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james_desantis 's review for:

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 1 by Kintetsu Yamada
5.0

SUPER CUTE SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has got to be one of the biggest surprises I've read in awhile. Thanks to a few reviews on here from friends I decided to finally pick this up because they were raving about it. SO GLAD I DID. Okay so you can read the summary here but to cut it short, Asako Yeshima is a toiletry maker for a company where an inventor of soaps and such, Kotaro Natori works. One day she's passing by and Natori smells her and can't get enough, it's one of the best smells ever and he has to keep getting sniffs.

Now it sounds weird, I know. You're like "Ewww. I don't like to smell body Oder." but here's the thing. It's done in a non-gross way, with actual adult conversations, ranging from having sex for the first time, dating, being okay with other people they work with, and so on. On top of that the relationship is so dang cute, both characters are just to adorable for words, and while the whole "super shy woman" thing can get boring it's worked well here and Natori keeps giving her the space and time to accept things in a relationship.

I really enjoyed their first date and also the fact when there was someone who worked for Natori, Asako was jealous, and they dealt with it in a very ADULT way that was so refreshing in anime/manga.

So I bought volume 2-5 right after I finished volume 1. This is my feel good series I need in life after 2020. A 5 out of 5.