Blend S

Wishing to be independent, 16-year-old Maika Sakuranomiya is desperate to nail down a part-time job so that she can afford to study abroad. Unfortunately, her applications are constantly rejected due to the menacing look she unintentionally makes whenever she smiles, despite her otherwise cheerful disposition.

After yet another failed interview, she chances upon Café Stile, a coffee shop where the servers interact with the customers while roleplaying distinctive characteristics. The Italian store manager, Dino, becomes infatuated with Maika's cuteness at first sight, and offers her a job as a waitress with a sadistic nature. Coupled with her inherent clumsiness, she successfully manages to serve a pair of masochistic customers in accordance with her new, ruthless persona. Alongside Kaho Hinata as the tsundere and Mafuyu Hoshikawa as the younger sister, Maika decides to make the most out of her unique quirk and cements her position in the cafe with merciless cruelty!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sakuranomiya, Maika Main

Waki, Azumi Japanese

Hinata, Kaho Main

Kitou, Akari Japanese

Hoshikawa, Mafuyu Main

Haruno, Anzu Japanese

Dino Main

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Akizuki, Kouyou Main

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa Japanese

Kanzaki, Hideri Supporting

Tokui, Sora Japanese

Amano, Miu Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Sakuranomiya, Aika Supporting

Matsuzaki, Rei Japanese

Mahou Shoujo Frill Supporting

Ogura, Yui Japanese

Sakuranomiya, Kouichi Supporting

Satou, Shinki Japanese

Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Producer

Onoue, Taiki Producer

Niwa, Masami Producer

Masuyama, Ryouji Director

Reviews

Dec 23, 2017

Stark700

Recommended

What’s better than a cafe with delicious food? A cafe with cute girls to serve you of course! It gets even better. These girls have some exaggerated personalities. From sadistic to tsundere, it’s a place that really gives customers a hell of an experience. Blend S is honestly an anime that I found ridiculously fun to watch.

Starting from the beginning, it shouldn’t take long for viewers to recognize that the anime has a lot of fun with itself. The selling point of show is the comedy as every main female characters’ personalities are beyond the normal norm. Honestly, I lost count how many times ... I laughed in this show because how over the top it is. From Maika’s sadism to Miu’s older sister behavior, it’s a series that really became self-aware of its intentions. Indeed, Blend S’ storytelling isn’t accomplished through its plot. Every day consist of workplace sitcoms that cleverly delivers its humor. I’m also surprised how smooth the pacing the show felt. It felt like every episode is able to connect with each other and staying true to its premise and genres. The show doesn’t need to really rely on story at all to deliver satisfaction.

Of course, it’s the characters that puts value into the comedy. Here’s the thing: the female characters that work there have some deceptive personalities. Maika is one of the guiltiest examples as she displays traits of sadism in almost every episode. Early impressions of Maika can be surprising as such a sweet innocent girl that can be deceptively sadistic on paper. The words she use and way she talks to her customers become a source of recurring humor. However, be aware that it’s pretty much a parody. Maika isn’t truly malevolent and actually worries about how to treat customers better. The way she snaps back to a more apologetic personality is infectiously amusing to watch. Then, there’s Kaho Hinata, a girl that plays the role of a tsundere. In truth, she’s not a tsundere although the anime really try to get her over as one. Mafuyu Hoshikawa brings in a feel of innocence because of her appearance although in truth, her age is older than she appears to be. In fact, she is one of the more mature characters in the show. This trio is mainly the core of the series that are able to capitalize their personality to astonishing levels.

There are also some other characters that are worth taking notice too. This includes the inspiring idol trap Hideri Kanzaki and the older sister role model, Miu. Although not featured as prominently as the core characters, they still bring it a lot of personality. Through character chemistry, they bring a handful amount of colorful moments to the show that can be deceptively fun to watch. On the other hand, I can’t really say the guys in this anime are memorable. Dino and Koyou are the only two main guys although their role is portrayed more as side characters. They only shine best through character interactions with others (especially Maika and Dino) rather than by themselves. In fact, Dino is portrayed more as a butt monkey that no one can take seriously. This anime also does a fair amount of ship teasing between the cast although nothing really gets serious. Remember, it’s a show that make fun of the working environment. Working at a cafe is mostly seen as part of the blue collar occupation category yet this anime is able to bring the fun out of that. Also do note that the series does occasionally go beyond their restaurant such as the outdoors and even the beach.

As a comedy-slice of life, I think Blend S simply did the best with what it had to work with. Some viewers will point fingers at the dead plot or repetitive jokes. However, I confess that it always feels refreshing to see a show like this step up to the plate. I’ve only read parts of the manga but to say the least, the anime captures the overall mood of the anime accurately and consistent with the character personalities. The way it expresses them is what really gives this show its meaningful value.

I was surprised that A-1 Pictures were announced to be adapting this anime. It didn’t really fit with their style but thankfully, they manage to pull it off. For starters, Café Stile has a surprisingly amount of realism. If you ever walked into a café, then you would expect it to look something very similar to the one in this show. Then, there are the character designs. The waitresses in the show wear their work outfits with certain colors. It’s adorably charming and very fitting for a show especially since the waitresses are the main attraction. Character traits are also evident such as Maika’s height (and occasional ponytail hairstyle), Miu’s oneesama face, Kaho’s signature twin tails, or Hideri’s deceptive look. However, the biggest selling point of the visual style is the character expressions. It reflects the false personalities of the characters as parodies and works in wonder. Maika’s “sadistic” smirk and Kaho’s tsundere reactions are just a few examples. To say the least, A-1 Pictures convince me that they can handle a show like Blend S. Oh and there is some fan service but rather than adapting it in some alluring way, it’s used to portray the credibility of the setting.

Oh boy, the OP song. “Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise, Service” became a meme that went over. You can look up the song on Youtube or some popular video streaming site and see many parodies of it. Those words reflect the fake identity and personalities of the characters. Beyond that, I am also somewhat impressed by the character voices in this show. Maika in particular is noticeable for her ability to shift her tone of voice through certain frames. Miu’s oneesama voice gives off a mixture of mature and sexy vibe that is hard to ignore. Finally, there’s Hideri…and the character is really able to surprise you because of the voice.

Blend S is hardly blend but instead takes great care of its characters. Through their personalities, they are able to sell the show’s immense amount of humor to viewers. Playing as characters that go against stereotypical archetypes isn’t easy but to me, Blend S really worked itself to accomplish that.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 24, 2017

HellLyter

Mixed Feelings

Sometimes it just takes and endearing cast and fun situations to make me Smile. Blend S doesn’t boast an intricate plot with elaborate detail and it quite frankly doesn’t need one to be successful. This is a very Sweet anime that managed to be enjoyable and consistently entertaining, which was honestly a Surprise to me since I didn't really have any expectations coming into this anime. Maika with her unintentionally Sadistic looks ended up being my favorite part of the show, though this doesn’t mean that she overshadowed the rest of the cast, who all managed to stand out in their own ways. Even the ... really minor characters, like Maika’s Sister, had their moments. Overall, I’d have to say that A-1 pictures did a fine Service to the anime industry by releasing this show.

The basic premise of the show is that a high school girl named Maika wants to get a job so she can pay for the expenses to study abroad. There’s just one problem; nobody wants to hire her because she has a naturally nasty look in her eyes. Feeling dejected, Maika’s fortune changes for the better when the Italian manager of Cafe Stile, Dino, hires her because she’d be perfect at playing a sadistic waitress in his restaurant. His strong penchant for dark haired Japanese girls also played a part in his hiring of Maika. Long story short, Maika finds success at her job and formulates strong friendships with her coworkers.

Basically, each episode showcases different scenarios in which the characters end up in comedic situations. Now these types of shows can either be hits or misses. It ultimately depends on the quality of the characters and the jokes. Fortunately for Blend S, it got both departments right. Let’s briefly analyze the prominent characters to see why they positively contribute to the success of the show.

Maika is the protagonist, and she really is a gentle and innocent girl. She wants to make customers smile and always tries to do her best. Though thanks to her menacing glare and awkwardness, she oftentimes ends up being a picture perfect sadist, much to her chagrin. Though its her unintentional tendency to act like a sadist that makes me and the customers at Cafe Stile adore her so. I was afraid that the emphasis on her vicious glare would end up getting old, but it actually didn’t. It was used in many different scenarios throughout the anime’s runtime that kept the humor revolving around it fresh and fun. Though she’s great on her own, what really makes her shine is her chemistry with the other characters, specifically Dino.

Dino is the manager of Cafe Stile, and its very clear that he is a masochist (and a pervert in the eyes of his employees). He has a one sided love for Maika and has nosebleeds whenever she does something remotely cute. He’s actually one of the better male leads that I’ve seen in recent memory, because while many act too serious to be entertaining characters, Dino’s silliness makes him very fun to watch. Whether it be happily getting stepped on by Maika or failing to get his feelings across to her, Dino never failed to bring a smile to my face whenever he appeared on screen.

Kaho acts as the tsundere at the cafe, though in reality she would be better described as a game addicted shut in. She’s a nice character, though I personally like her best when she interacts with Akizuki, the chef at the cafe. He’s also a recluse and has no experience with women, so his interactions with Kaho usually end up being both cute and comical. Mafuyu is the final original cast member and is the little sister at the cafe. When she works, she puts on a smile that could melt even the coldest of hearts and acts like a loving, bubbly imouto. However, she really is a 20 year old college student who rarely shows emotion. Its an amusing contrast, and since I’m a fan of both of her personality types, I ended up really liking her character.

The other two characters worth giving a shoutout to are Miu and Hideri, who start working at the cafe in the latter portion of the anime. Miu is a dōjinshi artist and a pervert while Hideri is…well, lets just say that Hideri is the “surprise.” Now all of these characters are decent on their own, but when blended together, they really stand out. They just compliment each other remarkably well, which makes for an enjoyable viewing experience.

Blend S was refreshing. Many anime that I’ve seen recently have tried to construct an intricate story filled to the brim with “epic” plot twists and the like. While some succeed, many more ultimately fail, and watching them ends up becoming more of a chore than a pleasant viewing experience. With Blend S, I was able to relax and just enjoy some light hearted comedy, which can honestly be all that’s needed to make a show great. Blend S is by no means spectacular, but it's a nice show to watch if you just want to see some lighthearted fun.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 25, 2017

Piezuri

Not Recommended

*insert original "S" joke*

Blend S is A-1's attempt at making Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu Ka?, and it's a fair attempt, that falls short because of the bland unlikable characters, unlike the characters of GochiUsa. I had high hopes for Blend S, I thought it would be the first A-1 show that I actually like, but sadly, I was wrong.

Story: 3/10

What story? Do you really think A-1 would try to compliment this show with an overarching story like the one in New Game? A story in a Slice of Life CGDCT show is something that can make said show even better, because the events happening compliment ... each other instead of being random one-shot episodes. Blend S does not have a story. It tried to, with various character introductions that come later on in the show and the last """confession""" episode, but it fails at doing so.

Basically, Blend S goes as following: Character introduction>episode dedicated to the character>random episode>character introduction>rinse repeat. This would be fine if the characters in the show were actually charismatic and fun, which they are not, something I'll address in the Character section.

The humor in Blend S relies mainly on visual gags. It's the typical humor you'd expect from a CGDCT show. It's boring, unoriginal, and didn't make me laugh a single time. Although, I wasn't really expecting high comedic value out of a show like this.

All in all, Blend S presents episodic stories that could only be interesting or fun to watch to the crowd that enjoyed Gabriel Dropout earlier this year.

Art: 7/10

For once A-1 do not have a noticeable animation drop in their show. The art style is similar to the one in Eromanga-sensei. It's simple and "gets the job done", after all, I wouldn't be expecting a memorable art style from a CGDCT A-1 show.

Sound: 5/10

The opening is catchy, especially since the "Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise" sequence made itself into a meme. What this shows suffers on is the unremarkable voice acting. Aside from Hideri who is voiced by the one and only Tokui Sora (Nico Yazawa's voice actor), who did an amazing job at her role of sounding like a girl and a boy at the same time, the rest of the cast is quite bland and doesn't really stand out.

Character: 2/10

Good thing that Kaho exists, because dear lord the rest of the cast was painful to watch. The cast would be fine if this show were a short, because the characters wouldn't get boring by episode 6, but the same cannot be said for a full 12 episode show. As you'd expect from the premise of the show, every character is reduced to 1 or 2 traits. These traits are kept as they are since episode 1, and get little to no development. If every character was introduced in episode 1, you could literally watch every episode in the order you liked. Worst part, is that one of my favourite character types, the onee-san, ended up being sidelined, and thus, being bland.

The problem here is the untapped potential of the situation the characters are being put into. Personally, watching Blend S, I expected that at some moment the theme of "faking character" was to be brought up, you know, "Forgetting their own personality because they have to fake one for the job they have to do". This theme would make for some interesting character interactions and/or development, but apparently this was too much effort for the scriptwriters.

Enjoyment: 3/10

I gradually started watching this show just for the moments with Akizuki and Kaho. Since the show is way too centered around Maika than it should be, if you do not like Maika, you won't enjoy the show.

Overall: 3/10

Blend S should truly just be called "Bland S"

If you're part of the crowd that enjoys shows with zero character development and no plot like Gabriel Dropout, go ahead and watch Blend S, as you'd surely enjoy it.

Would I recommend Blend S?

Just go watch GochiUsa.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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