First Impressions / WORKING!!

「ある風邪の日に…、いつもと違うワグナリア」 (Aru Kaze no Hi no…, Itsumo to Chigau Wagunaria)
“A Different Wagnaria than Usual on a Sick Day”

I’m still having a hard time liking Mahiru’s character outside of her ability to give Hiroomi the punishment he deserves. There’s really been little to no improvement in her androphobia as Souta can attest to. Because of that, I found it rather befitting when Souta had to call in sick to take care of Nazuna and everyone saw Mahiru as a pet dog without her owner for the day. The immediate thought that popped up in my mind was that she should probably be on a leash as well with the way she indiscriminately attacks guys on sight. My opinion of her didn’t improve any either as she proved to be utterly useless when there were large swarms of male customers coming into the restaurant, which forced Popura to pick up all the slack alone. I realize that Mahiru’s fear of men is supposed to be an ongoing gag in the series, but I just can’t stand people who don’t pull their own weight on the job, so any potential humor from Kyouko telling her not to destroy the walls and Hiroomi getting the ass-kicking he deserves was soured.

On the plus side, it was pretty neat seeing Jun and Hiroomi fill in as servers as a result, even though it was short-lived via a few quick scenes. Most of the material that I actually found funny was in the first half of the episode when Souta was actually around. From with his analysis of how all the girls at Wagnaria have a correlation between their height, age, and oddball levels, to his minicon true self showing up at the sight of the kid’s meal toys, this episode really opened my eyes on the importance of having a relatively normal guy like Souta as the voice of reason. Without him, I think I’d be banging my head against the wall a lot while watching this series. Other than Souta’s involvement, the whole Jun x Yachiyo bit ended up being the next best thing. I got a good laugh out of Yachiyo densely asking if there’s something bothering Jun on a daily basis when she’s obviously the cause with the way she’s always at Kyouko’s beck and call. It’s just too bad for Popura that he ends up taking out his frustration on her, but I have to agree with Souta that she’s awfully cute when she’s being teased. Jun’s ability to restyle her hair on the fly should probably be considered an art of sorts now that I think about it.

As you can probably tell, I’m not a huge fan of these Mahiru-centric episodes, which is why I’m really looking forward to next week’s where it’ll be mostly about Souta and his four sisters. I already went on a bit about them last time, so I’m glad we’ll get to see more of them so soon. As they’re also an odd bunch, I’m expecting a lot of the comedy to come from Souta’s voice of reason as I mentioned above, which should be good times.

 

Preview

45 Comments

    1. thats the main reason they were looking for people that could help the cafe, and thats where takanashi shows up.

      they probably had another one but decided to quit later

      amado
      Reply

  7. Lol, some of the funniest stuff comes from the Jun and Yachiyo jokes. Somehow I feel that the misunderstandings of who Jun likes is gonna go through every person on the staff, seeing as it already went from Kyoko to Poplar. On another note, I think the androphobia Mahiru gags aren’t THAT annoying, but they didn’t really make me laugh as much as they used to, except for the beatings she gives to Hiroomi =P

    Click
    Reply

    1. By which I mean adding punctuation marks to links, thereby making them unusable, as mentioned in an above post. I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, I just would like to know the reason behind it.

      Da5id
      Reply

  10. I have been wondering since watching the first episode, is there any reason that the sign is a giant YELLOW WARNING sign for this show, is it hinting at how the people inside the restaurant are a bunch to be careful of.

    jon
    Reply

  14. I am clueless as to why there is a large number of Inami haters.I don’t find anything wrong with her character besides the androphobia.In fact, I’ve watched the all the episodes so far without feeling the slightest bit annoyed.If it weren’t for all the hate comments,I would have remained completely unaware of it.Sure it gets repetitive after a while,but so is a lot of the things in this show.It wouldn’t be a 4koma otherwise.

    Godknows
    Reply

  16. This series is actually better then I thought it was going to be (before it aired). After Arakawa Under The Bridge this is my 2nd favorite comedy series of the season (Rainbow and 5 leaves are my 2 favorite dramas). Its a good mix of quirky characters.

    Karmafan
    Reply

  17. Amazed that Satou has maintained his perfect zero-hit record from Mahiru’s fists all this time.

    Popura-zilla is just too adorable.
    https://randomc.net/image/WORKING!!/WORKING!!%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/WORKING!!/WORKING!!%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2033.jpg

    Normally I wouldn’t stand violent girls in most harem series, since their actions would usually reflect their personality as well. Though Mahiru is surprisingly quite amenable (as seen on the phone and increasingly towards Souta) despite her knee-jerk aggressiveness towards guys, as long as she doesn’t have to physically face them. lol

    So I don’t dislike as much as Divine would. In fact, as suicidal as this sounds for a guy, I think I’m beginning to like her.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

      1. If they go along with the manga, Souta will crossdress again.

        Also, Inami is win. Shower her with love, hairpins and praises and she’ll become one of the best dere-dere ever.

        anon
        Reply

  18. Regarding Inami not developing her character (by curing her hatred for men), they’ll probably bring it up again later and link it to her relationship with Souta.

    She’s repeated the fact that she’s a “girl who improves when praised” twice already, once during last episode (regarding the hairpin) and once more in this episode. My guess is, she’ll improve once Souta praises her.

    Cronus
    Reply

  19. So far, I like Inami because there IS a room and hope for her improvement of androphobia. If A-1 Pictures Inc. decides to never have Inami improve from that fear of men, then Inami and this anime series is epic fail.

    Philip
    Reply

  22. Mahiru is awesome, she is like the girl you want to protect but can’t because she will punch you. Her violent behavior prove the fact that she is shy scared girl. As for her progression as a character I would not see it likely to happen in such a short time. Consider the fact that sometimes there are traumas that causes the phobias, the author has to take the audience to that place to solve the phobia which is likely not befitting of a comedy. I believe what this episode highlights is the teamwork of struggling characters.

    Justsomerandomguy
    Reply

  25. I felt sorry for Popura when she had to handle all those male customers by herself (;_;)
    On the bright side, she has a positive attitude to not worry over it ^_^

    okami
    Reply

  26. My first comment for this anime, I just wanted to post my thoughts so everyone can have an idea of a possible outcome. First of all I don’t believe Yui will disappear in the next episode because there are two songs left to sing. And when Yui does disappear it will be right after the song Highest life hence the title and lyrics of the song. I believe either otonashi, kanade or both will stay behind to help other new souls move on and Yuri will be the last of the SSS to go. Divine if you can give me your thoughts on my comment I will be grateful. I’m just posting my opinion on what might happen.

    Keyanimefan
    Reply

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