Sweat and Soap

Asako Yaeshima is a timid office worker at Lilia Drop, a toiletry company. Asako loves the company, because she is ashamed of her sweating problems and body odor, and the scent of the soap produced by the company is the only thing capable of undermining her insecurities. However, when Kotaro Natori, the company's lead product developer, approaches her and gets a deep whiff, he states that he loves Asako's smell and finds her inspirational. As the two continue to meet for work, Asako begins to care less about being sniffed by Kotaro, and they start a romantic relationship. ==Characters==

; : ;Keita Yaeshima : ;Yūji Suzumura : ;Maki Sakashita : ;Osamu Hashitani : ;Jin Ōkura : ==Media==

Manga Written and illustrated by , a one-shot chapter of Sweat and Soap was published on Kodansha's digital manga magazine D Morning on January 4, 2018. It was later published as a full-fledged serialized manga in the same magazine from June 21, 2018, to August 22, 2019. The eleven volumes were published from February 25, 2020, Volumes Drama In January 2022, it was announced that the series would receive a television drama adaptation, which was broadcast on MBS's Drama Tokku programming block from February 4 to April 1 of the same year. ==Reception==

Sweat and Soap placed second in the third annual Tsutaya Comic Awards in 2019. The series also placed ninth in the fifth Next Manga Awards in the digital category. Alongside Dr. Stone and Heterogenia Linguistico, the series ranked 17th on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2020 for male readers. It ranked sixth on "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2020" by the Honya Club online bookstore. The manga was nominated for the 45th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 2021. Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network noted that while the central "sniff-based" romance premise was somewhat awkward, the series was ultimately worth reading. She found it easy to become invested in the relationship between Asako and Natori, which she considered the most crucial element for a romance narrative. Writing for Otaku USA, Brittany Vincent described the protagonists' relationship as enviable and praised the story for its unique premise and well-paced narrative. Demelza of Anime UK News acknowledged that the initial premise could be perceived as off-putting but was surprised by the series' wholesome and heartwarming content. She concluded that it was a compelling read and recommended it for those seeking a sweet love story featuring adult characters. ==Notes==