Last year I had the pleasure of reviewing a Yuri anthology by a new-to-me imprint, LatteComi. TheJoshi-kou no Ouji-sama ha Watashi Shika Ganchuninairashi Yuri Anthology Comic (女子校の王子様は私しか眼中にないらしい 百合アンソロジーコミック) was pretty good.

At the same time I picked up that girl prince of the school anthology volume, I picked a second LatteComi anthology, Oshigoto x Buddy Yuri Anthology Comic (お仕事×バディ 百合アンソロジーコミック). I have finally made time to finish reading this and have found it to be good…but not as good as I hoped. That is, in part, my own fault. I’ll get there in a sec.

The anthology has 3 stories – the first is the closest to what I thought I might get. By Nomiya Rion, the story follows a “star” employee and the junior she is assigned…and the political complexities of that choice. But really…it’s about smoking.

The second story, by Pua, follows a young nail salon artist and the store manager she’s openly in love with. But really…it’s about nail art.

The final story, by Inui Ayu, is about a young pop idol and the clothing designer she adores. That one is…mostly about the relationship, but is also about clothes. ^_^

So why was I ever-so-slightly disappointed? I had hoped “work buddy” was more equivalent of the English phrase “work wife.” It’s not that we didn’t see people who were intimately connected because of work, but somewhat typically of Japanese workplace stories, the relationship was unequal in all three cases. I was hoping for more of two co-workers whose relationship was intimate and platonic and then, maybe, romantic. I borked my own enjoyment, woops. ^_^;  The stories themselves are perfectly fine, if a teeny little heavy on the admiration for a senior employee.

More interesting to me is that, while I was looking to see if LatteComi had anything else on Bookwalker JP, I found that both Inui Ayu and  Nomiya Rion contribute to a new imprint call YURI HUB – which seems to be connected to Yuri cafe Anchor Rainbow Port Tokyo and includes Anchor’s Yuri Senryu collection. Definitely take a look!

Ratings:

Art – YMMV but I say 7
Stories – 8 Fun, with little depth
Characters – 8 Likeable, if a little earnest on the part of the kouhai
Service – 0 Nothing memorable
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

For a short 3-story anthology collection centered at “work,” Oshigoto x Buddy was a pleasant enough read.