Working!! - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Working!! is a Japanese four-panel

Yonkoma

thumb|right|150px|Traditional Yonkoma layout, a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom...

comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

series written and illustrated by Karino Takatsu, and concerns the activities of the unusual employees at the Wagnaria family restaurant. It began serialization in the January 2005 issue of Square Enix

Square Enix

is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

's Young Gangan seinen manga magazine. The first bound volume

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

was released in November 2005 in Japan; as of March 2011, nine volumes have been released. Square Enix released three drama CDs

Radio drama in Japan

Radio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...

between 2007 and 2009 with scripts written by Shōgo Mukai. A 13-episode anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

series produced by A-1 Pictures

A-1 Pictures

is a Japanese animation studio, a subsidiary of Sony's anime production firm Aniplex.-History:The studio was established by Sony's animation production division, Aniplex, on May 9, 2005, to animate its anime series and productions. In 2006, it co-produced the original production Zenmai Zamurai,...

and directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike

Yoshimasa Hiraike

-Anime involved in:*Aria The Natural: Screenplay, Storyboard , Episode Director *Excel Saga: Episode Director *Kaleido Star: Director , Assistant director*Pretear: Episode Director...

aired in Japan between April and June 2010, and a second season began airing in October 2011. In North America, the anime is licensed by NIS America and is known as Wagnaria!! due to copyright issues.

Wagnaria employees

(drama CD), Jun Fukuyama

Jun Fukuyama

is a voice actor. He was previously represented by Aoni Production and Production Baobab, and is now represented by . In 2007, he won the first Seiyu Awards for the best actor in leading role as Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass...

(anime)

The main character of Working!!, Sōta is a 16-year-old high school student recruited by Popura to become a new employee at the family restaurant Wagnaria. He is enamored by cute things and thus favors Popura over the other employees due to her cute appearance. He voices his thoughts out loud and occasionally offends his co-workers, often resulting in him getting punished by them. He usually finds his co-workers and the rules of the restaurant to be strange, but he still has an attachment to his job. He is able to adapt quickly to his job at the restaurant. He has three older sisters and dislikes older women as he has been tormented by them all his life. He received hand-me-downs from his sisters when he was young, giving him the appearance of a little girl. He also has a younger sister in elementary school who is almost as tall as he is, but unlike his older sisters, respects him. Despite his problems, Inami asks Sōta to cross-dress, using the name Kotori, when her father comes to visit her at work. Despite the fact that he constantly gets hit by Inami, he is actually quite skilled in fighting, as his sister taught him self-defense. He does not fight Inami because his sister taught him not to hit girls.

(drama CD), Kana Asumi

Kana Asumi

, born is a female Japanese singer and voice actress from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. She worked for Voice & Heart until 2007 and works for 81 Produce from 2008.-Filmography:2005* Canvas 2: Niji Iro no Sketch - Choir member , Waitress...

(anime)

Popura is a short 17-year-old high school student who works at Wagnaria. Ironically, she was named after the poplar

Poplar

Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....

tree so that she would grow tall. She is a hard worker, but she sometimes makes clumsy mistakes in her job. She is very sensitive about her small appearance; many customers usually mistake her to be younger than she really is. She often fails to gain respect from Sōta, who is one year younger than her, as he usually regards her as an elementary school student. She is also unable to properly call him by his surname, saying "Katanashi" rather than "Takanashi", even when corrected. She admires Kotori, Sōta's cross-dressing persona, and the Takanashi sisters because of how tall all of them are.

(drama CD), Saki Fujita

Saki Fujita

is a female Japanese voice actress from Tokyo, Japan, represented by Arts Vision. She sang the ending theme to the anime Tokimeki Memorial Only Love, "Kiseki no Kakera", along with Yuki Makishima and Yukako Yoshikawa as well as the opening of Working!!, Coolish Walk, with Kana Asumi and Eri Kitamura...

(anime)

Inami is a timid, 17-year-old girl who joins the rest of the employees at Wagnaria. She has androphobia

Androphobia

Androphobia is an abnormal fear of men. The word is derived from the Greek άνδρας and φόβος .:)Androphobia may be related to traumatic events in the sufferer's past...

and is thus terrified of men; she punches any male that comes near her. This violent behavior arises from her belief that every man is ready to attack her, but instead she is prone to violently attacking men at a moment's notice due to this fear. This androphobia was caused by her father who did not want her to eventually wed due to jealousy and thus told her that males would attack her, which ended in her fearing men since then. As she and Sōta usually share shifts, he takes the brunt of her attacks. However, she makes considerable progress with her fear of men by taking it out on Sōta; she states that she is able to be about two meters close to guys without having the urge to hit them. Though this extends to only having fairly civil conversations (often ruined by Sōta's rudeness) or if Inami launches an attack on him. She wears a hairpin in her hair, which she changes every day due to Sōta's compliment on it (according to Sōma). At first she begins to develop a crush, but later she falls in love with Sōta when he confronts her father (as Kotori) about her androphobia.

(drama CD), Kumiko Watanabe

Kumiko Watanabe

is an actress and voice actress from Chiba Prefecture affiliated with Arts Vision.-Overview, character, and career:*She has a wide vocal range, ranging from boys and girls to middle-aged women. She is also known to be a large professional wrestling fan, especially of Pro Wrestling Noah's Kenta...

(anime)

Kyōko is the manager of Wagnaria. She usually maintains a rather apathetic attitude towards the restaurant she runs and almost never bothers to do any work herself. She is not beyond using violence to deal with unruly customers and firmly believes that employees come before the customers, as the employees are the ones doing all the work. She is 28 years old, but she becomes despondent whenever she is called old or any variation of. Kyōko was a juvenile delinquent, and Yachiyo and Kyōko met when Kyōko saved Yachiyo from bullies when she was a little girl and demanded food as payment.

(drama CD), Eri Kitamura

Eri Kitamura

is a Japanese voice actress and singer, who was born on August 16, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan. She is primarily known for her role in Blood+ as Saya Otonashi and singing the third ending for the anime series Konjiki No Gash Bell . She is also known to be an amateur manga artist in Japan in her spare time...

(anime)

Yachiyo is the chief of staff at the restaurant and is 20 years old. She usually carries around a katana

Katana

A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...

which, according to her, was made by her parents who used to be blacksmiths. Yachiyo is unaware that some of the customers, and even Sōta, are intimidated by her blade. She admires Kyōko considerably after she was saved from bullies by her. She gets angry if anyone offers Kyōko food or tries to take her away, although is willing to allow Satō to feed her because she considers him trustworthy, much to his chagrin. Yachiyo is very close to Satō, as she has worked with him the longest and considers him her closest friend, though is unaware of his feelings for her. She is often addressed as "Chief" by Sōta.

(drama CD), Daisuke Ono

Daisuke Ono

is a Japanese voice actor who works for Mausu Promotion. He was born in Kōchi Prefecture. He won the 4th Seiyū Awards for best voice actor for his role as Sebastian Michaelis in Kuroshitsuji.-Anime:2002*Full Metal Panic!...

(anime)

A 20-year-old chef who works in the kitchen, Jun is a helpful but intimidating individual. He is in love with Yachiyo, but has problems expressing it. Of course, because she is so devoted to Kyōko, she fails to recognize any hints he attempts to make. He likes to take out his anger on Popura by messing with her or bending the truth, to which Popura naively believes. When Sōma tries to help with Satō's development with Yachiyo, Jun unrelentingly hits him with a pan, showing that he is sensitive about his feelings for Yachiyo.

(drama CD), Hiroshi Kamiya

Hiroshi Kamiya

is a Japanese voice actor who works for Aoni Production. He is best known for being the voice of Nozomu Itoshiki from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Tieria Erde from Mobile Suit Gundam 00. He won "Best Lead Actor" and "Best Personality" at the Third Seiyu Awards, and "Best Supporting Actor" at the...

(anime)

Another chef who works in the kitchen, Sōma is a young man with an easygoing attitude. He often blackmails other workers to do his job for him and pass it off as a form of modesty from the other employees. He can blackmail anyone except Satō and Inami; the former usually responds to his blackmail with hitting him with a frying pan and the latter punches him even before he manages to talk to her. He is terrified of Inami's urges and is thankful for Sōta's existence in the restaurant since Inami is taking out her urges all on Sōta and not him. His biggest weakness appears to be crying girls. Moreover, Yamada has been the only person to ever backfire his blackmails, leaving him depressed.

(drama CD), Ryō Hirohashi

Ryo Hirohashi

is a Japanese voice actress represented by a talent agency Aoni Production. She originates from Nagaoka, Niigata and is a graduate of Ryukoku University...

(anime)

Aoi is a mysterious, self-proclaimed 16-year-old girl who Otoo meets on his travels to find his missing wife. He brings her back to Wagnaria where she starts working as a waitress and lives in Wagnaria's attic. While she has great confidence in herself, during work she is an unhelpful troublemaker who gets yelled at by the other staff members, especially Sōta. Since she is in training, her position among the staff is low, which she complains about. She is bad with dealing with Sōta's constant complaints about her, but she does write down some of his suggestions (along with idle complaints). She yearns for the idea of having a family, especially towards Otoo whom she sees as an ideal father figure. She goes as far as to apply to be adopted by him. She is also rather childish and does not like to be (in her view) "left out", in that sense she goes so as far so as to ask Kyōko to drive her home (even though she "lives" at Wagnaria) or ask for Sōma to poke her, as he and Satō poked Inami and Popura. Her favorite food is nattō

Natto

is a traditional Japanese food made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis. It is popular especially as a breakfast food. As a rich source of protein and probiotics, nattō and the soybean paste miso formed a vital source of nutrition in feudal Japan. Nattō can be an acquired taste because...

. Her ladylike manner and lack of knowledge in the kitchen makes Takanashi suspect she is actually from a rich family. Later on, her brother appears looking for her, but Sōma keeps running interference to stop them from meeting.

(drama CD), Jōji Nakata (anime)

Otoo is the top head of the restaurant. Most of the time he is away searching for his missing wife, who apparently is so bad with directions she got lost while running errands and is now lost wandering Japan. He periodically returns to Wagnaria to check up on things and bring back souvenirs. Due to his habit of bringing food back for Kyōko whenever he returns, his life is constantly in danger from a jealous Yachiyo. He is noted to have a light presence, and is even compared to (and named) "air" by Sōta when the latter is attempting to convince Inami not to attack him.

Maya is an 18-year-old glasses-wearing girl who works at Wagnaria. She professes that she is a "normal person" striving to be completely ordinary in work and life in general. She has a hard time understanding the other employees seeing how awkward all of them are and tries not to be too familiar with them. The irony is that because she tries too hard to be "normal", she ends up being pretty weird herself.

Takanashi family

(anime)

Kazue is the oldest sister at age 31. The tallest in the family, she is a lawyer, previously divorced, and her first appearance is in chapter 25. She is an expert in law and often uses it to her benefit her argument in combination with violence and wordplay. She appears to be very serious, but it is just a cover for her emotional problems. She often ignores Sōta viewpoint's and appears to not get along with Izumi or Kozue, but actually cares for them, especially when Izumi leaves the house, she actually show signs of worry. She spoils Nazuna.

(anime)

Izumi is the second sister in the Takanashi family at age 28. Tall and slender, but she is rarely shown standing. She writes romance novels for a living. Although writing is her dream job, her room is always a mess. She loves to wear black and doesn't take care of her hair. She's often covered in ink, and does not wear makeup. She often locks herself in her room, and has weak constitution, frequently having to rely on others to take care of her. If she carries anything heavier than a pen, she gets muscle ache. She does not do any household chores, and is taken care of by her brother. She relies on taxis.

(anime)

Kozue is the third sister at age 25. Slightly shorter than Kazue, she is an aikido

Aikido

is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to...

instructor, and appears in chapter 20 of the manga. She is often found passed out by the front door. She loves to go to Wagnaria and latch on to any employees (especially Mahiru). Sōta has a hard time dealing with her as she loves to wear revealing clothing. She gets lonely easily and loves to pick up guys, but breaks up with them often. Her relationship issues are a contributing factor to her alcohol abuse. She loves Sōta but goes about it the wrong way which causes him trauma. It results in him treating her more harshly than her sisters. Due to her job, she is the only person who can withstand Kazue's physical attacks.

(anime)

Nazuna is the fourth sister and the youngest in the Takanashi family at age 12. Still in elementary school, she is almost as tall as Sōta. Nazuna appears in chapter 25 of the manga. When she was little, she saw the abuse endured by Sōta from her sisters and wants to protect her brother. So far, only Izumi is being spared. She assumes that Inami is Sōta's girlfriend. He worries that she will grow up to be a worse sadist than her sisters. Being still in elementary school, her stamina makes it harder for her to stay up late at night. Using a school report assignment as an excuse and with bribes to the manager, she starts to help out at the restaurant. Later in the series, she helps out once in a while and appears to work without pay.

Others

(anime)

Name unspecified, loves his daughter to the point of making up lies about males so that no boys would come near her. He is the cause of Mahiru's androphobia and abnormal strength, having subtly trained her from birth, though this has also made him a target for her punching. Due to the possibility of getting hit at home, he lives and works by himself faraway, almost forgetting what Mahiru looks like. Appears to be calm and normal but carries a rifle with him which he intends to use on boys who get too close to Mahiru.

(anime)

Name unspecified, Carefree, but does not interfere with her husband's upbringing of their daughter.

(anime)

Otoo's wife, who went shopping one day for some milk and has since been unable to find her way back home due to her terrible sense of direction. She has occassionally run into other members of the Wagnaria staff, but often mysteriously disappears soon afterwards.

(anime)

One of the members of Kyōko's old personal gang, who occassionally gets called in to help at the restaurant when staff are low. He does not get along with his twin sister, Mitsuki.

(anime)

Yōhei's twin sister, and another member of Kyoko's old gang. She is currently working as an accountant and is easily embarrassed by her past looks.

(anime)

Aoi's older brother who has been constantly searching for her. Like Aoi, his surname is an alias which coincidentally matches her. He is the captain of a karate club and is strong enough to defend himself against Mahiru, who he gains a crush on.

Manga

Working!! had its origins in a web comic written and illustrated by Karino Takatsu also called Working!!, which she published in irregular intervals on her personal website. The web comic's setting and characters are different from the later four-panel

Yonkoma

thumb|right|150px|Traditional Yonkoma layout, a comic-strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom...

comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

manga

Manga

, which began serialization in the January 2005 issue of Square Enix

Square Enix

's Young Gangan manga magazine. While the restaurant in the web comic and manga are both called Wagnaria, they are different branch stores, so the world is the same. For example, , the web comic's store manager, is an old friend of Kyōko Shirafuji and from the web comic is a band mate of Jun Satō from the Young Gangan version. The author called the web comic version and the serialized manga version . The first tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

volume of the manga was released on November 25, 2005, and as of March 25, 2011, nine volumes have been published in Japan. Ten additional chapters have been released via mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s. The manga has been licensed for release in Chinese in Taiwan

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

by Tong Li Publishing. Takatsu launched a biweekly web version of Working!! on October 16, 2009 to commemorate the anime series and posts the manga on the anime's official website.

Drama CDs

Square Enix

released three drama CDs

Radio drama in Japan

under the title Young Gangan Book In CD Working!!, with scenarios written by Shōgo Mukai. The first volume, released on January 25, 2007, came bundled with a 96-page booklet with bonus

Omake

means extra in Japanese. Its primary meaning is general and widespread. It is used as an anime and manga fandom term to mean "extra or bonus". In USA, the term is most often used in a narrow sense by anime fans to describe special features on DVD releases: deleted scenes, interviews with the...

manga and the scenario included. The second and third volumes, released on April 25, 2008 and March 25, 2009 respectively, also came bundled with similar booklets. The voice acting

Seiyu

Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...

cast for the anime is different from the drama CDs.

Anime

The anime

Anime

television series' 13-episode first season, produced by A-1 Pictures

A-1 Pictures

and directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike

Yoshimasa Hiraike

-Anime involved in:*Aria The Natural: Screenplay, Storyboard , Episode Director *Excel Saga: Episode Director *Kaleido Star: Director , Assistant director*Pretear: Episode Director...

, aired in Japan between April 4 and June 26, 2010 on Tokyo MX; the first episode having a special pre-broadcast on March 6, 2010 on Tokyo MX. NIS America licensed the anime under the title Wagnaria!!, and an English-subtitled DVD box set was released on March 24, 2011. The anime's opening theme is "Someone Else" by Kana Asumi

Kana Asumi

, Saki Fujita

Saki Fujita

, and Eri Kitamura

Eri Kitamura

(the three female leads). The ending theme is by Jun Fukuyama

Jun Fukuyama

, Daisuke Ono

Daisuke Ono

, and Hiroshi Kamiya

Hiroshi Kamiya

(the three male leads). The special ending theme for episode nine is by Saki Fujita.

A second season, titled Working'!! (with an apostrophe), began airing on October 1, 2011, after a September 3, 2011 preview airing. Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll is an American website and international online community focused on streaming East Asian media including anime, manga, drama, music, electronic entertainment, and auto racing content...

is doing a simulcast of the series. The second season's opening theme is "Coolish Walk" by Asumi, Fujita, and Kitamura, while the ending theme is by Fukuyama, Ono, and Kamiya.

Reception

The fourth manga volume of Working!! was the seventh highest selling manga volume in Japan for the week of October 23 and October 29, 2007. The sixth manga volume was the sixth highest selling manga volume in Japan for the week of March 24 and March 30, 2009, having sold over 73,000 volumes that week.

External links

Karino Takatsu's personal website
Working!! at Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
Anime official website
Wagnaria!! at NIS America

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