Denkigai no Honya-san episode 3

Okay I didn't lie about this being a postapolza tonight folks. My friend called me as she always does after work because if she is on the phone walking to her car she won't get kidnapped. Then it turned into a 2 hour long conversation about looking things up on the internet that have probably scarred me for life and yeah....yeah folks. That is why nothing ever gets posted on time.

But it's not even Thanksgiving!

But I shall not sleep until I post all the things that are super all the way done. Promises. I think. Because now there is a cat on my lap. Up now is Denkigai no Honya-san episode 3. Spoilers for other people getting to celebrate Christmas with trees already but not me. :(

Behold I bring you tidings of great joy.

Episode Summary: Fall apparently is a distant memory as Christmas time has taken over Japan. Director is instructing Hio and Fu Girl about wearing certain uniforms to attract customers. Hio seems super happy with her cutie Santa outfit and eyeballs Fu Girl’s reindeer getup. She is gunho until…she is told to go outside and attract the customers and magically Fu Girl has the better outfit due to how warm it is. Hio quickly turns into a Popsicle and Fu Girl offers to change outfits because she is nice. Hio rather just hate on the fact that they are outside at Christmas time advertising for an ero game that isn’t really within the Christmas spirit. Director comes out as Hio complains and he lays the TRUTH upon her. He talks about how this game took a year to come to stores and for that whole year many lonely guys cried manly tears waiting for their beloved to come back. That Christmas is a time for couples and how can you deny this product as something that brings young love together? It is truly the symbol of Christmas and how dare Hio not see the joy they are bringing to others. Hio is overwhelmed with emotions and tries to apologize for acting like a know it all. Then Director is like HAHA suckers come spend money in our store so Hio knows he is a lying sack of crap. Soon Hio is able to come inside because her shift is over and Director gives her a drink. He sorta ruins the drink by asking Hio out because she doesn’t have a boyfriend. She nearly chokes to death and Director acts like he doesn’t know that he was just a butthead. Instead he wants her to go out with him…to his house to set up a Christmas party for all the single folks at work IE all of them. Once Hio recovers she goes to Director’s house and loses her mind over how nice and big everything really is. Director gets her back on track and they start with all the decorations. From the context of the conversation Hio is one of the newer coworkers as she has never celebrated Christmas with these people before. She seems touched at how much Director does for them all despite his…special nature at times. She offers to help with the decorations but seems to have no ability to control a knife. Director patches her up with a bandaid before she bleeds all over his floor. She seems very taken with him helping her and tries to find ways to make the apartment festive, with her linked paper thingy. Soon it is time for the Christmas Part of none of us have significant others. Sensei is forced to dress up against her will because that is how everyone rolls. She eventually gets in the outfit and Umio sorta calls her cute. She decides to flee into the Christmas Tree because surely that will not attract any attention at all. Kameko brings out the camera but everyone insists she be in the picture too. She does hold onto her hat which seems to be super important to her. So they all sit down to eat their Kentucky Fried Santa Chicken and talk about how they are all single. Umio is like um I am not single which almost causes Sensei to die on the ground. Turns out he is talking about the video game Hio was trying to sell earlier and he ends up talking all night about the game, clearly killing everyone with boredom.

Christmas abuse!!!

The next day everyone goes home and Director goes to clean up…but Hio has made herself right at home with some mangas on the couch. He cleans the entire place up and reappears wearing just a towel in front of Hio. She of course freaks out over nipples while he is like well you said not to mind you…..They both read in silence until Director decides he is hungry. The second he gets up Hio puts in a request on what to eat. He makes it and then she sorta….teases him about being able to cook. He tries to point out she is being rude and hello go home so Hio decides to play video games instead. When she keeps dying Director tries to help her out but doesn’t make much process either. Eventually the game is beat and Director gets up to go get dinner. He invites Hio along and she thanks him for allowing her to spend time with him as she didn’t want to go home to an empty house. She asks if she could do this again some time and Director agrees. So Hio decides that the next time is….right after dinner. Soon it is time to open up the store after the new year and everyone is ready for chaos. Fu Girl is nearly run over and has to be saved by Director and Sommelier who takes the hit for her. They end up having to escape the building to die in peace outside. It becomes super dramatic in the store, with everyone getting injuries from doing the same task over and over again. Umio is killed when he tries to restock and Hio tries to be brave by allowing the second group of people come in. Brave doesn’t work too well. But everyone seems to survive the day looking worse than when they started things. Director apologizes for making everyone stay late all the time. Hio is the first to try to make him feel better, that she likes manga and working with everyone. Fu Girl and the others add that too so director won’t be all sad. Umio and Sensei take the train home and things get a bit awkward. She invites him to a quiet shrine near her house and he agrees to go. They get there and it is not so quiet so she takes him to a hill that overlooks the city. It is her spot she goes to for manga ideas. They talk about their wishes for the year which include Sensei becoming a better manga artist. Of course she thinks to herself about the second wish she made hint hint hint. Umio refuses to tell his wish and THE END!

Don't mind that you are totally taking over holidays?!

What? Christmas and New Years already? FOR SHAME! As my husband says we can’t have Christmas before Halloween even happens. And what about poor Thanksgiving? Did anyone ever stop to think about that poor holiday’s feelings? No. No they didn’t. Of course Japan doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving and the husband bought eggnog at the store yesterday but that is not the point. The point is…HOW DARE YOU! Hio has recovered fast from her time being run over by a golden ball during the peace out summer festival. She feels okay enough to don a slightly sexy Christmas…person. Elf? Sexy Santa? Not too bad though. Hot Topic probably has a shorter version anyway. Hio was just grateful for the outfit she did have and thought maybe Fu Girl was getting the short end of the deal with juvenile looking reindeer outfit. Like haha Director wants us to do something and it doesn’t end badly for me. Then Hio realizes that she was working outside and not inside where the wonderful heat exists. I would have been like um no this elf/Santa needs more than tights to keep her warm. I know that this is the costume but come on? Would I be any good to you dead? Laying on the ground like a frozen Hiosicle? No she doesn’t want to build a snowman. She already is one.

Teach me your ways Director Sensei.

To make matters worse Hio was hawking wares at Christmas time that have nothing to do with Christmas. Well to be fair Fu Girl seemed to be doing most of the flyer passing out while Hio died slowly on the ground. Director came out to see how this three person crew was doing because really you need three people to pass out flyers on a super cold night. After Director explained what they were selling I really rolled my eyes more as this kind of product probably sells itself and doesn’t really need people on the street screaming it’s praises. But then again I am against such…aggressive business practices to begin with as they make me uncomfortable. Hio made the mistake of telling Director what she thought of this Christmas merchandise and I knew…I knew before he even started saying anything where the conversation was going to go. The world according to Director is Christmas is a time for love. And some of their customers…well they love anime and manga. And this slightly ero game was the love of some lonely boys out there. Waiting all year long for the day they would be reunited. And that is what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown. Of course Hio is taken in with this beautiful speech instead of being like errrr that is still creepy. She is like teach me oh wise one for I have much to learn. I thought Director was playing in straight and really believed all the craziness existing his mouth but…he knew he was full of it. Could have went a bit farther with his snark though, counting and fanning himself with the money from LONELY boys who need video game girlfriends.

Are you trying to kill Hio or something?!

After Hio was done freezing and Fu Girl was done riding Sommelier (yeah there..) Hio got to go inside. Now that I think about it selling hug pillows probably would have been better for this time of year. Clearly I know nothing though. And neither does Hio who gets all embarrassed and what not around Director. So folks I am thinking there is going to be no love triangle at all. Hio is clearly going to be with Director and Umio is going to be Sensei. Nothing to see here folks. But it will take some time to get there. Director sorta….hovers in between two personalities. As we find out in this episode so does Hio so I guess it works out. Sometimes Director is super…well on point about things and other times he is all derp derp. Of course by asking Hio out was going to sound funny. To look at her like yeah we should go out…to my house…doesn’t fly in my book. Stop torturing poor Hio. She has suffered enough in the cold.

I might call you a pervert but that won't stop me from being alone with you in your apartment.

I like how Hio recovers fast from these shenanigans. I would have been like um no you can decorate your own house. Also HMMM someone in a position of power inviting their subordinate to their house alone. Sounds a bit iffy there, should have the party at those karaoke places. Or..what is that other place call I always see in animes with the long tables in private rooms with much drinking and suchies? No idea. But since this seems to be a tradition, that Director hosts a party on a holiday that is usually for couples…well then off you go Hio. If he starts recording you like a creeper I will be waiting right here to say I told you so. Of course that didn’t happen. And even if it did Hio was way too caught up in the fact that Director lives in amazing land. Look at the room, look at the TV! Space is at a premium in Japan and while it might look like a basic apartment to my American eyes it is huge to Hio. Seriously where would all my stuff go if I moved to Japan?

Hio is great at everything.

After Hio was done going MOG all over the room…Director still acted nice and normal. No video taping or saying anything questionable. Maybe he is better one on one and when he is around other guys his douche level naturally increases. I think this is true for real life. But no Director just pulled out some decorations and acted like he knew how to hang the decorations up like he was domesticated. Or he hangs them up in the exact same way each year. Either way Hio is impressed. Plus the man knows how to put on a bandaid. He is amazing. I bet he can defrost TV dinners. While I tease ( I think) about Hio being impressed with these little things she has only seen the man at work and there he is usually teasing her. So maybe to her all this effort into the Christmas party and doing non perverted things was a big deal to her. I mean the man was wearing the smallest banana hammock on the face of the planet in the last episode so she could have reason to be impressed.

Thanks for murdering the party Umio.

So it is party time! Again Hio and the costumes. One minute she is crying about them and the next she is forcing others to wear costumes against their will. Run away Sensei. Okay maybe not into the tree but run far away. Or just let Umio really know how much you like him and that his opinion of you is wake gets to going in the morning. There was some nice food at the party, the ever present KFC chicken being the crowning glory. I always wonder about that. Do they heat the chicken back up after traveling to the party place and waiting I the long line to get said chicken? I guess KFC tastes pretty good heated up. Not the biscuits though. They get hard as little rocks. I think I have gone off into lala land with this topic but that’s fine. Me and Umio can match. Although I think he thinks he was being on topic. I guess at holiday parties anything can go but maybe Umio can read the room a little better next time and realize he is the only one who cares about the game. A game that Hio didn’t find Christmas enough and that lonely boys play on Christmas Eve because they don’t have real girlfriends. I wonder how Sensei reacted to that.

Sorry for being annoying. Since I am cute I am sure you didn't mind.

After Umio’s boring talk of video games and Kameko’s lack of hair exposure were done well…the party was done. Shows over. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here. Well Hio didn’t get that memo. I sorta like characters being multi-dimensional. Like okay you can be a nice girl at work with a heart of gold but you can also be a lazy girl who overstays her welcome and doesn’t offer to lift a finger in cleaning up after the party. I guess she did help set up and no one really stayed to clean up either. Made me kinda sad how fast the decorations went down though. I guess since I leave my decorations up forever I feel different about that situation. It is hard to tell how Director felt about Hio just laying on his couch and judging his free food he was cooking her. On one hand he does tease her a lot like he would want her to be his girlfriend. On the other hand she is not his girlfriend so….get out? Can I have a moment alone to dry off my nipples? But then Hio and her oversized sweater smile at Director and thank her for staying. Sounds like she has a lonely home life and while most of us are okay with having some quiet time…Hio doesn’t seem to be one of them. I used to know someone that would want to work MORE hours just so they didn’t have to be at home. Me…obviously I like being alone but things might be different in Japan. In any event Hio smiles at Director and thanks him and he forgets that she was annoying with her video game playing/manga reading on the couch all day self. At least for 5 seconds. Then Hio shows back up 5 seconds later. Like dude I said you could come over whenever you wanted but you can’t come back over if you are still here. Silly girl.

Surely we shall all die.

Hio hopefully goes back home and changes clothes before it is time to open up shop again. Our main characters are super lucky they are the only ones who work on the floor of this manga store because….okay they are not lucky. Must be hard to plan anything fun with your best friends if you are all working every shift at the store. Especially this shift. The dreaded New Years sale. In Japan it is like Black Friday. Super sales, long lines with Lucky bags and crazy people trying to trade for their crappy Lucky Bag stuff. I am not sure what promotion this store was putting on but I am assuming it was something good. Even if it wasn’t sometimes the need to shop is great. Everyone had their game faces on for this crazy day but Fu Girl and Sommelier were taken out early. I am glad they took their dying outside to not get in the way of other people working or walking. The others were dramatically injured or trampled as well but made it through the day serving all the Slender Men wannabees. Director seems to be a great leader…sometimes anyway. He acknowledges how hard everyone worked and he is sorry for always relying on them and not the other nonseen employees. Like thank guys….Hio lead the charge in making sure Director didn’t feel bad. Probably because she likes him personally but maybe she does see he can be a good boss. This lead to other good feelings of love towards Director who then had to ruin the moment. Which is usually what bosses do so what can ya do?

Being in love means obvious blushy faces that everyone notices but no one says anything.

The episode ends with Umio and Sensei having a moment. If this relationship is going to go anywhere I would suggest learning her real name. Say it at romantic times to make Sensei blush, not in front of the others and what not to keep their relationship a secret. You know…a secret. But yes Sensei wants to take Umio to her little known shrine to celebrate the New Year. Of course it turns out to not be that quiet so Sensei could show him her super secret tree spot that overlooks the city. It did look rather pretty. So they got to have their moment with no one else around and no costumes or crazy customers around. Just a slice of life time talking about New Year wishes and having crushes. I like the quiet moments…..but then the silly moments are nice too. I guess I will just have to wait around to see more of these moments since I am SO CAUGHT UP with this show. GO ME! XD