Review: Hataraki Man (TV)

Running time: 25 minutes
Number of episodes: 11
Vintage: 2006-10-12 to 2006-12-21
Age rating: ???
Genres: Slice of Life
Animation Production: GALLOP
Production: GALLOP, Hataraki Man Production Team, Kodansha

Source: Anime News Network

Hatarki Man is genuine slice of life show, so you won’t see anything you wouldn’t expect to happen in real life. Anime doesn’t always seem to work with stories that encapsulate “real” individuals, but this one does it well. There’s a fine line to keep between real life drama and an “animated life,” but Hataraki Man somehow happens to do it and hang on with enough style to keep you interested.

The name of the show stems from the fact that the main character, Matsukata Hiroko, is true a work-a-holic. She rushes to work even when she’s not late, she always surpasses her boss’ expectations, and will constantly blow off dates just to get her work done perfectly. Sure, you could argue she’s just doing it because she likes to, but there’s a lot more to it. Her peers are impressed the most when she actually becomes the Hataraki Man, or “Work Man.” It’s not really what you’d expect since it’s not some kind of superhuman ability. She just unleashes her innermost potential as a magazine editor and fully concentrates on her writing. For most writers, being able to switch on your “zen mode” and spew out words as they come is a gift. Matsukata has that and it really helps her succeed at her job.

The anime takes place in the offices of Weekly Jidai Magazine, a fictional magazine in Japan. It’s a magazine geared towards men with content such as fad diets, fashion, serialized novels, etc. Matsukata’s a journalist working on weekly articles about all kinds of topics of interest to the male readership. She’s not the only editor at this successful company so she doesn’t do all the work herself. There’s plenty of interesting people at the office that also pitch in to make sure the readers are able to get their fill each week with juicy articles and blowout specials.

The characters in the office range from Matsukata herself to Tanaka, the rookie editor on the lower end of the spectrum. He’s not quite anyone’s friend and he’s always expressive about doing the minimum effort required for the job. The Editorial Desk manager, Narita, is Matsukata’s direct boss and the chief director, Umemiya, is Narita’s boss. They’re kind of the older and wiser bunch that lead the team through adversity. Editor Nagisa is a nervous wreck and is part of the few women in the company along with Matsukata. There’s plenty of characters that I missed that you’ll eventually find out about on your own. Most if not all of them will make sense in terms of why they’re there and what drives them in their daily lives. They each fit their roles perfectly, exemplifying the typical hierarchical structure of an office in Japan.

There’s plenty to find and appreciate in this show, especially if you have any kind of work experience. To truly succeed you need to have a plan, or you’ll end up drifting away from what you want to do. Then there’s the sacrifices you must make in order to complete your plan. In other words, it’s not quite as simple as laying down a road map and crossing out milestones the moment you reach them. When there’s an aura of satisfaction in your work your life completely changes for the better. The offset of satisfaction when you truly enjoy what you do every day changes your perspective. Being told to balance “work,” and “life” is a fair assessment that we’ve all heard a thousand times. However, when your “work” is your “life” it becomes much more complex to try to imitate the majority of people who are working to live but not living to work. While this show is not as deep as I wish it could be, not as long as I wish it could be, and doesn’t quite end as conclusively as I’d like, it was still an eye opening experience. It reminded me time and time again of my respect for people that strive for success using as a driving force the sheer satisfaction of what they do day after day. The show reduced that feeling to the simplest degree that in my opinion made it much more realistic than I originally thought it would be.

This show made me feel as if there’s no greater achievement than finding your place in life and sticking with it because thats what you believe in. As the show conveyed, sometimes being where you want to be may force you to make choices that will ultimately affect every facet of your “personal life.” When you no longer consider artificial boundaries such as a “personal life,” it becomes much more difficult to control a typical modular lifestyle where you can switch in and out the work you do, while being able to live on your “personal life.” Your life and your work become entwined as one experience and adversely affect each other. Distinction becomes faint and others who may not think like you may end up scorning you for your way of being.

If you’re ever interested in a short story about hard work and dedication, complete with the turmoils of romance this is a great show to watch. You might even get to funnel some of the characters’ dedication into your own life, and allow yourself a moment of reflection. Are you a Hataraki Man?

Review: Initial D: First Stage (TV)

Running time: 25 minutes
Number of episodes: 26
Vintage: 1998-04-18 to 1998-11-28
Age rating: Teenagers (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shounen, Slice of Life, Sports (Auto Racing)
Animation Production: Studio Gallop

Source: Anime News Network

I’ll be honest right from the outset. Initial D is praised by a lot of people for being a very good anime. That is far from the truth when you consider the major shortcomings that plague Initial D’s storyline. However, even with the terrible story Initial D is the anime that made cars and drifting cool.

The animation in Initial D is mostly cheap 3D car renders that don’t look that great, even for the time when the show first aired. The character designs are terrible, especially what are supposed to be women, which look ugly as hell. The “slice of life” in between the main attraction, the racing, is stale and forgettable. There’s some things to learn about the characters, but it’s all just fluff and not necessarily all that meaningful.

So if Initial D is so terrible why do so many people like it? Well, even though it does a lot of things very poorly it does one thing so well that you tend forgive the shortcomings of everything else while expecting to see some of the best drift racing anime can offer.

Initial D is all about car racing. Not only that, Initial D’s races have an effect on people, whether you’re a car buff or not. There’s a lot of cool stuff happening while the cars are being driven, but of course the animators make it all look so simple. Using heel-toe and clutch throws, changing gears at the precise moment, and steering and counter–steering in and out of corners performing the best high-speed drifts can be really very fun to watch. It’s very much about the skill of the driver and not about how flashy the ricer looks. Drifting is a lot more than showing off a car take on a corner with style, it can truly allow for a fluid high-speed motion through a corner that a grip technique would not be able to catch up with, especially on a downhill race.

In addition to all of the over-the-top drift action, Initial D has yet another layer of immersion — the soundtrack. As stupid as it sounds, cars and the super crazy EUROBEAT genre are the ingredients for making one of the most exciting racing anime you’ll ever see. Even if you’re not into the genre of music, the way the action and the songs are choreographed together alongside the sound effects of skidding tires and roaring engines really gets your heart pumping. By the end of the show you will probably want to start a EUROBEAT collection for your own driving. It’s great concentration music for racing games too.

It’s amazing how this simple mix can produce so many goosebumps and make you restless at every corner. The commentary during the races helps a lot too since it’s always over-the-top and over exaggerated but it flows well and builds anticipation for the next feat. A race that is supposed to last a few minutes may drag on for two or three episodes, but you’re not bored as long as they keep throwing new music and build the tension.

So while the characters unnaturally speak to each other to explain technical details about a race in a way that makes them seem overly condescending, when they do it in the middle of a race with the formula in place for high tension, you’ll get pulled in no matter how corny it is.

When you’re done with Initial D, you’re done with the races pretty much. You won’t remember who or what really happened, heck you may not remember any character’s name, but you sure as hell will remember drifting and EUROBEAT. Initial D’s story is forgettable, but the racing is down right a classic. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone who’s seen Initial D is suddenly a better driver too — or not.

“No one sleep in Tokyo,” “Tokyo is on fire!” “Running in the 90’s,” “Night of Fire,” are just a few of the lines you may get stuck in your head after watching this show. Even if it can be considered a very long music video, this anime delivers all kinds of exciting moments when at the top of its game.

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