Some café’s are harder to work in than others.
What They Say:
Aoi Tokura is a new part-time employee at the Rainy Color café. He’s also surrounded by a colorful cast of coworkers.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While FUNimation doesn’t do too many short form series, I was glad to see Rainy Cocoa got a pickup, even at two minutes an episode. With the first three episodes released at once, we’re introduced to Aoi, a part timer working at the Rainy Color café. He’s a recent hire at the place, which isn’t an easy job because of the way some abuse him, such as Ryouta and Kei who provide a bit of verbal abuse. He gets a little sympathy from Shion behind the counter, but it’s Kei’s darker side that really sets the tone here, especially as we see their first meeting where Kei called him out on the train for looking rather ugly.
We also get a brief look at the owner of the café, who seemingly just comes in to change clothes and leave on some other adventure. Koji’s the kind of owner that lets the place run itself, which isn’t a bad thing since he’s hired a solid staff to work at it and they come across as competent and capable. Koji’s influence is certainly in the café though as Shion talks a bit about it, which helps to make it feel like he’s a part of things even if he’s not there physically for the most part. Which, considering what little we see of him, is probably a good thing.
Through these first three episodes, we get a good look at the basic interactions of the cast, which is strengthened by the third episode. Focusing on the work side of things there, it’s the busy opening up shop period and what’s involved there, and how much of a problem Kei himself can be, which is amusing considering how he goes on about the owner. Having Kei and Ryouta help out, we get a little more of a look at the items that populates the café, but we also see some cute stuff with Kei as he ends up being “abused” by the digital manga that he has there with Ryouta taking some hilarious candids through it.
In Summary:
With three episodes at once, we basically get about four and a half minutes worth of material once you take the openings out of it. The show is one that I think would be a lot more fun if it actually hit the three and a half or four minute mark so that it wasn’t so rushed in some ways and so that it doesn’t end so utterly abruptly. That’s just jarring. It’s got some really appealing designs, a good setting to work with and what looks to be a decent group of guys. But with about 90 seconds per episode of actual material, it can do only so much. That it does what it does without going a million miles a minute like some short-form shows is really impressive. Hopefully this one can find some expanded life beyond the shorts. We’ll check back in every few episodes with this one.
Grade:B-
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
