Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues

Yukio Tonegawa (利根川 幸雄, Tonegawa Yukio)

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa[3] (Japanese); David Harbold (English)[4]

The main character of the story. He is one of the top executives of the Teiai Group and is a hard-working man with a good command of the human mind and high level of trust from his subordinates. However, he is not very good at reading Hyōdō's feelings, and he is often reprimanded for provoking his displeasure. Although he serves almost year-round, he is not rewarded much. In the past, he worked at the south Hateruma branch of Teiai, and he still has scars from being bitten by a sea snake there. His favorite foods are yakiniku and yakiniku bento.

Kenji Yamazaki (山崎 健二, Yamazaki Kenji)

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano[3] (Japanese); Andrew Love (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits in the project team, 30 years old. He has worked directly under the Chairman and is a leader among the blacksuit members. At first he was dissatisfied with Tonegawa's arrogant work ethic, but after being touched by his hard work and honest personality, he changed his mind, and later became a loyal subordinate who could be called a confidant of Tonegawa. He is also in charge of taking care of Masayan.

Jirou Saemonsaburou (佐衛門三郎 二朗, Saemonsaburō Jirō)

Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki[3] (Japanese); Alan Brincks (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 23 years old. Before Nishiguchi joined, he was the youngest member of the team. He is remarkably capable of contributing and being flexible, such as coming up with ideas for Restricted Rock-Paper-Scissors, and stands out among the team for his creativity. On the other hand, he has a free-spirited side and behaves with abandon, which is typical of today's youth. He is a skilled mahjong player in Team Tonegawa and won the Tonegawa mahjong tournament. Being the only one of the early members to have a very unusual last name, he is often called "Saemon" by those around him.

Toshimasa Kawasaki (川崎 敏政, Kawasaki Toshimasa)

Voiced by: Kōtarō Nishiyama[3] (Japanese); Ty Mahany (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 30 years old. He was the first member on the team to come down with the flu.

Keiichi Ogino (荻野 圭一, Ogino Keiichi)

Voiced by: Akira Ishida[3] (Japanese); John Gremillion (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 35 years old. When he got married in chapter 25, it was revealed that his birthplace was Zambia, in southern Africa, and that he had aspired to be a comedian in the past.

Hidetoshi Nakata (中田 英寿, Nakata Hidetoshi)

Voiced by: Daisuke Hamano[3] (Japanese); Jack Ivy (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 32 years old. He likes planetariums and is the biggest bowling enthusiast on the team. He is interested in Nishiguchi and often invites her out for dinner. He is a bit of an airhead and makes a lot of careless remarks, and he is the only one who doesn't know about Saemon and Nishiguchi's love affairs at all. Despite being true to his own desires, he tends to act silly.

Gonda (権田)

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama[3] (Japanese); John Swasey (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 49 years old. He is the oldest person on the team. His career path has already been cut off, and he is concerned about it. He has spent his entire life running away from responsibility, but when Tonegawa comes down with the flu, he is directly ordered to be his substitute. Encouraged by Doushita, he began to take on more responsibility.

Kouji Doushita (堂下 浩次, Dōshita Kōji)

Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi[3] (Japanese); Jay Hickman (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 32 years old. He is a former captain of the rugby team at T-Kyo University and an enthusiastic sportsman. He has a good sense of humor, such as encouraging Gonda, who played the part of Tonegawa. On the other hand, as pointed out by Nakata, his sports-minded attitude is difficult to get along with, and when Tonegawa had a medical checkup, he went to extreme lengths to control his diet (such throwing high-calorie lunch boxes in the trash), with Tonegawa describing himself as "a man under surveillance". He has a petite younger brother named Takashi who works part-time for Team Tonegawa. In the anime adaptation, he is shown to be willing to fully eat even the disgusting foods, such as grasshopper tsukudani and frog sausages.

Ebitani (海老谷)

Voiced by: Taku Yashiro[3] (Japanese); Mike Yager (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 25 years old. A representative troublemaker in the story who would later become the first defector. His enthusiasm and energy for his work are extraordinary, but he cannot see the big picture and is described by Tonegawa as "a cannon facing the wrong way". In chapter 62, he shows a decent side by giving advice to Kanie, a younger co-worker.

Junichi Hagio (萩尾 純一, Hagio Junichi)

Voiced by: Kengo Kawanishi[3] (Japanese); Orlanders Jones (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits, 35 years old. He was later transferred to the Teiai branch office in south Hateruma with Kikuchi and Nagata. He has a younger twin brother Kouichi (幸一) who was interviewed by Teiai while job hunting and rejected by Yamazaki due to having the same last name and face as that of his older brother.

Kikuchi (菊地)

Voiced by: Takaya Aoyagi[3] (Japanese); Rob Mungle (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits. He is 35 years old.

Nagata (長田)

Voiced by: Chiharu Sawashiro[3] (Japanese); Mike Haimoto (English)[4]

One of the initial black suits. He is 37 years old.

Ataru Yaotome (八乙女 中, Yaotome Ataru)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima[3] (Japanese); Gareth West (English)

One of the added black suits. He is a former salesman who joined Teiai as a mid-career hire. After literally bending over backwards for Hyōdō's attention, he becomes the president's secretary.

Ton (東さん, Ton-san)

Voiced by: Genki Okawa[3] (Japanese); Joe Daniels (English)

An assistant black suit hastily called in during Tonegawa's Human Mahjong project presentation. Though he is not an official member, but is always there to carry out chores. He is later promoted to an official member by filling in the vacant position due to Tsukui's elopement, with his former choreman position taken over by Ebitani. Real name unknown.

Saeko Nishiguchi (西口 冴子, Nishiguchi Saeko)

Voiced by: Rena Maeda[3] (Japanese); Elissa Cuellar (English)

One of the added black suit members following the transfer of Hagio, Kikuchi and Nagata. She is 22 years old and the lone female black suit in Tonegawa's team, which is unusual for Teiai. She is from Hakata and has a brother named Hiro. In her private life, she posts selfies on social media and gives homemade cakes to other members. In addition, Tonegawa sometimes asks her to provide a "female perspective". She later had an office love affair with Saemon, but they soon broke up.

Tsukui (津久井)

One of the added black suits. He is a temporary employee and has somewhat narrow eyes. He is not good at the basic skills needed in business culture such as reporting, contacting and discussing. His attempts at calling the steelworks so they can deliver a steel beam for the Steel Beam Crossing game all resulted in failure. Instead, he used a clothesline as a substitute, which resulted in all of the debtors surviving by forfeiting. Afterwards, he goes outside to a convenience store and is not seen again.

Junichi Miyazaki (宮崎 純一, Miyazaki Junichi)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards. He is from Nagasaki.

Masaya Oosaki (大崎 正也, Ōsaki Masaya)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards. He is from Takasaki.

Junsaburou Higashimitateda (東御建田 順三郎, Higashimitateda Junsaburō)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards. Just like Saemon, he has an unusually complicated last name.

Shouta Yamada (山田 正太, Yamada Shōta)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards. He is the only one of the Yamadas to have suffered from appendicitis in the past.

Taichi Yamada (山田 太一, Yamada Taichi)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards. He has a small birthmark behind his ear.

Shouichi Yamada (山田 正一, Yamada Shōichi)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards.

Hosoyamada (細山田)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards.

Saburou Monjushirou (文殊四郎 三郎, Monjushirō Saburō)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards. Just like Saemon, he has an unusually complicated last name.

Kyousuke Kumanomidou (熊埜御堂 京介, Kumanomidō Kyōsuke)

One of the added black suits from chapter 54 onwards. Just like Saemon, he has an unusually complicated last name. While the rest of the newly added members enjoy ordinary golf, he is the only one who enjoys minigolf.

Yuusaku Kanie (蟹江 優作, Kanie Yūsaku)

A new graduate who appears in chapter 62. He is somewhat nervous and his heart throbs at the thought of picking up the phone. He is nicknamed "Crab" (カニ, Kani) by Ebitani, which leads him to call Ebitani "Mr. Shrimp" (エビさん, Ebi-san). He proposes the game of E-Card during a presentation and is given advice by his superior Ebitani. The game was successfully adopted afterwards.

Masayasu Honda (本田 正安, Honda Masayasu)

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka[3]

A former restaurant employee who looks identical to President Hyodo, nicknamed Masayan (まさやん). He was scouted out by Teiai to serve as a diabolical body double under Hyodo's orders. Despite being the exact opposite to the president in terms of personality, he nevertheless becomes able to reproduce his personality through special training. In Yamazaki's absence, he was spoiled by Team Tonegawa, which led to him ranking everyone except Yamazaki lower than himself, and he went out of his way to break everyone's personal belongings, but is eventually corrected by Kurosaki. From then on, he has been fearful of Kurosaki, and the phrase "Kuro's coming!" is enough to get him to behave.

Hajime Miyamoto (宮本 一, Miyamoto Hajime)

Voiced by: Toshiki Masuda[3]

A monitoring blacksuit from the Teiai underground forced labor facility who also appears in the spin-off 1-nichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchō. He makes his first appearance in this series in chapter 74, asking the T-AI robot to read his palm.

Ueno (上野)

Voiced by: Taiten Kusunoki (Japanese); Patrick Poole (English)

One of Tonegawa's classmates from high school days.

Shinanogawa (信濃川)

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (Japanese); Kyle Colby Jones (English)

One of Tonegawa's classmates from high school days. He and Tonegawa are known as the "Great Rivers Duo" because of their surnames being derived from real-life Japanese rivers (Tone River and Shinano River).

Nakabeppu (中別府)

Voiced by: Hozumi Gōda (Japanese); Mark Mendelsohn (English)

One of Tonegawa's classmates from high school days.

Maho Kagawa (香川 真穂, Kagawa Maho)

Voiced by: Eri Saitō (Japanese); Patricia Duran (English)

One of Tonegawa's classmates from high school days. Tonegawa was her first love.

Okamura (岡村)

Voiced by: Yūko Ueda (Japanese); Samantha Stevens (English)

One of Tonegawa's classmates from high school days.

Kazutaka Hyōdō (兵藤 和尊, Hyōdō Kazutaka)

Voiced by: Masane Tsukayama (Japanese); Marty Fleck (English)[3][4]

An old man who is the diabolical of the Teiai Group. He is called "Chairman" by his subordinates. There is more emphasis put on his old man qualities than in the main story, such as going to bed immediately at 10 PM and not skimping on skin care in the fall and winter. In the short story written by the original author, Fukumoto, he is depicted as caring about his son Kazuya's friendships.

Yoshihiro Kurosaki (黒崎 義裕, Kurosaki Yoshihiro)

Voiced by: Atsushi Miyauchi (Japanese); Jovan Jackson (English)[3]

One of the top executives in the Teiai Group and a rival to Tonegawa, who is vying for the No. 2 spot in the Teiai Group. In contrast to Tonegawa, he has a knack for getting on Hyōdō's good side and often makes sharp and pointed remarks. As told by Tonegawa, he can always point out things that are hard to say without hesitation, and it always leads to a positive response. For the most part, he is gentle and aloof enough to make Hyōdō falter at times, but he is also ruthless enough to give a violent slap to the unruly Masayan and make him calm down in an instant with his dark expression, which has traumatized him since then.

Yuuji Endou (遠藤 勇次, Endō Yūji)

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda[3] (Japanese); David Matranga (English)

A yakuza and president of the Teiai-affiliated company Endō Finance. Since he works under Tonegawa, he often appears as a supporting character. He tends to sympathize with Tonegawa, but due to his outrageous "favors" such as brainwashing recently-graduated blacksuits more than necessary and dumping Masayan in the woods without permission, Tonegawa becomes wary of how he always shows up at odd times and how whatever he does always leads to negative consequences.

Seiya Ichijou (一条 聖也, Ichijō Seiya)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa[3] (Japanese); Scott Gibbs (English)

A young manager of a Teiai-affiliated underground casino that hosts the man-eating pachinko known as "The Bog". In order to recover the 1.5 billion yen that the Bog has swallowed, he entertains Tonegawa when he visits the casino. However, the reception was very poor, and Tonegawa is appalled by how blatantly rigged the Bog's settings are.

Murakami (村上)

Voiced by: Takaaki Torashima

Ichijou's underling and senior staff of the underground casino that Ichijou manages. At Ichijou's command, the he blatantly rigged the settings of the Bog.

Kinezaki (木根崎)

Voiced by: Rei Yamahata (Japanese); Michael Wronski (English)

A representative of the Kansai branch of the Teiai Group. He is always high-handed and self-centered, ranting and yelling at his subordinates ("a yakuza-like man," according to Tonegawa).

Watanabe (渡辺くん, Watanabe-kun)

Voiced by: Masato Hagiwara (Japanese); Blake Shepard (English)

One of the debtors. Before becoming indebted, he had a problematic personality as a working adult, and despite his good age, he is selfish and enjoys horse racing. When he first appeared, he was dressed similarly to Kaiji in the Espoir arc, but with round facial features in contrast to Kaiji's more pointed chin and nose. Endō summons him to his lecture about multiple debtors where his childish actions are shown, such as spending company money on pachinko and using the money that his mother collected from other relatives to bet on horse racing instead of paying his debts.

Satoshi Aida (相田 さとし, Aida Satoshi)

One of the debtors. Aspiring to be a comedian, he demonstrates his comedy routine to President Hyōdō and Tonegawa in an attempt to promote himself. He draws the ire of Chairman Hyōdō, who calls him a genuine idiot who is not worthy of ridicule at all, while Tonegawa has to pretend he isn't amused by feigning a yawn. In the end, Aida is sent underground and manages to amuse Isawa with his jokes there. He appears in chapter 61 of 1-nichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchō, where his aftermath is depicted.

Kaiji Itō (伊藤 開司, Itō Kaiji)

Voiced by: Masato Hagiwara[3]

The protagonist of the main series. He appears in several recap scenes as well as the end of episode 13 in the anime adaptation. He does not appear in the manga, only referred to by name in one line of narration dialogue in chapter 59.

Tarou Ootsuki (大槻 太郎, Ōtsuki Tarō)

Voiced by: Chō (Japanese); Greg Cote (English)[3]

The foreman of Squad E in the underground facility and protagonist of his own spin-off series 1-nichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchō. He witnessed Aida's comedy routine in chapter 50, but was not amused. He also encounters Tonegawa in the "Tonegawa vs. Foreman" one-shot.

Takuya Numakawa (沼川 拓也, Numakawa Takuya)

Voiced by: Takuya Satō (Japanese); Kregg Dailey (English)[3]

Ootsuki's close aide. He witnessed Aida's comedy routine in chapter 50, but was also not amused.

Kaoru Isawa (石和 薫, Isawa Kaoru)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese); Kyle Colby Jones (English)[3]

Ootsuki's close aide. He witnessed Aida's comedy routine in chapter 50 and was the only one of the three who laughed.

Chūkan Kanriroku Tonegawa is written by Tensei Hagiwara and illustrated by Tomohiro Hashimoto and Tomoki Miyoshi, with cooperation from Nobuyuki Fukumoto. It began serialization in Kodansha's Monthly Young Magazine on July 20, 2015,[5] and later moved to Comic Days manga app on March 5, 2018.[6] In May 2020, Comic Days manga app announced that the series would end in three chapters.[7] The series finished on June 8, 2020.[8] Kodansha has compiled its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The fist volume was published on December 4, 2015.[9] As of November 13, 2019, nine volumes have been published.[10]

An anime television series adaptation was announced in February 2018.[18] Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues is produced by Nippon TV, VAP, Nippon Television Music Corporation and Madhouse and directed by Keiichiro Kawaguchi, with Mitsutaka Hirota handling series composition, Haruhito Takada designing the characters and Takahiro Yamada composing the music. It premiered on July 4, 2018 on Nippon TV's AnichU programming block.[19][3] Jay Kabira served as the series' narrator,[3] and each episode includes different voice actresses and actors for the trademark sound effect "Zawa Zawa", among which are: Masako Nozawa, Miyuki Sawashiro, Yū Serizawa, Ari Ozawa, Kana Hanazawa, Tomoyo Kurosawa, Shiori Izawa, Megumi Han, Chō and Chiharu Sawashiro.[20][1] The series also includes segments covering a portion of chapters from 1-nichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchō, a spin-off manga about the foreman Ōtsuki.[21] The opening theme is "Sassou to Hashiru Tonegawa-kun" (颯爽と走るトネガワ君, Gallantly Running Tonegawa) by Gesu no Kiwami Otome, the first ending theme is "Oki Tegami" (隠岐手紙, Farewell Letter) by Pistol Takehara,[22] and the second ending is "Kyougen Mawashi" (狂言回し, Major Supporting Role) by NoisyCell.[23] The series ran for 24 episodes.[24]

Sentai Filmworks have licensed the anime and an English dub began streaming on Hidive on August 3, 2018.[25][26][4] Sentai Filmworks released the series on Blu-ray on October 15, 2019.[27] The show is also available for viewing on Crunchyroll.[28]