(12 episodes)
What’s it about ?
Adaptation of a comedy manga depicting the daily life at a doujinshi bookstore. The episode itself is split between two main skits.
Characters
Umio, our generic male lead, mostly there as a straight man and for most of the girls to fall over. Supposedly he’s the naive newcomer, but that doesn’t come off very strongly. Mostly that’s because half his role is stolen by…
Hio-tan, his bubbly senior, and de facto female lead. More than a bit clumsy and shy, she still ends up in the straight woman role somehow a lot of the time.
Most of the staff are only known by nicknames. Of particular note so far :
– Sensei, who’s always sleepy because she spends her nights drawing ; doujinshi ;
– the Director, named thus not because he’s in charge (although he is) but because he’s always filming stuff and being a bit creepy and manipulative ;
– Sommelier, the tall quiet dude who has the amazing talent of finding the manga best suited to any customer
Also guest-starring in the first half : an inspector from the Youth Office, making sure regulations about selling porn are followed to the letter ; her stealing every scene she’s in is yet more proof that Yuu Kobayashi is one of the funniest comedy voice-actresses currently active.
Production Values
It’s bright and shiny, but nothing to write home about aside from that. The title sequences are particularly cheap-looking. Still, it sells the jokes, and that’s what matters.
The episode was so tame that the next-episode preview promising tons of fanservice MUST be a joke. At least, I hope it is.
Overall Impression
A fun work-com with a geeky main topic ? I was all game for it, but unfortunately it’s average at best. Most of those jokes have been done better elsewhere, the characters aren’t charming enough to carry the show, and there are definite pacing issues.
The bottom line is that I don’t find it funny enough to be worth my time. Given how busy Thursdays always are, I’m giving it a pass.
