REVIEW: ‘My New Boss is Goofy’ Episode 11 — “I Need To Find A Place To Live!”

My New Boss is Goofy (Atarashii Joushi wa Do Tennen) has shown audiences that a series with a simple premise that focuses on building intimate character relationships can go far. A slice of life workplace comedy that uses an ample amount of rom-com tropes, A-1 Pictures continues to deliver with the best episode of My New Boss is Goofy so far, Episode 11, “I Need To Find A Place To Live!” Last week, the series took a break from its main story to give the audience small vignettes of domesticity and friendship. This week, Momose starts looking for a new place to live, sees his hard work come to fruition, and Shirosaki decides to protect his subordinate as much as he can.

My New Boss is Goofy Episode 11 is emotional for a number of reasons. The opening of the episode deals with Momose’s abysmal apartment hunt and Hakuto attempting to find a missing button to finally be able to give something back to his owner. The first section of the episode is comedic and pulls the two closer together. But it’s what happens in the episode’s back half that makes this episode surpasses everything we’ve seen so far, which is something to say for a series that has consistently been a ten out of ten.

The series’ narrative has been centered not just on how badly trauma affects your life in the workplace but on how you can heal from it. Over the course of the series, Momose thinks he has left his past behind him, and one day, he sees the ad he created for the aquarium in the train station, and he feels like he’s made it. Crying with Shirosaki from pride, that moment of triumph is cut down when Momose passes by a cafe where his old boss once threw water in his face and isolated him from his co-workers. In that moment, Momose is slingshot back into the past and he’s unable to see who has become working with Shirosaki. When they return to the aquarium, everything reminds him of his old boss. His ulcer starts to act up for the first time in a long time, and he says in an inner monologue that he’s gone nowhere.

My New Boss is Goofy handles trauma with care. We see Momose celebrate his future, but we’re reminded how easy it is for a trigger to flip and for all of the fear to come rushing back. Healing doesn’t mean getting rid of you’re trauma but learning the importance of grounding yourself in the present and remembering how far you have come. Momose may not be able to do this on his own initially, but Shirosaki remains the ever-empathetic boss as he decides to protect Momose.

Over the course of the show, Shirosaki tries to anticipate what Momose needs, how to care for him, and how to be an anchor for him when he begins to drift back into the past. Shirosaki tells Momose that the Momose who was abused was too far in the past for him to protect, but that he can and will protect him now. That choice to stand by Momose’s side allows our lead character to find his footing and realize that he is someone new now. He is rebuilt and he is different. Shirosaki’s support allows Momose to finally turn around and see how far he has come.

While this episode’s emotional impact comes from Shirosaki and Momose deciding to stand up to the old abusive boss, the fake-out moment doesn’t diminish any of the growth that we witness in the episode. Instead, it offers Momose a moment of acceptance and a way to reconnect to his past by meeting an old colleague and righting a wrong that was done to him.

My New Boss is Goofy deftly understands that recovery from trauma isn’t a linear path. It doesn’t always move forward without stopping. Sometimes it zigs and zags, and sometimes you start walking backward. But what matters is that you always see how far you’ve come. My New Boss is Goofy Episode 11 is one of the best episodes of the Fall anime season and the year.

My New Boss is Goofy Episode 11 is streaming now exclusively on Crunchyroll.