bunch.

So far, I'm intrigued and reassured at the way nmura has handled things. I don't feel like I really know Shirase very well yet, and I'm a bit iffy about Hashimoto, but I do really like Kumataro. I'm willing to see where things go from here.

Extras:

One full-color illustration, a brief note from the author, and a bonus four-panel comic.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

This book was so cutie!! Definitely for fans of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku and My Love Story with Yamada-Kun at Lv999 or anything along those lines. It was just a very fluffy gamer love story between two adult men (yippee!! Its sorta sad that I'm excited about that but we all know the majority of manga love stories are either between two teens (which is fine-good, even) or one adult and one teen (much less fine and not at all good)so its always refreshing to have an adult love story, show more especially if its queer). Our main character is extremely dense though, which isn't usually one of my favorite tropes but this one wasn't too bad in my opinion. It doesn't cause any major issues or fights which is probably why I managed to finish reading it but I figured it would be worth the mention so that other people know what they're getting into. Overall the story itself wasn't anything new or revolutionary but it really didn't need to be. It was exactly what it said on the tin- nothing more, nothing less. My only gripe was that their kiss was censored which is like ??? Why? It wasn't even like an overly passionate kiss or anything so I'm just confused but that's more of a personal preference rather than a major issue so I suppose I can't be too mad at the author. I will be side-eying them for the foreseeable future though show less

A rom-com of misunderstandings, miscommunications, and obliviousness. This is a good book for those who enjoy the genre, but I don't think I'll be reading the next volume: the awkwardness and naivete of the characters had me wincing in embarrassment for them.

Received via NetGalley.

It's a lovely romance, but the whole book felt a bit rushed. It could have used a second volume to expand on the story and characters.

Received via NetGalley.