Wagnaria!! (Aka Working!!) - Blu-ray

Sota Takanashi is a sixteen-year-old high school student with one defining characteristic: he is helplessly attracted to anything small and cute. Walking home from school one day, he is approached by Popura Taneshima — a seventeen-year-old girl who is so petite she is regularly mistaken for a grade schooler, and who is desperately trying to recruit part-time staff for the family restaurant where she works. Sota agrees on the spot, for reasons entirely related to Popura's height. The restaurant is Wagnaria, a cozy establishment in Hokkaido, and its staff is composed entirely of people who have no business working in food service. The floor manager Kyoko never leaves her seat, eats the restaurant's parfaits, and is implied to have a criminal past. The senior waitress Yachiyo carries a katana at all times and is devotedly protective of Kyoko. The chef Jun is competent and bad-tempered. The expediter Soma knows everyone's secrets and uses them for leverage. And Inami Mahiru, the new waitress Sota is assigned to train, has severe androphobia — a pathological fear of men — that manifests as an involuntary punch to the face of any male who comes near her. Sota is going to be punched a lot.

Wagnaria!! — known in Japan as Working!! — is a 13-episode slice-of-life comedy produced by A-1 Pictures, directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike, and based on Karino Takatsu's manga serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan. It aired on TV Tokyo from April to June 2010 and was simulcast in North America by Crunchyroll. The series is structured around workplace dynamics and long-running character gags that evolve slowly over the course of the season — the humor comes not from escalating absurdity but from the consistency and precision with which each character's specific dysfunction is applied to every new situation. The music was composed by Yoshiaki Fujisawa — also responsible for the scores of Gate, Chivalry of a Failed Knight, and The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. Released in North America by NIS America on March 29, 2011 as a Complete Box Set Premium Edition DVD — subtitle only, no English dub — with a 32-page hardcover art book containing character artwork, character sketches, and four-panel comics not published elsewhere.

Notable Staff & Voice Talent

Director: Yoshimasa Hiraike (Wagnaria!!2, Wagnaria!!3)
Original Manga: Karino Takatsu (serialized in Monthly Big Gangan, Square Enix, 2005–2014, 7 volumes; English license: Yen Press)
Studio: A-1 Pictures (Sword Art Online, AnoHana, Fairy Tail, Gate additional production)
Music: Yoshiaki Fujisawa (Gate, Chivalry of a Failed Knight, The Pet Girl of Sakurasou)
Opening Theme: "Someone Else" by Hana Takeda, Kana Asumi, Eri Kitamura & Saki Fujita (performed in character)
Ending Theme: "Coolish Walk" by Jun Fukuyama, Hiroshi Kamiya & Daisuke Ono (performed in character)

Japanese Cast:
• Jun Fukuyama as Sota Takanashi (Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2 additional cast)
• Kana Asumi as Popura Taneshima (Ben-To — Asebi Inoue, Maid Sama! additional cast)
• Saki Fujita as Inami Mahiru
• Eri Kitamura as Yachiyo Todoroki (High School DxD additional cast)
• Hiroshi Kamiya as Hiroomi Soma (Maid Sama! — Hinata Shintani, Desert Punk — Rain Spider)
• Daisuke Ono as Jun Satou (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure — Joseph Joestar, Ben-To — Hayabusa, Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto — Hayabusa)
• Shizuka Ito as Kyoko Shirafuji (High School DxD — Akeno Himejima, Ben-To — Ume Shiraume, Freezing — Chiffon Fairchild)
• Jouji Nakata as Otoo Kyohei (Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom — Scythe Master, Elfen Lied — Bando)
• Ryoko Shiraishi as Aoi Yamada (Hayate the Combat Butler, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen reboot)

DVD Features (NIS America Premium Edition)

• All 13 Episodes on 2 Discs — Complete Season 1
• 32-Page Hardcover Art Book — Character Artwork, Character Sketches, Four-Panel Comics
• Clean Opening & Closing Animations
• Japanese Trailers & TV Spots
• Subtitle Only — No English Dub Produced
• Japanese LPCM 2.0 Stereo Audio

Spoken Languages: Japanese Audio Only, English Subtitles

Edition Details

Japanese Title: Working!! / ワーキング!! (Wākingu!! / Working!!)
North American Title: Wagnaria!! (NIS America release title)
Runtime: ~312 Minutes (Complete Season 1, 13 Episodes, 2 Discs)
Director: Yoshimasa Hiraike
DVD Release Year: 2011 (U.S. Complete Box Set Premium Edition, March 29 — NIS America, $59.99); Wagnaria!!2 Season 2 Premium Blu-ray also available (NIS America, 2013)
Original Broadcast Date (Japan): April 4 – June 27, 2010 (TV Tokyo)
Publisher: NIS America
Rating: Teen
Region: Region 1 (U.S. / Canada)
Note: Subtitle only — no English dub produced for any Working!! / Wagnaria!! North American release. Premium Edition includes 32-page hardcover art book with character sketches and four-panel comics. Seasons 2 and 3 (Wagnaria!!2 and Wagnaria!!3) and spinoff WWW.Wagnaria!! also available from NIS America.
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life
Themes: Family Restaurant Workplace, Eccentric Staff Ensemble, Androphobia Gag, Long-Running Character Comedy, Monthly Big Gangan Adaptation

Media assumed VG+ unless otherwise noted.