Rewind: Servant x Service

Just finished finals week. I'm excited to blog more again, but, at the moment, I admit I'd rather just veg out and recover my strength. 

I re-watched a couple episodes of Servant x Service near the end of the semester, when the stress started to get to me. I needed to laugh, and this show was one of the best ways to reach that goal. As I wrote back in September, Servant x Service is based on the manga by Takatsu Karino, the same mangaka behind Working!!, another of my favorite comedy anime. Something about her humor makes me laugh throughout every episode. It's probably the ridiculous characters. It's not the annoying type of ridiculous (I'm looking at you, One Piece), just the type that makes me think, "If that character can get a job, even a fictional one, then maybe I can, too!" 

But it's not just the laughter that draws me to Servant x Service. The relationship between Yamagami Lucy (abbreviated name) and Hasabe Yutuka is wonderful to watch. Yes, he teases her a lot, and yes, it counts as sexual harassment, and no man should mimic that part of his character if he wants a girl to like him. But he's also sweet and insightful. 

In episode 3, Hasabe discovers Yamagami is scared of thunder and
lightning. He lends her his MP3 player and headphones so she can't
hear the thunder and directs her to an area out of sight, so other
employees won't notice her fear.

Yamagami is self-conscious about her name, her body, her name, her personality, and her very long name. She doesn't see herself clearly because of it, and she can't accept that her peculiarities might actually endear her to people, rather than make them look down on her. This is one reason it's so hard for her to believe that Hasabe actually likes her and is asking her out for the right reasons... or that it's okay for someone like her to be in a relationship. She's naive, too -- when coworkers caution her to be wary of Hasabe's "true intentions" for taking her out to eat, she asks if he's trying to make her fat, as revenge for turning him down. 

Hasabe doesn't try to make her suddenly gain confidence so he can date her. Instead, he looks out for her and takes her out to eat because "it's normal for coworkers to eat together." He's sensitive to her worries and her naiveté in his own way. He acts nonchalant about it most of the time, especially if Yamagami reacts negatively to his attempts to express serious feelings. Many characters misinterpret his intentions, sure that he's incapable of treating a girl right. But, by the end, there's no hiding it: slacker genious Hasabe-san seriously cares for Yamagami Lucy Kimiko Akie Airi Shiori Rinne Yoshiho Ayano Tomika Chitose Sanae Mikiko Ichika (yes, that's all one girl's name... she became a civil servant to hunt down the civil servant who let her parents put that name on a document).

In episode 9, Hasabe tries to spell out his feelings for Yamagami,
who still doesn't quite get it. 

I have only one significant complaint about Servant x Service: Yamagami's chest is used as a source of comedy. Somehow, they manage not to completely offend me. It doesn't feel too fanservice-y. But I'm a bit conservative about these things, so I'd have liked it if Takatsu could have chosen a different joke.

My lesser complaint: Yoko and her brother complex can be a bit annoying.

Obviously, neither complaint significantly affects my enjoyment of this show. 

---

Housekeeping:

I'm home for the summer! Even if I get a job, I should have much more free time and brain energy for the next couple months. So I plan to blog more again. However, I don't want to do a Rewind post every week anymore. I'm going to make it every other week, and start a new series in between... I don't know what that new series will be, but I'm going to make it something more thoughtful. Maybe "Letters to Characters" or a Christian perspective thing. That second idea takes more work, though, and even if I get several posts queued up over the summer, it could be hard to keep up when school starts again. Besides, when I have brain energy, I do those super-thoughtful posts a lot more often, anyway, and don't limit them to one day a week. We'll see what I end up doing.

Servant x Service is Over! Now What?

I just finished Servant x Service. It was fun! I began to worry that it was ending on a very cliche note, but then the characters intervened. I smiled and giggled the rest of the way.

It didn't take long for the question to rise: is there hope for a sequel?

I went to Anime-Planet to find out if the manga was still ongoing. But when I looked for the normal "relations" box, it wasn't there. The manga was not entered on the site. I wasn't too surprised; this is Anime-Planet we're talking about. The site's priority is, well, anime.

So I Googled it. Adventures through Wikipedia, Anime News Network, and other sites told me that yes, it's ongoing, and so far, there are three volumes out.

Great! So there might be hope! The next question: how many volumes does the anime cover? I Googled it... and found nothing. I searched for a while, but there was no information on this, at least not within easy reach.

So, what now?

I could re-watch episode 9. I have a screenshot from that episode sitting on my computer, reminding me that a certain scene got the wheels turning in my mind. Also, it made me squeal a little. It's a Hasabe-and-Lucy-being-cute scene.

I could re-watch Working'!! (not to be confused with Working!!). In case you somehow missed this fact, Working!! and Servant x Service were both adapted from manga by Takatsu Karino. Their shared authorship is pretty obvious.

I could beg my readers to comment with any updates on the status of Servant x Service.

I think I'll go with the third option, since I have a few responsibilities to fulfill before my next anime indulgence. So, folks... what do you know about the status of the manga? If you're reading this months or years in the future, here's another question: any word about more Servant x Service or Working!! anime?

Summer 2013: Quick Halfway Thoughts

I'm heading back to school really soon, which means my life's about to get busier. However, I will not abandon my blog like I did for so long during this past school year. While I won't blog with the same frequency I did earlier this summer, you can at least expect my weekly "Rewind" posts.

I'm not sure how much anime I'll be able to watch. I'll have to see if I have enough anime time to warrant keeping a Crunchyroll membership. I've enjoyed keeping up with this season using a free trial. At the very least, I want to finish up this summer's anime before I go back to being a week behind on everything.

What's got me following this season so closely?

First of all, Naruto Shippuden. But if you've been following this blog at all, you already knew that.

Attack on Titan. Well, duh. This anime is super popular right now, and for good reason. The animation is beautiful. The story is captivating. The action and violence evoke both excitement and shock. The suspense has me teetering at the edge of my seat. If this quality keeps up, Attack on Titan will make my list of all time favorites.

Hunter x Hunter. The ninety-third episode just aired. So far, only three of those episodes have been of the flashback/filler variety. It has everything I love about stereotypical shounen anime, and very little that I don't. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if you're a fan of shounen anime, and for some pathetic reason you haven't tried Hunter x Hunter, then stop what you're doing and go to Crunchyroll. Now. 

Servant x Service. When I heard that this gem was thought up by the same person as Working!!, I knew I needed to try it out. I was not disappointed. The animation, the humor, and even the music has the same fun flavor to it as Working!! does. Yet it has enough differences to keep me entertained.

Watamote. It's painful, but I watch it regularly anyway.

Shiori in episode 2 of KamiNomi.

KamiNomi. Keima and the girls are in serious trouble... but this is still a lighthearted, fun anime. Great to watch right after Watamote. In recent episodes, I've particularly enjoyed Shiori, the library girl.

Space Brothers. I've gotten a couple weeks behind on this one again, but I still really like it. It's just one of those shows that's more fun when I marathon several episodes at a time.

There other anime that I'm following (or sort of following) this season, but they don't get me quite as excited:

Brothers Conflict. Why? Because I'm going to finish what I started. Yeah, that really is the only reason I'm still watching this reverse harem.

Silver Spoon. I love watching city folk when they're outside their natural habitat. Whether they're worried about cougars in the empty lot in their neighborhood or, in this case, freaking out about where chicken eggs come from, they are quite entertaining. I'm sure they'd have found me just as entertaining during my first trip to New York City or LA, so I don't feel bad chuckling at their antics. Despite that, I haven't gotten excited enough to keep up with this one each week. It was good, but... I guess I just wasn't in the mood last time I started an episode.

Monokuma, one of the strangest
antagonists I've ever seen.

Danganronpa. This is quite entertaining. Its wackiness, from the pink blood to the entire premise, makes me smile despite all the homicides. Whenever these kids are investigating to see which classmate killed the latest victim, I think about the ending of the board game Clue: It was _____! In the locker room! With the candlestick! It's not the greatest show this season, but it's still fun to watch. I find it noteworthy that the evil "principal" in Danganronpa and the boss in Servant x Service are both stuffed animals.

Recorder to Randoseru Mi. When I first found out that Recorder and Randsell got another season, I thought, "Seriously? How?" I got the answer quickly enough: Even folk like me who don't always enjoy the humor are willing to waste three minutes on it each week.

My summer vacation is coming to an end, but we're still only halfway through the anime season. I look forward to seeing what these shows have to offer over the next couple weeks!