I decided to watch a new, very short series of Anime just 8 episodes so far . 'Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You'.
Firstly I'm gonna come straight out and say that I hate cigarettes and I find people who smoke are usually incredibly selfish IRL. They'll walk about in large groups of people, say after sporting events, where there are children everywhere and smoke to their heart's content. Smoking is a filthy habit and luckily for all of us smokers are literally a dying breed.
But, let us get back to this quaint little story and my review.
The MC, Sasaki, is an overworked, underappreciated middle management guy working in a sales office for an incompetent boss aand he is used and abused essentially by everyone he works with, whether it's dumping their work on him so that they can take a day off in summer or just not turning up to work work at all so our MC is required to take over the roles of the missing staff. Honestly, I'll never understand Japanese work culture and the kowtowing done to those who treat you like shit just because they're a small rung above you on the corporate ladder.
Anyhow Sasaki, our MC is working hard and making his way home at stupidly late hours each and every night of the week and shopping at a local 24 hour supermarket where a very pretty young cashier, Yamada san, works. She's always pleasant and Sasaki tries to always go to her register when she's on shift as it brightens his day. He's not stalking her or doing anything creepy, in fact Sasaki is so down on himself it's a bit annoying.
Sasaki though is a hardcore smoker and, one night after shopping, he is looking for a place he can duck into for a smoke. So he sneaks in behind the supermarket for a durrie. There he meets Tayama san, a leather jacket wearing, tied up haired, young worker from the same supermarket and they strike up an instant friendship over their shared enjoyment of smoking.
I really liked the dynamic between these two the whole way through the series. Besides the obvious one way bullying from Tayama towards Sasaki which he instantly puts up with die to his life revolving around being treated so poorly. Sasaki is genuine and has no ulterior motives. He's just a kind, considerate guy who has trouble opening up to a much younger and very attractive Tayama. What he doesn't realize is that Tayama is the same girl, Yamada, he is smitten with who works on the register inside the store. Although they have the same face, of course they do, Yamada always does her hair so it is very conservative and she uses a very smiley, customer friendly face at all times while she works behind the register and she looks nothing like the cigarette smoking alter ego Sasaki gets to know so very well. Sasaki has so much on his mind, what with being worked into the ground, at one point believes he has terrible news regarding his lungs and his smoking habit after a workplace health check up. Although to all turns out to be a misreading of his test results, Instead of this being a warning sign for him to change his lifestyle, he keeps on smoking away and drinking every day and working himself almost to death.
There are so many points in this story where Sasaki could've put two and two together or where Tayama could admit her ruse but they both choose to keep this baffling storyline going for unknown reasons.
With Sasaki I genuinely believe he sees these two women as separate individuals. One, a pure and very conservative, hard worker and the other, as a bit of a tear away, a rebel and someone who he often sees sitting behind work wearing very sexy outfits which definitely don't fit the uniform of the workplace.
Of course this change of outfits is all because Tayama is trying to make Sasaki see that she finds him attractive and wants him to see her as a sexually attractive person but he has been treated like such a stupid 'older man' by her that she doesn't see that Sasaki would feel that he is out of her league or possibly not even worthy of her attentions on such a manner. She has done so many things, from calling him names like: a dog, an idiot, silly and 'old man'...not exactly the kind of way to show a man that you think much of him. She's even picked on him for not being up to date with technology.
Even after Sasaki bought Tayama a special gift which she knew would've taken a long time to track down she still berates him and treats him poorly.
She even remembers a moment, well in the past where a man, who was definitely Sasaki, but she cannot be sure, stuck up for her at work while another man was being extremely rude and disrespectful to her in the customer cue. She is close to realizing this but something gets in the way. Sasaki in his sense of awkwardness runs away.
I like this show but the lying, hiding of the truth, of the female MC makes me feel awful for the poor 40 something year old sap Sasaki. He's just an older dude who doesn't expect that a younger woman of 24 years of age would dress differently and play this kind of trick on him. Yamada is in control of this entire thing, this ruse, and she continues to call Sasaki Slo-Sa-ki in disrespect as if he's an idiot for not putting this puzzle together yet she wears clothing and behaves in such completely different ways when playing each female character that Sasaki has no reason to believe they're not different girls who just look a bit similar.
All the while...the only time he really sees either of them is at the end of gruelling days at his office where he is forced to work like a machine. When he is out of work he is a shell of a person just putting one foot in front of the other.
I hope this goes somewhere kinder sooner rather than later and that Yamada decides to be honest with this man she clearly likes a hell of a lot. But I get the feeling this will drag on for another season before any 'reveal'. Even then I wonder whether Sasaki will be able to reconcile the nature of such a betrayal from someone he has become so close with and, all the while, Yamadas other co-workers are aware of her deception of this extremely lovely customer.
For those of you who have watched this show..the 8 episodes so far. What do you think??
