So…I’ve gone ahead and rewatched this episode twice because I wanted to be sure, but the pacing is definitely moving at breakneck speed compared to Wagnaria. This episode so far has a bunch of the qualities that I rather dislike. I mean, the characters break off into twos or threes and do their own thing without interacting with nearly anyone else, and by that I mean the kitchen staff, servers, and the MC do their own thing without building up everyone as a whole. That’s why the pacing must feel so fast, because the episode keeps jumping between a handful of people each doing their own thing.
This will be the last time I make the comparison to Wagnaria, but it really is a change. Episode 2 of Wagnaria made it the most entertaining show of its season because it created a cohesive cast by its second episode, creating scenarios where all of the staff could interact with each other. Contrary to this episode, it was only later into its season when it let the characters split off and do their own thing. It’s worthwhile to be a little cautious with any spin-off and it looks like I can’t let my guard down yet. Especially after seeing that the characterization isn’t anything to write about, and the variety of humor isn’t all exactly there yet either.
I suppose it’s easier to find what doesn’t work comedically than to do otherwise. So to its credit, Miyakoshi is the best part of this episode. I especially like her interaction with Daisuke and her acting is easily the most enthusiastic out of all the cast, who’re rather mostly…average. She brought the most energy into the episode, and her showing up at Higashida’s house worked really well.
In any case, what makes the show from being yet another average slice of life is that it works off character quirks to spice up every episode, most of the side characters still play off amusing traits if they aren’t very developed yet. So in the end, I personally prefer the tighter approach to comedy (with closely-knit character interactions), it creates more personality. It also makes them more relatable.
The music is alright, the opening is good but the ending song is pretty generic, I loved the soundtrack toWagnaria and Servant x Service so it’s somewhat of a letdown to hear some standard fare background music in this episode. I’d look forward to seeing the show crank up the energy more, so far Miyakoshi is the only one with any kind of real enthusiasm in her character.
