I Have a Crush at Work - First Impressions

Written by Rei Caldombra 2/10/25 Video: https://youtu.be/RKrLZUO3y8A?si=2LC9zBVQZv8tXr-t

Watching wholesome shows is my recharge lol.

If this is your first time seeing a first impressions of mine, for these I give my thoughts on an anime airing during the current season based on the first 3 episodes. There will not be much spoilers for specific scenes, but I do get into the general themes and trends of the show as well as discuss the characters. And keep in mind that first impressions are just that, first impressions.

For my 3rd of my first impressions reviews for this season, I am talking about I Have a Crush at Work / Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu. Short summary is that Yui Mitsuya and Masugu Tateishi are coworkers in different apartments who are dating but want to keep it a secret. Funnily enough, this is kinda the opposite premise of one of my favorites of last season, 365 Days to the Wedding. Check out my first impressions of that show if you’re interested in this subgenre. I went with this show hoping it would also give me my romance fix featuring adult characters after I thoroughly enjoyed the last one. This time they have a real relationship they want to keep hidden, rather than a fake relationship they want people to know about. As of the first 3 episodes, I can say it accomplishes that enough to be enjoyable and worth continuing. It’s a decent but very average romcom. There is nothing novel or noteworthy here that you can’t find in others. You get exactly what you’d expect from the premise and a fluffy romcom.

Because of how average and straightforward this show is, I honestly don’t have a lot to say. But I still do want to talk about it and give some food for thought to anyone considering this show, so I will do the best I can.

One compliment I can give to this show is that the male lead has enough personality so far to not truly feel like a piece of cardboard. Seinen romances can often be unbalanced between the leads, leaning towards just the female character being the attractive one with interesting traits and feelings. While the main character takes on more of a direct self-insert role and/or little personality of their own, just being a kind and functional human being who reacts to the love interest. I decided I will not be doing a first impressions for it and am planning to do a full review instead, but Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! feels like a worse example of this than I Have a Crush at Work. At least based on the first 3 eps, I think Masugu is a slightly better character. He’s not interesting, but he is not entirely flat and lifeless. He has identifiable interests and desires for the relationship. I don’t think Yui is anything great either as of character, but she has more presence than he does and is fairly cute imo. I won’t go at length here because that is pretty normal for this type of show. Part of what makes them work well enough is that the show has made a concerted effort to reveal how both of them are vital and appreciated members of their departments and bring something to the table as a significant other. Both of them have value in their station and in their relationship. This helps the balance a lot and lets you feel more invested in both of them. There are some solid moments of genuine passion between them, which is nice and can feel lacking with romances sometimes.

As characters, I can’t go as far as to say I have much feeling towards them, but I don’t think either are so bad that it hurts the show’s ability to have an enjoyable romance. Considering this is just after 3 episodes, I think they work well enough. I don’t consider myself to have especially high standards with this type of show though. I think everyone has a type of series that they can enjoy through a wider range of quality, like a comfort food. Wholesome shows are mine. If a show can provide me with a cute and sweet taste, I am usually happy enough. Please share yours if you’re so inclined, I am genuinely curious to hear people’s opinions on this topic.

What does make me feel some concern is if this is going anywhere interesting. With 365 Days to the Wedding, early on they set up some of the legit emotional issues the characters have and had the premise feel like more of a threat to their wellbeing. While here, I don’t see anything like that so far. It is very light, with it not feeling like anything would happen if they got found out. So with the premise itself I don’t have much investment in it. Which hurts my ability to get immersed at the level I did with 365 Days to the Wedding’s first 3 episodes. I do have some concern that if it doesn’t introduce anything compelling with the characters, it’ll fizzle out and get boring. As long as it continues to give me the wholesome fix I am always looking for, I’ll probably stick with it until it’s done. But for me to truly get into it, you gotta give me some compelling drama and characterization to work with like other slice of life/romances do, or go above and beyond with fun and endearing characters like cute girls do cute things usually do.

From a production standpoint this show is also very average. The art, voice acting and music are all just fine. The animation is a bit stiff though. Again, nothing about it that I can say is worth going out of your way for. There are some pretty funny shots and expressions though.

To conclude- If you’re a frequent enjoyer of comfy shows and/or light romances, I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t enjoy this one based on what I’ve seen so far. Both of the main characters have enough personality and traits that make them likeable and as a couple have some moments of good chemistry. It succeeds at being cute and funny with the situations that come about thanks to the main premise, though it does feel like it may end up stagnant. If you don’t mind it being very simple and straightforward. But there’s been nothing especially great or novel so far, so you can pass over this one if you have higher standards for this type of thing. To bring 365 Days to the Wedding one more time, I would recommend it far more than this one. Both of the main characters to me are far greater than Yui and Masugu, and brings a lot more to the table with its premise and themes even comparing just the first 3 episodes. It does have the aforementioned imperfect balance early on, but to me the male lead was still a character I truly liked by that point, much moreso than Masugu or the main character of Welcome to Japan, Miss Elf!. I still want to get back to 365 Days to the Wedding for an analysis when I have time because I really am a huge fan. Sorry to end this off recommending another show, but if you are only in the mood for one recent fluffy romance, that’s the one I’ll point you towards. Not because this show is bad, but because that show is just so much greater than what I’ve seen here so far.

Thanks for reading! I decided that this is the last first impressions of this season that I will do, but I will be talking more about this season towards the end. I’ll have a seasonal roundup as usual talking a bit about every show I watched, as well as any reviews/analyses I want to do as the shows conclude. So please stick around and look forward to those and anything else I create if you enjoyed!

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Last season’s adult romcom that I think is excellent 365 Days to the Wedding Anime First Impressions — Blog Under a Log