We Can't Do Just Plain Love, Volume 1: She's Got a Fetish, Her Boss Has Low Self-Esteem

We Can't Do Just Plain Love: She's Got a Fetish, Her Boss Has Low Self-Esteem #1

by Mafuyu Fukita

Sakura Yuino is beautiful, cool-headed, and good at her job, and when she's transferred to handsome, polite, but shy Itsuki Kiritani's department at her office she's determined to do a good job.

Unfortunately for her, Kiritani is so nervous around women he can't help getting "excited" around her. And Yuino finds her personal fetish triggered around her new boss, whose smell is intoxicating to her. After a post-work drunken tryst, they realize that perhaps this arrangement isn't so bad after all...

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

Genres: Manga, Romance, Josei, Comics, Graphic Novels, Comics Manga, Spicy

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2021

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite racy ladies' manga, mostly because Sweat and Soap did the same premise better.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, may round up upon a reread.

This is a very smutty manga, but despite all the sex the romance itself is pretty slow burn. The two have an interesting dynamic because they are able to be fully honest with each other in a way they've been shamed for in the past. Some of their interactions are a bit odd, but this creates a trust between them that is slowly leading to more. I'm not 100% sold on Kiritani, but my admittedly shallow reason is simply that I don't love the way his face is drawn at times. But that's a personal preference.

[Sera Nova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just not a fan of the drunk first time. Especially since she was sober. Other than that, I really thought it was cute and fun.

[Peppa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this manga gives me major Sweat and Soap vibes abs I’m here for it!!

Yeah, the scent element is there (and done well!), but it doesn’t take over the whole story. Instead, it’s more of a sweet, subtle layer in the background, no overwhelming insecurity loops or obsessive drama. Just two incredibly hot people figuring things out, one steamy chapter at a time.

And can we talk about the spice? FINALLY, a manga that’s seriously, unapologetically focused on her pleasure. The consent is clear, the communication is chef’s kiss and the dynamic feels equal, playful and ridiculously hot. There’s a perfect mix of humor, sweetness and scenes that’ll have you fanning yourself🌶️😮💨.

Sweat and Soap will always be iconic for the scent kink, but this pairing? CHEMISTRY. I spent half the time swooning and the other half wondering… why are they both so stupidly attractive😭?!

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A steamy, smutty slow-burn?! Wasn’t expecting that but seeing Kiritani and Yuino slowly fall in love is satisfying.

[Audrey ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. This is ass

[Caneel · Rating 5 out of 5]

EVERYONE MIND YOUR BUSINESS IT WAS HOT!

[Cindy ✩☽♔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, spicy and fun 🌶️💖

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was obnoxious and over the top, and I kind of really enjoyed it because of it 😂

Kiritani and Yuino are so over the top in their own ways. They’re both set in their ways, and it makes their interactions hilarious half of the time. They’re honestly a bit much for me, but it makes them entertaining 😂

If I’m honest, I don’t particularly like Kiritani as a person (so far) but he is really pretty to look at 👀 I won’t deny the facts. That is a finely drawn man. He’s a bit of a jerk though, and I don’t personally like his approach to teasing in the bedroom.

As for Yuino, she needs more unhinged energy in terms of her scent fetish. In many ways she feels very polite when it comes to her fetish. I’ve seen others bring up Scent and Soap, and I do think the fetish is handled better there. Here it seems like a small thing that I forget about until she randomly sniffs Kiritani. Still. I like her a lot more than Kiritani 🤷🏻‍♀️

All in all, I had some good laughs while reading this. I wasn’t expecting it to be so funny and “out there,” but that made for a pleasant surprise.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, this review has nothing to do with the book itself, but when I got it from the library I didn’t see the subtitle and I honestly find the unnecessarily long and incredibly literal full title absolutely fucking hysterical. Like, this is a pretty cute, smutty story with a very thin but still fun premise, but add in that subtitle and suddenly I can’t stop giggling over it. 🤭 It’s just… it’s SO unnecessary. It feels a bit like when you’re a teenager and have to propose a presentation topic to a teacher and you feel slightly self-conscious so you just keep talking and over explaining until run out of words and just trail off. It’s not quite 18th century we-still-haven’t-figured-out-what-the-point-of-novel-titles-is-so-we’re-just-going-to-describe-every-single-event-that-happens levels of unnecessarily wordy, but maybe they’re still working up to it. 😉

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Random thoughts I had while reading this volume

1. The author seems to have a special fixation(? appreciation?🤔) for nipples. I'm here for it👀

2. Kiritani sure turns into a different man (read beast) during sex. Like...holy wow🥵🔥

3. For some unknown reason, I like how she's almost always fully naked but he's usually half (or sometimes fully) dressed during the shmexy times

4. This reminds me of Sweat and Soap but like...better...? Sure the scent thing is there, but this manga lacks the insecurity bit that constantly follows Asako throughout the Sweat and Soap volumes. Also, the scent thing over here is sort of like a sidebar/sidenote thing. It doesn't take over the whole plot

4.5⭐s rounded up⬆

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

More racy then I am used too and the reasons they are in the…relationship they are in are rather flimsy, but I guess if one is reading this, plot isn’t necessarily what one is reading for.

Not sure where on the spicy meter this would fall, as it’s not my usual read, so for some it might titillate, for others it might be boring.

I’m also not big on the boss/employee power dynamic, though the employee is the MC h and the aggressor re: getting him to agree, so it’s not him being skeevy using his position as her boss to force her into anything, so that was a plus.

2, not my fav but wasn’t horrible, stars.

[LindSlay · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was smut. Yuino has the personality of a flat wet blanket, and Kiritani reads to me like a pre-teen boy trapped in the 28-year-old body. She's a hot mess literally cleaning this man's apartment because he's too tired, and for what? He smells good? She feels like she owes him some strange subordinate obligation. And are you telling me a guy that gets turned on by women is the reason he can't get a girl? What a paper thin excuse for this strange sex contract thing they are calling the plot. She seems desperate and into it, tho so who am I to judge, and honestly, he doesn't even seem that into it, so who is really to blame for this strange sex situation set up.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's cute, sex scenes are spicy enough, but it's lacking something. The chemistry feels off, or the overall plot isn't gripping enough. It's just a playful back and forth, sex, and then doover again and again.

[hea booktubes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dubcon and kinks. And shy boy who’s dominant in bed.

[Isa Newbury | reading_isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 ⭐️
3.5 🌶

[Dolefully · Rating 4 out of 5]

mind your business 😌

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omfg, is this real? Scorching hot, so be careful. I really liked this one, though. Am I crazy? Is it crazy that I actually find it cute? I don't know, but it's kinda nice compared to some spicy josei I've seen before, despite it containing a lot of extra hot and spicy intimate scenes. I guess it's the way it's drawn—without fan service. It's all out, but it's sweet with no heightened emphasis on delicate angles. (Glaring at manga fan service). That's what I truly love about pure romance. It's hard to explain. You'll see the difference, though.

This is risque, yes, but in a way that I kinda like compared with than the typical ones created before. Maybe because of Kiritani's character—his scent! No pun intended haha! Anyway, it's very different from the classic josei hero, you know the typical exploiter. I like them together. And isn't Kiritani a huge bae? He can be wild at times, though!

[Niche · Rating 2 out of 5]

Smut romcom

I'm not much of a fan of the smut genre, but this one didn't really have any love triangles, swooning/tension, molestation, rape, or friends/enemies-to-lovers and even gave me a few laughs. Oddly, it felt like the plot of a josei smut manga but with the female gaze largely replaced with male gaze. 2.5/5 rounding down because it seems likely to be jealousy or a love triangle and romantic developments in the future.

[mads (on hiatus from reading and reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh and it’s still in press in Japanese so I gotta waiiiiittt for the next chapter/volume to be fan translated :(

[Ray M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was better than I thought. The cover made it seem like all smut no plot, but I sense a fwb slow burn, and I'm here for it!

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Looking forward to future volumes. I don’t read a lot of MF mangas with sex on the page as they tend to be drawn for the males gaze and the women are not characters I’m interested in. I’m so excited that Tokyo Pop is putting out mature content romances like this. I’m hear for it 🙌

Plus the couple are great characters with the individual quirks of her having a scent fetish and being awkwardly blunt and earnest while he’s this gorgeous popular guy who can’t talk to women with out flushing and getting turned and forget making eye content.

I’m enjoying both of their character growth and the sex scenes are 🔥 😘👌

[Somu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read. It was interesting seeing the male character Kiribati be the one who needs help with women, and not the other way around which I’m used to. I also found it interesting how this didn’t mean Sakura was necessarily dominant. I liked the subversion of those tropes. They’ve already confessed feelings but the miscommunication and blatant disregard trope is on crack in this. Depending how long that lasts that might impact my enjoyment of the story overall. The spicy scenes are also well drawn and look nice to me. Overall an interesting enough read to where I’ll be reading a second volume.

[Lexyloowoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is cute and since I bought the first two volumes, I’m going to continue it. That being said, I’m not sure why but there’s something about the characters that I’m not completely falling for. I like sweating soap more. But I think this is a great start to this series. Maybe it’s because he is saying things that have like real meaning but I don’t think he’s knows what he’s talking about because this is just an experiment for the both of them. I’m not sure, but I’m not invested in them as a couple yet.

[Joshua Enns-Wind · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this manga. I like the female lead and find her charming, but the male lead feels a little more...inconsistent. I don't fully know how the steps they take are going to help him with his issues. I also struggle a little bit with the technical aspects of this book. There's so much going on on every page that it's hard to follow, both in terms of art and dialogue.
All said, I do find myself enjoying it and laughing at it quite a bit. Both characters are funny, and their chemistry is fairly solid.
This is more of a 5/10 rather than a 3/5, but close enough.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is closer to erotica. Healing psychological problems with sex. CHECK! She is really in to people who smell good to her but that doesn't really feel that leaned into. And I think his issue is that he gets physical reaction to be around women cause a classmate in HS was mean to him when he confessed??? The chapter cover art is top notch but its not always so in the chapters themselves. I like it but its kind of just okay? There is a little bit of jealousy from the MMC and FMC seems to not have this issue at all. So we will see how this develops.

4/6 stars.

[Scipio Kento · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If it's not you then there's no point!"

I have been waiting for this volume to print for so long and I'm so glad it's finally here. I really enjoy the dynamic between Sakura and Tatsuki. Neither character is fully the grumpy or sunshine character, but rather the qualities are shared between them. There are lots of funny moments as well as adult ones. The evolution of their relationship is exciting to watch. I can't wait for the next volume!

[Nikole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly wholesome, mature and also raunchy and I love it so much!! 💕💕 the main leads are humorous but also great with each other! Also, the fact that Yuino the female lead who’s more forward toward Kiritani makes it all the more amazing and refreshing!

Not only that but there’s so much respect between them and CONSENT is sexy here?? Such a great premise done wonderfully and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel!!!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have been waiting so long for this to come out in english!!! finally, a spicy manga that is truly extremely focused on the woman’s pleasure and there’s a lot of clear consent between the two. a good mix of spice, humor, and sweetness. I do still think that sweat and soap did the scent fetish better, but this is a great pairing….why are they both so dang hot \(//∇//)\

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun read! I really like our couple here, both of them had such interesting personalities. I like Kiritani's low self-esteem juxtaposed with his dominant nature in bed. And Yuino is a woman who knows what she wants and is very honest. I respect both of them and had a blast reading this.