Hataraki Man

[dxgarten]

Episode 01 screencaps and summary

Spoiler:

I'm afraid this one is not for me. I don't like the mood it tries to portray. In fact, it depressed me when I see a character like Matsukata slaving at work. Although this could be fun to watch if she starts having affair with her rival editor.

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by dxgarten

Spoiler:

In fact, it depressed me when I see a character like Matsukata slaving at work.

But... isn't that the whole point? Isn't the entire premise of the show is that it's about a life as a workaholic? I am pretty sure that the audience they were trying to connect with are those lonely Japanese salarymen and officeladies.

Of course, that doesn't mean that one has to like "the point". However, it seems to me like they are delivering the promised goods.

Thanks for the first opinion about the show. Can't wait to see it myself in a couple of hours.

[Quarkboy]

Fans of the manga should be glad that episode 1 follows the manga almost exactly.

99% of the dialogue in the anime is in the first two chapters . They rearranged a scene or two, however.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Now that is a good show. Real characters. Real excitement. Real life. I differ totally, at least after one episode, from dxgarten.

I've had that rush Matsukata gets when her work is approved and she goes into overdrive. What a high. The show seems to me to be getting across the thrill and intensity of work, as well as the annoyances, envy, disgust, frustration, exhaustion, and forced but somehow satisfying camaraderie. It is a lot better than the preview made me think it might be.

The scene returning to her apartment at night had my heart racing. Well done all round. And just long enough. And the way she and her boyfriend related was both sad and somehow inspiring. We'll see where things go, with them and with the show.

I thought Tanaka Rie did a great job as the lead. I liked Horiuchi Kenyuu (Oscar in Angelique, Bishop in Coyote Ragtime) as her immediate superior, too. And Fukuen Misato as the girly young editor. And I liked the music -- OP, ED and insert song.

This one is definitely on my list, even though I found the Japanese fairly difficult at times. AndrewLB's page says Arienai has plans to sub it.

[dxgarten]

I'm going to give it a try again on the weekend when I'm not feeling like a living dead like Matsukata.

I do agree that Rie Tanaka did a good job here though. Her voice sounds different from her previous characters (Suigintou, Lacus, etc).

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by dxgarten

Episode 01 screencaps and summary

Well I am encouraged by how few screenshots there are of her breasts. After that odd promo I was afraid it would be fanservice anime.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

Well I am encouraged by how few screenshots there are of her breasts. After that odd promo I was afraid it would be fanservice anime.

In the manga, there is one or two topless scenes per volume, but they are NOT fanservicey at all.

Actually, the ONLY scene that was cut from the manga for episode 1 involved a raunchy conversation between Matsukata and her friend (revolving around Matsukata's lack of love life), which would indicate to me that they're cutting down the adult language a bit for the anime itself.

And yes, Arienai is working on it at this moment. Translation should be quite accurate (since it's so close to the manga), but there is a lot of dialogue, so be patient for that 1st ep, okay? (Start yelling at me in 2 weeks).

[Vexx]

Take your time... I'm hitting my bandwidth cap enough as it is trying to be nice and share while getting caught up with other series.

[MrProphet]

Well, wasn't that just lovely?!

For several years, I used to work as a freelancer for a film magazine and let me tell you that the creative atmosphere portrayed in Hatarakiman hit so close to home it just isn't even funny!

Despite the fact that I adored the Noitamina shows from start to finish, I could never relate either to hyperemotional Hagu from Hachikuro, nor to the outlandish glamour of Parakiss. However, let me tell you, the atmosphere in JIDAI is quite true to reality. I am, of course, a European, so those Japanese salarymen-freaks with their workaholic attitude are not my cup of tea (as in, I'd never work that way for anyone, period), but it still hit a nerve.

That whole GANBARE thing that happens to Hiroko when she she is trying to psyche herself up in order to write a good article, when you sort of meander here and there, not being able to focus and then BANG, you get an epiphany and do some genius work... man, I did that too! On numerous occasions! 8)

But... they don't have computers! It must be some kind of a special punishment that Matsukata is writing her stuff on paper. I'd never do that. And she is such a poor dear... so many days without sex. She must be devastated to come home every day and find Shinji asleep (so that's how those hentai plots are born!).

So, to put it simply, I loved it. Good work, production people, you didn't do anything special with animation, but it was a treat to see Hatarakiman.

[kari-no-sugata]

Just watched ep 1. Everything I could have hoped for I think.

Bit hard to follow all the Japanese (it is aimed at older audiance after all) but didn't intrude on the shear awesomeness of the show and characters.

[Siegel Clyne]

Japanese Animation (Anime) Television Audience Ratings - Kantou District (Includes Tokyo)

3.1% NTV 2006/10/10 Tuesday 25:56 (2006/10/11 Wednesday 1:56 AM) DEATH NOTE "Taiketsu" ("Confrontation")

0.9% NTV 2006/10/10 Tuesday 26:35 (2006/10/11 Wednesday 2:35 AM) Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club "Hoshi ni Negai wo..." ("Wish Upon A Star...")

4.6% CX (Fuji TV) 2006/10/12 Thursday 25:05 - 25:35 (2006/10/13 Friday 1:05 AM - 1:35 AM) Noitamina "Hataraki Man" (Episode 1: Onna no Hataraki Man {Female Working Man})

[MrProphet]

Wow, that's pretty good.

I think this is the 3rd highest rating for a Noitamina show (after the second to last episode of ayakashi that got 5% and the second to last episode of Jyu-oh-sei that got 4.9%), and certainly the highest rated first episode for the Noitamina slot.

I guess people are starting to catch up to Noitamina after all!

[rooboy]

It's got such a cute logo, how can people miss it?

Seriously though, is anyone else weirded out by a seinen manga being on Noitamina? I thought the whole purpose was to try to redress the shoujo/josei vs shounen/seinen disparity. Did they just decide that Hataraki Man was off-beat enough that it would still qualify?

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by rooboy666

It's got such a cute logo, how can people miss it?

Seriously though, is anyone else weirded out by a seinen manga being on Noitamina? I thought the whole purpose was to try to redress the shoujo/josei vs shounen/seinen disparity. Did they just decide that Hataraki Man was off-beat enough that it would still qualify?

I think they are trying to redress the disparity between the prevalent shounen/shoujo and the underdog seinen/jousei.

I don't think it was structered along gender lines, but rather among age lines and Noitamina simply introduced more mature storylines for slightly older audiences.

[rooboy]

Really? But I was under the impression Jyu Oh Sei was a shoujo manga? I guess it's hard to tell with josei/shoujo on which side it falls.

Anyway, I'll have to watch this tonight. This is the one show (well, maybe next to Black Lagoon) that I'm looking forward to the most this season.

[Siegel Clyne]

Hataraki Man Episode 1 TV Rating - Kantou District (Includes Tokyo)

Originally Posted by Siegel Clyne

Japanese Animation (Anime) Television Audience Ratings - Kantou District (Includes Tokyo)

3.1% NTV 2006/10/10 Tuesday 25:56 (2006/10/11 Wednesday 1:56 AM) DEATH NOTE "Taiketsu" ("Confrontation")

0.9% NTV 2006/10/10 Tuesday 26:35 (2006/10/11 Wednesday 2:35 AM) Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club "Hoshi ni Negai wo..." ("Wish Upon A Star...")

4.6% CX (Fuji TV) 2006/10/12 Thursday 25:05 - 25:35 (2006/10/13 Friday 1:05 AM - 1:35 AM) Noitamina "Hataraki Man" (Episode 1: Onna no Hataraki Man {Female Working Man})

Highest Television Audience Rating Per Minute According to Generation - Kantou District (Includes Tokyo)

HSH | KID |*TEN | *M1 | *M2 | *M3 | *F1 | *F2 | *F3*|*MAX

----------------------------------------------

*3.1 | *0.8 | *2.3 | *3.5 | *0.8 | *0.5 | *3.6 | *0.7 | *0.4 | *4.4 | DEATH NOTE

*4.6 | *1.3 | *2.2 | *3.5 | *3.3 | *0.8 | *3.1 | *3.8 | *1.0 | *5.4 | Hataraki Man

HSH = Households (Setai)
KID = Children aged 0-12 years
TEN = Teenagers aged 13-19 years
*M1 = Men aged 20-34 years
*M2 = Men aged 35-49 years
*M3 = Men aged 50 years and over
*F1 = Women aged 20-34 years
*F2 = Women aged 35-49 years
*F3 = Women aged 50 years and over
MAX = Maximum

ORICON STYLE news of the high television audience rating of 4.6 percent for the first episode of Hataraki Man made the Yahoo! JAPAN News headlines.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

And yes, Arienai is working on it at this moment. Translation should be quite accurate (since it's so close to the manga), but there is a lot of dialogue, so be patient for that 1st ep, okay? (Start yelling at me in 2 weeks).

Yay! Yay! May I also add that Vexx doesn't represent us folks with unlimited bandwidth who can download anything anytime without even giving a second thought about bandwidth? So, go ahead, release it as fast as possible! Ganbarei! Ganbarei, working men (and women)!

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by monir

Y[/i] Ganbarei, working men (and women)!

Perhaps for a show like this, I should, for full disclosure, explain that both translators are 20-something females living and working in tokyo (americans, however).

So hopefully they have a good perspective on this type of environment.

[NeoSam]

Originally Posted by rooboy666

Really? But I was under the impression Jyu Oh Sei was a shoujo manga? I guess it's hard to tell with josei/shoujo on which side it falls.

Anyway, I'll have to watch this tonight. This is the one show (well, maybe next to Black Lagoon) that I'm looking forward to the most this season.

Hopefully someday some japanese TV station will decide to do a block thats purely aimed at young men. First manga to be adapted to anime on that block should be a josei manga. Yes an anime based on a josei manga thats aimed at men

[wao]

I'm quite sure that despite the manga being in a seinen magazine, it should hit the nerve of many a frustrated OL who watches Noitamina. It's cool to see that according to the ratings Siegel Clyne provided, the first episode received as much attention by men.

Anyway, I can't wait to watch this after MrProphet's glowing review of it; it sounds exactly like that kind of thing I'm looking forward to. I do hope the show continues on in an intelligent vein.

(Meanwhile, Red Garden gets 0.8%... and Ayakahi starts off with 3.6%... oh well )

(To quote somebody's disbelief in a very coincidentially apt way in this context... "4.6ってありえねぇ…")

EDIT: Finally, I got to watch it. It was quite a good first episode - the directing was actually better than I thought. While the animation left a moderately large amoutn to be desired, the pace of events and the changes in tension were brought across well IMO. Everything goes by so quickly in the show and in Matsukata's life. The way she slumps on the floor as soon as she gets home is very telling... And while on one hand I feel annoyed at Tanaka, the newbie because he's really slacking off, on the other hand I empathise with him very much because I've done similar things before.
Not at work ,but in school - especially when I was younger, everyone used to throw themselves into doing really well in school and got very worked up about it, but when they got a bit older they started regretting having thrown away that part of their life without keeping any meaningful memories, or experiencing more of Life Out There... I sure don't want to die having looked back and seeing that my life was work and only work. But I also understand Matsukata's feeling that she wants to die having known she made use of her life well! Argh. How does one draw the balance? I'm really torn over the issue, so it's going to be quite interesting seeing how they battle their ideologies in the show.

If it doesn't help, I hate the way Tanaka based his stuff on Matsukata's hard work without (I'm assuming) crediting her. However, I also do not like the way Matsukata looks down on him so much. It is annoying when there are people who don't give a damn about working hard, but at the same time there are some of them who are actually very skilled and highly talented, but they know how to use their time when they really need to and do a great job on that rather than working endlessly and creating mediocre output. Of course, I guess you can't blame Matsukata for thinking Tanaka is really just a useless slacker, and he might as well be one...

Oh, and I love the ED - it's a pity it was cut in a funny way (it sounds like it was cut in a rush, too) but it's so groovy!