Makoto Takanashi (40), the handsome and inspirational sales team leader at Itsuboshi Trading, has confided his darkest secret to his faithful subordinate Ren Hiwatari (26). Then Hiwatari suddenly blurts out when they’re up on Tokyo Tower, “I’ll help you cure your erectile dysfunction!” leading to all manner of embarrassing assumptions and misunderstandings. However, once he’s recovered his equilibrium, Takanashi (caring boss that he is) has noticed that Hiwatari isn’t eating properly and prepares a home-made bento box for him. Even though he leaves it on Hiwatari’s desk with an unsigned note, Hiwatari guesses that Takanashi made it for him – and is overwhelmed. Fifteen years ago, when Hiwatari (then 11) lost his father, Takanashi went out of his way to show him kindness until the boy was sent away to live with his grandparents, and he’s never forgotten how much that meant to him at that difficult time.

However, all is not well among the other employees at Itsuboshi Trading. An anonymous email has been sent to HR, saying, ‘Ren Hiwatari from sales team 2 is abusing his power and harassing me. The company needs to fire the guy.’ Takanashi has been charged with investigating the source and the higher-ups are leaning on him to produce some results. It’s true that Hiwatari has extremely high standards when it comes to work and is very harsh toward anyone he suspects of not pulling their weight (hence his nickname of ‘the Icy Prince’) and especially young Nakaido who has made a mess of a recent negotiation. Takanashi summons both men and tells them they’re going to be spending a week helping out at the factory which is, apparently, short-handed. They’ll be working for Foreman Kijo and learning about the importance of “Real, meaningful connections built between people.”

“I’ll help you cure your erectile dysfunction!” This startling offer is quoted on the back cover of Volume 2 of The Dashing Zaddy and His Ice Protégé, leaving the casual reader in no doubt as to what’s at stake, although in the rest of the blurb this is rather more primly referred to as ‘ED’. ED is, of course, no laughing matter and can cause a great deal of distress – but even though Takanashi, the ‘dashing zaddy’ and sales team leader has confided in his younger subordinate, Hiwatari, his problem takes a back seat in this volume. The focus shifts to Hiwatari, whose icy demeanour and exacting standards have made him something of a pariah among his contemporaries at Itsuboshi Trading. He’s never found it easy to socialize with his peers and has tried to forget some of his unhappy memories from his schooldays. But we also get to meet his junior colleague, Nakaido, and learn about his insecurities as a new member of the sales team, leading him to doubt his abilities. So what ostensibly is just a light, fluffy manga teasing its readers with playful innuendo, also delivers a really strong story about two socially awkward individuals getting to learn about working together and the importance of give-and-take. The scene where we (and Nakaido) glimpse Hiwatari trying to practice smiling in front of a mirror is truly excruciating (but check out his spontaneous, natural smile toward the end of the volume which completely catches his boss off-guard!) The ‘week at the factory’ experience could very easily have become clichéd but thanks to Fumito’s pacing and insightful writing, enhanced by some snazzy use of panels, it makes for an engrossing read and reveals a lot more about the central characters.

Why the 18+ Mature rating in this volume? There’s some light-hearted sexy innuendo but nothing explicit and a scene where poor smitten Hiwatari keeps imagining his boss is naked around the office (they went to a public baths together in Volume 1). I can only imagine that, as with some other BL series from Kodansha, the editors are playing it safe – or there’s eventually going to be some truly explicit content and they want to give all the volumes in the series a consistent age rating.

The translation for Kodansha is again by Jacqueline Fung and is full of lovely little comic details and clever equivalences with lettering with Nicole Roderick to bring out all the nuances of the dialogue. There are no translation notes but there is a 4-koma about a meeting between Takanashi and Manager Oda, an illustrated afterword by the mangaka Fumito and a one-page trailer/preview for Volume 3 which is due out in October (the series is ongoing in Japan at five volumes).

Just before the week at the factory, Itsuboshi holds its ‘Summer Appreciation Sale’ which is open to the public and at which Takanashi gives a cookery demonstration to display some of their clients’ products. This causes quite a stir among staff and visitors alike! Little does he know that he’s been filmed and shared on the internet and is trending… where will it all lead when he’s described as ‘DILF of the year’?! Maybe we’ll find out in Volume 3…

Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.