Denki-gai no Honya-san follows the lives of the staff of the manga shop, BOOKS Umanohone. Umio, the protagonist is a part-timer at this shop and the story follows his everyday interactions with his weird and quirky co-workers and friends: Sensei, the aspiring professional mangaka; Kantoku, the video maniac; Sommelier, the quiet but knowledgeable one; Rotten Girl, the shy one and Hio.

This anime is absolutely adorable. Each main character has their very own quirk which sets them apart from the others and the art gives it a very calm feel with very soft colours and tones. Characters get up to various activities which invite their own forms of humour. Episodes take up the format of regular cartoons with several scenarios being present in a single airing, meaning that there is no concrete story progression. The anime boasts a certain plainness which is in turn gives it its very own charm. Each of the characters is likeable, despite not being instantly relatable.

Like Hataraku Maou-sama, one of the main themes of Denki-gai no Honya-san is the aspect of work in everyday life, the presence of a very normal aspect of human life given a humorous twist. The biggest selling point of both shows is the presence of a very human routine which isn’t typical of most anime, as well as the level of comedy which could not be achieved through normal means.

These characters go to work every day just like you do – why not check up on them when your shift is over?

Takanashi Souta has an affinity for anything small and cute, so when small and cute Taneshima Popura, at her wits end, begs him to come and work at the same family restaurant as she, he cannot refuse. Souta was never ready for the band of eccentric characters he would call his co-workers. His once uneventful and boring life changes every time he clocks in for his shift at Wagnaria Family Restaurant.

Working!! is an anime which runs purely on its characters and it does this very well, each character is eccentric in their own right, which creates some of the most hilarious workplace occurrences. It lacks an outright plot, yet there is story progression and the relationships between characters evolve. The art is good and the animation decent, the characters are lovable and each episode delivers great humour.

Working!! and Hataraku Maou-sama share a common trait in the fact that the main characters of both shows work at some form of restaurant. To a lesser extent, both protagonists tackle their day-to-day working life in addition to the strange occurrences that they face as a result of who they happen to be – as one watches Working!! further, they come to the realisation that the eccentricity of the characters who work at Wagnaria follows Souta into his own home, where he faces more strange situations at the hands of his four sisters.

Need we say more? Get some friends and head over to Wagnaria Family Restaurant as soon as you can!

Okay, deep breath. Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita.

This anime with the insanely long title often shortened to “Yuushibu”, follows the daily life of Raul Chaser, a young man who aspired to become a hero, trained to combat and defeat the Demon Lord who had subjugated the people; however, shortly before he could graduate from his hero course, it was announced that the Demon Lord had been defeated. With his goal being rendered meaningless, Raul decided to get a job at a local magic shop, living a relatively quiet life, at least until a girl named Fino, who claimed to be the daughter of the recently-slain Demon Lord, arrived to apply for a part-time job.

Yuushibu is a bright anime – in several meanings of the word. The art is beautiful with vibrant colours and backgrounds and some of the scenes are brilliantly animated. The characters are all energetic in their own way. The story is set up for plenty of comedy, as Fino has to learn all the tools of being a proper store clerk and learning how to tend to customers without scaring them away.

From the workplace setting, to the presence of a Demon Lord-like character and several elements of folklore, Yuushibu and Hataraku Maou-sama bear strong similarities. We have main characters in both shows getting used to working alongside humans in a normal context and both shows have a healthy amount of comedy spun from misunderstandings that demons have of humans and the ways of the human world.

We recommend this to anyone who finds themselves without anything to do after beating the last boss of their favourite videogame. Perhaps getting a job at a magic store would be a good change of pace, no?

From the depths of the sea comes a major threat to humanity, a threat greater than Godzilla, a terror the world has never before seen. It is… Squid Girl?
Squid Girl, as her name suggests, is a tentacled character who has come from the sea to enslave all of humanity, the ones responsible for the pollution and continued destruction of the marine world. Squid Girl came to the surface to enslave humanity, but ironically, she ends up working at the Lemon beachside restaurant run by the Aizawa family, as a way of paying for damage she caused to the restaurant. Absorbed in her new job as a waitress, she completely forgets her prior objective and becomes the source of wacky adventures for the Aizawa family and their restaurant.

Squid Girl is one big comedy and the main character delivers some of the best parts. She is adorable, innocent and yet somewhat evil, her intentions are clear as day. It is almost impossible to dislike her. The Aizawas are a standard family with a somewhat high tolerance for strange people and occurrences and pretty much adopt Squid Girl (or, Ika Musume if you prefer). The anime has pretty standard animation, nothing too fancy and on the visual side, nothing really captures the eye.
What it lacks in looks; however, it delivers in comedy and cuteness.

Ika Musume is a cuter, wackier version of Hataraku Maou-sama! With the presence of an “evil” main character and the adaptability of both protagonists to their environments despite being like fish out of water. Both Ika Musume and Maou Sadao have their work cut out for them in fairly mundane restaurant jobs, Both characters take a certain liking to their new lives and strangely enough, both characters initially plot to enslave the entire human race.

If you’re looking for some time at the beach after a good MgRonald’s burger, why not head over to Lemon for some squid ink spaghetti-degeso ka?

Here’s another show, fresh from the sea!

When Michishio Nagasumi is saved by a mermaid as he was drowning in the sea while enjoying the summer holidays with his parents, he is given an ultimatum by the leader of the sea in that area, Seto Gouzaburou: due to the fact that their existence was made known to a human, either he or the mermaid, Gouzaburou’s daughter, Sun, must die. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Nagasumi opts to stay alive and thus his life alongside his new fianceé begins, with more changes to his life than he initially expects.

Seto no Hanayome is perfect circus act from the sea, it is absolutely hilarious. It is a classic rom-com with a fairly standard main character who seems to be as average as can be, but its vast array of somewhat eccentric and entertaining side characters is definitely a plus point for this show. The comedy is consistent and there may be times when certain scenes will have you laughing an obscene amount. The show boasts fairly standard animation, but a certain scenes do stand out. The show is in itself interesting and the various experiences Nagasumi and his friends have are almost too ridiculous for one to forget.

Seto no Hanayome is like Hataraku Maou-sama in the fact that a main character (or set of main characters) is placed in a setting different from their usual environment and is forced to learn to adapt to a new way of life, often yielding hilarious results. The show’s major selling point is the incorporation of foreign elements into the normal, everyday life of a middle-schooler. Like Hataraku Maou-sama, the anime is a comedy-driven, yet not plotless show, as there is some plot progression.

This anime is great, even if you don’t really like fish or can’t swim. Dive in and give it a try!

When Oga Tatsumi, a high school delinquent finds a mysterious baby on a river bank after a brawl he had with other misguided teens, the child takes a liking to him and he has no other choice but to take the child home and raise him as his own. Unbeknownst to him; however, the child is actually Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, infant son of the Demon Lord and future destroyer of humankind! Oga’s life as a delinquent ends rather abruptly as he finds himself being the adoptive father of a future Demon Lord.

Beelzebub is definitely an anime to look out for if you enjoy the occasional parody. The setting and characters are all ridiculous in their own way, but it all seems to work almost too well. The plot takes shape through various insane adventures that Oga and his friends have and there is a vast array of eccentric and strange characters. The emphasis on the fact that the characters are delinquents creates space for some incredible humour and the characters themselves are extremely funny.

The animation is nothing too fancy, although there is quite a lot of visual appeal with great colours and decent art. The parodic nature of the show allows it much freedom in terms of how far it can go with certain aspects, and there is plot progression, despite it feeling rather episodic at times.

Beelzebub and Hataraku Maou-sama! bear similarities in the fact that they display main characters who are demons who have come to destroy or enslave humanity and in the fact that they first have to live in the human realm before gaining the aptitude to do so. In both anime, main characters have to live fairly routine and normal lives all while having to battle with either being, or harbouring an agent of evil.

So, what are you waiting for? If you enjoyed Hataraku Maou-sama, you’ll definitely enjoy Beelzebub. Watch it, the Demon Lord himself recommended it. Y’know, since it is his son in the show.