Forum - View topicI May Be a Guild Receptionist (TV).
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Edjwald
 Posts: 3507 |
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I May Be a Guild Receptionist (TV) Full title: I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time Source: Light Novel (ongoing @ 8 volumes, written by Mato Kousaka, illustrated by Gaou) Demographic: Shounen Animation Studio: CloverWorks Genres: action, adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy Themes: gods, medieval, monsters, sorcery, superpowers, workplace Plot Summary: Alina Clover signed up to be a receptionist for the Adventurers Guild, thinking it would be her ticket to the good life. Unfortunately, her dream gig becomes an overtime nightmare whenever adventurers get stuck clearing a dungeon. To save herself from paperwork, Alina beats down monsters herself to solve the problem. Now, she just needs to keep her activities a secret. Air Date & Platform: January 10, 2025 (Friday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes [EDIT: Fancy opener stuff added. -TK] |
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Edjwald
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Welp, I thought this was all good. The voice acting was good, the animation, character designs, and backgrounds were good, and it doesn't look like the show's going to be a one joke premise either, which was my biggest concern. We've already got different kinds of menaces, supporting characters, and hints of a deeper mystery.
I had fun, personally. Kaching! (I don't know why my watchlist would have a bell attached, but that's the sound I pictured). |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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That was indeed a good first episode. Everything is present for a fun season with enough interesting elements to make it last. The destruction of the previous civilization is probably a thing of importance, mr skelly seems to be doing something sketchy and despite not wanting to Aline will probably have to step in to help the Silver group. It is also nice to see the perspective of the guild for a change.
This is one of the few new shows for which I do not have to make a list of negatives and thus it is a stayer. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 3443 |
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#1
The premise makes for the ideal escapist fantasy which light novels from Japan are well suited towards, but the presentation for this unusual story is great and I for one have this series down as my guilty pleasure of the season. It's clear the author of this franchise has personal experienced the unique hell that is the doom loop of never-ending unpaid overtime, and unlike our protagonist the author must have quit the job to escape the doom loop rather than resort to the unique Gordian knot solution which our titular receptionist has recourse to in order to maintain what she sees as her dream life of a stable job with generous benefits coupled with zero overtime to allow her to enjoy life outside of work (now that's work/life balance for you, especially with the lengths she's willing to go to maintain that balance). Given her day job, it's no wonder our titular character has the attractive character design to match it. The premise might be absurdist enough, but there's no questioning she won her day job because of her looks, figure and ability to put on an acceptable public face for an entire day. The animators don't hesitate to show off our protagonist's figure with her side job outfit, which is far more revealing than her day uniform. That aside, the main question for the casual viewer is how on earth she's so strong and why she has that killer war hammer which is so different from the "standard" equipment and skills her erstwhile characters are equipped with. The main story now is how our receptionist can keep her secret safe (as she clearly doesn't favour the adventurer's lifestyle despite being just as well qualified for it) without pesky adventurers trying to recruit her by getting her retrenched. Of course that's not going to be enough to make this story sustainable, and since this franchise apparently has plenty of volumes to rely on there must something else in the formula which won this franchise its animated adaptation in the first place. I'm looking forward to finding out what that is. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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Considering that in most fantasy shows, a guild receptionist is the absolute most secondary of characters, of course I could not resist checking out one where the guild receptionist is the lead character. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed this. I love the discrepancy between her polite, professional public mask and her inner bitch on wheels. Most slacker characters are male, so again, the show is going a bit against the grain with good effect. Very interested to see where this goes.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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Alina is not doing that great in the luck department. The first episode already had her coping with some stuff but dealing with an annoying adventurer, losing your home and getting your hidden identity exposed is beyond unlucky. Said annoying adventurer sure was a crazy bastard, he went from feeling annoyed/not respected straight into a murderous spree with wanting the raid boss to go wild in the middle of town. I suppose he is now getting his head chopped off.
Finally, the hidden quest that was inside the relic makes me curious, that sure caused something to happen. That time skill the guild master has also seems pretty OP. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 3507 |
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It sort of depends. If I got it right, he can observe the past but can't interact with it? It's OP in a supportive or intelligence gathering capacity, but if he was squaring off against a Final Boss that could easily kill him, it wouldn't matter how much info he could gather by going into the past if he kept having to come back in increments closer and closer to the moment of @$$ whupping. "Hey, wait! I know your high school locker combination!" Blink! "I can tell you how to ask out that ogress on floor 3! No!" Blink! "Ghak! Your mom wanted you to be a Demon King lieutenant!" Anyhow, still loving the show. That origin story wasn't what I was expecting, but it kind of makes sense. Given her histrionics and tunnel vision, if the blessing was bestowed on the person who prayed the most intensely.... |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 3443 |
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#2
A bit of background on how Alina ended up with that enormous hammer, but the premise is so silly it fits in with the general theme of the franchise. I don't believe the explanation is as simple as it first appears, but that might have to wait until the end of the series before it's divulged, if at all. I don't blame her for wanting to keep her current lifestyle no matter how much everyone wants her to change jobs given her hidden skillset, after all anyone who's worked the overtime doom loop AND has to deal with a 30-year mortgage in a society which has no concept of disaster insurance would much rather stay alive with steady pay and have a decent work life balance rather than risk life and limb as a freelance employee for unstable earnings and no danger pay. It's all come down to a very silly deus ex machina event which brings Alina's secret to more unwanted attention, but the saving grace for her is the guildmaster doesn't intend to fire her for breach of employment contract. If she somehow wins her duel (which she most likely cannot refuse), then she might be able to keep her secret and her day job first. It's actually amusing the Silver Sword guild member is head over heels for her, for whatever reason he seems to have given up on getting her to join his guild and wants her instead. He's got plenty of competition; if word gets out to the public who Alina really is she'll probably pack up and leave town rather than deal with the harassment. Of more pressing concern to him is the mysterious quest the stone he tried to return last week has given; if he or Alina somehow crack this (supposedly murderous) quest the rewards should be enough to pay back Alina for the damage to her house. It looks like next week is going to focus on him while Alina deals with paperwork and domestic woes, so it's his turn to show what he can do when he's not being incompetent against bosses. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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My favourable first impression has been strengthened. Sucks that her crib got crunched but presumably the show is establishing why she decides to join up with Silver Sword (I'm presuming this happens, I don't have any specific knowledge): i.e. the need for cash.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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The third episode went a notch or two faster pacing wise compared to the previous two. First up was the duel with the indeed rather OP guild master, I doubt anyone without a Dia skill can match up against an ability to freeze time. Then there was Alina joining up with the Silver Sword gang for a little bit before Rufus popped up. Rufus being able to blackmail Jade surprised me in that the guild master and Jade together should have more than enough power/sway wise to deal with his claims, even more so since Jade was feeling that something was not right given the bodies in the White Tower.
Anyway, Rufus has been sucked up into oblivion and the Silver Sword team has to deal with a god. I do not see that ending well so I suppose the pendant that was shown off twice will get Alina to take notice (her flashback explained a fair bit btw). |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 3443 |
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#3
Finally a bit of background on why Alina is who she is. It's a roundabout way of doing it, but it's easy to empathize with her fixation of a safe job with benefits and the ideal work-life balance. After all, she's more than aware of the alternative if she had pursued her initial dream of doing what she's effectively been bribed into by the Master and Jade. It seems the guild takes all manner of adventurers into the fold, including those no better than criminals. The magic system makes sense, so somehow Alina has a god-tier skill that most adventurers would kill and betray for. Because she's not an adventurer, she's not swayed by it. Jade and the others recognise its worth, but are happy to earn their keep the honourable way and more than happy to have Alina as an ally. If they are going to die because of that scum swindler of an adventurer, she'll never live it down and given next week's title it seems she's going to do her usual unpaid overtime bypass to bail them out. The Master has a powerful skill, but he admitted as much that his is only at Sigurth level, hence Alina's Warhammer eventually getting through. Dia skills aren't an instant win because users still have to work for it, so depending on the god's whim she might have enough time to get them out of trouble depending on how long Jade can withstand the god's attacks. What's curious is who the masked figure who put Rufus up to the betrayal was. I don't think we're seeing the last of this shadowy figure anytime soon. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 3507 |
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I was a little irritated that they looked at those wounds in the back of the dead people and still let Rufus boss them around into making him their rearguard despite the fact that he had deranged sociopath dripping out of every leer - it annoys me a bit when needing something to happen for plot purposes triumphs over common sense. I would have much rather had Rufus being smooth talking and charismatic. But that was my only complaint, and it wasn't a big deal.
The show had a bit of a tonal shift from broad comedy overtones to something a bit more poignant and dramatic, and I'm cool with that. I think the MC needs to get fleshed out so that the show doesn't become one note, and the cast needs to expand for the same reason. Things are proceeding in that direction in way that makes the MC more sympathetic than annoying or boring which is always a danger.. That said, I hope her guild receptionist role doesn't get completely overshadowed. The villain is pretty chilling...between the Hellgate plotline over in Tasokare Hotel and the soul extraction that went on here and Ubel Blatt in general, the creep out factor was pretty high in Friday's shows. And it looks like the relationship between the Silver Sword leader and the MC might at least become something more than her finding him annoying.. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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And with episode 4 one of the dark gods is down. Given the speech by said god at the end (before he was rudely interrupted anyway) more of them are on their way. Considering how badly everyone else but Alina did in the fight I hope that they will get Silver Sword to boss up. Yes, she won thanks to her sudden power up but if there are mutiple dark gods at the same time then I don't think she can win alone.
Anyway, it seems like Alina and the Silver Sword gang are now on better terms and the former still has her job and overtime. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 3507 |
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It's a good thing Jade is a tank. He's going to need that fortitude if he's going to keep pursuing a god-like tsundere with an impulsive temper and a hammer the size of a jet ski. Though he does seem to be making some small steps in the right direction.
Actually, is Alina a tsundere? She does care more than she pretends to. And she does yell and overreact a lot.... Or is the dynamic more like Jade is Lois Lane and Alina is Superman? Well, whatever. The show's fun, they're fun, and with any luck all of the dark gods will have different powers and personalities. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 3443 |
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#4
For all of his lovestruck antics, Jade is inherently a decent person who is willing to do his duty to the end and lay down his life in exchange for his teammates. That's why Lowe and Lululee put up with him messing around with Alina, they're also willing to die for each other if it means avoiding complete annihilation. A good thing their small party is considered one of the more prestigious ones in the guild roster; it's chastening to know if there were more parties like last week's traitor and the unreasonable claimant from episode two Alina's job would be even more horrible than it already is. The action scenes aren't too bad, even if we viewers know Alina is going to prevail in the end with her massive warhammer. It was actually surprising to find out Alina didn't get fired despite showing up without her usual moonlighting outfit, but the guild master knows how useful an asset she is (she's essentially doing double duty for his guild and doesn't want more than better conditions for her day job, it's a bargain for him). The world building is something else though: this week's opponent is but one of an entire series of nasty dungeon bosses that the current generation of inhabitants have to overcome. Game-like as it is, it stopped being entertainment when the creators themselves couldn't control their creations and were wiped out in turn. Perhaps the adaptation will reveal more about what's going on, since it appears Alina herself has more than just the warhammer in her toolkit and her background about getting her wish to not have more overtime is too superficial to be the whole story (I'm sure she doesn't know the whole picture herself). Speaking of Lululee, she shows up in the ED dance together with Alina and her junior. Next week is all about her, and she did say this week that the near miss wasn't the first time she's lost party members to dungeons. Next week might well go the other way and focus more on the slapdash comedy this franchise is making its name for, but it remains to be seen if the content is as silly as the episode title. |
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