This is the main MALE protagonist. I repeat: This is the main MALE protagonist.
The ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ audition reached its seventh entry today with my review of Working!!, which style is disturbingly similar to Minami-ke, an awful anime I reviewed here before. Comparison will be inevitable, but the former doesn’t waste its time in proving that it is much better than the latter by a million miles. In fact, this anime is currently the best title I reviewed in the audition as of today.
And his manager has some serious and fully legitimate concern about our main MALE protagonist.
Story:-
One snowy day in Hokkaido, our main protagonist is walking down to his home from school when suddenly he was ambushed from behind by a well-endowed 12-year old girl. The girl asked our hero to work part-time at a family restaurant where she moonlights her services, but he refused, thinking that she is just a jail-bait. But the main protagonist changed his mind after learning that the girl is actually a shorty (and well-endowed) 17-year old high-school student (read: LEGAL IN ALL JURISDICTIONS). He then reports in for his first day at work alongside her new busty colleague, expecting good ’things’, but the fact that the restaurant is no different than that place under the bridge will hit him on the face, LITERALLY!
Just like Minami-ke, this anime doesn’t have a plot. But unlike Minami-ke and just like Urusei Yatsura, this anime was sustained instead by the character strength of the main protagonist. The main protagonist is not as powerful or interesting as the legendary Moroboshi ‘Darling’ Ataru is, but he is not far behind. He is grossly offensive in mannerism and can be very inconsiderate, but is also very snarky and proficient in all kind of humor. I want to call him a lolicon, but then again the main female protagonist is a 17-year old high school student and his senior, so I will leave it at that.
Two samples from the cesspool that makes up the employment of the establishment.
Unlike Hirasawa Yui in K-On!, the main protagonist doesn’t have to work alone at propping this anime up, because he was assisted by most of his new colleagues in the said family restaurant, and to a lesser extent, his sisters at his house . Those characters are unique and quirky in their own respect and are trapped in their own circumstances. The interactions and relationships between the main protagonist and all these characters are what made this anime shines brightly. One-sided crushes, toilet humor and crass jokes, blackmail, gratuitous amount of violence, you got them all.
Character developments is also where this anime has done very well as a whole, with our main protagonist being the best character of the bunch. The only apparent weakness this anime has is the ending, where its chain of events are predictable, lacks in substance and, well, just weak. It is structured for a second season though, but a quick look at ANN website doesn’t indicate that there will be a new one. How on earth Minami-ke has 3 seasons while this blatantly superior series only has one?
A long-distance relationship like the one above is only possible in this restaurant located somewhere in Hokkaido, Japan.
Character Design:-
As mentioned above, this anime is very similar with Minami-ke in style. And just like Minami-ke, the character designer for this anime totally failed at drawing beautiful female characters. Mitigating that weakness is the fact that the main protagonist of this anime is male. And apparently people in Hokkaido, Japan doesn’t have black hairs. Maybe it is because of the cold.
Voice Acting:-
This anime performs strongly in this department, just like Minami-ke did. Outstanding characters includes the main male protagonist and the busty 12-years loli 17-years old female high school student which I presume to be the main female protagonist. A positive aspect for this anime.
Music:-
The OST is good but not used too much in this anime. Meanwhile the two OP and ED themes in this anime are excellent. A positive aspect for this anime.
A delicious amount of violence is available in this anime, like the one that is about to happen above.
Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is good, even in fast-paced scenes. While there are plenty of violence in this anime, choreography is basically non-existent, in a good way. The directing is flawless and conservative, with none of the innovative presentation techniques seen in the previous anime title reviewed here. A positive aspect for this anime.
Conclusion:-
9 out of 10, three times more points than Minami-ke can ever dream of. With that score, this anime has surpassed Hakuouki as the front-runner for the first ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ title winner. Considering that the second season of Ookiku Furikabutte will be saddled by the sport-genre handicap, this anime’s only challengers for the title will be Durarara and B gata H kei. The next review will be for second installment of Ookiku Furikabutte, so that I can finish this audition with suspense until the end.
The main female protagonist, probably the sanest character in the establishment.
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