WORKING!!
STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
13
RELEASE
June 27, 2010
LENGTH
24 min
DESCRIPTION
Set in a family restaurant in Hokkaido, the northern prefecture of Japan, 16-year-old high school student Souta Takanashi works part-time along with his strange co-workers: Popura Taneshima, a high school girl who's a year older than Souta, yet easily mistaken for an elementary/middle schooler, and Kyoko Shirafuji, the 28-year-old store manager who doesn't bother to do any work at all.
(Source: NIS America)
CAST
Popura Taneshima
Kana Asumi
Aoi Yamada
Ryou Hirohashi
Mahiru Inami
Saki Fujita
Jun Satou
Daisuke Ono
Yachiyo Todoroki
Eri Kitamura
Hiroomi Souma
Hiroshi Kamiya
Kyouko Shirafuji
Kumiko Watanabe
Souta Takanashi
Jun Fukuyama
Izumi Takanashi
Youko Hikasa
Nazuna Takanashi
Momoko Saitou
Kozue Takanashi
Shizuka Itou
Maya Matsumoto
Akiko Kawase
Kazue Takanashi
Ryouko Shiraishi
Inami Haha
Masami Suzuki
Hyougo Otoo
Jouji Nakata
Inami Chichi
Houchuu Ootsuka
Takanashi Chichi
Hideki Tasaka
EPISODES
Dubbed
RELATED TO WORKING!!
REVIEWS
WanderingSage
78/100Oddly compelling, slightly off kilter slice of life show that actually has character developmentContinue on AniListFor reasons that I've never quite figured out, the slice of life genre in anime has become rather popular over the years. These animated situation comedies tend to be rather formulaic and unfortunately tend to suffer from trope ridden characters that never really undergo any development or exist only in relation to a protagonist with very little personality and development outside of their relationship to that person.
Over the years, I've watched quite a few shows that fall under this genre, mostly looking for something relatively laid back and easy to digest after a tough day of whatever I'm dealing with at the time. I generally know what I'm getting into when I pick something in this genre. I honestly don't expect much at all. Occasionally a show in this genre comes along and surprises me in a positive way like Working. I have to confess that I never quite got a lot of the "must watch" slice of life shows. I generally don't hate what I've watched or anything, but I took them for what they were and didn't get all the hype as honestly, they really didn't seem worth all the praise. I picked up Wagnaria or Working!! as a recommendation not expecting much. I ended up pleasantly surprised by it and think that it is one of the better shows in the genre.
Working is a well drawn anime and the voice acting is good. There are quite a few popular voice actors for this one as well surprisingly enough. The opening and closing themes are catchy and upbeat and set the tone for a show that is generally comedy oriented, kinetic and fun. Technically, the show is above average I would say. The fact that it got three full seasons says quite a bit, as these types of shows, with rare exception, tend to be light novel or manga advertisements at the best of times, cranked out quickly and cheaply to drum up some interest in the source material. While not a masterpiece, it looks and sounds good enough and has a pleasing style that doesn't jar you.
Why do I write a review on what is just a slice of life comedy anime about goofballs working in a restaurant? Well, this slice of life does what few of these shows ever end up doing. Having actual character development and resolutions to various problems throughout the seasons. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, many shows that fall into slice of life comedy have a bad habit of very trope heavy characters that never really go through any real conflict or development and are there to fill a role. At worst, many of these shows devolve directly to harem romance shows too. While there's nothing necessarily wrong with that if that's what you're looking for, it tends to make the show very shallow and predictable in its pacing and resolutions.
Working spares us from that and has most of its characters that undergo growth and change as the show progresses. There are enough men and women in the show so that it doesn't devolve into a harem romp that seems to doom many of these set ups. The characters themselves, for the most part, are interesting and funny enough to overcome the "show about nothing" problem that situation comedies always have to fight against. While this show doesn't really have any deep philosophical message to it, it is compelling and fun to watch because the characters and their issues become fun to watch. With slice of life, that's all that is really demanded of it, and Working will deliver.
That's not to say that this is a problem free show. There are some issues that bothered me while watching it. Without too much in the way of spoilers, one of the original main characters ends up getting shunted off to the side and is one of the few in the show that doesn't really undergo development, quickly becoming somewhat of a punchline character. This is somewhat strange considering how important they seemed at first, that they would devolve into the same joke every time they had any screen time. Some characters could also use more screen time away from the restaurant than they get as well to add some context. I generally feel that some of this was just laziness given the care that some of the characters got in their back story bits. Characters do progress and grow quite a bit, but the story is very episodic at times. There isn't any grand goal or story arc here, the work day ends, people go home, etc. Things can feel a little directionless at times outside of the character development. Those looking for major tension and plot progression outside of the character relationships will likely be more frustrated with the show than I was.
At the end of the day, despite the issues, this is a series in the slice of life genre that deserves your time if you like these types of shows. One of the great barometers for a good anime is whether or not it genuinely entertains you, regardless of the subject matter. Working is genuinely entertaining and a pleasure to watch. It's one of the best that I've seen in the purely situation comedy oriented shows. I did generally turn my brain off and just enjoy the ride for this one, but it definitely exceeded what I was expecting.
This has my full recommendation if one is looking for a light slice of life comedy to enjoy.
Shisui0
20/100One of the biggest waste of my timesContinue on AniListI honestly have 0 clue how this show got onto my plan to watch and I'm sad I've watched this show. Maybe I thought I would like it because it took place in a restuarant or maybe because of Satou but idk. I will discuss why I hated this show and its slice of life-ness.
Wagnaria follows the plot of our MC Takanashi as he is greeted by a short girl named Taneshima asking for a job. Because he likes small things, he accepts the job at a family restaurant where no one is normal. At first, it starts off like a normal job where Takanashi is thriving until he meets Inami, a girl who punches every man she sees out of fear. Can these two coincide together and make it work?
Right off the bat, Waganaria fails at its two selling points: the characters and the comedy which are both terrible. The comedy consists of usually Inami punching something, Yachiyo being a complete klutz and falling for Kyouko (Kyouko's personality is being a useless worker who asks people for food all the time), Taneshima getting called short, or something random. The other three characters, Souma, Satou, and Yamada, are the most tolerable characters but even then, they were still so annoying. Satou is probably my favorite character since he was the only character I liked and actually laughed at even though there were like 13 characters LOL.
Second biggest issue with this choice is that they focused on one of the most annoying characters in the show, Inami, way too much and some of the better characters, Satou, Souma, Yamada, and takanashi's sisters, too little. Inami's story makes me so mad since she doesn't get better at not hitting men at all and it isn't even funny that she hits men; it's just annoying. This relationship should've never had happened and it makes me sick that Takanashi suffers through this but it makes me hate Takanashi as well.
Last thing I hated, none of the romance is worthwhile and it's all terrible. Yachiyo likes Kyouko (terrible), Inami likes Takanashi (would be good if Inami didn't hit men and they rewrote her character), Taneshima likes Takanashi when he crossdresses (wtf), Satou like Yachiyo (Should be a thing but isn't), and Souma likes Yamada (pretty aight). They focused way too much on the romance aspect imo and it pissed me off. Episodes when they're not at the restaurant are also very cringe to watch.
Overall, don't watch this show. It's boring, frustrating, and just not worth it. There are better slice of lifes, there are better comedies, there are better anime that take place in a restaurants, there are better cast than this, and there are better developed slice of life/romances. Just please don't watch this waste of time garbage
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SCORE
- (3.7/5)
MORE INFO
Ended inJune 27, 2010
Main Studio A-1 Pictures
Trending Level 1
Favorited by 1,127 Users