Quick Review: Yuri is My Job!

The current seasonal anime Yuri is my Job! (WataYuri) recently finished, and it left quite an impression on me! I have much more to say about it than can fit in just a tweet or two, so I’ve taken to writing up a quick review of the series, similar to my Heike write-up last year.  As the title suggests, this is a yuri series that has thankfully made the jump to animation, something becoming increasingly common lately. Though lately I haven’t been into some of the recent yuri adaptations as they’ve tended to be in the isekai genre, a total turn-off for me, but this series doesn’t have any of that so I was willing to give it a try as I’ve heard a lot about the manga, even if the visuals weren’t quite top quality. 

The tanghulu looking super shiny hair is certainly a choice, but I like it actually as it compliments the bright facade of the yuri cafe and gives these characters a distinct look complicated by some fun, expressive facial expressions. The character designs and facial expressions gave a lot of impact to an otherwise bland looking show, even though I enjoyed the pacing and some of the boards. Indeed, WataYuri isn’t such a high profile adaptation, and a lot is saved for having most of the action take place in just 3 places (the cafe hall, back room, and at the stairs) but it’s more than left its mark by its fascinating story and plot development.

As I waited to get into the series to watch the anime I knew nothing going in, and that gave me the false impression that this was a fun yuri-centric series about work antics. As such, I had quite the surprise when that gave away to a very spicy drama between the 4 central characters. I really like the way the series weaves touch each characters’ stories as pairs resulting in their coupling in Liebe. Each “arc” in this sense, has a smooth back-and-forth of each pair having some difficulty in the cafe caused by some past experience, and through sharing those they work those feelings out and happily engage in the cafe as “sisters”. These of course focus on the interrelationships within Liebe, however while romantic feelings are involved WataYuri is not a romantic drama. Romance and romantic feelings are at the core of the drama and I find the core of this series is in how each character interprets those feelings.

What I love about this series is how the central conflict surrounds the different ways each of the 4 main characters sees “love”. I see each character as follows: Hime believes love is something that is earned, and thus makes great effort to be loved. Mitsuki is the optimist who has been hurt by love in the past, but is healed by that love when she confronts Hime. Sumika resents love, having witnessed how it’s harmed the environment of the café, the space she is most comfortable in. Finally, I see Kanoko as fearing love. She loves Hime so much but is afraid of how that love could potentially end the relationship they have right now, and so will never act on it. Love is also the the main theme of the café obviously, playing the role of sisters in a “pure” love while their own love is anything but.

They pair together very well too. Hime, learns the limits of her appealing efforts while making up with Mitsuki who has in turn completely fell head-over-heels for her. Hime still doesn’t see “love” in a romantic sense, but sees Mitsuki as someone special to her though their shared experience, setting up potential future developments. On the other hand, Kanoko finds a mutual goal with Sumika in keeping the status quo of the cafe, both not wanting love to interfere with the space that the four (plus Mai and Nene) have created. Sumika is overly concerned with what happened to Nene and confronts Kanoko about her feelings for Hime only to be pushed back by an even greater resistance by Kanoko’s fear. They end up becoming sisters for perseverance, but at some point those differing reasons will clash together probably. A lot of drama has happened in this one season, but it’s also set up so many possible developments in the future. This messy relationship toe-stepping is a prime dish for me, and I ate good!

In some ways I feel like the story is “just starting” despite everything that’s happened so far. I am hoping desperately for a season 2 because even though I will most likely cave and read the manga, I still enjoyed this anime. There was definitely a few thorns that one could point out in this production, but when considering the episode pacing, voice acting, story composition, and banging OP and ED (Ogura Yui’s best anison since Charming Do), WataYuri bloomed like a rose…well actually a white lily.