What They Say:
In a certain ward of a certain city in Hokkaido…The ward office where Yamagami Lucy has been hired employs many unique characters on its staff. Yamagami and her colleagues are full of energy and secrets as they’re hard at work (?!) in this workplace comedy!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having Hasebe reveal that it was his father that approved the accidental name change for Lucy which has lead to her holding a deep grudge towards that unknown person, the mood of the workplace has certainly changed, and that’s without Lucy even knowing. The prologue brings it all into clarity easily and caps it off with one of the best moments as Chihaya simply says “hah” in a way that is so her and provides more laughs than it would if she just start giggling or laughing uncontrollably. It’s a difficult situation now since if Hasebe wants to get in any way serious with Yamagami, it’ll lead to a meeting of her and his father and that could go really bad. Especially if she finds out Hasebe knew and never told her. But telling her early on could be its own kettle of fish.
Chihaya also sees this as a great time to really and truly mess with Hasebe and her deadpan nature just makes it all the more cruel as she teases Hasebe while Yamagami is off on her own going on about her day. Though everyone at least says that Hasebe isn’t responsible, and that it’s his father that is, the more he relates the story of how it happened – as told by his father to Hasebe previously in an amusing spread out flashback – it just becomes clearer that in the end it really is all Hasebe’s fault in some form or fashion. The panic that Hasebe is feeling is great to watch and seeing the others trying to stop Chihaya from being so cruel is just as much fun since she just so wants to cut into him in her own way.
Unfortunately, as they all get back on the work train, there’s a bit of distance that comes in between Hasebe and Yamagami over his nervousness over things, so much so that it takes a real toll on him overall while she’s just clueless. While he wants to avoid telling her, he knows it’s best to just get it out of the way now before it eats him alive. Or Chihaya destroys him. While he wants to do it right, he does it completely wrong and just blurts it out, unsure of what she’ll do. The way she does handle it is pretty welcome and hints at some good things for them in the future as this almost binds him to her now in a way. Of course, everyone else gets involved in good comedic form as it unfolds into the season finale and you have to smile and enjoy the various relationship and interactions that are dealt with in simple and short ways, including more Yamagami cosplay.
In Summary:
Servant x Service has been a fun series overall and the finale here for the season works nicely, making me smile and laugh and enjoy the kind of banter and interplay we get with the cast. While the show didn’t fire on all cylinders for me as I didn’t care for the section chief too much and it lost a lot of the fun work place humor along the way to focus on relationships more, it still did more right than wrong. The cast is one that makes for a fun group of people to work with that you wouldn’t mind spending time with, even if you have to suffer under Chihaya. The show is certainly a simple one but it does a lot right and generally left me smiling and pleased with it, looking forward to it each week. I’d love to see it come back for more, but it also hits a pretty decent bit of closure here as well.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
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.
Man! I hope this gets pick up by someone, and they also create an English DUD for it!