Yutori-chan is an office comedy series consisting of 25 episodes of 5 minutes each. It chronicles the hectic days at a company that produces toys, mostly centering around its marketing department. The gimmick being that our 3 protagonists are all from completely different generations.
The titular Yutori is a young teenager who confounds her older coworkers with her casual nature and bouncy energy. She has little regard for the stuffy social norms of an office environment and, in fact, prioritizes her own interests over those of her work. That this may seem selfish doesn’t concern her either. If you want overtime, you gotta pay overtime.
Yutori’s senpai is 20-something is Shiori Tsumekomi; a character I could relate to very much. She’s a young adult desperately trying to get her life together. She overworks herself to exhaustion, is obsessed with planning, and values conformity. As such, she looks up to older co-workers who, to her, seem like they have already won the game of life. Most notably, she aspires to be like Dankai-san. Our third protagonist who is a middle aged woman with a go-getter attitude and commanding presence.
The comedy in Yutori-chan mixes familiar office gags with all sorts of jokes about the generational gap between its protagonist. Jokes like how Yutori won’t take on any work unless she is specifically asked to do it. Even if she can see her coworkers having a hard time, she doesn’t at all feel obligated to help out. This is later turned around when it’s revealed that Tsumekomi is terrible at asking for help when she needs it.
Yutori-chan is a reliably entertaining show and the 5-minute format makes for breezy pacing. At the same time, 25 episodes is sufficient enough to make watching the series quite fulfilling. Some gags weren’t as solid as others, however, and I do have to say that Dankai feels too absent from the story. Most of the antics unfold between just Yutori and Tsumekomi; a shame given that Dankai’s perspective adds a lot to the show’s commentary on generational gaps in the workforce.
If you enjoy office comedies, then Yutori-chan is a fun, refreshing take on the subgenre. You can get through it in under 2 hours and will likely have a great time with it.
This sounds awesome! This is exactly the kind of comedy I love. Thanks for the heads up, I didn’t even know this existed! I would definitely relate to Tsumekomi the most. At work I’m always trying to go the extra mile, and I’m pretty reluctant to asking for help.
Always happy to help. Let me know if you enjoyed the show 🙂
I am looking for more office comedies in anime myself, but so far they’re proving surprisingly rare.