I am currently frothing at the mouth because I finished The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter #1 by Kazuki Irodori and and it’s so fucking funny and just what I needed right now.

The manga is a standard isekai: a random high school girl gets absorbed into another world to become their holy maiden or whatever, and defeat the miasma. Only… she’s not the main character. Our main character, Kondou Seiichirou is an incredible workaholic and kind of a bootlicker, tbh. He’s overworked as his job as an accountant but he’s also a decent human, so when he hears a girl scream he tries to rescue her from being absorbed into the ground...? There’s no place for him in this new world, but he forges his own, taking the kingdoms accounting department by storm. But when he accidentally overdoses on a potion that’s supposed to keep him awake, he is rescued by the sword-and-magic-wielding captain of the guard who has been watching him suspiciously. The magic that Captain Aresh used to save him saves him from dying. But he didn’t realize that Kondou has absolutely no magical tolerance and he will still die unless he takes extreme measures.

These extreme measures are fucking. You don’t get to see it, it’s not an explicit manga, but he does ask for consent and this man who has never had a sexual thought in his life is railed for hours and the next morning the captain wakes up and is prepping breakfast and to explain everything to this man he just fucked into oblivion BUT THIS IDIOT WAKES UP AND FREAKS OUT BECAUSE HE’S LATE FOR WORK. Aresh's reaction to this is priceless.

Honestly my favorite thing about it is the play on tropes. I don’t really like isekai as a genre, not because there’s anything wrong with it but because generally the protagonists are mediocre boys who suddenly have a bunch of superpowered girls fighting over them. Not only is Kendou an extremely interesting main character, isekai are generally never gay. I am also really enjoying reading a manga where the focus is strategy and paperwork and not just fighting and flashy battles. Kendou is literally so good at his job that he accidentally uncovers a unscrupulous scheme happening behind the scenes. He is extremely competent, an unapologetic scab, and a total idiot. I love him.

 It looks on track to be an extremely fun story as well as beautifully drawn. I can’t wait for the second volume!

5/5 gay workaholic stars