“www.wagnaria!!” is delightful and fun! For anime who loved the original “Wagnaria” series may find the one-season “www.wagnaria!!” to feel rushed but by season’s end, will feel content of how things are resolved at the end. Entertaining and fun, “www.wagnaria!!” is a series worth watching!
Image courtesy of © Karino Takatsu/SQUARE ENIX, “WWW.WAGNARIA!!” Project. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: www.wagnaria!! Volume 2
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 2016
DURATION: Episode 8-13 (144 Minutes)
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Japanese Linear PCM Stereo, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Aniplex
RATED: Suggested 13 and Up
Release Date: October 17, 2017
Originally created by Karino Takatsu
Directed by Yumi Kamakura
Series Composition by Takao Yoshioka
Music by Masaru Yokoyama
Character Design by Mayuko Nakano
Art Director: Masaru Sato
Chief Animation Director: Mayuko Nakano
Anime Production: A-1 Pictures
Featuring the following voice talent:
Haruka Tomatsu as Hana Miyakoshi
YÅ«ichi Nakamura as Daisuke Higashida
Ari Ozawa as Rui Nagata
Aya Hisakawa as Sachiko Higashida
Hideyuki Umezu as Saint Valentine
Hiro Shimono as Takuya KÅno
Kensho Ono as YÅ«ta ShindÅ
Kouki Uchiyama as Masahiro Adachi
Kousuke Toriumi as KenichirÅ Sakaki
Mie Sonozaki as YÅko Miyakoshi
Momo Asakura as Miri Yanagiba
Momoko Saito as Sakiko Higashida
Nana Mizuki as Kisaki KondÅ
With new friends joining them, it seems this restaurant is only getting livier! Will Higashida survive Miyakoshi’s killer cooking? Will Adachi be able to withstand Muranushi’s smile? Will Shindou finally pay off his debt? Don’t miss the final volume of this restaurant comedy!
Back in 2005, mangaka Karino Takatsu created a four-panel comic strip manga series titled “Wagnaria!!”.
The story which revolves around employees of a family restaurant called Wagnaria, the story was serialized on Square Enix’s “Young Gangan” manga series from 2005-20014 and has received three seasons of anime adaptations in 2010, 2011 and 2015.
A spin-off series titled “www.working!!” which aired in Japan in 2016, will now be released on Blu-ray and DVD in the US Courtesy of Aniplex and the storyline continues to be set at another Wagnaria family restaurant location and its group of employees.
The second volume will feature the final six episodes of the 13-episode series.
The primary characters of “www.wagnaria!!” are:
- Daisuke Higashida – The main protagonist who is often annoyed at everyone, primarily his family and Hana Miyakoshi. He was forced to take a part-time job at Wagnaria when his father’s business went bankrupt.
- Hana Miyakoshi – Blunt, always hits people and she can be tough. But she also loves making chocolates, despite having terrible cooking skills. She is a waitress at Wagnaria.
- Sayuri Muranushi – A scary girl who works at Wagnaria because she shows hardly any facial expressions.
- Kisaki Kondo – A single mother who is a university student that works at Wagnaria. Often the voice of reason at Wagnaria.
- Shiho Kamakura – The daughter of man who owns a large company, so she is quite spoiled and materialistic. She often tends to bribe people with money, as her way of apologizing.
- Yuta Shindo – A son of a man who has a business in major debt. So, Yuta works several jobs in order to help pay the debt. He is to naive to know that Shiho has liked him for a long time.
- Koki Saki – The newest employee who is Japanese but was raised abroad and speaks English, so he can’t speak or understand Japanese that well.
- Kenichiro Sakaki – The not-so-bright manager of Wagnaria.
- Rui Nagata – A classmate of Daisuke. She has a crush on him but has a problem of misunderstanding things.
- Yoko Miyakoshi – Hana’s mother who is a cooking expert that is shocked of her daughter’s terrible cooking. Currently, her husband is living far from her because her cooking gave him diabetes and can’t come back until his glucose levels have dropped.
VIDEO:
“www.wagnaria!!” is presented in 1080p High Definition. animation is good, slightly soft was one can expect form a TV series but a colorful anime series that compliments the manga series. Cut scenes are well-detailed and emotion is well-captured and scenes are well-acted.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“www.wagnaria!!” is presented in Japanese Linear PCM Stereo. Dialogue is crystal clear and the voice acting is well-done. It’s important to emphasize that there is no English dub included.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“www.wagnaria!!” comes with no special features.
EXTRAS:
“www.wagnaria!!” vol. 2 comes with four collectible illustration postcards, a slipcase featuring illustrations by Shingo Adachi and a clear case with 2-sided covers.
For those who like slice of life anime series, will no doubt enjoy the humor and fun of “www.wagnaria!!”, a character driven series about a group of people working for the family restaurant, Wagnaria.
Consistent with the previous anime series, in terms of wacky characters and situations, “www.wagnaria!!” centers around a blunt and easily annoyed teenager named Daisuke Higashida who is forced to work a part-time job after his father’s business goes bankrupt.
On the first day of the job, Daisuke meets his fellow co-workers such as the bossy and punchy teen, Hana Miyakoshi. She’s often with Daisuke, making others think that they are boyfriend and girlfriend, especially since he eats her terrible chocolates.
They are joined by the expressionless and slightly creepy Sayuri Muranushi. While emotionless, the fellow cook Masahiro is shy and tends to pass out when she smiles at him. You have single mother, Kisaki Kondo, spoiled brat Shiho Kamakura and Yuta (who’s family is full of debt) and many more characters that make work at Wagnaria lively and entertaining.
In the second volume, what will happen when Higashida and Miyakoshi go out on a date? What happens when creepy Sayuri Muranushi and Adachi start dating? Will Shiho and Yuta find love?  Which relationship survives the misunderstandings?
I felt that this faster-paced one-season series was quickly trying to get these characters established, these relationships happening and then coming up with an ending with closure works for “www.Wagnaria” but some may feel that the progression of the previous series was much better because they had time to build upon characters, while “www.Wagnaria” feels that the story was rushed in order to wrap things up with the duration of episodes given and trying to pile as many gags with 13 episodes. But the way series wraps-up was done well and I’m content.
As for the Blu-ray release, the animation for “www.wagnaria!!” is colorful, vibrant and has slight softness, as one can expect from an animated TV series. Lossless audio is primarily Japanese Linear PCM Stereo with no English dub included. Unfortunately, there are no special features.
But being an Aniplex release, you are definitely going to get some swag with this latest release. You get four collectible illustration postcards and a slipcase.
Overall, “www.wagnaria!!” is delightful and fun! For anime who loved the original “Wagnaria” series may find the one-season “www.wagnaria!!” to feel rushed but by season’s end, will feel content of how things are resolved at the end. Entertaining and fun, “www.wagnaria!!” is a series worth watching!
