Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu
I Have a Crush at Work

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I think this series is really quite good, although it is extremely normal, maybe to a fault.

It is something I had been looking for for a while, a romance story about adults set in an adult world. They’re not spending a year building up the courage to kiss for the first time lol. Hell, they might even have sex and treat it like a normal thing that adults in relationships do. And that in itself is refreshing, since almost everything I’ve seen up to this point has been set in high school and very juvenile.

The main characters are total normies lol. He’s an accountant who ... likes baseball (but not so much that it’s weird), and she is in a planning department and likes… Cute stuffed animals I guess? They are just super normal, average people. They are decent and likable though. She is a little bit tsundere and he can be slightly oppositional, but neither of those traits is very exaggerated.

I think their relationship is generally very healthy. They communicate fairly well and there isn’t a lot of pointless, frustrating drama, which I really appreciate. I find it annoying when the conflict in the story seems really unnecessary and easily preventable, and thankfully this one doesn’t lean on that much. They still have some issues to work out of course, but it is mostly just normal relationship stuff, and they handle it like mature adults who genuinely care about each other. I think that is the biggest strength of the series.

As for the biggest weakness, I’m still reading it now but I honestly think it has become a bit boring. Their relationship was more in focus and more interesting towards the beginning, when it was this new thing for them that they were still figuring out how to do. But a few dozen chapters in, they are pretty settled into the relationship, and it is stable and comfortable. There are long stretches where there are no significant developments, or even any tender moments between them. And once there isn’t much interesting stuff going on with them, the focus shifts more to their work. The issue with that is, they just work normal office jobs that they are not particularly passionate about. They want to do a good job because it is their job, but it’s not like they are living out their childhood dreams or have some deeply meaningful personal goals or anything. And I personally don’t find corporate life very interesting for its own sake, but maybe that’s just me.

I think the foundation for the series is rock solid, it’s just missing some element to make it pop. The attempted gimmick is that their relationship is technically a secret at work, which they decided to do to prevent any workplace gossip or drama. But honestly, that ends up being so little of a factor in the story that it barely even matters at all. For long periods of time you could forget that it is even a secret because it just doesn’t come up. There’s very little drama or intrigue generated by their “secret“. And even if it wasn’t a secret, it would probably barely change the way they interact at work, because obviously they would still have to maintain professionalism even if people knew they were dating.

So overall I think the series is very normal, mature and comfortable. Not a lot of weirdness, drama or bullshit. There are some great heartwarming moments, but mostly towards the beginning. As the story goes on and their relationship stabilizes, there just isn’t as much of that going on anymore. I think it is really good for what it is, and if it sounds like what you’re looking for then you will love it.

Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu, or Can You Keep a Secret? is sweet, no bs, no contrivances, just a pure and honest and simple representation, simulation, of love.

A perfectly cute little romance story between coworkers trying to hide their relationship from the other people at their company (keeping it a secret being a better option than having everyone know and then having the spotlight on them and it just being a big thing).

The premise of them keeping it a secret actually isn't that important in the grand scheme of things and it starts to sort of fade into the background ... as the series progresses, or rather, instead of informing story arcs or drama, it just serves as the backbone to the story, a contextual foundation on which to set things. And so, the ambition of the story is pretty casual and laid back, and it's clear the author just wants to focus on romance rather than on plot points of interest or constructing compelling drama.

As a result, the romance is allowed to breath and exist without being hampered down by useless and frustrating contrivances or boring forgetful arcs.

It's not without conflict, of course, but it's light. The realistic portrayal of lovers hiding their relationship from their coworkers, naturally running into problems from time to time, and of people in love, and even more- naturally running into problems from time to time. But still, its light.

Very cute art, very cute character designs, adult relationships, no high school garbage, but still the sweet innocence of awkward and shy people exploring new love and growing with it.

This manga is the dream of a romance where each person is so powerfully in love with the other, can't stop thinking about the other, is in utter bliss when in the presence of the other.

It's simple and pure. I adore it. Each chapter warms and heals me.

While i think it a generally good manga there is one thorn that keeps distracting me.

Story 6/10

As you may have already read the description it's basically a romance/slice of live about two coworkers who are keeping their relationship a secret.
Whilst i really do want to rate it better but the whole drama about keeping it a secret is a major thorn being it a main plot makes it even worse the whole slice of live and off work scenes are wholesome but artificially created hurdle about keeping their relationship a secret is a major flaw....There isn't any credible reason to do this and ... if this is some kind of kink well hate to break it to you guys usually love falls apart when the said kink disappears (excitement goes away and that usually brings about a stagnation in relationship).
At work they try to keep it a secret (not very successfully) while trying to maintain their previous work relationship steady (fighting like cat and a dog or better yet being cold to each other). Outside of work we see some wholesome relationship booming while that SECRET sometimes ruines those wholesome moments.
If the author will put NTR moments where Male Lead or Female Lead will encounter a coworker who is pursuing them openly and actively while ML or FL do not straight up reject or uncover that they are in a relationship already i will drop this the moment i see this because this will basically destroy the plot even more something akin to cuckolding - Our leads cannot tell that they are in relationship so they accept or atleast do not straight up reject advances of others, basically that is a major artificial drama implementation meaning that author was lacking in script writing and i hate clear 100% artificial elements of the story this basically destroys the whole genre slice of life since it's not life but a make believe of an author who cannot visualize what he is writing.

Art 7/10

While it is not so detailed background wise (many blanks) is is quite appealing and characters seemed likeable. Speech bubbles and panel placement was up to industry standards no confusion whatsoever.

Characters 7/10

Story and character wise it's still hard to rate it because i seen only 21 chapters. For now characters seem well like ordinary people especially our Leads who live double life, while FL actually has some ability to become a different person (work/out of work) our ML is a straight up person who is almost the same in both atmospheres he is simply more....on the guard at work i guess.
Supports are there but they do not bring a major impact they are for now more like your coworkers who you are casual with but keep your private life and work life apart they don't seem close.

Enjoyment 6/10

As per usual enjoyment is subjective, i liked it but they main drama point of this story is flawed for me it gives off a artificial drama flags and smells of amatuer mangaka. If author think off some good reason for the SECRET maybe i would be content but here right now i see 2 adults playing out a fetish or being dumb to the core since with their secret they bring about more problems than resolutions (work quality worsens!).

Overall 6/10

It might be too early to rate it but i wanted people to know it's main CON since this con is right from the start and is a main story pillar it's more like author created a major restriction from the get go. What about marriage? Will they reveal their relationship then? Or will they continue with this absurdity? Remember i told you that when a couple loses their main kink they usually stagnate and fall apart....well it seems author doesn't know this psyche trick of ours ofcourse they can find something new but well we might as well time skip 10 years from now and see a whole lot of dissatisfaction and cheating going on.
The pillar of their relationship is shaky and thus this author knowingly or unknowingly created a tragedy that we as readers won't see probably but some of us will know..........