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Snack Basue - A deep-dive into the hidden side of Japanese culture: hanging out at pubs and just talking about rando topics for comedy. AniManga can be very weird sometimes, and in most rare cases, a necessity as an educational topic for the rest of the world to see what exactly is Japan all about. Shows like last season's Megumi no Daigo a.k.a Firefighter Daigo showcasing how firefighting is done in Japan, those shows when marketed to the West, can look very niche and is rather hard to market overseas. And when it does, it only gets a lukewarm reception and nothing more. Sadly, this isthe case for yet another underwatched show this season: mangaka Forbidden Shibukawa's Snack Basue.
When you first watch this show and think to yourself that this show is kinda all over the place, boring and whatnot, I clearly understand that the show is catered not for the Average Joe. But for those who are genuinely interested in this show, read on.
It's clear that Snack Basue is meant to be a parody of a culture that you can ONLY experience in Japan: Nomikai, or as commonly referred to as the drinking culture. This is one of many parts of Japan's sacred cultures, which is how Japanese people bond over nomikai as part of the work experience on the social front, that's usually expected on participation, although it is not expressly required.
And that's exactly the premise of Snack Basue as a whole: with hostesses of Akemi and Mama Basue, customers from regulars to newcomers will frequent the place, bringing up whatever topics they like to wish to rant and/or discuss it out, and then at the end of the way, sing a karaoke song of the country's late 1970s to early 1990s Reconnaissance period of music. It's truly Japan when it comes to things like this. The various customers of salaryman Yamada, delinquent/gangster Brother Tatsu, pervertic afro-haired middle-aged man Morita, the married Kazama, boss-like man Miki Azuma, hippie man Kawa, even the parodies of Yuusha (from Dragon Quest) and Jersey Man (which by its VA you should recognize the parody), they all form part of the trope that is Snack Basue, dilly-dally-ing their way through the night, talking about the most random of topics in quick successions of wit, with comedy so out-of-place on the global POV that only native Japanese people can relate to. It can be absurdly funny sometimes when its humour even breaks the 4th wall (like Gintama), from popular characters to even publishers, nothing is off the hook when it comes to comedic criticism.
Clearly, its production feels stinted, but that's part of the charm of the show as well. Produced by Studio PuYUKAI who did the Isekai Quartet series, it certainly has a chibi charm to it that adds an element to the overall show's feel. Also, Rie Takahashi being Akemi just adds fuel to the overall humour of the show, and it's obscenely clear that her character just doesn't take anything seriously at all, going along with the banters of her customers, both regular and new. Also, the OP song for this is a LEGIT banger, being a "left, right, center" of unhinged hype entertainment for comedy values.
Snack Basue is a show not for the Average Joe, that's pretty much a given. If you want to have a night's rest not thinking about the world and drowning yourself in some deranged comedy while siping some alcohol, Snack Basue would serve you well with its free-spirited wording and easy viewership, even if you don't understand most of its heavy dialogue, which even then, it doesn't expect you to understand much of it anyways (as a low-key jab at foreigners not understanding any context).
