Posted by OP Sequence
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
OP: 「DOWN TOWN」 by 坂本真綾 (Sakamoto Maaya)
Watch the OP!: Download, Streaming ▼
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「至福の店 ビフォー & アフター」 (Shifuku no Mise Before & After)
“Fortune Cafe Before & After”
One glance at Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru and I knew I just had to watch it. From the promotional material, it looked like a fairly interesting slice of life, and it had maids in it. I don’t really care for maids, but I’m not against them. Not only do I get overflowing amounts of maid awesomeness, Soredemo Machi piles on the jokes. The entire episode had me cracking up so hard, especially with Omigawa Chiaki playing our main character Arashiyama Hotori. Just because of her voice, it’s just that much funnier. (When I first heard her in Soul Eater as Maka, I found her voice very interesting. I didn’t like it at first, but it grew on me. Then when I found her again in Seitokai, I was completely in love with her voice). With the kind of voice she has, it’s easy to tell that Arashiyama isn’t meant to be your typical maid. Her voice is just.. kind of low and tom boyishy (…but I still Love it!). When Arashiyama invites her friends Tatsuno Toshiko (Yuuki Aoi) and Haribara Harue (Shiraishi Ryoko of Hayate no Gotoku and Mahoraba fame among countless others) to the cafe where she works, all hell blows over. Tatsuno being a maid cafe enthusiast, explodes with rage over how bad Arashiyama is at being a maid. Eventually deciding to start working there and teach Arashiyama the ropes.
That training though, being everything but maid training. Starting with a simple lesson on how to greet the customer, it ventures into how maids need to have a controlled clumsiness. It might just be me, but I don’t see how making someone sneeze into burning hot coffee, then tripping headfirst into a bucket of water while sliding on the floor really makes for a good maid. I’m sure Arashiyama agrees with me. Still, it’s really funny. With all the training that Arashiyama gets, it ends up being for naught when pitted against their homeroom teacher Mr.Mikuriya Moriaki. When you’re dealing with a teacher who is completely impervious to this, I can’t see how anyone can win.
In the midst of all the jokes and gags, there is a love triangle that is slowly revealing itself. The maid cafe’s regular (and usually only) customer, Sanada Hiroyuki (Irino Miyu) has feelings for Arashiyama. Tatsuno, has a crush on Sanada. And Arashiyama has no idea about anything that’s going around her. When a girl takes you into the bathroom, and gives you specific information that only someone with stalker status would know about someone, I would think it’s a pretty good indication that something is going on. Too bad our Arashiyama is completely oblivious, but I can see the ground work for some great comedy building.
Overall, the first episode of Sore Machi really caught me off guard, and then punched me in the stomach with all the jokes. I had no idea what to expect, other then a slice of life featuring girls in maid outfits. What I got, was a freaking hillarious anime packed with jokes and tons of gags. The comedy mostly came from over exaggerated scenes (thank you SHAFT), filled with lots of under-skirt action, but still struck home with me. Some of the dialouge toward the end is pure gold. Animation-wise, most of the scenes are crisp and sharp as Divine put it, but I don’t have a keen eye for those kinds of things. What I did notice is that there were a few scenes where someone looks odd, but it doesn’t detract from the viewing experience. Next weeks episode has the words “Sexual Harassment” and “Smash Hit” in the same sentence. I can’t wait to see where this ends up.
ED Sequence
 |
 |
 |
ED: 「メイズ参上！」 (Maids Sanjou!) by メイズ （矢澤りえか、小見川千明、悠木碧、白石涼子） (Maids (Yazawa Rieka, Omigawa Chiaki, Yuuki Aoi, Shiraishi Ryouko))
Watch the ED!: Download, Streaming ▼
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Ya I’m glad omigawa chiaki use the same voice with the one she used to voice mitsuba. It’s definitely a cute voice.
ya, mitsuba and maka voice <3
ooops forgot piko too <3
I haven’t watched the episode in full, but judging from what I saw while encoding the videos, this is like Bakemonogatari levels of animation from SHAFT.
The ending sequence is a pretty hilarious when compared to K-ON as well, since it starts off sounding like enka. This series also marks Yazawa Rieka’s debut role as a seiyuu. I thought she was Kobayashi Yuu for a moment from her singing.
Yea I got the same feeling while watching it.
btw Takaii you made a typo here : Tatsuno being a maid cafe enthusiast, explodes with rage over how bad Arashiyama is at being a “made”.
Doh. Thanks, fixed.
Lol, he’s just applying what he’s learned from this show =03.
I have yet to watch this but I will during this week. But in any case I was actually stunned by the OP quality.
Left me speechless… Off topic but kinda related since it’s SHAFT, Arakawa Season 2 had a quality bump. I thought the OP was just the improvement but even the quality in the episode itself improved.
For a debuting voice actor, she did an AWESOME job with the ED song. I can’t wait for the release date of the full version.
Since SHAFT earned a mountain of money with Bakemonogatari, I just hope SoreMachi or Arakawa doesn’t get SHAFTed this season.
A series worth watching. having a comedy i mean. if you come in you can never turn back
That Hotori Arashiyama is uberly clumsy when it comes to conversation with the customers.
I won’t comment about the underskirt and some underwear censored issues like this picture
https://randomc.net/image/Soredemo%20Machi%20wa%20Mawatteiru/Soredemo%20Machi%20wa%20Mawatteiru%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
good thing that TBS did a great job, Thank you Japan
The whole thing looks really good, a little too much so for Shaft standards. The backgrounds also look very normal, which loses some of Shafts unique appeal though. Very well animated dancing OP. The ED is very obviously a parody of the K-On EDs, which is fun.
Okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama!
The main reason why I pick up this series is because Sakurai Takahiro is voicing an old
traplady who owns the cafe. I mean, the Sakurai Takahiro who voiced tons of fabulous characters including Cloud Strife, Yaichi, Suzaku, Kusuriuri (and the list will go on and on), will play an old maid. Lol. How’s that for a change?!Back on my first impression of the show – it was hilarious that I facepalmed when Arashiyama stood Moriaki sensei up, or rather she forgotten his instruction to come and see him after school. And when he followed both girls to find out where they’re working, my stomach cramped from laughing. Moriaki-sensei = Ginpachi-sensei = Sugita Tomokazu = win! While I’m not a big fan of Omigawa Chiaki, I think her voice-acting is perfect for Arashiyama. The girl has improved since her debut in Soul Eater. And, worth mentioning – I didn’t recognize Yuuki Aoi’s voice when I first watched it. I found out later when I was browsing around MAL and had to watch the show once more just to check my head/ear. Good range of voice for an 18 year-old!
I felt kinda bad for the sensei when he got stood up. He even had Koala Ice for her 🙁
The whole lack of tea in a Maid Cafe just blew my mind. Especially when this is how the response was.
The sleeper comdey of the season and funny as hell.
Yes! It was freaking hilarious.
Omigawa Chiaki is definitely no stranger to the clumsy girl type, being P-ko in AutB, and also to the oblivious (ignorant?), having been Mutsumi in SYD.
It wasn’t that funny at all sometimes it’s even confusing with the plot.
But I like to recognize the drawing style and backgrounds which was from SHAFT.
The main character “Arashiyama Hotori” is really interesting to follow though.
I thought the story was pretty easy to follow. I mean, you get maid training, maid fail, maid cafe fail, and then lectures.
And throw in a few parts of love triangle, sprinkled with some censored shots.
I really like the Maka voice she uses. It’s so…distinguishable.
Ending song is….. unique ^__^. Never heard an anisong using violin and accordion before XD. Op song on the other hand is…. generic (my vocabulary is soooo lacking XD). I like it though, probably gonna start watching after the shows end 😛
Everytime Shinbo takes a crap, a show like this is born. Jesus christ.
white censor? on my shaft anime O___O
Arashiyama jamming out on the accordion in the ED was hilarious, the animation was quiet nice though I had my thoughts this series would be done more like Natsu no Arashi.
As funny as a suppository in your ass.
I gratulate everyone, who has made it trough the first episode, you are made of iron.
Didn’t expect anything worthwhile this season, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It’s so much better than the manga (at least this first episode was)
I’m not really a J-pop fan, but I did like the slightly jazzy OP and laughed out loud at the hilarious ED.
Looks like I at least have this and Ika-chan to look forward to every week.
This anime series felt like it had a lot of dry humor. I didn’t laugh my butt off, but I did find many moments amusing and comical.
oh man! finally! i get to hear the kind of voice piko from arakawa and mutsumi from syd has as a main character! 😀
are they all voiced by the same person? i still have to read the whole thing above and finish the first ep, so apologies for that question if the answer is already posted. 😀
yey! it’s that bakemono vibe once again. i love how it’s all controlled chaos. ^_^
looking forward to the rest of the series. gonna be a fun ride for sure. 😀
After watching that ED I feel like buying a Music Man Stingray to go with my Fender J-Bass.
I personally dislike the seiyuu that voices Hotori. Her voice was tolerable in Seitokai, but was sorta high pitched and grating on the ear during her stint as Maka in SE. Great show!! Hilarious too. Seems like anything that SHAFT touches turns to anime gold. Add Sugita Tomokazu (GIN-SAN!!!) to the mix and it’s pure win.
This episode was great. I love SHAFT.