Warning: Spoilers for The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague episode 3A light-hearted romance anime that delivers a relentless supply of deliciously dry humor called The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague has an unexpected underlining plot line that gives a twisted spin to an otherwise cute trope. Thanks to its ubiquitous dry-white humor, there's nothing that suggests that The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague would do any sort of twisting to any trope, let alone a cute one.
The humor derives from Fuyutsuki-san and Himuro-kun's emotionless personalities except for Himuro-kun's internal reactions whenever Fuyutsuki does something adorable or exhibits any signs that she might like him romantically. Even the reactions and observations from their work friend Saejima-kun is humorously dry. This isn't even mentioning Himuro-kun's adorable ice powers that inadvertently manifest whenever his emotions get too strong.
Himuro Experiences Something Worse Than an Embarrassing Baby Photo
In episode two, it's revealed that Himuro-kun can "melt" due to excessive heat. His version of melting involves reverting to earlier times in his life. Fuyutsuki-san witnesses this phenomenon first hand and, once she learns he's no longer in danger, can't help but fawn over him as a kid. She finds this melted state so adorable that she takes a picture of him without his knowledge. In episode three, viewers discover that Fuyutsuki-san made the picture her phone's background and actively hides it from him one night when they are both working late in the office.
This is an unsettling, albeit vastly creative twist of a typical rom-com trope where usually the girl fawns over baby pictures of her love interest. In most instances, either an older sibling or the parents of the one in the photos are the dastardly culprits who share them. The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague's subversion feels sketchy for more reasons than the photo being kept a secret. The gesture would still be adorable if the girl fawning over the photo secretly stashed the baby photo in her purse, for example. In this case, Himuro-kun's younger self is still an accessible part of him and appears whenever he's in peril. Despite this, Fuyutsuki-san finds so much enjoyment from it that she ensures she can always access the photo whenever the mood strikes. It feels more like relishing in something painful rather than embarrassing.
Fuyutsuki Should Have Focused On the Snowmen
A much cuter alternative to this would have been if Fuyutsuki-san found the happy, little snowmen that pop out of Himuro-kun so cute that she actively endeavored to ensure he produced more. Of course, for it to be entirely innocent, Fuyutsuki-san would also need to do this for the simple reason of wanting to make him happy, but such a gesture regardless is still akin to the appropriate attempt when characters try to make their love interests smile just because they think it's cute when they do.
However, even a lighthearted anime series needs to have some sort of tension, and one that's directly correlated to one of The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague's unique aspects rather than something that can easily be replicated in any other anime rom-com was an effective choice, even though it is a little off-putting.
The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is streaming on Crunchyroll.
