Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for allowing me the chance to read and review this ARC. All of the opinions in this review and my true and honest thoughts.

I thought that Home Office Romance was a very cute and sweet standalone manga about finding love in the time of a pandemic.

Nokoru works very hard as a software developer and when the pandemic hits, he is able to transition all of his work to his home. He invests time and money into his space to make it a comfortable area to both live and work. While working from home, he meets his neighbor, Natsu while they're both out on their balconies. Natsu is an archaeology student and has been spending more time at home since her field work is cut back due to the pandemic. A sweet friendship blossoms between them and slowly becomes more as they start sharing hobbies and meals with each other while remaining isolated from the rest of the world.

I thought Home Office Romance was so great. The story is told from Nokoru's point of view and I thought his fourth wall breaks, internal dialogue, and self-deprecating humor were excellent touches to the story. I don't always love fourth wall breaks as they can tend to be cheesy or over-the-top, but I felt like they really worked with this story and these characters. I loved Nokoru's awkward nerdiness and Natsu's fun and outgoing personality. I enjoyed reading a romance that was driven by the female character and liked the sex-positive representation that Natsu brought to the story. I think what would have made this a 5-star read for me is if we got a little more of the characters together or some content from Natsu's point of view. There is a small time jump in the story/time where they are apart and the reader hears what's going on with Nokoru during this time, but we don't really get a look at what this time is like for Natsu at all. Also, while we get a lot of information about Nokoru's job/projects we don't get many specifics about Natsu's work/studies and I kind of felt like something was missing so maybe that would have helped that feeling.

Overall this was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys rom-com manga with sweet story lines. It was a great standalone and would be a very quick read to help get through a reading slump, in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kintetsu Yamada and Kodansha Comics for the E-ARC!

When I saw the art on the cover of this manga, I knew it was something I wanted to read. On-top of that, a romance between two characters who were neighbours sounded absolutely adorable, and I'm so glad to say that it was as cute as it seemed!

When the pandemic hits, Nokoro, an introverted office worker, has to begin doing his work from home. This means making his dull apartment that he's barely unpacked a place where he can comfortably work and live. One day when he goes onto his newly decorated patio to admire it, a friendly neighbour, Natsu, peaks her head over to speak with him. Thus begins the story of how Nokoro and Natsu fall in love, as told by Nokoro in the future.

I just want to start by praising the artwork in this manga. The character design, facial expressions, environments, absolutely everything about the art is amazing. It's drawn so cleanly and prettily, it's hard not to admire the work that the author put into it.

As for the story, I don't want to say much because I feel like everyone should be able to experience it for themselves, but I think it was really lovely. Seeing the relationship between Nokoro and Natsu naturally develop was so enjoyable, they were extremely cute together. Plus, they were both such good characters individually, both being very different from the other, but in such complimentary ways.

Manga is always such a quick to read, but somehow this felt even faster. I never checked my clock or even looked away while reading it, completely enraptured by the story and characters. I highly recommend you pick this up if you like a cute romance!

This was such a cute love story. Different from the ones ive read so far. Nokoru-san's character as a software Engineer was intriguing. I loved how we could see his thoughts and how he approached his once in a lifetime love. As an inroverted character myself i could relate to a lot of how his brain worked. Natsu san was also soo cute and i loved her extrovert energy.

There were some laugh-out-loud moments which i really enjoyed. A love story with a lot of everyday scenes and a pinch of humor. This was soo good. Will definitely keep an eye out for more of this author's work in the future!