Hello one and all, perhaps the most confusing production I am covering this season. This time Honda-San teaches us about publishes and dives into a world of demons and fantasy. Let’s dive in!
So to start off, I want to apologize for the lateness and doubling up of this post. Simply put, Honda-San isn’t very interesting to me anime. Not being a comedy sort of man, I was impressed when Honda-San got genuine chuckles out of me in the first few episodes. It was a very fresh, sort of blase comedy. The subject was soe mundane that anyone could relate to the situations. Simply put, Honda-San was unique in the beginning, and I think I was taken in by that. But this late in the season, the enthusiasm just isn’t there anymore. Episode 11 definitely brought some of that back, I quite enjoyed the unique premise. It really broke up the otherwise dull past few episodes. But was it enough to close out the season? I suppose we will have to see next week how it pans out. For now, onto the episodes.
Now, Episode 10 was easily the worst of the two. Quite frankly, I was bored throughout the whole thing until the last bit about production companies. It consisted of mostly just opinions of departments. The interesting bit to me was hearing the authors opinion/views on differing publishing companies.From Sho-G-Kan to Haku-S-Sha and what not. What made this interesting was actual modern references in each one as well. Fitting Banana Fish, Fist of the North Star, Berserk and My Hero Academia into some of these. It was a very clever way I think of telling us each Publisher’s niche. Then ending that with each of the Bookstore Employees in a character costume from their department? It didn’t get a laugh sure, but it was easily the most entertaining educational bit in the whole show. A shame it was so short.
Episode 11 was by far the stronger of the two in my eyes. Not only did it completely change the setting to recontextualize the episode, did so with a consistent theme. First, the change in setting. At first it was very jarring. Honda-San is a comedy piece, so to go for this semi-serious yokai fantasy was unexpected. The more I sat on it though, with how long this took, the more I remembered it fondly. Not only does Honda-San’s art style really fit the setting, but the “nightmare scenario” for many client side positions are just this. With some customers seeming terrifying, while others don’t even treat employees as people. Having to rely on the manager to save you. It’s something I am glad I will never have to deal with again.
As far as theme goes, the dual perspective on how a customer can affect your life was poignant. The contrast between what a perfect, beautiful customer and a terrible one was nice. I have personally never had one that sweet, but it really does lighten the day. That it came right after the Yokai Realm one and transitioned back to the regular style was good. The only complaint I have is that, I go into Honda-San each week expecting a comedy. This was not comedy. It was feel good, sure, but I can get that in a lot of places. Generally much more consistency. I suppose I just don’t see the point in Honda-San existing if it isn’t going to commit to the comedy.
But let me know what you think below. We are one episode away from the end of the season, and my opinion on Honda-San is pretty set I am afraid. But I am always interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.
