The Fall 2023 Anime Preview Guide

My New Boss Is Goofy

---

After his power-harassing boss broke his spirit and his health, Momose leaves his job to work at a new job in sales at an advertising agency. However, on the very first day of his new job, Momose is unable to move due to a stomachache caused by his past traumas. "What should I do if my new boss abuses his power?" In the meantime, his new boss, Shirosaki is out with him to see the clients. Just what exactly is Shirosaki going to do…?! This boss' unexpectedly "goofy" nature will surely heal anyone!!

My New Boss Is Goofy is based on a manga of the same name by Dan Ichikawa. The entire anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

---

Richard Eisenbeis
Rating:

Almost every Japanese person I know has worked in a “Black Company”—i.e., a company that exploits its workers horribly—at some point in their lives. They've been subjected to long hours, unpaid overtime, and tons of abuse from their bosses. Even I worked for one, once upon a time, where my bosses would insinuate that I should use my lunch break for work (but would never outright order me to so they had plausible deniability) and then yell at me over any little thing they could if I didn't do it. It was utterly soul-crushing to the point that I almost left Japan for good.

This anime is for people who have had similar experiences in the past or are having them now. It's a show about both the catharsis of escaping a horrible work environment and the lasting trauma that follows you after—and let me tell you, it absolutely does. Some moments, you're beating yourself up, the next, the smallest acts of kindness—or heck, acts of normality—are enough to brighten your entire day. And that's what this anime is: Just a collection of interactions that are normal or a little bit silly but would have turned into stress-inducing tirades at a Black Company.

There's nothing deeper here. It's just the epitome of a “feel-good show.” If you've ever worked a horrible job, you may connect with and enjoy this anime. However, as a comedy, I should mention that it relies heavily on puns in the original Japanese so some of the jokes might be lost a bit in translation—but I don't think missing a joke here or there will be enough to turn anyone off of this one who was already invested.

---

James Beckett
Rating:

The reason I so often wish that comedy anime would be willing to cut themselves down into shorts has a lot to do with me being a “structure” guy when it comes to stories. With comedies especially, I often find myself needing a strong throughline of the plot—or at least some basic cause-and-effect—to keep me emotionally invested in what's going on in between all of the punchlines. Otherwise, my attention begins to wander too early and too often—and that only makes the comedy work less even when the gags are landing. The main exception, of course, is when the comedy is just riotously funny. Shows like Asobi Asobase or Nichijou can get away with basically being a collection of loosely connected sketches because those sketches are all just so damned hilarious that you don't have time to get bored.

My New Boss Is Goofy is not that kind of comedy; the closest it came to making me laugh out loud was when the titular New Boss, Shirosaki, accidentally buys Momose some menstrual cramp medicine for his ulcer pains. Still, the show is cute, and it managed to hold my attention for about half of its runtime before I started instinctively pausing the video to go check my social media feeds. That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but if you saw how many tabs I manage to open when one of these shows is downright bad, you'd understand that I'm being very sincere.

The show's cuteness is its primary strength, and for anyone who is down to chill out and absorb the cuddly vibes for a half-hour straight each week, I can see My New Boss Is Goofy becoming a reliable addition to the rotation. Shirosaki is pretty darned goofy, after all, and it's nice to see how his spacey ways can help heal Momose from the PTSD he's suffering because of his last job. There's only so much a show can get out of one joke, though, and while this episode finds plenty of ways for Shirosaki to demonstrate that all-important goofiness, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot else for viewers to latch on to. That's where I find myself getting off this Goofy Boss hayride, myself. It's a sweet little show, but it's the kind of sweetness that's liable to put me to (an admittedly comfy) sleep.

---

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I'm not sure why “goofy” was the English word this title settled on because there are so many others that would have worked better when describing Shirosaki: “Hapless.” “Adorable.” “Dippy.” “Clumsy.” I could go on, but you get the idea. Honestly, the best descriptor would be a combination of all of those words, an unholy portmanteau like “hapdorippsy,” a word that we shall never speak of again. In any event, the lack of a perfect word doesn't do anything to diminish just how gosh darn charming this episode is—in large part because of its titular character but also because of the message it's sending about what you shouldn't have to expect in a workplace.

Poor Momose, the point of view character for the story, has been through such hell at his former job that he's still having trouble getting over it. There's a nice balance between showing and telling with this; we're informed of the fact that he got an ulcer from stress (and little details are dropped every so often) but what does the job is seeing how he reacts to the day-to-day events in his life. Intellectually, he knows that neither Shirosaki nor big boss Aoyama are going to act the way his previous boss did. He's aware that things at his last workplace weren't right or normal; that's why he quit, after all. But as a marker of his trauma, he can't help bracing himself for everything to go south at any moment. He panics about being late, he freaks out about coming up with a project proposal, and his stomach erupts into pain at the merest thought of upsetting Shirosaki—or even just smelling his old boss' cologne on another man. Everything about the way he acts screams that he's recovering from a terrible, abusive situation and it's very well done.

It also doesn't consume the story. Shirosaki is like a little ray of human sunshine bumbling through life. He's good at his job and is a kind, caring person; it's just that the details seem to evade him in the cutest of ways. He's also very relatable in most of his screw-ups. Even if you've never gotten lost or mistaken an object for something else, you've probably started talking to someone you thought was someone else or accidentally stabbed yourself with the lead end of a pencil. His sheer humanity and the way that it soothes Momose's soul makes this a delight to watch—and I laughed out loud a a couple of times. Sure, the animation's stiff, and the character designs are dull but it would take a lot more to make me turn away from a show this charming.

---

Nicholas Dupree
Rating:

Going in, I was worried this would be one of those shows better suited for five-minute shorts. Like, c'mon, the entire premise is just that this guy's new boss seems stern but is secretly silly. How do you stretch that to 20 minutes without repeating the same gag ad infinitum? Thankfully, I came out of it surprised with how well the simple setup worked for both comedy and gentle sentiment. It made for a soft and warm bit of iyashikei that was comforting in its simplicity and formula.

I like that for Shirosaki, "goofy" doesn't mean he's loud or obnoxious, but that he's just kind of a space case. He's a kind and attentive boss who will run out to get a coworker's stomach medicine at the drop of a hat but might end up buying medicine for menstrual cramps because he used to get that for his ex-girlfriend. Or he'll mishear a request and send his manager a picture of a fish without questioning the supposed request. It's a quiet bit of comedy that's less about getting big laughs and more about eliciting some unguarded giggles as we watch this quirky guy blush at his minor mistakes and cheer up his coworkers in the process. It's cute and delivered with the understated and soft-spoken comedic timing to chill out with.

Protagonist Momose is an excellent foil to Shirosaki. Demoralized after working for an abusive boss, he spends a lot of this episode guarded and doubting himself, only to have that tension deflated by Shirosaki being a responsible and reasonable boss who offers him heartfelt advice rather than browbeating. It's a simple but effective way to get us to sympathize with Momose and be happy to see him in a healthier environment with coworkers who aren't bastards.

The production is a bit stiff at times, and the art style for the characters takes a bit of getting used to, but it works very well for the atmosphere this show is going for. Shirosaki has the perfect businessman look, a serious and harsh face that gives way to stoic embarrassment whenever he blushes at his mix-ups while selling the gags with stone-faced sincerity. The colors are soft, the music spare, and the overall tone and look just fit. You can't go wrong here if you're looking for something sweet, simple, and calming.