Futami is a 25-year-old mangaka who is published in a shoujo magazine, and kinda meets the stereotype—she’s stressed out, works late, has imposter syndrome, and is hopefully head over heels for her editor. Uh, wait, what was that? Yes, the overly anxious Futami can’t stop thinking about her quieter, more elegant manga editor, Sato, to the point of paralysis at times. Luckily, Futami’s assistant, Hazama, is around to provide logic and the push her sensei often needs. Meanwhile, Sato might not be quite as cool and put-together as Futami thinks she is…
Welcome to a workplace yuri mangaka romcom! Did you get all that? A Mangaka’s Weirdly Wonderful Workplace really does hit all those checkmarks, starting with its emphasis on mangaka and editors in the workplace. The first half of episode one takes place in Futami’s house and focuses on her and Hazama, who finds her boss nearly as obnoxious as I do. Yes, Futami is an early contender for most annoying character of the season—she is constantly whining, and while the series can dress her up with cute, teary eyes and little blushing lines across her cheeks, the shrill quality of her crying and complaining made me want to turn the episode off immediately (made worse when the circus music soundtrack plays in the background). But I made it through to the end of the episode to do my service to you, dear reader. I hope you appreciate it.
The humor in the series isn’t anything remarkable either. As a workplace series featuring characters from their mid-twenties to early-thirties (I assume), the jokes are a little more mature than in a high school romcom, and while they don’t come off as dirty, per se, there are a few choice words here and there, as well as frequent mentions of sexual content, even if dropped without added fanservice or in an overly detailed way. The humor is also hampered by Futami whenever she comes on screen—I find her irresponsible and frustrating rather than cute and quirky. For instance, the first ten full minutes of the episode are dedicated to her worrying about sending her storyboards to Sato at 2 a.m. via email. It’s a pretty inane and hollow setup for your opening scene.
Is there anything to like here? Well, Sato is likable. So are the other characters. The editorial workplace is an interesting setting, and whenever there’s a focus on manga-making, my interest was piqued, as well as whenever we got sight of Futami’s manga or when her thoughts were animated in a black-and-white manga format. But none of this is enough to overcome her obnoxiousness in virtually every scene she’s in. This is the easiest “skip it” for me of the season.
A Mangaka’s Weirdly Wonderful Workplace can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
- The History of Christian Anime - 05.06.2026
- Haibara’s Teenage New Game+ and Keys to Living a Rainbow-Colored Youth - 04.27.2026
- A Weekly Devotional for Anime Fans - 04.23.2026
[…] Read More […]
Yes, Futami is annoying, but also very relatable. I’ve worked with the same publisher for more than twenty years, done a dozen books with him, and I *still* get worried that he’s ticked off at me for some obscure reason.