One of the lesser know anime to come out this season,The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleagueis a fun romantic comedy about a young man entering the workforce for the first time. But he’s a bit different from the others,as he is descended from the legendary yokai, The Snow Woman. In old Japanese legend, it’s believed that The Snow Woman was responsible for snowfall in Japan. Himuro, the young man finds himself smitten with his new cool-headed co-worker, Fuyutsuki, when she offers him some hot tea, when he quite literally froze from anxiousness the day of their new job.
The plot is a relatively simple slice-of-life with somemagical elements sprinkled in. Alongside Himuro’s colleagues, there’s also Komori (descended from the kitsune/fox spirit) and Katori (descended from the suzaku/phoenix). It also takes its liberties in subverting gender expectations, that the Japanese workplace has for its employees. Sure would be nice to have a boss like the descendant of Buddha (their manager).
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Love At First Sight
If you couldn’t already tell, Himuro has a massive crush on Fuyutsuki, and he’s not exactly the best at hiding it. Fuyutsuki on the other hand, has a pretty good idea of his feelings for her.Romantic comedy anime narratives usually uses the girl with a massive crush, and the dense boy. ButThe Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleaguesubverts that, but in a more realistic way. Rather than Fuyutsuki being oblivious to Himuro’s affections, she’s aware. Generally speaking, from a woman’s perspective, it’s pretty easy to tell if someone likes you. So it isn’t a full-on switch from the “normal” trope of “girl likes guy first”. Himuro can still do his job and maintain a professional persona, so his feelings don’t always get in the way of his work (his snow powers may imply otherwise, though). However, Fuyutsuki is still the more forward one.
When the company goes on a retreat to Okinawa in episode 2, Himuro states that the sound of the wavesmakes him anxious, and so he’s afraid his snow powers could go out of control while they’re visiting. Fuyutsuki gives him a surf drum to use to help him get used to the sound of waves. She would later on go to fetch him some ice cream to eat to help cool himself down, when a heatwave sweeps through the area.
All Couples Have Matching Sweaters(?)
Another way the gender roles are reversedis in episode 7, when Katori makes costumes for both him and Otonashi. It’s usually the woman who takes the role of the crafter, while the man is hard at work. However, the latter is actually the former’s boss. Moreover, Katori does indeed have “male wife” tendencies, anyway. Unfortunately, he ends up forgetting to bring what he made, but luckily the two still managed to improvise their costumes, and match. Episode 6 plays this straight when Himuro and Fuyutsuki purchase matching mugs, per her recommendation, which causes him to fluster and almost confess his love. Little does he know, not only does she feel the same way, but he’s already outed himself multiple times, just by asking her on dates alone.
Jumping For Joy
In the first few episodes, just talking to Fuyutsuki alone is enough tomake Himuro monologue about how excited he is. Episode 3 has Himuro finally take the initiative and ask for Fuyutsuki’s number.
As they go back and forth texting, Fuyutsuki decides to ask him out to a movie in episode 4. As a result, Himuro doesn’t sleep much that night due to his ongoing excitement of having a date with his crush. Definitely thekind of things we’d expect to see of a young girl, in a typical high school romance shoujo anime.
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