TwiddleGeek

Meet Matsukata Hiroko, a frantic writer for the magazine Jidai. She may have a life outside the office, but that’s not gonna get in the way of her working full-time and then some. In the first episode, she wrestles with a high profile exposé article, and the consequences attached to publishing such a piece.

Probably everyone can pick out a character in this anime that reminds them of them-self or someone they’ve worked with, whether it’s the workaholic Matsukata, the apathetic rookie Tanaka, or possibly the somewhat out-there boss, Umemiya. And that’s probably what makes it appealing so far, but there’s some good humor thrown in too.

With her date for the night cancelled, Matsukata accepts a stakeout assignment with known misogynist Sugawara Fumiya. The two share a completely incident-free night in a car together. Ha ha, just kidding.

Matsukata gets irritated over Tanaka’s blatant disregard for his work, and confides in her pal Kobayashi Akihisa - “Kobu-chan” - the entertainment editor. This guy looks downright sinister in the opening animation, so I was glad to see he’s a funny, lovable character like most of the rest of the cast. This episode makes clear that Kobu-chan likes two things: “food and erotica.” But apparently he’s also a good guy to Matsukata, often treating her to drinks…. but then he takes her home!… I mean, to her home!… And he doesn’t stay!… No seku hara here, people.

This episode focuses on Matsukata’s boyfriend, Yamashiro Shinji, a construction supervisor who isn’t enjoying his job, and is always getting harshly chewed out for his mistakes. Hmm, this guy’s kind of depressing… but there is hope for him by the end of the episode. Yamashiro Shinji no Yuuutsu… er, Shinji’s melancholy is nicely balanced by comedy scenes over at the Jidai office.

As a side note… did anyone else think the song playing in the background of Matsukata’s apartment sounded an awful lot like Naruto’s “Seishun Kyousoukyoku”?…