Cut-Over Criteria

by Koala Omugi

Haruma Seto tends to view the world as one big software program. So when his new subordinate at work — a young but talented man named Jin Hagiwara — suddenly confesses to him, Haruma's left thinking there must be some sort of "bug." If he just goes along with Jin's confession, it gives him a chance to test for it. He's a successful systems engineer, after all, and this is just a test... right?

A fresh new boys' love office romance in which opposites attract!

This book contains sexual content and is intended for an audience aged 18 years and up.

Genres: Manga, Romance, LGBT, Yaoi, Boys Love, Graphic Novels, Comics

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 2, 2021

Reviews

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally so good. Idk what everyone else is thinking but damn it must suck to be wrong

[IvyInThePages · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5 leaves out of 5
Characters: 1.5/5
Cover(plus art): 2.5/5
Story: 1/5
Writing: 4/5
Genre: Romance/BL
Type: Manga
Worth?: Eh

Hated|Disliked|Liked|Loved|Favorited

First want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review. This was def not my cup of tea. I found the characters basic and the story really dull. If you are just in a horny mood, I guess this is for you?

[akacya ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 reads: 318/300

haruma seto tends to view the world as one giant software program, which is why he sees it as a “bug” when jin hagiwara, his younger coworker, confesses to him. he decides to put his “bug” theory to the test by accepting jin’s advances. i enjoyed the art style and the story. i’d recommend this to anyone looking for an office romance manga, and i’d be interested in more from the mangaka.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this manga.

Read this today while on strong painkillers for my chronic pain, so I barely remember anything about the actual plot... But the drawings were really nice! The "spicy" stuff was a lot tho, which isn't really my thing so yeah. It was okay.

[Ester · Rating 1 out of 5]

No lo he ni terminado. Pintaba bien, pero me ha parecido horrible. Tanto la historia trillada como la mala ejecución. El enamoramiento no tiene credibilidad, los personajes son planos y de golpe y porrazo se transforman como si fuera una digievolucion. La verdad es que el desarrollo de todo está mal: precipitado y personajes sin vida. He sido incapaz de entrar en la historia o de que me cayeran bien los personajes.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is so yaoi. The characters seem so young though they are working in an office. So I got a bit conflicted. I wanted a better storyline and better chemistry between the characters.
The manga artstyle is good.

Thank you, LOVE x LOVE, for the advance reading copy.

[Nayli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le tenía altas expectativas, diría que por la portada me llamaba la atención con su estilo de dibujo muy del autor(a). Me encanta cuando tienen algo único.
La historia al comienzo se sentía muy plana y medio que apagada, pero en el mismo capítulo una confesión rápida y repentina que me dejó como entre risas y un qué va seguir? Así que prendió mi curiosidad. Lo demás se ajustó al nivel y creo que aunque tiene sus partes poco realistas, se fue poniendo mejor y para terminar disfruté ver a la pareja

[CamiBookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jin est le petit nouveau d’une entreprise d’informatique. Et dès son arrivée, il tombe sous le charme de Seto, son patron aussi talentueux qu’insaisissable, qui attire les regards sans jamais y répondre.

Honnêtement, j’ai passé un bon moment avec ce manga. Le trait de l’auteure est délicat et très doux, ce qui correspond bien à l’ambiance générale du récit. C’est une romance de bureau toute mignonne, agréable à lire et sans prise de tête.

Le seul point qui m’a un peu dérangée, c’est la rapidité des sentiments. Jin est déjà amoureux avant même d’avoir parlé à Seto, et il se donne pour mission de le faire craquer… Heureusement, l’histoire reste respectueuse : Jin est insistant, certes, mais jamais trop intrusif, et le consentement est toujours là. Leur relation évolue avec douceur, et j’ai trouvé ça touchant.

En bref, ce n’est pas un manga inoubliable, mais il fait très bien le job côté détente et tendresse. J'ai passé un très bon moment.

[Shelba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art: yay
Story: nay

[Hisgirl85 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. I thought this was super cute with a bit of nerdy-isms and some "spice" as the kids say. Even with the explicit scenes it felt wholesome to me, so I dug it. It had a lot of the things I like with at least one of the mains being neurodivergent if not both.

[sofo · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a cute and refreshing manga. i absolutely loved how they used programming language (?) as a tool to express their thought process askjfkjas

[Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

Firstly, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book to review!

I was intrigued when I first heard about this book, but it was unfortunately a flop for me. I am not a fan of the love at first sight trope, which plays a large part in this story. I also do not like stories that progress unrealistically fast. I read approximately 1/3 of this and had to skim the rest because of how much I disliked it. Good art though!

[Susanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute but a bit angsty BL (or outright gay) manga set in an IT department of a Japanese company. Haruma Seto is closer to thirty and single. He’s always thought he’s straight, until Jin Hagiwara, a new guy fresh from university starts working as his underling. Right from the start Jin makes his interest clear. Seto isn’t opposed, but he’s a bit bemused by the interest. He’s convinced it’s a bug in life’s programming and sets out to de-bug the system, only to fall for Jin for real.

I liked the romance with all its complications that stemmed from Seto being Jin’s superior and Jin being more active in their relationship. Both men grew a lot during the story. Sex scenes were graphic and good. I got bored during the office bits though, and ended up skipping most of it. The story is complete in one volume, which is a nice change.

I didn’t like the illustration style all that much. The lines were thin, and I had trouble telling Jin and Seto apart even with different hair colours, let alone the other characters. The big eyes were seriously creepy. However, unlike some reviewers, I had no trouble believing they were grownups.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Laura (crofteereader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who works in software for a living, I loved seeing the real-life examples of development work habits and the relationships between developers and sales/management.

However, I felt like Jin was under-developed. Most of the story is so focused on Seto and all of the “deeper” thoughts are his (whereas Jin’s only on-page thoughts are directly related to how much he likes Seto and when he’s being a brat because of jealousy/etc), whereas Seto is worrying more about appearances and the future… maybe it’s just because of the age gap, but it made it feel like Jin wasn’t a real person but a plot device to change Seto’s mindset and top him during sex.

Overall, not a bad story in the least - and I’m definitely fond of the backdrop of the software company.

{Thank you TokyoPop for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}

[Ady Weasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jun entra a su nuevo trabajo y queda deslumbrado por Seto, su nuevo jefe. Esto es un poco serio y cortante pero cuando Jin demuestra que es un buen elemento olvida sus prejuicios hacia los novatos....sin embargo las cosas se complican un poco para Seto pues Jin se le declara y aunque Seto no se deja, Jin es muy insistente.

Es una buena historia para entretenerse, me gusta Seto con el cabello largo le da un aire algo intelectualmente

Relectura tomó físico 27/09/25

[Rebecca Whaley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! Haruma and Jin are great together! Haruma has his head in computers and software so when Jin confesses his feelings, Haruma thinks it's a glitch he needs to fix. Loved it and their interactions. And the spice is great too. Tokyopop always gives us their best.

[Nerea · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXTREMELY CUTE WTH THIS WAS BETTER THAN I THOUGHT

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this many months ago, stalled out partway through, and neglected to go back. Maybe it's good I had that break, though, because I actually found this pretty enjoyable on my second attempt.

One thing I wasn't sure about initially - the art style - didn't bother me this time. I don't love when art makes characters too baby-faced for their age (30 and 20-something), but that's not the case here - Omugi just has a distinctive style that edges a bit more into cartoony. (The way I grew up thinking of that word - like comic strips.) Not a bad thing, just different.

The other part I struggle with a little isn't the fault of the narrative at all; this is a story that would appeal more to programmers and coders. I understand just enough to feel a little nostalgic/sad about one of my old tech jobs, which I sometimes wonder if I ever should've left, but the programmer-heavy references and wordplay are a bit too dense for me at times.

Their whole relationship is...well, coded. Seto, the program manager, gets aggressively hit on by his new subordinate, an enthusiastic recent college grad (?) named Hagiwara, who falls in love with Seto's code and then his face. Seto rejects him for a while, for a number of pretty solid reasons, including the fact that he is Hagiwara's boss, but he eventually gives in, just to test things out. Then they keep testing...checking for bugs...with Seto trying to find a reason why this relationship won't work, in either the short or longterm.

There isn't a huge amount of substance to their relationship, and ordinarily I'd complain a bit that we don't see a lot of their bond developing, but it works surprisingly well. I think because they do have so much in common in the workplace and in their interests, so conversation would come naturally. (In a way it didn't with Seto's past run of very brief relationships with any women who found him handsome and asked him out, then were disappointed by his personality and lifestyle.)

Hagiwara, once he settles down from frankly being too relentless in harassing his boss into dating him, genuinely appreciates Seto for who he is and doesn't make any attempts to change him. Except for buying him new furniture and some actual dishes. Since he lived in basically an empty room.

Another thing I don't typically like - Hagiwara blurting out their relationship status and outing Seto to another coworker - worked well in context. I liked Isoyama, star of the sales team, and his weird antagonistic friendship with Seto, whom it turns out he's known for a really long time. And I liked how Hagiwara's jealousy turned out to be unfounded - Isoyama is happily married, and just enjoys teasing Seto, because they are actually friends. The kind of friends whose relationship doesn't change after that type of outburst and relationship reveal.

Not an amazing or groundbreaking manga, but it had its unique points and I liked their relationship, and the little bits of self-reflection both of them went through.I think it's a keeper for now.

[Shatiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo manga boys love copre benomale tutte le caratteristiche dei manga di questo genere (gelosia, insicurezza, desiderio e bisogno di avere qualcuno accanto) e devo dire che facendo tutto in un numero unico, ne sono rimasta alquanto colpita.
I personaggi mi son piaciuti, ma l'approccio iniziale di Hagiwara non mi è piaciuto proprio per niente.
E' andato molto vicino allo stalkeraggio e alle molestie. Per questo non ho apprezzato particolarmente il primo approccio tra i due protagonisti, anche se poi la loro storia è diventata seria e accettata da entrambe le parti.
Le parti più hot son gestite in maniera giusta e non oscena, quindi le ho apprezzate molto.
Tutto sommato è stata una lettura piacevole, anche se un po' lunga visto che è stata concentrata in un unico manga.

Grazie Netgalley per avermi permesso di leggerlo.

--------------------

This boys love manga perfectly covers all the characteristics of manga of this genre (jealousy, insecurity, desire and need to have someone next to you) and I must say that by doing everything in a single issue, I was quite impressed.
I liked the characters, but I didn't like Hagiwara's initial approach at all.
He came very close to stalking and harassment. This is why I didn't particularly appreciate the first approach between the two protagonists, even if their story then became serious and accepted by both parties.
The hot parts are handled fairly and are not obscene, so I enjoyed them a lot.
All in all it was a pleasant read, even if a bit long since it was concentrated in a single manga.

Thanks Netgalley for letting me read it.

[Audrey S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying this new rush of manga romance stories exploring adults figuring out the world around them, usually with ages ranging from people in their 20 into their 30s. This story is exactly that. Seto is an introvert set in his ways at work, while Jin, a much younger man (~9 year age gap which I’m not exactly sure how I feel about), is much more bold. When they begin working together, Jin makes a pass at Seto which throws Seto off guard.

I really enjoyed the discussions and communications with regards to the steamy times, but for a good portion, it did seem that Jin was forcing his way into Seto’s affections, especially after he had brushed him off as not interested. We want our heroes to listen and communicate, not demand affections in return.

In the story, there is miscommunication, a girl involved - classic BL tropes. I think the set up of the young adults and their age differences are what make this story stand out, even if it’s not all that much.

Additionally, there were several panels where I had no idea what I was looking at.I prefer a much cleaner drawing style sinceI don’t want to have to spend extra time on a panel figuring out what I’m looking at and how it fits in with the story.

I don’t think I would seek out work from this mangaka again, but there is promise in the setup and initial idea - it just could be better.

*I received an eARC from LOVE x LOVE & NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

[bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

『 ★★★★ 』

[ Tag(s): age-gap • office-settings • ]

—————————————————————— •○●

Older uke (30 y.o) ❎ younger seme (uni graduate) with a 9 years age-gap. Both are programmer/system engineering. Both have a frank personality so it's fun to see them throwing snarky remarks to each other, haha!

I like how sensei incorporates some programming terms into the story, like: bug, test it out (the program), system overheating, upgrade, debugging, boot up update. You'll get it after you read it. This kind of thing is great because it makes us know that the author atleast doing some research and not just for the sake of "settings or enviroment". And it also makes the story flowing really well considering their personality/characterization!

Plot itself is fluff, like a cotton candy. Though the artstyle doesn't make their look age-appropriate ((they obviosly doesn't look adult enough, right?)), but I still enjoyed it very much. I love it, especially, when they have big boggly eyes like a cat 👁👁

[Siina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cut-Over Criteria was refreshing. It's very credible, mundane even and fun at the same time. We get inside our characters' head a lot that was the best part of the manga. Haruma Seto is well liked at his job. He's a software programmer. Suddenly this new guy at the work place, Jin Hagiwara, confesses to him and it doesn't take long before Seto begins to cave in. This seems like a cliche, but it actually isn't. The pace is slow and the feelings actually grow quite logically. The sex scenes are well portrayed and so normal. The atmosphere is something else if you compared it to other BL series. In a sense this is more serious and it works amazingly well. I just wish Omugi had avoided the little cliches here and there. This would've been perfect then.

The art looks wonderfully odd, somehow very distant and round. So, this looks different and is different. Perhaps it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I liked it. The manga is quite solid and if you want something slightly different, then this is for you.

[The Library's Ghost · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very cute and quick oneshot BL manga. Others have left reviews saying that they couldn't feel the chemistry that well between the main characters, but I felt it very easily. As someone who is much like Seto in that feelings are not easily understood/developed/felt it led me to believe that Seto may very well be somewhere on the demisexual scale. With that in mind it only makes sense that the strong feelings from Hagiwara are misunderstood and not fully embraced from the get go.

Where Seto is more composed and lacking in social cues, Hagiwara is a perfect match to bring him out of his shell. We see Seto become more involved with the social aspects of his job, more friendly with his coworkers and overall much happier as he spends more time in Hagiwara's care. Thats the type of relationship I enjoy reading, where it mutually benefits both characters to become better versions of themselves.

The plot is pretty straightforward with this one and as a oneshot it gets right to the point and felt a little short, but overall I enjoyed it! I would love another installment for these two to see how they continue to grow together.

[Angelica Dominguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all I want to thank netgalley for providing me with this manga.

This manga tells us about Haruma Seto tends to view the world as one big software program. So when his new subordinate at work — a young but talented man named Jin Hagiwara — suddenly confesses to him, Haruma's left thinking there must be some sort of "bug." If he just goes along with Jin's confession, it gives him a chance to test for it. He's a successful systems engineer, after all, and this is just a test... right?

The story itself is the typical cliché of a co-worker, who for things in life must live together, learn to get along, misunderstood,
and although it was entertaining, it didn't kill me, since I felt that everything happened very quickly, I feel that it could have had a few more chapters, to develop a little more, explain a little more.

but it's entertaining to pass the time, I wouldn't buy it physically, but I recommend it if you like gay office romances.

That if I highlight that the drawing is beautiful, it has a good illustration.
I give it a 4 out of 5

[Hemm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bon petit slice of life d'une romance de bureau!

J'ai bien apprécié ma lecture.
C'est doux, sans prise de tête et juste assez mignon sans être trop dans l'extra. Un bon tranche-de-vie comme je l'ai aime!

J'ai surtout apprécié le slow burn et nos deux personnages, Hagiwara et Seto prennent le temps de s'ajuster l'un à l'autre et d'apprendre à se connaître comme à s'aimer et ce, à un rythme qu'ils adaptent l'un à l'autre. Bien sûr, leur différence d'âge vient ajouter à l'histoire et explique bien certains comportements face à certaines situations. De plus, leurs métiers de programmeur très cartésien viennent même jouer dans leur vie privée, ça c'est également un point que j'ai bien apprécié de ma lecture.

J'ai trouvé que l'histoire pouvait très bien être transposée dans la réalité par ses réactions simple, sans drama intense et rationnelles.
Un autre petit plus pour ce titre!

À mon avis, c'est un OS bien complet et qui se lit vraiment bien.

Les dessins vraiment jolies, bien détaillés et avec beaucoup de puppy eyes de Hagiwara qui vous fera fondre!

[James Garman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haruma Seto tends to view the world as one big software program. So when his new subordinate at work — a young but talented man named Jin Hagiwara — suddenly confesses to him, Haruma's left thinking there must be some sort of "bug". But what Jin is trying to communicate is that he is very attracted to Haruma Seto.

It seems that Seto is used to being with girls but is more concerned about Jin working for him than the fact that he is a man. Seto sees difficulty in having a relationship with someone that reports to him at the office, but he finally starts warming to the idea although he keeps trying to give Jin a way out while worrying about tieing him down.

Gradually over time, they work to resolve the relationship and Jin keeps gettiing certifications n various parts of the job so he is qualified in the wide range of the job requirement so that he doesn't have to worry about being "carried". At the end of the story, we realize that they have, in fact, resolved most of the issues.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Independent Publishers Group, LOVE x LOVE, Tokyopop, and Koala Omugi for the opportunity to read this manga in exchange for an honest review.

Cut-Over Criteria is a BL manga set in an office atmosphere with the characters being 30 and 21.

Seto is doing great with his software company, but being 30 has its hard parts. When 21-year-old Hagiwara starts at the company, Seto is impressed at his software skills. When Hagiwara asks Seto to date, Seto treats the relationship like experimenting with and debugging software. Will he be able to pull himself out of that mindset and experience something real?

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable stand-alone BL. It has quite a few 18+ scenes within. I do like the art and found the story to be a bit dry at first, but once I got into it, it was certainly an enjoyable read. A good manga for BL fans, but maybe not your average manga goer.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute manga with good illustration style!

I enjoy reading manga and decided to give this a read.

This is a slice of life manga with romance between two guys. Besides the romance, it mainly revolves around their professions as software developers/engineers and their work life in the office. I think that was one of the unique parts of this story because I do not often come across manga that involves coding!

The manga mainly focuses on Seto and Jin. Seto, who is Jin's boss, is also his crush. Seto ends up receiving a straight-forward confession from him, which gives him quite a shock. However, Jin is a character who is actually more persistent and bold with his actions than he seems, which is initially different from the first impression he gave.

Additionally, I did find some scenes funny because of how they illustrated some reactions more dramatically. That is what I love about reading manga, the comic relief is appreciated.

[ru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Koala Omugi is one of my favorite BL authors. I loved this and it was a lot of fun. It's somewhat of an office setting but it's about programmers, which isn't a common theme in bl so it was refreshing.

I'm used to Omugi's writing so I think that made it more enjoyable for me than it might've been for others, based on the reviews I've read here. While I can recognize that it shows that this was her debut work, seeing as I've read her latest work and the writing has a lot more depth and the characters are more fleshed out, I think this is still a really enjoyable BL and definitely not something to "read if you want smut/are horny" (as I've seen said) because there isn't even that much smut and the characters *are* explored, just not as much as they could've been.

Regardless, this is an enjoyable and refreshing BL so I recommend it to everyone who enjoys a somewhat simple but heartfelt romance with a puppy younger top and older colder bottom!

[Cassie Renais · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and fluffy - very slice of life, about two programmers working in the same office. Not much in the way of stakes or complications, just a gentle love story. The characters don't have a huge amount to them, but you can still see why they're attracted to each other and how they fall in love. I think the best part of this is the way the MC, Seto, relates to the world. He's obviously neuro-atypical, and the way he processes his thoughts and emotions is fun to be apart of. I was really rooting for him. Hagiwara is the perfect match for him because he's straightforward and honest with his feelings.

In general, the art is middling, with some really cute panels and others that seem very basic and poorly drawn; it especially suffers in the smutty scenes, but I skimmed those anyway.

Overall, a sweet, easy read.