Final Impressions / First Impressions / WORKING!!

「さよならぽぷら」 (Sayonara, Popura )
“Farewell, Popura”

Maya speaks yet again! Following in similar fashion, we are once again graced with a new-ish character as we have in the past with such additions as Kirio and the twins. Her words mark the end for WORKING’!! It’s not really a surprise that she did get lines and screen time again since it was the same deal with season one’s finale. Her involvement with this week’s episode really did leave me wishing that she had interacted more with our main cast throughout the season though. She contrasts with the over-the-top cast by adding balance and common sense but can be quite silly herself. By comparison, the cast makes her seem normal which oddly enough seems to be something she doesn’t want to hear from others. But as with most good things, less might actually be more.

Aoi continues being quite the white elephant. She’s an expert when it comes to the broken items report sheet and its placement and an “expert” on taking tests. With her patented Yama-dash she speeds to conclusions which leads our cast into despair over the thought of Popura possibly quitting Wagnaria.

Popura quitting brought up some questions as to the what Jun and Souta would do if she did quit. We have Yachiyo telling Jun that she wouldn’t know what to do if he quit working at Wagnaria and Hiroomi taking advantage of the situation to tease Jun further. Then Inami asks whether Souta would quit since she was the reason he came to work there in the first place. They both pacify their “partner’s” concerns saying they would go on. I find it quite funny that Jun and Souta need Popura. Jun needs her for stress relief while Souta needs her cuteness. I just need her there because it wouldn’t be the same without her. It was nice to see that the cast supporting her decision to quit should she decide to focus on the future even though they would greatly miss her.

 

Final Impressions:

I’m going to keep it short since not much has changed from the first season. Even with all the commotion about Popura, we still leave this series the way we found it. As Divine has pointed out in the past, there isn’t much depth (in regards to a plot) in this anime. One of the things with most slice-of-life/comedy shows is that the status quo reigns supreme which is why it isn’t very surprising we only got teased with the possibility of change in the various relationships. Kirio never ends up meeting Aoi, Jun never manages to confess to Yachiyo, and neither does Inami to Souta. There was no better way to get this point across than to have Popura find out she had not actually grown at all. WORKING!!’s way of spicing things up is to add something new to the mix almost every week (such as bringing in a character we don’t get to see often). With that said, it’s still a great show for those not expecting much other than the occasional laugh.

* Figured people wouldn’t mind a little delay since a the week is going to be thin on anime material and everyone is probably busy with the holidays. Anyway, Happy Holidays to all!
* The episode had a similar shot to season one’s ending.
* Fixed! [More] Proper (END) post LOL.

33 Comments

  2. How much plot can there be from a 4koma manga? In any case nobody can honestly say that they didn’t learn abit more about the characters after this season so I count that as development.

    Baby, baby steps… >.>

    Chaos2Frozen
    Reply

    2. Yeah, what’s funny about Maya is that the she’s actually there all the time. But she’s never in the show outside of a cameo appearance in every episode.

      Based on that “normal” gag that Jun and Hiroomi played on her, it seems everyone in the restaurant know everything about her, so she’s probably constantly interacting with the rest of the cast. It’s just that her scenes aren’t shown.

      Tre
      Reply

  6. I really liked these last couple episodes of Working, probably because of the new characters. I would have loved a bit more development with the romance, but it’s a 4koma, so we won’t get any.
    Hoping for a season 3

    Lucent
    Reply

  8. Sometimes I feel as if it’s a waste all the characters are in a slice of life comedy that never changes, the characters are all so unique, cute, and funny that I would love to see these kind of characters in other anime, like romance or mystery, etc. But definitely, the characters are best in a comedy gag setting 🙂

    Nice season filled with lots of laughs, I pray for a third season, and maybe even a fourth, to bring some closure while still maintaining the comedy aspect.

    Chocolate20
    Reply

  10. Will Inami overcome her fear of men?
    Will Jun finally confess to Yachiyo?
    Will Satou stop treating Inami like a dog?
    Will Poplar ever grow taller?
    Will Yamada find a way to get Otou to fill out those adoption papers?
    Will Satou commit suicide once Nazuna grows a foot taller than him?
    Will Izumi survive once Satou is gone?

    All these questions and more…will be answered in season 3!!! *sigh* please let there be a season 3 *_* …

    In all seriousness though, I would rate this as one of, if not the top, comedy anime of the year. In fact, I’m tempted to say that this is probably one of the few comedy anime series in which the second season manages to outdo the first season. The highlight has to be the chemistry between the characters.

    I didn’t think much of Maya’s character last season, but her interactions, especially with Jun and Hiroomi, did make me wish she appeared a lot more often.

    Taiakun
    Reply

    1. Surely you must mean Takanashi SOUTA instead of SATOU Jun? Spelling can get a bit confusing at times so for most of the guys I usually refer them to their surnames as that’s how most of the other characters address them, while the girls I’d stick with their first names for similar reasons.

      Kinny Riddle
      Reply

    2. I think Working had to be one of the few shows I’ve been looking forward to every week. Last year, I remembered saying I didn’t really like the first season’s first episodes but was glad to have given it another chance. I want more of this restaurant’s quirky staff ^^

      Shinjiro
      Reply

  13. C&P my stuff from AiA…

    loving the BSOD moment for Maya-san there…

    also: book ending almost identical to the start = pure maniacal laughter for minutes

    btw unlisted: u got a spelling mistake on your last link

    info600
    Reply

  14. Working!! had a great run with season 2 and IMHO, it was much more enjoyable than the first.
    Maya speaks and I can’t say no to that sexy librarian charm that she wears so well!!! If we do get another season, I’m guessing it’ll be a long wait before Maya speaks again too. Better savor it now 🙂

    Seishun Otoko
    Reply

  18. Indeed the highlight for this last episode is none other than the fact that Maya speaks… again. lol

    In fact, I think her total dialogue worth for this season has doubled, even though they’re all concentrated within this season finale, it’s still an improvement, no?

    (I must be one of the few to be mesmerized by this “hidden” main cast. Especially after seeing some cute Maya fanart out there. )

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

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