Maddies MangaSweat and Soap / あせとせっけん – Volume One Manga Review
Working at a luxurious toiletry company is a dream come true for Asako, as her predisposition to sweat has lead her to become very familiar with body care. One day she meets Natori, and her entire world changes. Not only is he the man who invented many of the products she loves and uses on a daily basis, he is also attracted to the smell of her sweat!?
Scroll to the bottom for a link to sample and buy volume one!
Author
This series was written by Kintetsu Yamada X, Instagram
Genre & Tropes
Workplace romance, adult romance with nothing explicit.
Info about this series (complete)
This series is complete in English and Japanese with 11 volumes.
TL;DR rating
I’m rather conflicted on this one. I think you need to be in a very specific mood to be able to appreciate the story. While the characters and their relationship is rather cute and wholesome, the scent fetish part got a little off-putting for me at times.
Official synopsis
Asako’s living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she’s ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company’s lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what “that smell” is, she’s terrified… but could it be… that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Asako… does she like him?
My thoughts on this volume (Mild spoilers!)
I picked this one up for two reasons: I really liked the author’s one-shot Home Office Romance, and it was highly recommended to me. Typically I’m really not a fan of fetish content, no matter how light it may be, however I am a big fan of office romances, so I took a chance on it.
At the start, I was afraid the story would go in a more “starts off and stays hot and heavy throughout” direction, but thankfully it slows down by the end of the first chapter. We’re introduced to Natori at the very start of the story, and he comes off in a perverted light right away. I mean, he runs up to Asako, a woman he’s never met before, and starts sniffing her in the middle of their office building. He then convinces her to allow him to continue sniffing her at the office for the sake of his “creative process”, and then makes a move on her during one of these “sniffing sessions”.
It’s explained that Natori is one of the people who develops the various products that their companies sells, so he never comes off in an overtly dubious way. It’s clear that he’s telling the truth from the start—he likes how she smells, and he wants to use it in his work. He seems like a serious employee, he just happens to be a little eccentric. My problem with him is that Asako clearly comes off in a more shy and timid way. Here, she felt like the type of character who would allow herself to be put through a bit of discomfort if she felt like she was being helpful. I hate seeing characters like this be taken advantage of, so I was looking at Natori with anger in my eyes for a little while at the start.
Like… even if he is inspired by how Asako smells… there’s a time and a place for things! Like, at least introduce yourself first? Maybe wait a few days before pulling her into a storage room so you can sniff her in private? To me, their first encounter was not one I would describe as romantic.
It was when Natori made his move on Asako that I almost dropped the book…but then it made a delightful turn! Asako pushing him and running away caused him to take a moment and realize that he was indeed being rather pushy. He then took a step back, and began treating her like a normal person! Prior to this, he was treating her more like a “good smell machine” first, person second.
While their relationship does progress rather quickly, both of them are clearly happy with the speed of things, and I can’t ask for more than that! While I do personally prefer a more slow burn romance, as long as the characters are clearly happy and communicating properly, I have no complaints. Having good communication skills is one of the core elements of Asako and Natori’s relationship, as though they have a rather strong relationship by the time they start dating, that doesn’t mean they’re without any problems…
We spend a lot of time learning about how Asako’s sweat problem caused her difficulties as a child. Now as an adult she takes extra care not to do anything that may make her sweaty, but still, the difficult times she had when younger linger on her mind. This complex has had a direct effect on both her relationships with her coworkers, and her self-esteem.
So, when she realizes how much of a social butterfly Natori is, of course she gets a little self-conscious. She becomes sad even when with him, and rather than express her sadness to him, she lies and tells him that she’s okay. While typically I would get annoyed at this—like girl, tell him what’s bothering you!—what happens when he realizes she’s sad is so out of pocket that I didn’t have time to be annoyed.
Natori is a character with an exceptional nose. It’s how he was able to get his job, it’s why he’s so attracted to Asako…and it’s how he’s able to tell when she’s upset. That’s right—he can literally smell her emotions. She doesn’t need to say “i’m feeling pretty down right now”, as he can smell when she’s sad, happy, excited, etc.
I’m still really not sure how I feel about him being able to smell emotions…but at least it makes for an interesting character trait, right?
Moving on, I do think I’ll at least give the next volume a try, but if I don’t enjoy it more than volume one, I’ll be dropping this one. I still have difficulties understanding what Natori likes about Asako besides her smell. Likewise, Asako really only seems to like Natori because he’s the first one to compliment her on how she smells. I’m hoping their relationship grows beyond this shallow level, as I really do believe there’s potential!
Check out a free sample below!
English (K-Manga) Japanese (Comic Days)You can check out volume one of this series for yourself below!
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