Clockwise (from top right): Aigo Kinjō, Kentaro Momose, Hakutou, Yusei Shirosaki, Mitsuo Aoyama
My New Boss is Goofy (新しい上司はど天然, Atarashī Jōshi wa do Ten'nen) is a Work Com manga series written and illustrated by Dan Ichikawa, which began serialization in the online shoujo publication Manga Cross in 2019. As of 2023, two volumes have been released.
The story follows Kentaro Momose, who quit his job after suffering excessive stress under his tyrannical boss and moved to the ad company Minette. Though even after changing companies, he fears that his new boss, Yusei Shirosaki, will be just as horrible as his previous one. Much to his relief, Shirosaki is nothing but kind and considerate. At "worst", he's a bit airheaded and thus often prone to being a dork without realizing it, which leads to some hilarious shenanigans.
Accompanying them is Mitsuo Aoyama, Shirosaki's superior, who is currently struggling with loneliness issues after his divorce; Aigo Kinjō, who like Momose, transferred to Minette after having enough of being mistreated at his last job; and Hakutou, an abandoned kitten that Shirosaki finds and decides to take care of.
An Animated Adaptation of the manga directed by Noriyuki Abe (who also directed Bleach, YuYu Hakusho, Flame of Recca) and animated by A-1 Pictures started airing on October 7, 2023 and is slated for 12 episodes.
My New Boss is Goofy provides examples of the following tropes:
- Abandoned Pet in a Box: Hakutou is introduced in the story when Shirosaki and Momose found him in a box in a park.
- Accent Slip-Up: Shirosaki grew up in the Akita prefecture and thus can speak in the Akita dialect, which he unconsciously ends up doing sometimes when he gets really nostalgic about his hometown.
- Accidental Proposal: After adopting Hakutou, Shirosaki offers Momose a duplicate key to his apartment so that he can see the kitten anytime he wants. Everyone else on the train immediately makes the expected assumption, and it even became the rumor of the day in the office.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: After being given a name and a collar, Hakutou responds by tousling Shirosaki's hair. While he claims that he doesn't need a name nor is he happy about it, his mood and actions make it obvious that he actually means the opposite.
- All for Nothing: Aoyama worked long hours to be able to buy a big house for him and his wife... only for his wife to announce her intent of divorcing him because she couldn't stand being left alone at home. Rubbing salt in the wound is her telling him that she had fallen for somebody else.
- Ambiguously Bi: Both Momose and Shirosaki had ex-girlfriends. That said, they are quick to comment either in their heads or out loud that they find each other cute, to the point of even blushing about it.
- Animal Eyes: Lampshaded when Shirosaki wonders why all cats hiss at him whenever he gets close to them. Hakutou's thoughts answer that question: Shirosaki's eyes greatly resemble a cat's, which — since he's a human — ends up making him look like a monster to the actual cats.
- Animals Hate Him: Downplayed in Shirosaki's case; it's only cats who are hostile to him at first sight, and he doesn't have a similar problem with other animals. Case in point, while visiting an exhibit of Akita dogs, all the puppies react to Shirosaki's presence with friendly curiosity.
- Attention Whore: Aoyama is needy and quick to get depressed if he's not given enough attention, even if he was never originally involved in the conversation and just happened to be nearby. This is implied to be a result of his divorce, which had left him deeply wounded with attachment issues.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: While telling Momose about his grandmother (who raised him), Shirosaki then starts remarking "Until one year ago..." which immediately makes Momose assume that she had already passed away. Though it turns out that Shirosaki meant that it wasn't until one year ago that his grandmother started posting tutorial videos online, much to Momose's relief.
- Benevolent Boss:
- Shirosaki is practically the boss that every worker dreams to have. His quirks only further strengthen this trope instead of detracting from it.
- His extreme neediness aside, Aoyama is kind to his subordinates, being proud of them whenever they do a good job, but still wanting them to work in good health.
- Bland-Name Product:
- YouTube is called MyTube instead.
- Starbucks Coffee is renamed as Staobucks Coffee.
- Instagram is changed to Enstagram.
- Amazon becomes Momozon, which is in line with the recurring theme of peaches throughout the series.
- Brick Joke: While going out drinking with the others in Episode 4, Kinjō mentions that he's not picky about his partner's gender or age as long as they're "cute on the inside", which confirms that he's either bisexual or pansexual. Then while showing Momose some photos in Episode 6, he casually mentions a picture of some of his ex-girlfriends and one ex-boyfriend, with the latter fact confounding Momose.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Downplayed. Shirosaki isn't necessarily a kook, but as many characters have pointed out, he can be quite goofy. That doesn't stop him from being very good at his job, and he has created many successful advertisements for his company. It also helps that his coworkers find his airheaded tendencies to be endearing rather than annoying.
- Character Catchphrase: When he feels he's being ignored or not noticed enough, Aoyama will chime in by saying, "No one pays any attention to me," or any other similar phrase in a deadpan and dejected tone.
- Chekhov's Gun: While touring around Kumatte Land, the PR representative mentions that the theme park also offers lodging services. When Aoyama and Kinjō are caught up in the rain on the way home, they're told that they can stay in the park's cottages for the night.
- Colorful Theme Naming: The four main characters have color-themed surnames. These are Shirosaki (white), Momose (pink), Aoyama (blue) and Kinjō (gold). There is also Momose's former boss Kurono (black), as well as Kinjō’s former boss Haijima (gray).
- Cool Big Bro: Both Shirosaki brothers regard each other fondly, with the older brother being doting and even admitting that part of why he got into photography is so he could capture the moments of his precious younger brother.
- Cute Kitten: Hakutou is one adorable little kitten, and his Tsundere attitude only adds to his charm as a precious ball of fur.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When Momose reflects on how terrifying his last experience with a mixer was, he realizes later that evening that he actually vocalized his thoughts when he overhears Aoyama talking to Kinjō about it.
- Endearingly Dorky: Both Momose and Kinjō show fond amusement at Shirosaki's goofiness and find his quirky side to be nothing but adorable.
- From Stray to Pet: Episode 3 focuses on Shirosaki finding Hakutou, who was abandoned by his previous owner, in a park and taking him in.
- Hot Springs Episode: Episode 5 has Momose and Shirosaki spend a day in a ryokan (Japanese-style inn) that also has hot springs as part of their job to come up with an ad for the establishment.
- Intellectual Animal: Even though he can't communicate with them per se, for a young kitten, Hakutou can still understand human dialogue perfectly fine. This makes taking care of him not that much of an issue for Shirosaki. He's even smart enough to know the names of other breeds of cats and the different kind of potatoes, as demonstrated in Episode 10.
- In Vino Veritas: Momose becomes a lot more emotional than he already is after a few glasses of alcohol.
- It's a Small World, After All: On a terrible day where Momose's boss failed to inform him that the office was to be closed due to the weather, Momose came across an advertisement for a planetarium. Both the slogan and the venue brought him hope that he might find a better job elsewhere, giving him the courage to quit his job at his former company. As it turned out, it was Shirosaki who came up with the ad. Momose also shared the aforementioned experience during his interview but his nerves caused him to forget who his interviewers were, causing him to belatedly realize that Shirosaki was among them. During the interview, Shirosaki was moved to tears by Momose's story, which was why he volunteered to take Momose under his wing.
- Karma Houdini: While Momose managed to resign from his old job, there's no indication that his former boss suffered any comeuppance, legal or otherwise, for the way he mistreated him.
- Kick the Dog: Hakutou's previous owner neglected him completely. One day, when she found him scratching his nails on the sofa — with Hakutou not knowing where it's okay and not okay to scratch — her immediate response was to yell at him that she hates him before abandoning him at the park shortly after. And it's made obvious that the memory has deeply hurt Hakutou.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover:
- Shirosaki adores cats, which is why he feels dejected towards the fact that all cats are immediately hostile towards him. Thankfully, it doesn't take long for Hakutou to warm up to him, and he proves to be an exceptional owner.
- Momose is also established as a cat lover, and unlike with Shirosaki, Hakutou warms up to Momose immediately and thus is a bit more openly affectionate with him, even though he still acts like a bit of a Tsundere most of the time.
- Mean Boss: Both Momose and Kinjō's former bosses were nothing but horrible to the two.
- Kurono is shown to be one loathsome piece of work, as his mistreatment left Momose with an ulcer and with a great deal of emotional and mental trauma. He hurled insults at Momose, often tore the other's reports and throw it back at his face, shoved him to the floor during a fire drill, neglected to tell him about any change in office plans, threatened him when he resigned, and kept bombarding him with phone calls long after the other had already quit. And that's just some of his misdeeds that are shown to the audience. The moment Momose decides to finally accept a call, he's immediately greeted with a loud stream of hateful words, with Kurono even declaring that he'll break into his former subordinate's apartment to dish out some payback.
- Haijima wasn't that great of a boss to Kinjō, with the latter's introduction having him get yelled at by the former over the phone, and a later flashback also shows his apathetic reaction when Kinjō got a cold. Kinjō said that while Haijima meant to be more strict than abusive at first, his attitude gradually got worse over time to the point that he started resorting to physical abuse. Though he's proven to be the lesser of the two evils compared to Kurono, since he doesn't continue hounding Kinjō after the latter had officially quit, and it's also strongly implied that Kinjō's departure had given him an epiphany on treating his employees better.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Shirosaki's grandmother comes up roughly to his knees. The fact that she's seen using a staircase of some sort to hang laundry and that other people around her age seem closer in height to Shirosaki and Momose would indicate that she might have some sort of dwarfism.
- Opaque Lenses: Aoyama's eyes are never seen through his glasses. One rare exception happens in Episode 9 when Aoyama admits to Momose that he tried his best to be the life of party during a mixer to help the latter get rid of his trauma from being kicked by his boss the last time he was in one.
- Otaku: Kinjō's hobby is watching anime, and is quick to get excited whenever anime gets brought up in a conversation to the point where he starts gushing about it almost nonstop.
- Pet the Dog: Haijima was a Mean Boss to Kinjō, though when Kinjō eventually quit his job and explained his reasons for doing so, Haijima said nothing about it. At worst, he just stopped liking the other's posts on Enstagram and the two never got in touch afterwards, though Kinjō expresses the hope that his departure had caused Haijima to reconsider his harsh treatment of his employees. Later on, shortly after Kinjō posts a photo of himself having fun with his new workmates, he sees that Haijima liked the photo, which hints that he harbors no hard feelings towards Kinjō for leaving and has since turned over a new leaf because of it, providing the latter some closure.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Kinjō genuinely respects Aoyama as his new superior. At the same time, he knows exactly how to pander to the man's neediness when necessary, stating that such a thing is a cakewalk for him after what he had to deal with under his previous boss' command.
- Punny Name: Kumatte-chan's name is one for the Japanese word kamattechan, which generally means "attention-seeker". Fittingly enough, Kumatte-chan's personality depicts him as needy and always wanting to be given both affection and attention.
- Raised by Grandparents: Shirosaki grew up with his grandmother.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Aoyama is a fully grown man of 39 years... and has a house filled with dolls, plushies, and other merchandise of the bear mascot Kumatte-chan. It is explained that it's his way of coping with the pain of his divorce.
- Red Sock Ruins the Laundry: One of Shirosaki's work outfits includes a pink polo, which turns out to have been originally white and turned pink after he accidentally mixes up his laundry.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Momose quit his old job because he couldn't take any more abuse from his former boss, who treated him like trash. He takes it up a notch some time later when after finally accepting a call from his boss, Kurono threatens to pay Momose a visit in his current residence. Shirosaki, who overheard the entire conversation, suggests that Momose move into his apartment — an offer that Momose doesn't hesitate to accept.
- Security Cling: While surveying each attraction in the amusement park, once they get to the haunted house, Shirosaki shows reluctance to hold onto Momose because it would come across as sexual harassment. But when he gets spooked by one of the ghost props shortly after, he wordlessly hugs Momose and continues to do so even after they've walked out the place.
- Shared Family Quirks: Both Shirosaki brothers tend to be very goofy and are prone to the occasional clumsiness.
- A Shared Suffering:
- Momose and Kinjō are able to get along fast because both know what it's like to have suffered under an abusive boss who gives them a hard time day in and day out.
- While Aoyama is the only one who divorced, per se, all four main characters can relate to having gone through a failed relationship.
- Stepford Smiler: Momose is a genuinely sweet and upbeat guy, but there are moments when his trauma resurfaces— which he then tries to hide under his otherwise sunny demeanor.
- Stress Vomit: A variation; Momose tends to feel his stomach ulcer acting up whenever he thinks about his old job and how it took a toll on him both physically and mentally.
- Title Drop: "My new boss is goofy," and similar variations of the sentence is said at least once per episode.
- Trauma Button: Anything that reminds Momose of his old boss, and that can be anything, will immediately make him either get a stomachache or go into a depressive slump.
- Tsundere: Most if not all of Hakutou's internal dialogue has him denying what he's doing, feeling, thinking or enjoying at the moment.
- Verbal Tic: Fitting for a cat, Hakutou's thoughts always has him end (or on the rare occasion, start) his sentences with "-nya".
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Cicadas creep out Shirosaki because when he was a kid, he saw a cicada that he thought to be dead, but then the cicada suddenly started wiggling towards him at a fast pace before flying away, which left him crying in fear.
