In 2017, Media Factory produced African Salaryman an anime based on the manga of the same name. African Salaryman ran from June 5th-30th in 2017 with a total of 12 episodes during its run. African Salaryman is an office-like anime that is about three co-workers who struggle in a Japanese business corporation.
The three main characters of the series are Lion Senpai, Lizard, and Toucan who are working for a typical Japanese company. Lion Senpai is the direct supervisor of Lizard and Toucan and functions as the typical middle manager. Lion Senpai’s nickname is Big-cat which he takes as a sign of respect completely oblivious to the fact that his nickname is a byproduct of the terror he instills in others. Lizard is the typical workaholic of the group and Toucan is the pervy and creepy ladies’ man of the group. The three of them report to the company’s president Trutle.
The majority of the comedy and progression of the plot of African Salaryman revolves around Company President Turtle giving the team an assignment that the team rushes to get done and is ultimately pointless or some social interaction goes horribly wrong. The main source of trouble comes from Toucan and the trouble he causes. Normally, the trouble that Toucan gets into involves his interactions with women and his shady business behavior. This at times makes the episodes formulaic and predictable to the viewer. Yet, the anime is somehow on a deeper level incredibly relatable to the adult work experience.
The animation quality is the worst I have seen in the last twenty years. The characters and the objects in the anime appear to have distinct outlines around them making the anime look like a poorly drawn comic book. The movement in the anime is labored and appears to be extremely artificial. It gives the audience the feeling that they are distinctly watching a cartoon.
In any type of media production, you want your audience to be drawn into the fictional world that you are presenting. For a moment you want them to get caught up in the magic of the cinema and be drawn into the wonder of your world. African Salaryman’s poor animation style completely fails to draw its audience into its world.
I do not recommend anyone to watch this anime. Initially, when I decided to review this show for you all I thought it might appeal to those individuals who are furries or like the office. However, there are better alternatives in anime than African Salaryman for individuals who are interested in those specific types of shows in Anime. African Salaryman is the Siegfield of the anime world a show that has no particular direction and is completely pointless to watch.
