A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace

Episode 8

I love it when a show just randomly becomes very adult out of nowhere. That isn't to say that this is a kiddy show or anything. However, I found it amusing that the subject for the second half of the episode centered on explicit adult manga. Although seeing Mizuki's reaction made me wonder what exactly that adult story was about, and that line from a fan about a bunch of fluids being released had me on the floor. Despite the adult subject matter, this episode still had an overarching theme between its two stories. The theme seemed to be about focusing on the potentially underappreciated aspects of the manga creative world.

The episode highlights that there is more to being an adult creator than just creating suggestive artwork and scenarios. It's funny that the second half of this episode leans into this idea of “don't judge a book by its cover.” Nana's friend doesn't come off as the type of person who would write or draw such material, and yet Mizuki was caught off guard when she finally sat down and gave it a chance. It's a very cute and simple story, but it still keeps with the overall themes of the show relating back to Nana because she was one of the first people who didn't immediately judge her friend or condemn her despite the subject matter of her art.

It's ironic considering that the first half of this episode leans into the idea that sometimes you SHOULD judge a book by its cover. Nana has an opportunity to work with her magazine's illustrator on the magazine's upcoming cover. I'm sure most people don't think about how much thought and planning goes into illustrations from a marketing standpoint. The sentimentality of “don't judge a book by its cover” is a noble one when you consider it from a social or emotional perspective. From a business perspective, you do need to manipulate your audience. You need to create something that will immediately make them want to check out the rest of your magazine, and it all comes down to how much information is communicated through the art. The way that the magazine's illustrator communicated the idea of using food was also clever. Just because something might taste the same, doesn't mean people won't prefer the dish that looks better between the two.

Overall, this was a solid episode that properly conveys a lot of the main appeals of this show. We have wholesome moments mixed in with mature ones. We get to highlight different aspects of the manga industry, a little bit of flirting, and we're continuing our conversations about what it means to work as a creative. But at the end of the day, it still traces back to Nana, the work that she does, and the impact she has on other people. This episode delivered exactly what I expected. In a lot of ways, this is the situation where I CAN judge the book by its cover.

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A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.