The Way of the House Husband,Mr. Villain’s Day Off,Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You, andThe Masterful Cat Is Depressed Againhave a few things in common you never saw coming. The series are not onlymust-read slice-of-life manga, butthey are also excellent guides to a better work-life balance.Each title emphasizes how important it is to balance work life with personal well-being. After all, the little things in life are easy to miss, and you can never notice them if your grinding yourself into the corporate pavement.
These lessons are inherent to the stories, and sadly, they’re rather iconic. The tragic truth about these stories is thatthe anime industry itself does not value work-life balance as much as some of its source material does. While there are plenty of anime that emphasize the importance of such balance, the behind-the-scenes world of anime is infamously exploitative, a fact that all manga and anime creators are aware of.
The Anime Industry Is Mistreating Workers And Series Like Zom 100 Know It
The Anime Industry Is Not Supporting Its Workers
There is no denying there has been an anime boom in the past decade, and it has only sped up since the pandemic gave people across the globe a chance to watch television at home. With anime specifically, some even arguetoo much content is being madeas there is a massive strain on those making these shows. BothVoxand theNew York Timeshave reported on the dreadful working conditions animators endure as everything from mandatory overtime to unlivable wages are a concern.The pay anime creatives receive is insultingas many animators in their 20s and 30s earn well below the poverty line while working 60+ weeks.
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My New Boss is Goofy actually shares one key similarity with Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, meaning it could resonate with a lot of anime fans.
The conditions plaguing the industry can be seen inone of anime’s biggest studios, MAPPA, which saw numerous animators come forward about unreasonable deadlines and poor pay. To add insult to injury, a slew ofJujutsu Kaisenanimators addressed the bleak future of the industryrecently, noting studios aren’t investing in the next generation of animators. This somber comment comes from animators working on one of the most popular anime series on the air, sothings do not bode well for the rest of the industry.
Now, evenmanga and anime are directly calling out these industry issues directly,as is the case forZom 100.The story’s main character Akira works for an exploitative entertainment company, so once a zombie apocalypse hits, he is elated because he no longer has to go to work. The collapse of society is better for Akira than the working conditions he was stuck in. It’s through the apocalypse that Akira gets a new lease on life, finally living for himself instead of working himself to death.
Slice-Of-Life Manga Are The Best Guide To A Better Work-Life Balance
Anime Like Mr. Villain’s Day Off Show A Better Work-Life-Balance
WhereZom 100isover the top in regard to its criticism of the anime industry,slice-of-life manga likeSmoking Behind the Supermarket With Youtake a more grounded, realistic approach. In this manga, readers find a middle-aged salary man named Sasaki who has only two joys in life – his interactions with a cashier at the convenience store and smoke breaks with their co-worker. Beyond that, he’s beaten down by work and society’s expectations.
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Smoking Behind the Supermarket With Youdoesn’t just show how draining work can be with all of its unrealistic expectations, butit also shows that finding joy in the little things can rejuvenate even the most tired of workers.Sasaki cannot change his working conditions as that is on the company, but he can find ways to cope and get through the day. He does this by leaning into small joys and his friends. Another anime that unpacks this truth isThe Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today,one of Crunchyroll’s must-watch series.
Here, the overworked protagonist Saku Fukuzawa leans on a humanoid cat for help as she does not have the time or energy to take care of herself. There’s a dark underbelly to this series as Saku is stuck in a job that drains her of all energy, butit shows that it is okay to ask others for help. Similarly,The Way Of The House Husbandfollows Tatsu, a yakuza thug turned husband, as he handles all the household responsibilities while his wife is at work.
If yakuza reform is not your thing, there is another anime you can peek.Mr. Villain’s Day Offfollows a super villain on his days off, bringing a whole new angle to the superhero genre. While he dedicates himself to his evil causes, the villain also values a healthy work-life-balance for himself and his underlings a la Gru and hisMinions. The anime has an overall joyful and comedic tone to it, and it is a delightful reminder thathaving boundaries with work and taking time for one’s self is not just fun – it’s critical.
Way of the Househusband: The Gangster’s Guide to Housekeeping Interview
Screen Rant sat down with the authors of the new guidebook based on the Way of the Househusband series to find out what drove them to create the book.
There is a clear problem in the anime industry when it comes to how its workers are treated, and those frustrations can be seen in some of the best anime and manga coming out nowadays. Whether we are talking slice-of-life or action thrillers, these stories address the pervasive issue in a multitude of ways, and this work-life dilemma goes well beyond the anime industry. Working is stressful, butthese anime series give us a few ways to find joy and peace despite everything life puts against us.
