Now before I go onto my review about Mangaka-san to Assistant-san, I want to preface by saying that this show will go over a lot of people’s heads. Ecchi is usually either a big hit or a complete whiff; that’s the reality. And for me, it was a homerun.
Mangaka-san to Assistant-san is formatted with 13 minute long episodes. Many people may question this, as we are all accustomed to the usual 23 minute setting, but regardless of its short length, this show managed to maintain an astounding “laughs per episode” for me (if I were to pull a number out of my ass, I’d say I laughed out loud at least 10 times each episode).
Unlike a normal review, I will not go in-depth about the production quality like animations, sound, plot, scripting, etc. Why? This is a comedy. An ecchi one, to be exact. It has only one objective: make the viewer laugh.
So if I were to make a concise statement about the production quality of Mangaka-san to Assistant-san, I’d say: “nothing worth mentioning”. The sound was a bit poor, and the art, excluding the characters’ reactions to gags, was sub-par. The voice acting was decent, fitting the characters well when they went off on their antics, but the scripting was sometimes awkward, and the character development was little to none. In reality, if I were to rate this series based solely on the aspects mentioned above, this wouldn’t even get a 4/10.
The aspect that really made Mangaka-san a success was the humor. I felt my ribs were in stitches at the end of every episode, and really lifted my mood whenever finished an episode. Bottom line, it’s fucking hilarious.
But if someone were to ask me if they should watch this series, I would hesitate because this kind of comedy is gold to some, while utter horseshit to the rest (also, if I knew them in real life, they may question my well-being). So what is my final verdict? Spare 13 minutes out of your life and watch the first episode. You liked it? Continue. Hated it? Go watch something more serious like Bakuman.
Final score: Elevator scene/10.
