REVIEW: Turns Out My Online Friend is My Real-Life Boss! (manga, vol. 1) by nmura, translated by Jacqueline Fung

Turns Out My Online Fried is My Real-Life Boss is a m/m romantic comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

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 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.