Is Me and the Prez, Drinking Under the Stars Worth Reading?

Overview

Reina Izutsu is twenty-four when her father dies suddenly and she inherits his printing company, becoming its youngest president almost overnight. The staff are wary of her now; she comes across as cold and exacting, mostly because she has no idea what she's doing and no one she can admit that to. Kenichi Ishizumi, a thirty-seven-year-old section chief who answers to her, finds her crying and half-drunk in a park one night and doesn't realize he's looking at his own boss. She mistakes him for an old classmate from school, he decides not to correct her, and what starts as one slightly pathetic confession turns into regular, secret meetings where neither of them has to be anyone's superior.

What it does well

The gap between Reina and Kenichi isn't just decorative; it's the whole point. She's the twenty-four-year-old boss everyone defers to and no one actually likes; he's the older subordinate who could lose his job for what they're doing and knows it. The manga keeps that tension present in nearly every scene instead of treating it as a formality to clear out of the way early, which keeps their nighttime meetings feeling like something both of them are risking rather than a guaranteed happy ending. Reina in particular gets more interior space than the premise promises: her fear of being seen as weak, her guilt over inheriting a company she didn't ask to run, and her relief at having one person who doesn't treat her like a title all land with some actual specificity. The slice-of-life office comedy around the two leads, Reina's harried assistant trying to read her mood, the small print-shop routines, gives the romance somewhere to breathe between the park scenes.

Where it falls short

The setup depends on Kenichi not recognizing Reina, and the manga is aware that this can't last forever without starting to feel contrived; how it eventually gets resolved will decide whether the whole premise ages well or collapses the moment it's addressed directly. Until then, the side cast at Izutsu Printing stays mostly functional, there to nudge the leads together or comment on Reina's mood rather than carry much of their own. The pacing is patient almost to a fault: a few volumes can go by on small steps forward, which is the point for this kind of slow-burn, but it does mean readers looking for faster escalation may find themselves waiting.

Verdict

Me and the Prez, Drinking Under the Stars earns its hook by actually using the age and authority gap between its leads instead of just naming it, and the time it spends on who Reina is when she isn't performing "president" is where the manga is strongest. It's a workplace romance built on patience rather than melodrama, and it mostly rewards readers willing to match that pace.