Working!!! 3 – 06

Working!!’s frequent teases into serialized territory that don’t pay off or end in a slightly more amicable status quo can sometimes set me off, as they did last week, but I was happy to see it table the Takanashi/Inami saga for now.

The recent developments (or lack thereof) between both the two of them and Souta/Todoroki have not been lost on Souma, who laments that none of the four of them are particularly forthcoming about the salacious details (or lack thereof) he desires.

I didn’t hate Yamada as much this week either, because instead of braying on about natto and generally not making any sense in an unfunny way, she names Souma her big brother and becomes his sidekick in the acquisition of salacious details about their co-workers.

Takanashi is all out of sorts because of all his recent thoughts about Inami, so he feels he can find some comfort and solace in the simple petting of Popura’s head. Alas, he doesn’t find what he’s looking for, as he finds Popura grumpy and unwilling to talk to him or accept any food or drink.

Yamada posits that Popura is angry and stressed out from having to pick up the slack from everyone else (because they’re all in their heads about their would-be love interests). Her theory is not without merit, but it’s quickly debunked when Popura reveals she has a nasty canker sore.

The next day she stays home with a fever. As Nazuna fills in for her (as an unpaid intern), Popura starts having fever-induced hallucinations of a five-inch Satou, who charges her with saving the world from an evil version of Takanashi who is trying to shrink the entire world.

MiniSatou conjures up a shabby-looking stick, and Popura’s beam has no effect on Takanashi, but only makes her shrink to a smaller size than MiniSatou.  Finally, she wakes up, having slipped into a fever dream. This was a nice, imaginative departure from the usual restaurant setting.

Finally, we turn back to Yamada, which is usually a bad thing, but in this case her brother Kirio arrives to find her and take her home. I think I remember something like this happening in Working’!! 2, but I’m always happy when (almost) everyone is trying to inject some reality into Yamada’s life. At the end of the day she is a runaway who really should return to her family.

Only Souma suggests they send Kirio home for now, giving Yamada a reprieve from that reality despite the fact she left the attic he told her to hide in. I don’t know if she’ll ever go home, but it would obviously be better if it’s of her own volition and not by force.