What Makes This Manga Different From the Others: Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege

Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege is one of those series I picked up at Books-a-Million. I visit Books-a-Million for its stunning and expanding manga section. And I have been pleasantly surprised by a few volumes I chanced across (rather than volumes I went to BAM on purpose to find). Dashing Zaddy is one of them. 

I like it for several reasons: 

(1) The older "December" Zaddy character actually looks older. So many times with manga, the only reason I know one character is older than the other is because the "script" tells me (similar to BL Thai series on Viki, in which the "older" character is almost always taller despite the character looking much younger). 

But Takanashi of Dashing Zaddy actually looks older--while still being charismatic and attractive. He has a kind of Elvin quality that makes him sparkle on the page. In many ways, his age enhances this otherworldly quality: he is a lively 40-year-old and appears that way. 

(2) The characters have a background. Quite often with manga series in office environments, the characters MIGHT have a background from high school (where they were rivals) but there's no substance to the background. But Hiwatari from Dashing Zaddy has an entire foundation of memories which fuel his affection and attraction for Takanashi. 

(3) The characters are different from each other. As I have mentioned multiple times on this blog, the best romances bring together complementary characters, and they retain their differences throughout the romance. 

They don't have to be the odd-couple: the slob and neat freak come with a separate set of issues. But they are more enchanting if they work off of each other rather than mirroring each other. 

Takanashi is an extrovert, a people-person manager. In contrast, Hiwatari has a "straight-arrow," somewhat blunt personality that masks a deeply romantic nature. In fact, the underlying mindsets here are quite clever. Takanashi, while being more people-aware, is more relationship-cautious. He's the kind of guy who has to figure out whom he loves. Hiwatari is the kind of guy who knows whom he loves and needs to bring the knowledge out of the clouds and into reality. A dreamer-realist and a realist-romantic: those combinations are more common than you might think!  

(4) Because the characters are different and reasonably complex, the story is not just about the relationship. There's nothing wrong with the relationship being the primary focus but endless pages of people being cutesy can get rather dull (one reason I love romance-mysteries so much is that the couple solve crimes: the focus is the couple, but the couple actually gets to do stuff). 

In Dashing Zaddy, the workplace is more than a staging area for dates and sex. The characters have to function in society: might as well show them carrying out those functions! (The underlying politics of New Employee/New Recruit also come to mind.)  

Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege is a wonderful series that I am still enjoying!