For better or worse, 'Working!!' introduces its characters slowly and gradually. Better, because getting to know these people feels very organic and natural, and worse, because in the beginning, you don't know anyone and many of the characters (especially at first sight) seem like stereotypical archetypes, and will come across as cliched - even annoying. For example, Popura seems like your generic busty loli. Satou seems like the usual scary-eyed dude with a golden heart.
And Inami - oh Inami. She's genuinely annoying and even frustrating to watch. At least, until you get to know more about her character. Her 'condition' is often used as a joke, and initially seems to be nothing more than a cheap way to include slapstick in the show. But later on, this begins to actually influence the plot. And that's when her condition, and Inami herself, get interesting. Something similar happens to all the characters - to some extent, at least.
The thing is, the show is slice of life; and because of that, you only learn about the people when some event happens and you're around to see it. They don't just open their mouths and let their life stories pour out on you. There's a constant sense of discovering new things about the various people. The problem is, I get the feeling only some viewers will reach that point.
Time for some specifics:
STORY: 6
The show is slice of life, so it doesn't have much of a story to speak of. People work at a restaurant, and stuff happens. You may or may not care.
ART: 7
The visuals are appropriate; the art is crisp and colorful, and easy on the eyes. They don't do anything to wow you, but there's also no need to. The art isn't the star here, and for what it's worth, it does what it needs to do.
SOUND: 8
The opening song is audio-crack. I'm not usually a fan of such energetic and cutesy songs, but this particular one's so damn charming that I immediately became hooked. The voice acting is great and hits all the right notes, and all of the characters sound spot-on. The BGM isn't too memorable, mainly because the story isn't very dramatic. Although, at one point, it did sound completely appropriate (near the end of episode 9).
CHARACTER: 8
This one's highly subjective. If I'd written this about a month ago, I would have scored this much lower. At least for me, the characters grew on me over the episodes, and rather well. I actually began to enjoy watching Popura, even though I hate most characters in other shows that look and sound even remotely like her.
ENJOYMENT: 7
Also highly subjective. I tried to balance the fact that not everybody will enjoy this show. If the characters hit the right notes in you, you'll laugh with them. If not, you'll scoff at their futile attempts at making you care. Another factor is whether you enjoy slice of life in general. If not, you'll probably be bored rather quickly.
OVERALL: 7
In the end, the later episodes of 'Working!!' are much, much more enjoyable than the earlier ones, because of the simple fact that you feel like you know about these people - and when stuff happens to them, you actually give a crap. The jokes get funnier, the events have more significance, and the interaction between characters is no longer boring and meaningless. But again - that's only if the people grow on you. If they don't, you probably won't find much to like.
