Romance ni wa Hodo Tooi – Amamiya

In high school, Arata fell for a British girl. A salaryman now, he’s reunited with that person, but they’re actually a man?!

There was a time when I was dying to pack my bags, hightail it to Japan, find work, make pilgrimages to anime sites, and have cosplay photoshoots. Alas, lack of resources and poor mental health wouldn’t let it be so.

Far From Romance is a tale of a British guy doing just that. Luis, an elite systems engineer, surprised everyone when he transferred to a small fishing village to work for a small IT company. Secretly, his mission is to win the man who helped him years before when he first visited the town that was the setting of a popular anime.

Luis is an otaku and now fluent in Japanese. It was amusing how the story poked good-naturedly at Japanese quirks through the eyes of a gaijin. He doesn’t cosplay but loves photographing places he’s seen from the anime. He even volunteers to photograph their cosplayer co-worker, thrilled to see cosplay from a Japanese.

In contrast, Arata doesn’t watch anime but soon did after their work involved promoting the town to anime otaku. He’s portrayed as the typical workaholic salaryman and a well-liked boss. The story is mostly from his POV, where he remembers his anonymous blonde, blue-eyed first love from years ago and how they tried to communicate with the language barrier.

And now, seeing Luis, he couldn’t help but be drawn despite being straight.

OMG, THE ROMANCE IS THE CUTEST, SWOONIEST THING EVER!!!!

The gorgeously drawn characters of Luis and Arata and their endearing connection, the gentle but determined way Luis wooed Arata, so pure yet so passionate, just thinking about it, I got happy goosebumps! SQUEE~

Kommatsu is their female co-worker and a cosplayer. She keeps an eye on the romantic development of the two and dies swooning when she realized Luis and Arata are now officially a couple. Kommatsu is all of us.

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