The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter LN 1-3 [end]

The original name of this series is異世界の沙汰は社畜次第 | Isekai no Sata wa Shachiku Shidai which translates to “The Other World’s Books Depend On the Corporate Slave”. Although “Bean Counter” is humorous and an accurate description of the main character (he’s a workaholic accountant), I think there’s a little bit of nuance lost here. 

The main character, Kondou Seiichirou, is a Japanese salaryman who accidentally gets isekai’d along with the “Holy Maiden”, Yua Shiraishi. While Yua is your typical happy and naive highschooler that normally features in many shojo works, Kondou is a grumpy, strict, and unhealthy corporate drone who only lived to work. 

Kondou is an unexpected tag-along who wasn’t supposed to be summoned, but when asked what he’d like as compensation for the trouble, he simply asks for a job. If a normal person got isekai’d and told they wouldn’t have to work ever again, I think most people would take that offer. But Kondou was a victim of a “black” company that abused his talent for accounting, and he was basically unable to take care of himself and stay healthy due to severe overwork. 

Right away, the story plays with some popular tropes: isekai, teenage saints with some sort of magical/holy power, and hurt/comfort. 

When he starts his job at the Royal Accounting Department, Kondou is able to display both his talent and passion for accounting. And over the course of the story (with some magical meddling), he also ends up drawing the attention and affection of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, Aresh Indolark. 

While Aresh seems critical of Kondou to start, he can’t help but want to rehabilitate the other man. It’s clear that once he learned Kondou’s true nature, he had a deep respect for the man, and the beginnings of a crush. Aresh is also hilariously jealous and overprotective, which makes for an interesting dynamic between the two. 

I liked how Kondou had his own agency, with goals separate from Aresh. Although he is blunt and grating towards people who are unethical or corrupt, he genuinely wants to do the right thing and help uplift others, even if it’s in a “selfish” way. I always have a soft spot for leads who are crazy competent in one field (e.g. Rozemyne, Maomao), and complete messes of a person otherwise. 

There’s plenty of workplace and minor political drama, but it’s just deep enough to move the plot forward. I wish there was more of this series, but it ends quite satisfactorily within the 3 volumes. It’s also not very explicit. The development of Kondou and Aresh’s romance, while it starts rocky, ends up being sweet and sincere. Neither of them are very good at communicating their feelings, so it’s nice to see that they work well as a couple by the end of the series. 

I initially discovered this series through unofficial translations. Although BL manga is popular, there are very few officially translated BL light novels. Geraineon has posted an excellent list of them here. This is one of the very few modern Japanese BL novels to get licensed and published in the U.S. 

I’ve been eager to see more BL novels licensed, and I think it’s a good sign that J-Novel Club announced that they would be starting their own BL imprint. Seven Sea’s Danmei ventures clearly show that there’s demand for more, and I’m excited to see what else shows up.