#1 A relatable story about stress management
Kuruto Nakano used to be a happy kid from a rural family, but after moving to the big city and pursuing a career in programming, his life took a turn for the worst and spiraled out of his control.
He heads to the office early in the morning and works until the very last train home, if he even manages that much. Sometimes he just sleeps at the office and even then it’s usually less than 4 hours before it starts all over again. Days off are rare, balanced meals even more so, and not a day goes by where he isn’t unjustly chewed out by superiors.
His existence is a depressing one, devoid of free time and recognition, which is when a trio of fox deities decide to intervene. They see an actual darkness enveloping Nakano that humans can’t perceive despite feeling its effects. To remedy this, Senko the Fox decides to introduce herself to Nakano and help him get his life back on track by supporting him.
We all experience stress from time to time and have our own ways of coping with it. Nakano, however, is completely trapped by his stress and unable to deal with his problems, which made his tale relatable and even a fair bit scary. Senko’s help brightens his life again and she finds a lot of ways to help out, but it could proof to be literally impossible to free him from his issues and responsibilities. Perhaps the ideals of centuries old fox deities are wholly incompatible with the modern world of the working, Japanese salaryman.
#2 Dependable comedy
There are a lot of comedy series coming out lately and I can’t fire up a browser without seeing anime memes that draw from the latest seasonal shows. Most of these are actually quite good, but I do have to admit I feel a little pressured to try and keep up with it all. 3 weeks down the line chances are that every good scene has already been spoiled to death.
Senko-san falls in this category as well. It’s a fun, wholesome anime that doesn’t do anything spectacular and really doesn’t need to. You can fire it up and just have a good time with it, guaranteed success. I was amused and happy throughout the show’s entire runtime, even if it never had me rolling on the floor.
In a way, it’s slice-of-life junkfood, but I feel I deserve a little treat after finishing Welcome to the NHK just recently.
#3 I want a Little Yoko anime
The Helpful Fox Senko-san loves to show off video game parodies that have their main characters changed into fox girls, even going so far as to include a bastardized version of Star Fox just keep the joke going.
While a cute running gag, I was a little disappointed after Ms. Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid so boldly featured a parody on Dark Souls that looked a whole lot more believable. That is when Senko-san comes from the left field and introduced Little Yoko, a fictional TV anime that is currently airing as the events of this anime take place.
Little Yoko is, fittingly, about a magical fox girl who fights to protect earth, with a protagonist voiced by Rie Kugimiya. It’s silly, but very charming and I think it has Kujibiki Unbalance potential and could/should spin-off into its own thing.
I really enjoyed this series. I found it to be relaxing, and wonderfully light-hearted.
I tried watching Senko-san, but it only made my depression worse. It was probably because I was under the same kind of stress as Nakano at the time, but I didn’t have a bunch of fluffy-tailed fox goddesses to help me with it like he did, so all it did was remind me of my own situation. I can see why people liked it, though, and now that I’m out of that horrible work environment maybe I’ll try it again.
It’s interesting to how shows that seem like innocent fun can be confronting and problematic to others. I can’t fault you for dropping the show, but hope you enjoy it if you ever give it a second try. Glad to hear you are doing better nowadays.