To start off, let me introduce myself. My name is Raphael and I’m one of the new bloggers here at Borderline Hikikomori. Pleased to meet you!
Welcome to Wagnaria!
Working!! is one of the shows slated for the upcoming season, and one that I’ll be blogging. Set in a family restaurant called Wagnaria, it’s a slice-of-life comedy that revolves around the lives of the men and women who work there. In this first (preview) episode, we meet Poplar Taneshima, a wide-eyed and ditzy waitress who is tasked with finding a new part-timer for the restaurant. She begins her search by asking her schoolmates but after no luck with this method, she sets out to recruit strangers. She literally runs into high school student Sota Takanashi, who mistakes her for a lost child. After she clears the air with him and inadvertently reveals that they go to the same school – and that she is, in fact, older than him – he happily takes the job. He’s brought back to the restaurant and introduced to lazy assistant manager Shirafuji Kyoko, as well as Jun Sato and Hiroomi Soma, both chefs, and Yachiyo Todoroki, the sword-carrying “crew chief”.
I've never heard an insect described as "moe" before...
Following this is a somewhat bizarre turn of events where Sota compares Poplar to an insect behind her back, calls twenty-eight year old Kyoko “pretty old” (and gets crazy shifts as a result), and later watches as she fights some customers who are teasing Poplar… and then orders some friends to rob them. Towards the end of the episode, the new recruit meets another member of staff, the man-phobic Inami Mahiru, who greets him with a wild punch to the nose. Suffice to say, Sota has realised that working at Wagnaria is going to be interesting… to say the least.
Math is clearly his strong point.
I quite enjoyed this episode. The art is done in typical A-1 Pictures style (see Sora no Woto), with smooth animation. The cast, especially the male members, give strong performances and the character designs are sweet but nothing special. The atmosphere of the show was fun and lively, with a strangely calming effect despite the occasionally frenetic pace of the jokes. Since this is a slice-of-life series, the fate of the show is really going to depend on the strength of the characters. I’m not entirely won over by them as of yet, but I feel confident that I’ll grow to be very fond of them within the space of a few more installments.
"It's a man! Check if he's armed!"
The full run of Working!! will begin on April 4.
Wow, I didn’t even know this episode was out until I came home and noticed there was a post about it here. I enjoyed it as well, even though the character extremes are, well, a little extreme.
And a warm welcome to you too! I hope you enjoy your time writing for us. :]
They are a little… err… extreme, particularly Poplar and Inami. xD For some reason, I didn’t mind it that much though. Even Sota, being the self-professed “minicon” that he is, didn’t annoy me nearly as much as that character archetype usually does.
Thank you so much! ^^ I’m already enjoying it, and I’m only on my first post. Haha.
Howdy!
This show will probably live and die on two things: 1) as you note the characters, if people don’t learn to like them people will drop it, and 2) the humor. I hope it will turn out to be quite funny. I think I saw somewhere that this show has a connection to Sketchbook~fullcolors~. I liked Sketchbook, but I think this show can’t afford to be as laid back comedically as Sketchbook, which had a more relaxed vibe (like it could just check out the mountains in the rain). The energy level on Working seems more like Azumanga Daioh.