Actual rating 3.5 (mostly for the ick factor)

I don't normally go for age gap romances but I didn't mind the 14 year gap here. This was cute and a little funny but I could have done without the side story of them knowing each other since Hiwatari was a kid and the short bonus story of them at the end when Takanashi was 25 and Hiwatari was 11 and them having a nap together - serious ick vibes which I am pretending didn't happen. There is nothing from Takanashi that this was sexual in any way but still...

I have no idea what to think about this, but I can say with certainty that it was a fun and hilarious read!

I landed on a 3. It works for what it is, just wasn't what I wanted. I do feel like I'd read more of the series.

3⭐⭐⭐

This is a fun manga. It's a BL with a silly premise and a workplace drama. It is a very fast read that revolves around older man kink and the older man's (40 year old, he talks about it a lot) struggle with erectile dysfunction. It is a nice take on his shame around it and overcoming it to be able to talk about it and maybe even heal from it/ get help maybe. I also think the main characters are super cute.

If you have an issue with the love interest having known the main character when he was a kid you will have a problem with his. It seems like from flash backs that the love interest worked with his father and the teen/ 10-13 year old hung out with him and had a crush on him since then.

All and all this is a cute manga and the art is GREAT. I don't think I will personally continue with it, it just isn't as much my speed as other mangas are, but nothing is really wrong with it!

Review by Nic @polycraftory on Instagram, Tumblr, and Tiktok, where I do book reviews and crafts with my polycule. If you are curious about my thoughts on more books, you can find me @businesswife on Storygraph. You can also find content warnings on my Storygraph review of this book. You can also find my reviews @polycraftory on Goodreads.

5/5 stars ⭐️
Let me just say (or yell) I NEED THE NEXT PARTS OF THIS STORY ASAP!!!
A wonderful and hilariously heartwarming story about a CEO and his downstairs problem that is no longer a problem when a chance encounter with another employee at the company has his “tower” rise again. LMAO
Great great great art work!!!
Thank You NetGalley and publishing for the chance to read this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

It was really surprising. Like I really thought it would be full on smut but it was super sweet and thoughtful. Their relationship is sooo slow and so well written. I'm so looking forward to reading volume 2 !!

I mean how could I resist this title and description??? This was such a funny read. Both leads are total disasters when faced with each other. The hijinks are indeed wacky. But there is some heart there, not a lot but enough. I wish it was a bit longer or progressed more but it's just volume one so there's time for that. I just wanted to see some of their dynamic once the relationship shifts from coworkers/hero worship to more. Guess I'll have to read volume 2. Twist my arm why don't ya?

This is so funny I couldn't stop laughing every few pages. It's just the right balance of romantic tension and earnest humor (especially when dealing with the shame around ED and just smashing through those walls). I love the feeling that Takanashi and Hiwatari are genuinely falling for each other, even though it's still early days, and the mutual protectiveness is just perfect. I love that we're getting more workplace romances, and the age-gap and long-term pining is just a cherry on top. I'm definitely looking forward to volume 2!

The title of this is hilarious and I cackle every time I see it. Seeing the characters refer to him as dashing and zaddy made my day.

This story is different from many BLs I’ve read before. First, we have ED representation, a MMC that is honest to the point of hilarity when accused of sleeping his way to the top and a mangaka who is determined to make this a nice but legal romance due to the age gap.

Volume 1 is just the set up for the beginning of their relationship/partnership. I wonder how he expects to help his crush with ED and I’m also curious about past relationships the dashing zaddy has had. He seemed to fall for his subordinate pretty quickly, and it was cute seeing him so easily wooed.

Eagerly awaiting the next volume to see how it turns out. Thanks to Kodansha for the DRC!

If you are picking this one up for the same reason that I did, let me make one thing clear: Old-Fashioned Cupcake this isn't. Even though a lot of the premise sounds the same, the tone and dynamics are so very different. This manga leans heavily into whacky comedy, and delivers it largely by juxtaposing internal dialogue of the two men which is very much at odds with one another. It doesn't do much in the way of slow and touching build-up like OFC did. The romance part is largely secondary to the comedy, I would even say.

I didn't love this managa. I didn't hate either. I just felt like it was mid. This is a really common bl trope so for this to stand out it really needed something different or it needed to be flawless and this just wasn't that. Overall everything just felt fine.

The mangaka herself best sums it up: "A manga plot that centers around a sexy old man in a legal way". Is it a 5-star read? Absolutely not. Will I keep my rating as is? Absolutely. It genuinely took me by surprised how much I enjoyed these idiots. With that final page, you just know I need the next volume like NOW.

The first volume in this series is so good! I was laughing the entire time I was reading and the narrator is amazing (I think is the author narrating, but it’s so good) I can’t wait to continue on this series. I feel like is going to be one that I will love to read.
I really love this type of cliche manga.

A cute age gap office romance. Takanashi is a 40 year old team lead with ED, and Hiwatari is his 26 year old subordinate who appears cold on the outside but is actually quite excitable on the inside. The two start spending a little time together after an invitation to after work drinks.

This gave me slight Old-Fashioned Cupcake vibes, but a little goofier. It's pretty cute overall and doesn't take itself too seriously. I enjoyed the characters and look forward to a progressing relationship. The art is really nice too.

Well, I thought this was a one-shot, but when I got to the end and Hiwatari was only then promising to help Takanashi with his ED, I realized this was only volume one. 🤷‍♀️But the story is so hilarious and sweet that I'm totally down for another volume. I hope it gets even more spicy, please.

If you want a good age gap workplace romance manga, this one is for you! I love the characters so much. I really like the pace of which their relationship was developing and just the general pace the book. It wasn't too slow and it wasn't too fast in my opinion. The ending of this book makes me want to reading volume 2 so much more. I'm happy I gave this a chance and I'm excited to continue on with the series.

The title and the premise is definitely promising for "The Dashing Zaddy and His Icy Protege." The art is pleasant enough to look at. But it fell short of my expectations in terms of execution. I am told that Takanashi is charming, but not really shown much of how he is charming. Hiwatari's personality only appears to inhabit two extremes. The "working in a trading company" shenanigans were a touch more amusing than the actual relationship between our two main characters. Perhaps the characters will grow on me, but I am not that interested in another volume just to see if it will get interesting.

Love popping onto NetGalley and seeing something that was already on my to-read list? And fujoshi, fudanshi, and fujin alike, there is no disappointment here! Just a laugh out loud awkward age-gap romance between the hottest 40 year old in the office and the strict subordinate (who, let's be real, melts entirely at this older man immediately which had me cracking up). Volume 1 is these men getting to know each other in both a personal and comedic fashion (not always at the same time), spicy with nothing explicit, and I already have volume 2 on my 'isn't out yet here's the date it comes out' spreadsheet.

The art is gorgeous (nice to see we've graduated from the land of no-nipples) and I love a dude down bad for his object of interest and said object realizing, oh, wait, I want that too.

Can't wait for volume 2!

DNF. I tried to read this one but could not get into the plot or the characters. I decided to put it down.

The cover totally caught my eye — suave older guy X cool and collected younger coworker? Yes, please! Or so I thought...

The story follows Mr. Takanashi, a 40-year-old star employee at Itsuboshi Trading Company, who’s known for his charisma, success, and, well, being a total zaddy. Practically every woman in the office has tried to shoot her shot — but Takanashi turns them all down due to a rather personal secret: he has ED. Enter Hiwatari, his 26-year-old subordinate, who's all ice on the outside but has secretly admired Takanashi for years. When they end up spending the evening together, things… escalate — and not just emotionally.

I really wanted to enjoy this, but the story felt kind of messy. The POV switches back and forth between Takanashi and Hiwatari in a way that made it hard to tell who was thinking what. The internal monologues didn’t always line up with the scenes, and the pacing was a bit off.

Also, the chemistry between the leads felt oddly forced. We’re told that Hiwatari has harbored feelings for Takanashi for years, but there’s no real explanation why. And Takanashi, who’s been pretty clearly established as only into women, suddenly… flips the switch? It didn’t really sell me on the romance — not because people can’t change, but because it just felt abrupt and unconvincing.

All in all, not quite what I hoped for. There’s definitely potential in the concept (older boss with a secret + cold protégé = spicy setup!), but the execution didn’t quite land for me. Might give volume two a try if I hear it improves, but for now, this one wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the ARC!