Post number 3 for the night and look...an actual NEW anime series for the Fall Season. I am totally on the ball this year. Let it be known I have actually watched all of my picks the day they came out. Writing and screening the screenies...well that is another story. Better late than never, especially when you look at what was offered this season. But maybe there will be a good show among what I have picked. Up now is Denkigai no Honya-san. Spoilers for no names for anyone. Okay a few people. Not many though.
Er...not sure what is up with this crazy face....
Episode Summary: After some weird advertisement for the entire shopping district the “camera” pans in on a particular store, Umanohone. According to the internet it is a play on a real life store and that is why the crazy horse head was all over the place. We see a brief shot of all our main characters being themselves. The store is lucky to be standing as the manager watches them be special. Soon we see all the main characters in the back room shrink wrapping some mangas. The machine breaks down and one of the employees (Sensei) has a waking nightmare about being shrink wrapped herself. Another girl (Rotten Girl) is seen having little vampire teeth at the thought of the machine breaking down for some reason? One employee (Director) pops his head in and calls out another girl (Hio) to help handle a situation. There is a woman in the…adult section of the store flipping through all the mangas and taking notes, being all serious like. Apparently this is cause for alarm. Hio doesn’t get the memo she should be tactful about the situation and almost calls the woman a pervert. Director tries to smooth things over as Hio has a mental breakdown. It turns out this woman works for the Moral committee or something and is doing a secret sting to make sure all naughty things are kept in the right section. When things aren’t on the up and up Director suggests….sticky tabs sealing the mangas shut. The woman (Porn Agent) agrees this is acceptable and leaves without incident. This means that all the employees have to now shrink wrap a million things and put tiny tabs on books. This leads to Hio and Umio to having a super interesting and awkward conversation. Hio gets slightly turned on by a male nipple and she has to ask what BL means. Umio asks if Hio is into that kind of thing and she nearly dies. She then asks Umio if he is into hentai and he says of course I am. Then things get all blushy and awkward.
Not much was focused on this but Director is a bit creepy.
While they were working earlier on the tabs one of their coworkers Sommelier is pulled away to do something special. After work Hio offers to take Hio up to the event floor to see this something special. Sommelier is in a room full of people waiting for him to look them over once and suggest the perfect manga for them. He does this several times with positive results. Hio freaks out when he sees Porn Agent (out of work clothes) step up and Sommelier suggest a yaoi manga to her. He fears the entire store will be shut down but Porn Agent smiles like an insane person. Apparently she loves that genre and does the kind of work she does to keep this material away from children. She then leads the entire crowd into saying they all ero mangas. It is a special moment. Sometime later the crew is unloading some new mangas and Umio mentions he likes this artist. Sensei seems rather tired again this morning and almost passes out when working. As Umio goes on about this manga artist he is informed it is actually Sensei whom has been mistaken as a man due to her pen name? Her nickname came from the fact she came to work on the first day vowing to become better than her idol and referred to him as Sensei. Sensei is so tired because her deadline for the huge manga convention is…tomorrow and she is nowhere near done. Upon hearing his idol is in danger Umio offers to help the process out. Hio tags along too after work but is clearly the third wheel. They get to Sensei’s place and she is way more behind than she let on. Everyone sets to work and Umio is so impressed with Sensei’s maturity and work ethic. 5 second later she is having a tantrum on the floor and refuses to work. Hio says not to worry and basically treats Sensei like a puppy until she has the will to work again. After a bit of working Hio and Umio leave but Umio turns around stating he has left his phone behind. Turns out he was lying but wanted to help Sensei as he looks up to her and knows she was too far behind. She is touched by the effort and they set to work. Sensei has a brief meltdown but Umio treats her like a girl and gets her snacks which touches and confuses Sensei. She is able to turn in her work on time and has her manga ready to go the day of the event. The entire store shows up to help or take part in the festival themselves. While Sensei doesn’t sell out everyone seems to have fun. Director suggests they have an after party but he ends up taking them back to the shop so they can shrink wrap more things. THE END!
Helping me with my new picks this Fall anime season? Thanks man. XD
Well that was interesting to say the least. Not a great way to start of the season. But since I struggled to find 4 picks for this season I guess that is to be expected. Perhaps anime really does move in cycles and right now we are in a rut. So bleh is what I am thinking right now and it just so happens that Denki-Gai no Honya-san is the first one up to bat. Sorta setting the tone and it isn’t looking like it will be a time full of amazing animes.
Must be hard to start work off at such a big store. Where is everything located?! X___X
Lets start off with the fact that it wasn’t really mentioned in the episode itself that Umio just started his job at MangaRUs. It says so in the synopsis but not in the episode itself. It would have made more sense to follow the trope and have this episode be his first day so nicknames would be explained and he would be teased/recognized as the new guy. It would have alleviated the confusion I had as things were being explained for no reason. Like if you are all friends working in a store together for a while we wouldn’t need these explanations. Just seemed forced without this typical but necessary way to start off a new series.
Scarred for life everyone. I am sure everyone is....
Can we talk about the horse head craziness for a moment? When I first watched the episode I hadn’t done too much research on this show yet (obviously since I had just made my picks hours beforehand…) so I thought it was just slightly unfortunate and crazy. But when looking up how to spell names (or lack of names) I realized that this indeed was supposed to be Akihabara and the store in question seems to be the one with a cute little Tiger on it. You know, the one I walked into and was like OH boobies all over the place and walked out. So Horse, Tiger. Yeah. I still am scarred for life for seeing that commercial. Come visit the insanity indeed.
We don't need names. We are just Slaves 1-6.
After we see the commercial and the creepy man in a horse head unzipping his outfit (I get the reference, still creepy) we get our first glimpse of our characters. I know that some friends give each other cute nicknames or add in thinks like chan and kun because Japan. But this show takes it to another level. Real names? We don’t need no stinkin real names. Since this is only the first episode we don’t know exactly how all the names fit in just yet (or we do and since they are on in Japanese I don’t get them) nor do we know if these coworkers know each other out of work (IE the same school) but for now we know that customers are lucky to get anything ordered on time due to the fact they are all insane.
Appreciate all those freebies folks. Look how boring they are to put together!
Okay that really isn’t fair. They were working pretty hard. Half the episode involved tape and plastic wrap. Ah the glamorous life of a customer service worker. So many boring and tedious tasks to do. I wonder why this plastic wrap isn’t done after the mangas are printed though. I need to watch How It’s Made more I suppose. But with this gang even the most boring task can be fun with friends right? Or at least entertaining. The shrink wrap machine started to break and it turned into drama. One girl, Sensei, seems to have crazy fantasizes and dreams about being accidentally shrink wrapped herself. I often have insane thoughts like that too. Like oh snap this machine broke clearly I am going to die Final Destination style. I am not sure how the machine is going to get fixed…maybe they will have to do it all by hands? That would horrible. X___X But I guess since all the mains are doing this work AND someone is still running the place I guess things will be okay.
I apologize for my employee making this awkward situation I created more awkward.
While wrapping things up Director (who is a more senior employee, not the actual manager) pulls aide one of the girls, Hio, because there seems to be a delicate situation going on and confronting a woman while being a man might destroy the universe. Turns out that Hio lacks that filter in her head that translates things in her head she wants to say into what is acceptable to say out loud. I lack that thing as well sometimes. While Hio might lack tactfulness I don’t know why Director needed to make this a deal anyway. I mean…..these are…porn books. Erotic books. I think simply flipping through them and taking notes is the most innocent thing anyone could do in that section of the store. Instead she is flagged as creepy? Odd. Well it turns out that she is part of that new thing in Japan, making sure the youth of Japan isn’t being corrupted. I think walking into the store in general is a corruptible moment and the solution that she and Director agree on is laughable. Like OH TAPE. Surely this will help the youth of Japan not see things they shouldn’t see. Interesting indeed. More like make sure everyone has a job in Japan so do useless things that sound good on paper. Carry on defender of justice. Did I mention her name was Porn Agent? More on that later clearly.
...Are you new too?
There are a few people assigned to the tab work but Kameko takes away the giant dude Sommelier for some event. Since Umio is new he has no idea what this event is about nor why everyone at this job as weird nicknames like Director. For some reason Hio asks Umio what BL stands for while they are tabbing away. It didn’t sound like a quiz question for Umio but that Hio doesn’t really know what it means? Which sounds impossible given where she works and that she is not the newest employee. Also she seems attracted to the genre and I doubt her attraction came from seeing a nipple 5 seconds ago. So overall it was a weird question to ask. But then the entire situation got awkward with Umio and Hio asking the other if they like specific types of hentai mangas and what not. Umio tried to play it off as cool but it got super weird. Like err lets just keep tabbing and pretend this entire conversation never happened. Since Director is a creeper though and likes to video tape things (AKA Director) this awkward moment will live on forever. I think Hio should go to upper management about this harassment. XD
Most inspirational speech that wasn't needed ever.
After Hio and Umio brush off that moment of way too much information they go upstairs to see what Sommelier is doing. These names aren’t way too creative or far from what the person actually is or does. So instead of pairing and knowing all about wine Sommelier pairs and knows all about mangas. He just looks at a person and tells what manga will be perfect for them. Because these people opening their eyes and seeing what is on the shelf is way too hard, especially in this day in age when you can preview manga and pics on the internets. So yeah it was special. I am not even going to comment on his nontaking self. The most interesting thing that happened at the meeting was Porn Agent showing up and being told what her manga destiny was. Guess what it was folks! Porn! But she seems to be an equal opportunity lover of naked bodies coming together as one. Boys on boys, girls on girls, boys on girls, creeps on girls. Embrace it all. I think I was a bit like Hio and doing the X___X face as this woman is basically the Porn Police. I mean..I know it isn’t like being the real police and doing the illegal things that you arrest people for. But it is a bit odd that she loves this genre (which she knew beforehand and didn’t need Sommelier anyway…) when she fights to limit it. Bt in reality land there is a difference between liking something and fighting to make sure it doesn’t fall into the right hands. You can love your booze but make sure kids don’t drink it. None of this seemed to be the point though as it turned into Oprah. You love ero books and you love ero books. And you and you and you. It is creepy and odd at the same time.
But how can I be going on and on about my favorite artist and you are that artist?! That is way too magical to be true.
After that craziness it is another day of opening boxes and stocking the selves. I know I use the word manga instead of doushinji and trust me I know the difference. I know that the store they work at mostly has doushinji and that Sensei is not a manga artist but a doushinji one. I see that as someone who has talent but hasn’t been backed by a company yet so they take existing work and draw mangas based on those characters and situations. Still that is a big deal, especially according to Umio. Imagine going on and on about your favorite up and coming artist and TADA they are working right next to you. Or passing out right next to you. Since Sensei is up and coming she still has to work this job as well which explains why she is tired all the time. She has big dreams, she will be amazing in this field and I think her nickname was given to her out of how much she believes in herself, not because of teasing. Either way Umio is impressed and has to come to Sensei’s rescue when she learns that she has fallen behind on her work and may not make it in time for the festival. I don’t think any manga artist has ever turn in on time work in the history of manga. Just saying.
But I don't wanna achieve my dreaaaam!
I thought that Umio had a crush on Hio. But after spending a bit of time at Sensei’s and learning that he lives practically in the same area as Sensei Hio might be on the way out. Or maybe there will be a love triangle. For now there seems to be no jealous. Hio is just happy to help even if she is not fully listened to. Point the way to manga and she is there. Umio proves to be very helpful too. Sensei is shown to be both strong and human. Like look at me working hard and being talented. Then 5 seconds later she has a meltdown. This is too hard. I am too young to handle all this pressure and I will never finish in time WAIIIIIII! But since Hio and Sensei have been friends for a while she knew how to calm the girl down which was nice. I don’t think the love triangle will end in hurt feelings. They will be like no you have him, I don’t want my friend to be in any pain. SMILE SMILE! Umio on the other hand is just being as helpful as can be. Like I will stay up all night to help you achieve your dream because I am a great guy! We can do this together.
I hope the 5 seconds we spend together will be magical and fun.
So much leading up to the big deal and so little was shown at the actual event! Sensei is shown getting her manga and smiling, trading it with the person near her table. The others had fun at the event and she didn’t sell out but had a great day anyway. :( I wanted to see more of the process, what others thought of her work. I know how stressful it can be making things and having people talk about your work in front of you. Instead we fast forward to the end of the episode where Director has tricked them into having an after party shrink wrapping everything. Like dude Sensei just got done working all day at this show while you guys had fun. Can’t bring for a cake? Everyone takes this in stride so I guess we are to accept this is how this crazy bunch is. Look at our fun and silly crew. We make anything an adventure. Now the question is…did they make it fun enough for me to turn in next week? Still not on board with the art but maybe it will grow on me. With the silly nicknames. Guess I will find out next episode if this is a keeper or not. First new anime of the series under my belt, how many more will I give a chance to? Let me see let me see.
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