First Impressions / WORKING!!

「決意ですが、何か？」 (Ketsui Desu ga, Nani ka?)
“It’s Resolve, Is That a Problem?”

I have to say that this was one of the most random episodes of WORKING!! I have ever seen. While in the past I’ve complained that some episodes weren’t as funny as others, this one felt like it came from way out of left field. The increased focus on the slice-of-life aspect of the show really surprised me.

The episode starts off similar enough with Aoi losing Daisy. Aoi’s comment about it being a product of their love was really in the spirit of the comedic misunderstanding. Of course, while they were looking for the bear no work actually gets done in this place.

The real focus of the episode was the Jun x Yachiyo dynamic that was explored a little bit more two episodes back. After overhearing Jun talking about liking someone, it was nice to see Yachiyo get a little flustered, worried, and jealous. Her stammering about not being worried about Jun reminded me of Aoi (a tsundere) in Beelzebub. While we didn’t get a confession from Jun to Yachiyo, I like that he gave himself an ultimatum. I don’t remember it being brought up before but finding out Jun has been interested in Yachiyo for 4 years is enlightening. It might actually be good for him to do this since it is an incentive to get something done. At least we know that if being a cook doesn’t work out for Jun, he can become a hair stylist. The music was very fitting and this whole portion of the episode reminded me of slower romance/drama shows like Kimi ni Todoke.

The most interesting part of the episode was the interlude with Nazuna. It was nice to get to see the Takanashi household through the eyes of another family member without much involvement from Souta. It reminded me of the Izumi episode. In her effort to grow up we get to see the secret to Nazuna’s growth: milk, exercise, and lots of sleep. The Takanashi sisters are an interesting bunch. I found the phone parts funny. They were both really fast. Trying to grab a shot of Kazue checking her phone before slamming it down took some real effort on my part.

Overall, I kind of like the change of pace. Shows like these can get stale quickly. Going off on tangents like these can help stir the pot.

Notes:
* Sorry for the delay! Family stuff and laziness.
* Twin-tail Popura actually looks cute. I wouldn’t mind seeing her like that more often.
* While other lawyers might figuratively throw the book at them, Kazue really does throw the Six Codes at them!
* I didn’t get the joke Jun tried to pull at the end of the episode with the water and medicine. Anyone care to explain?

 

Preview

25 Comments

  3. I didn’t get the joke Jun tried to pull at the end of the episode with the water and medicine. Anyone care to explain?

    He says something about boiling the water first and then cooling it makes it easier to take medicine. Souma kept telling him that he’s going to have to try hard now, so I interpreted it as him making a “I want to kill myself by ODing on pills” joke

    Bass.EXE
    Reply

      1. Nono he wasn’t trying to kill himself. According to the manga, he’s eating stomach medicine.

        In Japan it’s common to have adverts of stomach medicine in trains and on TV saying that the common cause is stress, usually aimed at salarymen who do overtime. Although the origin of stress for Satou is completely different xD

        ahbonk
        Reply

      2. Oh yea he also eats pills for headaches too, at the later parts of the manga.
        Here’s the Japanese wiki entry: http://goo.gl/qviHn

        Under Satou Jun’s entry
        「ストレス（主に轟関係）が溜まると仕事を早退することもしばしば。そのため胃薬・頭痛薬・心が落ち着くアメなどを常備している他、ぽぷらをからかうことでストレスを発散している。」

        “Once stress builds up, he often retires from work early. Apart from keeping stock of stomach+headache medicine and sweets to calm the nerves, he teases Popura to release stress.”

        Yea, poor Popura lol

        ahbonk
        Reply

  9. Other funny moments I liked were:
    -Aoi losing the ribbon and then everyone couldn’t care less.
    -Kozue asking Yohei to marry her again.
    -Izumi’s frightened/troubled face when she called back after regretting to pull the plug.
    -Hiroomi saying what he shouldn’t have and getting hit by Jun
    -Popura’s mistake of telling Jun she hates green peppers.
    Another good episode, this anime’s on a roll for making me laugh each week.

    Pikachu
    Reply

  12. Things are looking so far so good for Satou, even if just for a little bit, as Yachiyo has finally started to have feelings of jealousy. Though much like Takanashi a few episodes back, Yachiyo still hasn’t figured out that such feelings stem from love, or something like that.

    I particularly liked Popora’s Christmas Tree hairdo Satou arranged for her, since it is this time of year already. lol

    And to answer Unlisted’s question, yes, Kazue does use the Six Codes lawbook as a weapon, both literally and figuratively. 🙂

    Not sure if this is considered a spoiler, as I myself have not read the manga, though I hear the phone call that drove Kazue ballistic came from her ex-husband, who I believe will be making an appearance in the near future, should there be a season 3.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. I never read the source material but i assumed it might have been the ex, I think there was mention of that in season 1 as well. along with the scene where Souta was afraid she was going to chuck the 6 codes at him. Running gags add to everything.

      Breedo
      Reply

  14. The part with Nazuna visiting each sister in turn was enjoyable since it showed the extreme difference of each. Of the 3, i find Izumi a very enjoyable comedy character. Nazuna cheerfully covering her ears because she was supposedly too young was also amusing

    Having the ridiculous Yamada kick off the episode was a great decision. She always makes the rest of the cast funnier just by having that personality of hers. Daisy actually looks quite cute and sad and Takanashi wanting to hold Daisy was a great line. He’s really shameless about everything as long as it small.

    Yachiyo and Sato’s sections were also well done. First thought for me when Sato guessed what happened to make Yachiyo so distracted was that Sato really understands Yachiyo and doesn’t have cotton for brains like so semi romance many anime/manga characters. It looks like the series might go the road of Mitsuki falling for Sato, making things more complicated. Her running away after being scolded reminded me of Sena from Hanagai

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

    1. Well, he did and then he undid it.

      After seeing how Yachiyo was acting around him after that, he made something up so she’d dismiss the confession. So after that, he was pretty much back to square one with her. Maybe square 1.5, if anything residual stayed behind.

      Michiko
      Reply

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