Egao no Taenai Shokuba desu.

This was nice little slice of life anime, and it almost flew under my radar if not for a single FB page posting scenes from it. It's a shame it received so little attention as it is really good when to comes to displaying the life of mangaka. But with cgdct and yuri vibes, which just makes it that much better imo. :) Animation and music: both are good. Animation is good and fluid, there were no quality drops or a scene I could say it was outright 'bad'. Music is nothing special, it get's the job done but nothing more than that. No noteworthy soundtrackseither. Overall: animation and music are industry standard, not good and not bad. Characters: this is where the show truly shines, there are quite the number of them but they are all enjoyable to watch. Main lead is Futami-san who is like Bochii - but instead a guitar she took the pen. This women is walking insecurity, self-doubting herself every time a single effort needs to be put into something and thinking it is the end of the world when she is called for a meeting or asked for a favor. Her every interaction is a pure joy and to me she carries a lot of this show. Joining her is Satou-san who is her editor. Satou is serious, dedicated and hardworking. She also harbor some feelings for Futami and tries her best to get out the best of her. Then we have Hazama-san who is Futami's assistant. She is also skilled mangaka but instead of doing her own thing she finds satisfaction in working for Futami, and she is like mom/onee-chan to her as every time there is something hard to overcome she will be there to push it. These three makes the central characters of this show. Other than them we have Arisa who is also mangaka, but she is very energetic, rush and drinks like average citizen of eastern Europe. Then we have Touko-san who is shogi master and helps Futami with her manga. She is caring, dependable, supporting and has the strongest yuri vibes in entire show. Nekonote san who is 16 but is also very talented mangaka who is helping main cast in their daily tasks etc... You can see that there are a lot of characters here, but despite that all of them get their time to shine and the show does not feel crammed despite their numbers. There are not major character developments by the end of the show, but that is ok since the story is still ongoing and despite lack of that the characters feel alive and not cardboard characters. Which adds to the enjoyment rather than subtracting from it. Overall: all characters in this story are funny and enjoyable - especially the MFC. Story: the story is rather basic - it shows us the life of an average mangaka and how they handle their job. From planning to tuning their art trough meetings with editors and deciding where to go next. Futami's story is one of mangaka who was not respected as she did her story differently than others, only to have luck in getting Satou as her new editor who saw her true potential and is helping her as much as she can. Other than that there is noting more serious happening in the story. Most are daily situations which can be hilarious sometimes, the furthest they have gone is release of 2nd volume of her manga and that's it. The manga is not yet completed so there might be something major down the road, but for now it's just typical slice of life show where cute girls do cute things depending on the scenario for that day. Overall: story is quite basic and not much is happening in it. For slice of life show this is good enough. Overall grade: 8. I gave it a 10 as that is how much I have enjoyed it (benched it in 2 days to that) but realistically anime is around 8. It is simple and safe slice of life show that does not invents something new, which in itself is not a bad thing if you are just looking for the show to watch and enjoy for what it is. I am fully recommending this show. If you enjoyed Bocchi the Rock and Secrets of the Silent Witch for the protagonist - you are going to enjoy this one as well. I have no idea if there will ever be season 2 released, but if that happens I am watching it for sure.

Over the course of the last few years, there has been an increase in yuri content. Kuzushiro is a mangaka who has made a lot of Yuri or Yuri-Adjacent Works. This series, "A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace" is one of those. It focuses on Nana Futami who is a mangaka. One thing that should be mentioned is that this series works as a comedy with the themes in the mangaka industry. Futami herself feels very much like Bocchi from "Bocchi the Rock" being very introverted and being very overreactive. If that type of comedy does not suit you, this might be a series you willenjoy. With that being said, after the comedy, the characters are really a shine to them. The anime focuses on each one, making them feel alive, but also looks at their own issues in the mangaka industry. Futami as a new mangaka, Satou as an editor, Mizuki as an assistant, etc. This is the core of the show. If you like shows that are very character-driven, you will love this one, I would say. It is worth noting that it looks more like the roles of characters in the manga industry. This series doesn't spend much time on the creation of manga itself. So if that is something you are mostly interested in rather than the role in the industry, this could be a disappointment. Of course this could be highlighted more in the future content since the manga is ongoing. But this series absolutely does an outstanding job at reminding you that it is more than just the mangaka that is responsible for the creation of manga. At the same time, it shows the effect that manga can have on a person. Now on the production side, we have a new studio named Voil. The show ended looking better visually than I expected. Not anything groundbreaking, but pretty solid for a seasonal anime. Should you watch this show? Well, if you like Yuri or CGDCT's series, you will very likely like this. If you like character-driven series and/or an inside look into the manga industry, then I would also say it's worth a try. It's not anything groundbreaking, but it's a very solid show with good execution on a topic we rarely get anime about nowadays.

Egao no Taenai Shokuba desu, or simply Egate, is an anime with a lot to like and is the type of show that, in theory, would be right up my alley. However, to my great surprise, it ended up being a forgettable experience that never really drew me in. While the anime is fantastically produced, well-paced, and depicts a reasonably believable picture of a mangaka's life, the comedy elements fall flat, and I struggled to like many of the characters. I can see why people like this, but it’s not for me. Egate centers around mangaka Nana Futami and depicts different parts of her professional lifealongside her assistant Hazama (Ha-san) and her editor Sato. Being more of a Slice-of-Life anime, the plot lacks direction; the episodes simply show different, random snapshots of her life and work. Lacking a clear premise, the show can feel like nothing is happening, and the events may feel pointless, especially given the oftentimes boring comedy. I don't think this anime made me laugh more than once or twice across its 13 episodes because the jokes frequently fell flat or became way too repetitive. Furthermore, instead of developing the plot, story, or characters, Egate simply introduces new characters or elements, making it feel incomplete. While this does add some much-needed nuance, the show never gets past that "surface-level" feeling. In spite of this, I have to give credit to the atmosphere and light-hearted feel the anime gives off, especially in the later episodes. Couple that with great pacing, and you have a nice watch, provided you don't look at it too deeply. In terms of characters, well... I don't like them. The main character, Futami, is honestly really annoying. Her "thing" is that she's socially anxious, but her actions constantly contradict this. It isn't that she grew as a person; it’s just pure contradiction. For example, she manages various social situations well, and when she doesn't, it’s portrayed as something "cute" that bothers neither her nor those around her. Moving on, the other central characters are Ha-san and Sato. Neither of them is particularly deep; they are purely tropey, with Ha-san being the orderly "no-nonsense" type and Sato being the awkward person misunderstood as cold. While Sato does undergo some character development, it’s nothing we haven't seen before. As I didn't really like these three to begin with, the anime was a drag in the beginning when it was just them. Later on, however, more characters were added to the cast, such as Nashida, Nekonote, and Touko. They all improved the overall feel of the show and brought some much-needed variety. Most notable was Nashida, who lightened the mood and was, in fact, quite funny. Sadly, her character became quite repetitive by the end. Even though the characters didn't feel real, they each had unique personalities and depicted different sides of the manga business. As far as art goes, it was quite good. The characters all look gorgeous, albeit a bit basic. It’s easy to tell them apart, and they all match their personalities and voices. The backgrounds, angles, and general animation were all well above average. In the end, I was impressed by the quality from Studio Voil, a name I’d never heard of before. Building on the art, the sound and OST production is where the show moves from impressive to actually really good. First of all, the voice acting performances were amazing. The cast did a terrific job portraying their characters; they sounded very expressive, and the mixing itself was high quality. Special props to Miku Itou (Futami's VA) and Yuu Kobayashi (Nashida's), who really blew me away. On top of this, the soundtrack had some high peaks, moving beyond just atmospheric background noise to take a central place in the viewing experience. For the most part, it was above average. As a whole, I was more than pleasantly surprised by the world-class sound production in this small anime from a "no-name" studio. Now, this is where it gets confusing: how much I actually enjoyed it. While I can't deny that the anime is terrifically produced and managed to be a good experience at its peaks, I never got hooked for real. As I've said, I didn't enjoy the plot nor like the characters, so all I can really take away from it is its stellar production. While I tend to enjoy these types of chill SoLs, I need a deeper cast of characters and a plot that doesn't feel like it’s just stalling for time. So, no, I didn't enjoy Egate that much. In conclusion, Egao no Taenai Shokuba desu is a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s boring and unlikeable; on the other, the production makes it worth seeing. While I do understand why a lot of people like it, I can't fully recommend it. I’d say watch this if you know you like mindless CGDCT shows, or if you're just curious about the production quality. Otherwise, skip it. For me, it’s quite forgettable, and since I didn't like it, I won't be coming back for a rewatch or reading the manga. I will, however, keep an eye on Studio Voil in the future, as they did a great job.

what a lovely anime! since the beginning it's already had a strong plot and characters they did great too with animations, looking fluid and kinda calm They described mangaka very realistically like most of mangakas are weird genius and kinda socially awkward because they don't really interact with a lot of people The characters itself are very interesting with different personalities like Futami who's genius but kinda have anxiety problem, hazama very strict and caring but sometimes didn't take care of herself every characters had different things they need to take care of and it's kinda wholesome when they help each other and tease eachotherngl at first i hate nashida and didn't want her to ruin Futami & Hazama everyday life but as the story goes I start liking nashida more and more because she make the show have more h chaotic side and it's really nice for me personally it's really great anime and i think if you like some chill anime with little chaotic story it's definitely a must watch! Story: 9/10 Music: 9/10 Characters: 9/10 overall: 9/10 I used to be assistant for my sister when she draw for local magazine i think i really know how hazama feels haha

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