What’s it about? When Daisuke Higashida’s father goes bankrupt, he needs to find a part-time job to pay for his own phone bill and school commute. As an elite student he doesn’t really want to work, aware that his grades will probably suffer, but accepts that he has no choice and looks for work at the most convenient location he can: nearby chain restaurant Wagnaria.
It’s an entertaining four-panel comic style anime, with a quirky cast of individuals who aren’t at all sexualised. Quite the opposite – even though this episode covers Valentine’s Day and chocolates are given, it’s a gag from start to finish with no misleading idea of Feelings to get in the way. Daisuke is the straight man to his eccentric family and coworkers, staying as practical and grounded as he can while also trying to get along with the odd people around him.
Overthinking time: despite the name, WWW.WAGNARIA!! has nothing to do with the internet or modern working life in any way. They all have traditional jobs in a chain company in a brick and mortar industry. I know, I know, it’s just a cute comedy, but working life in Japan is changing and the “www.” in the title did make me think it was going to mine some of the comedy from that transformation. That said, there’s still time; there seems to be a good mix of high schoolers, freeters and career staff in the cast, exactly as there would be in life, and they could be working up to a fresher look at the realities of life as a working millennial in the modern-day restaurant business.
Or it could just be a simple comedy with a slightly misleading name. I know which my money’s on.
Even without that extra dimension though, WWW.WAGNARIA!! is fine. It made me laugh, the cast is likeable as a whole and one or two characters have completely won me over already. It’s unlikely to be one of my favourites, but I’ll watch any anime with a diverse cast of female characters who are neither sexualised nor infantilised.
