The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss!

What's It About? 

Hashimoto is a perfectly average salaryman, working a repetitive office job, which is made all the worse by his stylish, straight-laced boss, who insists everything be done by the book. Whatever he does for this perfectionist, it's just not good enough! Thankfully, Hashimoto can go home to his favorite online video game, where he can unload on the forgiving shoulders of his best friend, whom he knows only by the name "Uma." The duo make plans to meet in person, but when they do, Hashimoto is horrified by a revelation that will change his entire life…

Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss! has a story and art by Nmura. English translation by Melissa Chiam/amimaru. This volume is lettered and retouched by Monika Hegedusova/amimaru. Published by‎ Kodansha Comics (May 28, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss! is one of those titles that immediately gives the game away. Though the reader realizes what's up from the start, you would not believe how long it takes our main characters to figure it out. The story coasts on the dramatic irony inherent in the gap between the readers' knowledge and the characters. And even after they figure it out, the plot depends on nonstop misunderstandings between the characters until they defy all reason. Have a direct conversation once in a while, people!

This manga initially began as a short comic on Twitter, but at more than 300 pages, it's one of the longest manga in this season's guide. It spans a full story in one volume with 19 chapters plus two bonus chapters. You would think that would give it a lot of time to unravel the mystery, but these characters are experts at ambiguous dialogue that makes everything less, not more, clear over time. Though the primary conflict is between two internet friends (Hashimoto and Shirase) who don't realize they are an employee and a boss, the bulk of the story concerns a love triangle between Hashimoto, Shirase, and a third internet friend, Kumataro, who turns out to be an employee at the convenience store that both of them patronize. To conceptualize the extent of the misunderstandings at play, you need to realize that at one point, only Kumataro realizes he's in a love triangle; the other two are somehow oblivious.

Though it defies logic, most of the humor comes from how dense the characters are. “Don't you think sometimes we're not on the same page?” Shirase asks Kumataro on page 200. At this point, there's been a long-running joke for most of the book that Kumataro thinks Shirase and Hashimoto are dating. Kumataro believes he is competing for Hashimoto's affection. This doesn't get resolved until after Shirase and Hashimoto begin dating for real. Here's the part where the book loses me: Shirase and Hashimoto don't seem to have any chemistry. They never talk about anything but work and the online games they play. It's hard to tell if they're interested in pursuing a romance until they fall into one. (Also, isn't it against company policy to date your direct supervisor?)

The manga has cute art that falls into two styles: online (chibi, exaggerated) and off (handsomely detailed). There are also two distinct speech styles, and I feel for the localizer who had to convert all that Japanese net slang into English. It's a long story that gives you a lot of bang for your buck but spends a ton of time trying to get to where it's going.

I read this back when it was released as a digital-only title, and while I remembered having read it, I couldn't recall much about it. That should tell you that this is a perfectly unobjectionable story that doesn't go further than that, with a story that does what it says on the tin. Two men play MMORPG, become friends, and then make the horrifying discovery that they work together and have to figure out if they can keep their work and private lives separate while they fall for each other. There's a high school-age rival, too, just for good measure, and the romance is largely devoid of any tension. Even Hashimoto discovered that Shirase is the boss he's been badmouthing to U.M.A., and Shirase doesn't feel that urgent or awkward. It's just…there.

It's too bad because the premise isn't without promise. We all know the perils of internet anonymity coming back to bite us, and this has two layers of storytelling potential in the office romance and the internet-induced mix-up. And it doesn't squander that entirely; the fact that high schooler Kumato gets the completely wrong idea about Hashimoto and Shirase dating rather than working together and being gaming partners makes for a fun series of misunderstandings. He adds an entirely new layer of awkwardness to the story that helps to punch things up, and it takes some of the sting out of Hashimoto being almost unbelievably dense. I also really like how respectful Shirase is once romance does appear in the story – he knows Hashimoto is much more uncomfortable with their changing relationship and is fully aware of how he made him feel in a work setting before they became friends (and became aware of it). He makes sure always to acknowledge that as their relationship evolves. There's no garbage about “needs;” he will wait until Hashimoto is ready because he cares about him.

The art is pleasant, and the stylized chibis used for in-game scenes are particularly cute without being fussy. For some reason, Hashimoto and Shirase are a little hard to tell apart, but the crisp distinction between game and real life makes up for a lot of ills. I wouldn't call this a brilliant BL title or even a particularly memorable one, but it is cute enough to merit getting it at a library or on sale.