Working!! (S1) 1-13 Final
Working is an anime series that have been recommended to me several times due to its relaxing nature and its realistic premise behind its storyline. It’s been very well received from fans for its character interaction and hence, its comedic spurs, so after a long period of disregarding it, due to a culmination of things, I decided it to give it a whirl and I have to say that it was an enjoyable watch because of the aforementioned reasons.
It’s imperative to mention its colourful nature. Not only is the art style very pristine and gaudy, but the whole show feels very relaxing and comfy with its Slice-of-life that is full of bright quirks and full of smiles all around. Not to mention the characters are designed cutely with their round faces and round nature thoroughly. There is nothing harmful about this anime. It is very innocent and naïve without being silly and childish. It’s indulgent without being self-indulgent. The Working environment is shown in a relaxing manner to the point of bringing out the quirky character into a focus and relieves them of the tension and hardship of being employed by self-proposed labouring society (because let’s face it, restaurant are run by self-righteous egregious individuals). To get that point fourth the Manager of the restaurant is an individual who doesn’t lift a finger and spend her time eating sweets of the expense of the very restaurant she runs and have this childish attitude towards other individuals. Needless to say, this Anime doesn’t take itself serious when it comes to the restaurant business is quite indifferent towards labour work and customer interaction. When the first episode revolves around the main character being recruited in such a silly fashion and him accepting the job on other silly reasons without any care for any economical desire even though his household is short for monetary funds (for other silly reasons), you know this Anime is using the work theme as just a stepping stone for other matter.
The main attraction of this show is character interaction, and one that is sadly forcibly shown in the latter episode, this is doen in order to bring fourth quirky personality the show have and their traits within the ‘’working’’ environment. The characters are quite well developed and have this consistent way of showing themselves as interesting individuals with original characteristic and they are portrayed in quirky way when situations arise for them to interact with each other. Their clash of personality is very amusing to watch and hence, create very comedic spurs that is, most of the time, very appropriately presented and adds very strange charisma to them as a character. Those comedic traits may be very strange, unnatural to occur in real life and is very well taken very far, but nevertheless, whilst the Slice-of-Life aspect might give it some realism, it remains a very pleasantry viewing that remains upbeat and optimistic throughout. However, their reliance of those idiosyncratic is gradually the series undoing. Some of those slapsticks run out of steam and got very tiring rather quickly since the characters, whilst being very promising and very attractive, felt quite single dimensional without any hint of aim towards progressing their character. Yes, some of those individual behaviours have been addressed as the show has proceeded; however, the same old shticks have been repeated frequently and whilst some of them have remained largely amusing, others have turned out to be very irritating quickly for its forced execution. Add to the fact that these particular irritant behaviours have actually given the focal point of the main story objective, strangely enough.
Another problem I have with the whole promise is the contingent disconnect between the Slice-of-Life attempt on realism and the eccentric side of the comedy on the characterisation and on the whole premise. This could very well be a strength of it, and one could argue the fact that quirk adds to its overall charm and helps viewer to be interested in the whole premise, but the fact that’s some of those aspect of the presentation clash with each other in such a jarring way, is something that lingers during my watch to it. To explain the matter it is important to introduce the story of the series. The series takes place restaurant Waganaria where the characters all work in its premise. Sota was recruited desperately by the restaurant in order to ease its burden that is caused by the amount of labour involved. He is a peculiar character who is attracted by anything cute and acts delirious when he sees anything that resemblance that character. He is then attracted (not in a romantic or sexual way) to the [character] who is very short and hence cute in attire and manner. Yet she is annoyed by the fact that people keep citing her short look and mistake her for a primary school pupil, hence her aim to be a longer character which ends in a futile manner. In addition to those two, and the aforementioned manager, there restaurant is run by a samurai-sword belted waitress who simply have feeding the manager as the only goal in life, an [agrophig] lass who is scared of males and attacks them when she comes in a close proximity with them and is very timid in character. You have also a mature, easily irritated chef who always tease [character] for her short stature and another who inexplicably have an have an awareness in every secret and happening around the restaurant and resort to blackmail in order to get his whites in the kitchen. Add to those, there is the 4 strange sisters of Sota as well as a peculiar and timid manager that appears throughout the series and you have a show that is full of really weird personality and character interaction.
The chemistry between them is the very attraction of the show, and this is maximised by wonderfully and funnily choreographed animation coupled with amusing dialogue and writing. However the above-mentioned disconcerting clash of realism and comical relief does dissuade the overall viewing pleasure. Yes, It’s a comedy show; yes, character interaction is the root of this show and yes, an Anime doesn’t have to be realistic in order to be enjoyable, however one could not turn a blind eye to the fact that those are characters that work in a restaurant, yet, the management style is non-existent, the customer relations is appalling in some instances, the work done is inefficient, the labouring is done in a very slow manner and the fact the waitress’ composes of someone who punches male costumer (that’s 50% of the costumers) and another who serves with a samurai sword is quite distracting even if the restaurant milieu is used as a façade. The contrast is very jarring and detriment to the overall enjoyment of the show, to a certain degree. Especially when it could have been addressed generally instead of introducing forced and superficial occurrences, which brings me to the main point of my negativity towards this series; the fact that quality diminishes as the series progresses, to the point that the last 3 episode have been presented in such appalling contrast to the beginning of the show is certainly inexcusable. Not only is the romantic element very forced and unenjoyably, but the quality of the show have also suffered, both technically and plot wise. The Background arts have been reduced to an abrasive level, the character art have lost quite a lot of detail and the animation as well as the facial expression have also suffered in the process. It almost feels that they run out of budget which is rather worrying since it’s a half a season Anime.
Generally, the art is fantastic. Its curvy and mawkish nature coupled with vibrant colour effect and pleasant overlay brings forward the vivacious environment and the relaxing theme of the show. The characters move pleasantly and are animated deliberately in order to show personalities that reflects the shows happy and upbeat nature. Furthermore the background art is clean and drawn well to represent the setting as well as bring forward the individuality of the Anime. The Architecture is simple yet accessible and gets the job done, despite the repetitive locales. The comedic skits are also well shown and are drawn to get the point across. Overall it’s a pleasantly produced Anime with a lot of character. However, as mentioned, the quality drops later on which is a shame since the general theme of the show is promising and exciting.
To surmise, it’s an Anime that is well worth seeking out and a Slice of Life that leaves an impression, especially if you are into those kind of show. It’s cute without being overtly cutesy and has a pleasant atmosphere, it’s amusingly funny and the charm is both represented well by its presentation and the characters’. The personalities are quirky with original traits and habits’, while the overall premise promising in the first place and the progression of it have been well produced. Sadly, the quality have gotten progressively worse by each subsequent episode with the plot moving towards an unwanted direction and the production value have also suffered in the process, however, the overall journey is enjoyable enough which the main thing.
7/10
