The last of the Okaniwa exhausted traveler premieres is The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife (written on a train home from Itami Airport). This one started out as a twitter series, then Pixiv, and finally found its way to a full serialization. I went so far as to call this one a sleeper in the season preview, based mainly on the fact that it’s a seinen and about working adults. There’s not much that stands out about the studio of staff, but the manga seems to be generally well-regarded.

Toumei Otoko to Ningen Onna: Sonouchi Fuufu ni Naru Futari checks a few boxes that suggest it could be a candidate for “that niche”. It’s a workplace romance, it seemed very fluffy (and is, so far at least). The story follows an invisible (“toumei”) man called Tounome Akira who works as the head of a small detective agency. The hook – he’s invisible. There are also beastmen and aliens in this world (though not yet any explanations for any of that). Among his staff is a woman named Yakou Shizuka who happens to be blind. And after that the story pretty much writes itself.

One evening Tounome-san asks Yakou-san to join him for dinner. It’s clear she’s extremely inexperienced in this sort of thing, though that certainly doesn’t put Tounome off. He’s rather refined in manners and attitude, and what we can see of his appearance – he dresses well, at least. The interaction between these two is heavy on the cuteness and embarrassment humor, but it’s brought off in pretty charming fashion. The office staff also includes what looks like a wolf girl and burly and gruff human male.

It’s way too early to make a call on Toumei Otoko, especially given the state of enervation I was in watching it. But there are charms here to be sure, and the idea of an invisible man and a blind woman being a match made in Heaven has a certain poetry to it. There are traps here as well, not least in the way Yakou-san is depicted, but I’m modestly optimistic that won’t be a major issue. I’ll cheek in next week when I’m hopefully much better-rested.