My Awkward Senpai will always hold a very special place in my heart. Personally, it’s one of my four favorite pieces of romance media that I’ve ever seen and is very important to me overall. A couple years ago, it was announced that it was going to get an anime adaptation, but when I saw the announcement, I knew nothing about it. I thought it had an interesting concept, so I read the first two manga volumes in a single night and it became one of my most favorite manga of all time.
It’s a silly romance manga that occasionally has its dumb and cliche moments. But the characters and art style worked overtime to make sure that the manga was perfect. I remember taking screenshots of random panels and sharing them on social media because of how cute they were. I’ve never done that with any other manga. But that wasn’t the only reason that I liked it so much. It was the first workplace romance that I ever read, and it affected me in so many ways.
Kamegawa is a young new recruit at a large company. Kannawa is a few years older than him, and she’s in charge of training him. To the rest of the company, she comes off as scary, cold, and strict. But in reality, she just suffers from a lot of social anxiety and is just awkward around people. Kamegawa figures this out early and they’re able to become friends. There are two aspects about them that I really liked.
The first is that the romance is really a slow burn. Take the romance out of workplace romance, and that’s what it is for the first few volumes. It’s just them working and hanging out. The opening volume focuses on their friendship, workplace environment, and daily lives. It’s also refreshing that there isn’t a male character that isn’t a total loser or some kind of outcast. Most of the popular romance anime and manga are about a popular girl who basically adopt some nobody boy, and put them in increasingly exaggerated situations.
Seeing a guy who holds his own, has a good job, and is generally likeable is a nice change of pace for me. The roles are kinda reversed in this situation and I liked that a lot. But the second aspect I really liked is that a lot of the stuff that happens is pretty grounded and relatable outside of a few humourous gags here and there. Since the first time I’ve read the manga, I’ve experienced other workplace romance, and many of them still fall into standard anime cliches.
For example, I liked watching both The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague and My Tiny Senpai. The former is solid but uses a lot of fantasy elements, and the latter uses a lot of gag material. The popular stuff uses outrageous situations for laughs or to add to the sweetness or ecchi levels. My Awkward Senpai has a lot of silliness but it’s surprisingly realistic.
I did try to watch the anime adaptation and I went back to the manga after a couple episodes. It’s significantly better than the anime in a few ways and is one of the best romance manga in my opinion. If you’re looking for the kind of romance that you’ll get from stuff like My Dress Up Darling or Rent A Girlfriend, you won’t get that here. But My Awkward Senpai will surprise you, and you should at least give the first volume a try.
10/10