The Spring 2023 Manga Guide

Me and My Beast Boss

What's It About? 

In a world where beastfolk are thought to be superior to humans, human office worker Saki Oki struggles to remain afloat in a company where she is belittled and tormented by her beastfolk colleagues and superiors. And so, when she is called into the CEO's office, she's prepared for the worst—but instead of firing Saki, he acknowledges her hard work and makes her his private secretary! She's delighted by his praise...but could that really be the only reason her heart is racing so fast? 

Me and My Beast Boss has story and art by Shiroinu, with English translation by Julie Goniwich and lettering by Elena Lanzas. Yen Press will release its first volume both digitally and physically for $13.00 on May 23.

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

And so it has come to this: a manga with a furry hero has captured my heart. Me and My Beast Boss is mostly just another office romance—Saki has been suffering under a cruel supervisor when she's swooped up by the CEO, Atlas, and asked to work solely for him. The key difference is that in the story's world, there are humans, beastfolk, and reverted beastfolk, and they matter in the exact opposite order they were just listed in. Saki's a human. The CEO is a reverted beastman, meaning he looks like an eight-foot-tall bipedal lion in a suit. Things take off from there.

Atlas is the very definition of a gentle giant, which is much of this volume's appeal. He falls hard for Saki when she isn't immediately afraid of him, which prompts him to make her his personal secretary. It's a move Saki's happy to make because as a vile human, she's used to taking a lot of abuse—both physical and emotional—from her beastfolk bosses. She has a fear reaction to Atlas that's strictly instinctual, and she spends the volume working hard to overcome it, because she's coming to realize that she likes him as a person as much as she enjoys working for him. The romance plot mostly comes down to both of them taking baby steps towards each other, stymied by their fears, because Atlas is desperately afraid that if he confesses his love for Saki she'll immediately head for the hills.

If you're absolutely opposed to a romance between a humanoid lion and a human lady, it's very possible that the sweetness of the romance won't matter. But if you're ambivalent on the topic (or a fan of it, in which case I assume you're already planning to read this), it's worth giving this manga a try. Its core is soft and sweet, and the creator has clearly put a lot of thought into the details, like that Atlas' hands feel like a housecat's belly. I didn't think I'd like this one and then really did, so take that under advisement.

Christopher Farris

Rating:

The starting setup for Me and My Beast Boss (shouldn't that be "My Beast Boss and I"?) is one with plenty of appeals for me. I am absolutely down to see a workplace romance between a cool office worker and her massive hot lion-man boss. And props to author Shiroinu, they can absolutely draw the crap out of some charming messy-hot people (and animal people) and their emotional expressions and body language. The idea of complex tensions communicated by power structures and fantastical species divides is on display well through this whole first volume. Saki and Atlas both convey varying degrees of scared, stressed, sexy, or all of the above reactions to each other as we witness the ebbs and flows of their relationship.

That said, the story of Me and My Beast Boss is tinged with a lot of messy, thorny issues even apart from all the hot animal-man furry fantasy stuff. Much of it could be seen as par for the course as far as steamy workplace setups, like the question of a superior taking on a secretary whom he knows he's romantically interested in. Saki's struggles against the inherent power dynamic of the arrangement crossed with her desire to move past her subliminal reactions for both personal and professional reasons do gel with those kinds of complexities. However, her whole fear response issue that's so central to that growing dynamic with Atlas is built on some oddly assumed biological inherencies that, if I'm being honest, I'm not 100% sure it's trying to get at. This also has the knock-on effect of large portions of the "conflict" through the story being comprised of Saki and Atlas going through the issues in their own heads, which they just can not get out of. Interiority is important, especially in a story about reconsidering biases and learning to love and be loved by others like this. But it still gets to a point where it's ironic to see our heroes espousing the supposed value of open communication when we're still seeing so much of the plot occur as self-defeating mental spirals.

Me and My Beast Boss is strong at presenting the steamy vibes and appeal of the characters wrapped up in its wildlife workplace weirdness. The art's great at capturing Saki's barely composed confident front, or Atlas's tidy moe appeal in bits like him surreptitiously swishing his tail. But other times it seems like Shiroinu is struggling to cram Atlas's huge lion frame into some cramped panels, while also indulging in movement and interaction with Saki. There also doesn't seem to be much interest in the actual animalistic elements of the beast-people apart from Atlas, with the few other characters simply serving as animal-eared examples defined by whether they do or don't discriminate against humans like Saki. There are some strong base ideas here, but it needs to let its characters and concepts stretch out moving forward.

Jean-Karlo Lemus

Rating:

I'm very mixed about Me and My Beast Boss. The basic idea feels like an off-the-cuff desperate parody of office romances: “What if Office Romances™, but Big Beast Husbando?”. And far be it from me to deny someone their big, fluffy lion-man husbando, but neither Atlas nor Saki feels deep enough to stick in my head. There are some genuinely good bits of writing, make no mistake. The story utilizes the idea of normal humans being discriminated against very well. Even Atlas, as a CEO, struggles to keep his subordinates from being prejudiced. Seeing Saki realize that Atlas is genuinely invested in supporting and nurturing her as an employee feels good; it's almost as much of a self-affirming fantasy as having a big, beefy lion-man boyfriend.

What makes me a little uncomfortable about the story is how openly Atlas fawns over Saki. It's cute when the big, intimidating Atlas shows Saki affection, but she isn't used to people being affectionate with her, in addition to Atlas being an imposing figure. But, even for a story that's meant to be fun, Atlas' constant petting and stroking of Saki feels out of place. At least wait until the second workday to hold a girl's hand, dude.

Still, Me and My Beast Boss is good fun. The lows are pretty low, and the repetition of “stay by my/your side” line is a bit much. But it's cute to see two people bringing out the best in each other. We're here for Saki to flourish under Atlas, for Atlas to learn to express his feelings better, and for the two of them to fulfill our size-difference quota. This is a total hamburger: maybe not the best for you if it's all you eat, but it's the best thing if you want to treat yourself. Mildly recommended.