Title: Toshiue no Hito Author: ODAWARA Mizue Publisher (JP): Akita Shoten Imprint: Princess Comics Year: 2007 ISBN (JP): 4-253-19721-3 Licensed in North America?: No Also Known As: Publisher (US): ISBN (US): Anime Version? No Live Action? No

Comics from the Princess Comics label are more difficult to find at my local Kinokuniya, so I am not too familiar with the authors that they publish, or the types of stories. I ended up buying this one online because of the supercute cover and the title 🙂 I must admit that I like stories where there is a big age difference between the main couple. It can go either way – older woman with cute young guy, or older guy and younger girl. Guilty pleasure, what can I say! So, the name of this series, ‘Older Man’ is a big tipoff as to what this is about. It is a cute story, and not smutty, at least not yet. ^_^ This is marked as volume 1, and I know there is a volume 2 out, but I haven’t been able to get it yet. Must get it soon…

Yes, this is a romance between a younger girl and an older man. In this case, the girl is 18 year-old office worker INOUE Hina and her senior co-worker FUJINO Seita. Seita is 32 years old. Hina admires Seita, and they seem to get along, but Seita refuses to look at her because she is so much younger. Hina actually confesses to Seita first, but he turns her down. He is still suffering from a failed relationship in the past with a girl who was 7 years younger than him. He can’t imagine trying to go out with someone who is 14 years younger! It would be twice as worse! However, Hina is very cute, and when other guys start paying attention to her, Seita can’t help feeling angry. Is he jealous? He feels protective of Hina, and not in a brotherly or fatherly way… he can’t resist her for very long! But with such a huge age difference, could they really make a relationship work? Not to mention the fact that they are co-workers! They have to hide their affair at the office and face the usual set of obstacles for shoujo manga couples- misunderstandings, love rivals, competition, etc. Hina struggles with her self-confidence sometimes, feeling like a child, while he feels like he is holding her back because he is so old. What a pair! I really look forward to getting volume 2!