In Volume 1 of Yuni’s office life drama, we met Komori Mio a woman who has been transferred into Human Resources instead of getting promoted in sales, at which she excels. She excels, at least in part, at sales because she is very good at schmoozing women, which suits her fine. In HR she’s mentored by Yamanobe Kyouko who initially seems very uptight, but is also, as it turns out, very good with the ladies.
Volume 2 of Hitogoto Desukara!, (ヒトゴトですから!) begins with Komori encountering a weakness in herself. She’s not great at conducting internal interviews. Having always approached negotiation from a transactional perspective, Komori isn’t suited to the more conciliatory interviews of HR.
But more importantly, the interview leads us to learn about Yamanobe’s early years, and an old love affair with repercussions in the present. And the situation just gets more and more complicated as relics of Yamanobe’s life keep her tied to her past and unable to move forward, to the detriment of her future.
The whole story is ironic in several senses, as HR reps are the ones that are meant (in theory) to help you out of sticky personal issues in the workplace. At least here in the US that’s completely fictitious as HR serves primarily as a risk management tool for corporate leadership. Reading this book with an American eye, every one of the female characters would be hounded out of their positions, while Haruma would be promoted to the position Komori deserved. But it’s not all that difficult to stay amused as these people all fail to function appropriately. ^_^
It’s bitter, it’s funny, it’s wacky….it’s a bit like being the colleague in the office who can see all the drama, but isn’t sucked into it. We’re all the older lady in the corner who thinks these young people have too much energy. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 9
Characters – 9
Story – 7
Service – 0 More drunken, than licentious this volume
Yuri – 8 Two definitely queer woman, and two I think have potential. ^_^
Overall – 8
I do not want Komori and Yamanobe getting together, but I like that they can sort-of rely on one another enough to talk to about whatever nonsense they are dealing with in their love life. ^_^
I don’t know if Yen Press will license this series; it is a bit more real-life business stuff (there are notes in the back to the actual HR texts used as references in the back of the book) than usual for the Yuri audience, but as a corporate drone myself for most of my adult life, I sure appreciate it! ^_^
