Ranked #411

Working!!

Right from the start of each episode and to the very end, you will ask yourself "what is the point of this show?" Is it about people working in a restaurant? Is it about some useless manager and a busty loli? Or is it about the life of Takanashi, who must be masochist for not quitting his job after being assaulted everyday at work? I've given up on trying to understand and decided to just ride the roller coaster that is Working!!.

Story: Everything begins introducing the Wagnaria restaurant and our little hostess Taneshima. It's a normal day for everyone and it has been unusually busy for a while, which leads to talk about hiring a new worker. The manager is usually suppose to handle these kind of things, but due to Kyouko's laziness, Taneshima is put in charge of the task. In the beginning she tries asking friends at school and nobody would take up her offer. She even went so far as to recruit people from the street. After many attempts she still didn't manage to get even one person to work for the restaurant. Later into the story she runs into Takanashi, who immediately thinks she is a lost child making up stories. After several attempts to convince him, he only decides to start working with her because of her loli appearance and cute traits. Sadly Takanashi has no idea what he has agreed to.

Art: Nothing special to see here. No major changes in quality and even during the comedy scene's the faces remain the same. It's not necessarily a bad thing because I've grown tired of it changing constantly every three minutes. The only time they actually used some CG blending techniques was when Takanashi decides to use a makeshift miniature pole to lead Inami along. It didn't look to bad, but I would say everything about this anime is on a average scale.

Character: All of the characters in this anime are truly eccentric, and I don't mean that in a good way when it comes to half of them. I'll start off with our masochist Takanashi. He's always very rational with his decisions and probably the most down to earth person in the anime, but sadly he's also one of the weirdest. He's infatuated with anything "small", "cute", overall littler then him.

Next we have Taneshima, the hard working busty loli that everyone adores. She's the main reason why Takanashi decided to work at the restaurant. Taneshima carries a very child-like personality and is always trying her best, but to no avail she can barely complete small task around the kitchen without aid. One prime example is that she can't even put up plates in a cabinet do to height issues.

Kyouko is the manager of the restaurant, but does absolutely "nothing" and I mean it. She sits back and watches her employees work all day and demands parfaits on a daily bases. I think there was only one episode of her doing work as of now, and that involved beating up some young men out of their money for trying to skip out on the bill. Her entire attitude is just "ugh" and trying to confront her about about any of these things will probably only lead to a pessimistic situation.

Yachiyo is one of the most extreme characters in the anime. At times she's completely docile and idiotic, serving her secret love parfaits on the regular, and their is times when Yachiyo becomes so jealous that she literally tries to kill the obstacle. What do you think she tries to kill with when these mood swings happen? A "Katana" that she has on her waist at all times (that includes during work hours) were customers are frightened by the sight of her holding something that dangerous. Strangely she acts like it's no big deal.

Satou and Souma are the chefs for the restaurant and Satou is probably even more normal then Takanashi (In terms of common sense). He spends the majority of his time either cooking or teasing Taneshima about her height by saying "ah, have you grown taller" then the crappy let down comes right after. The only time he show any real emotion is when Yachiyo is involved. Souma is the sneaky type that holds dirt on everyone in the restaurant. He uses his sources to "calmly threaten" others into meaningless labor and gets a lot of laughs out of teasing people. The only person he can't get to is Satou.

Last in Inami, the one type of character I despise the most in almost any series. She utterly can't stand men and if any guy is within her reach, she will literally jab them in the jaw or any place that she can reach. Inami claims that she makes a effort to rid herself of that disturbing phobia, but I don't even believe she has tried to stop herself even once. Her phobia is so bad that she can't even serve men their food? Even though she's suppose to be a hostess in a restaurant?

Sound: I'm pretty sure that anyone who has watched this anime, has sung the opening song a couple of times because I immediately starting watching this anime based on that one theme. The soundtrack isn't nothing catchy at all and really it's just there because it would be pretty boring to see idiots to idiotic things with no music to help spice up the comedy a bit. The ending theme was ok the first three times I listened to it, but now I can't stand it. I mainly skip it and get right to the previews.

Enjoyment: At this point I've mainly enjoyed scene's involving satou and Yachiyo Souma. It's like watching a love comedy with all the elements I like. I feel bad for satou and at the same time I'm cracking up because the one girl he likes is not only attracted to someone else, but to a female who's also their boss. Then add Souma to the mix and he's constantly trying to start a fire between the two of them. Their characters really remind me of Izaya and Shizuo.

Overall: The inconsistency in this show is what drove me away in the beginning. One minute it's about the restaurant and showing everyone's experiences while working, next it's about inami and her phobia, then later into the anime it doesn't even seem like they work anymore. All their activities seem to be them playing around while at work. For me this anime has felt like a really long ride on a roller coaster. I don't smile or barely laugh, but it keeps me coming back for more. It's a strange feeling when you can't understand why you watch something that makes you feel heated. I still feel like Working!! had a lot more potential to shine, but nearing the end I feel like they did improve a lot from when it was midway into the series. read more

With the coming of an Anime with just about no plot, one wonders how good something like Working!! can actually be. To my surprise, what was supposed to be a filler series to pass the time for me ended up being one of the most enjoyable of spring 2010.

There isnt much of a story really. Takanashi justs goes to work at a family restaurant full of weird and unique co-workers and takes it from there for the rest of the series. However even with the lack of a real story, Working!! makes up for easily with their characters. Even with the lack of plot, a handful of the characters were well done in the sense that they achieve what this anime was ment to do, to make us laugh. There were quite a bit of running gags, but still has more then enough to keep you watching.

For an anime with very minimal plot, it does a very outstanding job in entertaining its viewers and is definitely worth watching. read more