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For anyone who has ever worked retail, and retail in bookstores (sadly, a dying breed nowadays), here's an anime right up your bookspines. New to this season is Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san, based on a pixiv webcomic of the same name.
Its what it says on the tin, folks: Honda-san is a bookseller at a certain bookshop (eerily reminiscent of Kinokuniya around my area XD), and each episode deals with various shinanigans and hijinks of various customers and tasks the shop has. As of writing, there are 3 episodes out but clicking the link at the end of the article will bring you to episode 1.
Now for someone who hung around bookstores, is going to marry someone who worked in a Borders bookstore, and myself having worked retail, you can bet your sweet bippy this series was going to appeal to me. And it doesn't disappoint. Like my other new favorite anime-series-from-pixiv-webcomic Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, the series seems to be drawn from personal accounts of the workplace, framed in a humorous and entertaining and frankly charming AF artstyle. It also gives a detailed look into the logistics of working in a bookstore, especially in episode 2, where they break down stocking before a long holiday.
Besides the titular Honda-san, whom is a skeleton in shop uniform, the rest of the staff of the shop wear various masks on their head. No explanation other than it is what it is. Its absolutely absurd and that's why its so successful and charming. Armor-san is the manager, Full Face has a motorcycle helmet, Lantern-san is a pumpkin, and then there's Rabbit Head-san, Paperbag (Kamibukuro), Okitsune (Fox mask), and Hotai (Bandage). It isn't really that hard once you know the terms who is who. My personal favorite besides Honda-san is of course Okitsune and Pest Mask (Plague Mask) XD. Above are the backroom delivery men who have the ski masks. It might take a couple episodes to learn the characters but fortunately its rather easy to tell them all apart. Also amusing in the series is the use of real publishers, manga, and authors in the series, spoken by name with parts of the names "censored" out with ** and audibly changed with a scratching noise in the redacted letters. Its absolutely hysterical. XD
The customers are drawn in semi-realistic, caricature-like style that really drives home the kind of characters they are. The first episode concerns otaku and fujoshi, which is all flavors of hysterical because they really look like otaku and fujoshi you might have seen lurking at cons or anime good shops. I'm not saying its high art, but it certainly gets their point across. XD The second episode is all about stocking day and the hectic schedule around operating a shop like that.
My take away lesson from that: American comics are heavy and, in a staff member's words, "scary". XD
Like I said, the anime is freshly out on Crunchyroll, so as of this week, there are 3 episodes out. I recommend savoring them as the comic/anime are very slice-of-life and don't so far have a continuity that will leave you dying between each episode week to week. Its definitely worth a watch for the retail woes and hysterically stylistic look. Its entertaining, funny, light-hearted, and relatable if you've ever worked in the service industry; while at times flustered, tired, frantic, or even beleaguered, Honda-san is still open, helpful and doesn't reward unreasonable customers with rudeness or ignores them. He tries everything he can to do everything in his power to help them get what they want with little complaint. While the customer isn't always right in real life, he still handles the difficulties in his job with grace, albeit with weariness, and is a model worker despite his uphill battles. Its refreshing; if handled in america, its likely Honda-san would be rude and sarcastic. Here, he's sweet, charming, and you want to root for him even more. He accepts his tasks quickly, though he's a bit of a doormat when it comes to salespeople. I highly recommend it for those looking for a series to start this season that isn't horror related. XD
Click image for episode 1 8D
"Amecomi kowai yo D8"
--Dio (10/21/18)
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