THE ICE GUY & HIS COOL FEMALE COLLEAGUE — FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Hello everyone and welcome to another first impression. I’m slowly but surely covering the whole season. Also, from the looks of the results of yesterday’s poll, I’ll also review the first episodes of continuations as well. I’ll leave them to last and give priority to the new series. 

Today’s series The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is written & drawn by Miyuki Tonogaya and is listed as a collaborative work of two studios, Zero-G and Liber. Liber has no other work attributed to them on Anilist, but Zero-G has previously released The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It, High-rise Invasion, and Grand Blue to name a few. Quality-wise there are good stuff, but as you can see, not-so-good stuff as well under their belt. 

Did I know this series beforehand? Yes, I’ve been reading the manga. You can find it online on either Manga Up! or Comikey, both platforms have free reading options. While it’s not in the 4-Koma style, best to keep in mind that the chapters are very short. 

What is it about? Fuyutsuki is a cool, composed woman and nothing seems to phase her much. Things that don’t phase her include a salaryman with his feet literally frozen in place and gets snowed on in the middle of spring. Himuro and Fuyutsuki’s first encounter is an interesting one, and they are both delighted when they find out that they work for the same company! The workplace is full of descendants from mythical beings such as yuki-onna or fox spirits and we get to witness their daily lives together.

What to look out for? Fuyutsuki’s cat Nyamero’s cuteness might cause diabetes. 

What do I think? I wish I could start expressing my thoughts with more enthusiasm, I really wish I could… 

I have to say I was over the moon when I saw the adaptation announcement. As you may have noticed, shoujo/josei/romance genres are always sidelined when it comes to getting adaptations compared to shonen and/or action series, and even when they do, the budget they have or the attention and care that are put into them is… well. Evident. Getting the green light for a series with an adult cast, and a series that I’m reading with great joy has sent me flying! I hope I made it clear that I went into this series with a very positive mindset, ready to enjoy.

My first “but” came with Fuyutsuki’s voice actor Ishikawa Yui’s delivery. I imagined Fuyutsuki as someone who is cool (as in charismatic), as both the title and her behavior suggested, not reserved. Indeed, she’s not too expressive but the way I read her character, she’s quite assertive and level-headed. The Fuyutsuki on the screen is timider, looks absent-minded, and the end of her sentences frequently trail off as if she’s not sure about what she’s doing. I suppose Ishikawa Yui’s delivery would be closer to what the creator has in mind since they are usually involved in the selection/creation process and my take on her character is not correct. Still, seeing that kind of difference put me off a little. 

And then there’s the pace. Half of the episode felt empty to me. Instead of talking to each other, each character sounds like they are in their own world. They deliver their line, then there’s literally empty silence with no movement or reaction, then another responds but it’s already late. That leads to conversations sounding disjointed and the rhythm falls apart. However, I feel like the real problem lies in the way this series was adapted, and the issues with voice acting only stem from that. 

In my opinion, The Ice Guy & His Cool Female Colleague would benefit a lot from being a short anime instead. Or if it were to get All Saints Street treatment where there are transition cards in between the independent events, because the production team should’ve either rewritten the whole series to have a more coherent 24-minute run or left the separate events as they are, and found another method to keep them separate. Now, it looks like there are disjoint occasions that are lined up consecutively without any regard. Another series that has a similar page count per chapter and narrative style that their production team did a better job of adapting the source material is Play It Cool, Guys. 

Visually, I loved the first episode. All the lush colors really brought the series alive and added dimension. Those little snowmen Himuro pops up whenever he thinks of how cute Fuyutsuki is?? Phenomenal. If I had no idea about this series and had read this review, I’d probably think it’s trash or something. I reassure you it’s not, but because I’ve been looking forward to it a lot and considering all the sub-par romance series we got, I guess I expected better. Despite my criticism, I honestly urge you to give this series a chance.

Will I continue watching? I definitely will, but only because I’m craving more romance/slice-of-life series and despite its shortcomings, the series at least look pretty. It pains me to write these paragraphs about a series that I was so excited about, but I was unfortunately underwhelmed by the result. 

What do you think of short gag manga getting adapted into full length, 24-minute-long episodes? What makes them work or affect the quality or the smoothness of the outsome? What are your thoughts on the cutest couple of the season so far? Would love to hear your thoughts and I’ll see you tomorrow with Tomo-chan is a Girl!

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