Umanohone, here to serve all of your otaku needs. From top to bottom, left to right:
Denki-gai no Honya-san ("The Electric Town's Bookstore") is a Slice of Life comedy manga by Asato Mizu, which was serialized in Comic Flapper from 2011 to 2017. A 12-Episode Anime adaptation aired in the fall of 2014.
The series around the daily misadventures of the employees of the Umanohone Bookstore, a parody of real-life doujin stores in areas such as Akihabara.note The employees of Umanohone include the clumsy Hio-tan, aspiring mangaka Sensei, shutterbug Kameko, zombie fangirl Fu Girl, the quiet Sommelier, anime and dating sim Otaku Umio and their store manager, Director.
The series is mostly gag-based, with a few consistent story threads.
The series contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: In episode 12, the cast all cosplay as former roles of their seiyuu.
- A-Cup Angst: Kameko, Sensei and Fu Girl are all jealous of Hio's bust size. Kameko and Fu Girl especially, since they're completely flat.
- All Men Are Perverts: Hio, Kameko and Fu Girl tell Sensei to "think and act like a man" in order to figure out what guys like. The result is Sensei going crazy, sexually harassing all three of them and pointing out which fetishes they appeal to.
- Amicable Exes: Director and his ex-girlfriend, Tsumori, still get along fairly well, though her clumsiness does get on his nerves.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- "Lime Cat 2" opens with Fu Girl walking in the rain, setting up a story similar to Sommelier's. She instead finds an abandoned zombie and proceeds to brutalize it off camera. Cue the title card for "Lime Cat 3"...which is Fu Girl chasing and killing more zombies.
- Umio tells Sensei that he'd like to be her assistant when she makes her professional debut. She blushes and says she wouldn't mind if he started tonight. Cut to Sensei's apartment later that evening...where Sensei is yelling at Umio for falling asleep while they're working on her next manuscript.
- Batter Up!: Fu Girl, at least when it comes to zombies. Or people dressed like zombies.
- Berserk Button: Don't tell Fu Girl that zombies aren't cool and don't mock light novels or eroge around Umio.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Sommelier is pretty easy going, but woe betide those who get on his bad side.
- Biting the Handkerchief: Tsumorin does this when talking about Director in episode 10.
- Black Comedy Rape: In the Summer Water Festival, Hio-tan and Fu Girl react to being sprayed with water pistols or getting a bucket of water dumped on their heads like they just had vigorous sex.
- Bland-Name Product:
- Umanohone (lit. "Horse's Bones," idiomatically used to refer derogatorily to someone with a shady past) is basically a reference to Tora no Ana (The Tiger's Cave).
- Close to Umanohone is Unimate (Animate) and Mikan Books (Melon Books).
- In Chapter 1, there is Family Malt (Family Mart), Haaken-Dazs and Ret Bull.
- A diner called Jonothgn's
is featured in several episodes. In the manga it's called Jonothan's, one letter less bland than the anime. It may be an inspiration for Sensei's Pen Name. - Fair-breeze is a popular fabric deodourant in that universe. In our universe, it's called Febreze.
- Blank White Eyes: Very frequently.
- Cat Smile: Kameko sports a permanent one.
- Cannot Spit It Out: All over the place. Hio just can't ask Director how he really feels, Director won't tell Hio how he really feels, Fu Girl can't bring herself to confess to Sommelier, Sensei refuses to be honest with how she feels about Umio...
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Umio is quite vocal about his love for panties and dating sims, but when it comes to Sensei, he's always very respectful and nervous.
- Chick Magnet: Sommelier has quite a lot of female fans, both for his physique and his knowledge of ero-manga.
- Childhood Friends: Episode 11 revealed Ero-hon G-man and Sommelier were this during elementary school, bonding on (what else?) porn.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Director. Umio has shades of it as well, but most of his affections are reserved for fictional characters.
- Covert Pervert: Hio, who represses her Yaoi Fangirl tendencies.
- Credits Running Sequence: Done by the main cast in the opening.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Hio and Tsumorin, which is occasionally a problem as bookstore staff.
- Dark Horse Victory: In Chapter 4/Episode 2, the staff are competing in a summer festival and have split into two teams of three, with Sensei sitting out. Towards the end, Sensei apparently has a change of heart, as she saves one of the teams from getting overrun. However, her true motives are revealed when she soon betrays the team in order to claim the prize money all for herself.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Sensei hums a snippet of the credits theme in episode 8.
- Distracted by the Sexy: The mere thought of a shirtless man is enough to turn Hio bright pink and render her unable to focus.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The credit song is sung by Kameko, Fu Girl, Hio and Sensei.
- Drowning My Sorrows:
- When Sommelier thinks that Fu Girl is crushing on Umio, he commiserates with Director over a very large bottle of sake.
- Tsumori gets completely plastered when she realizes that Director has feelings for Hio.
- Engrish: When the government employee is introduced, her title card describes her as a "GOVERMENTMAN" (despite the fact that she's not a man).
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": No one actually knows what the government worker's name is, they just call her Ero-Hon G-Man and know she loves BL and makes sure Umanohone follows censorship laws.
- Everyone Can See It: Everyone at Umanohone knows that Sensei and Umio are crushing on one another and are just waiting for them to make it official.
- Eyes Always Shut: Tsumorin, who usually acts as the wise advisor when she's not drunk.
- Fanservice: Episode 2 of the anime indulges in a lot of slow camera pans and tiny swimsuits, for both men and women.
- Femininity Failure: The Running Gag of Sensei and her lack of "girl power."
- Gory Discretion Shot: Whenever Fu Girl gets particularly riled up.
- Gratuitous English: Used in some particularly bizarre scenes.
- Hidden Buxom: She doesn't look it at first, but Hio is stacked.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Fu Girl isn't really that small, but compared to the towering Sommelier, she's practically Fun Size.
- Idiot Ball: In episode 9, Director is worried about Hiotan after he sees her passed out on the floor of her apartment. He then decides to bust the door open and give her a piggyback ride to the nearest hospital, rather than do the sensible thing and just call an ambulance.
- In-Universe Nickname: Haruka "Tsumorin" Tsumori. Koharu "Fu-Girl" Yatsu
- Inelegant Blubbering:
- Sensei is prone to breaking into tears when she's stressed over finishing her manga before its deadline.
- The whole cast, even Sommelier, is reduced to this when it looks like all their effort in helping Sensei finish her manuscript has been rendered pointless.
- It Amused Me: A lot of the stuff that Director does.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Tsumori for Director.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Director may like to tease the others a lot, but will go out of his way to help someone seriously in need, especially Hio-tan.
- Known Only by Their Nickname:
- Most of the Umanohone crew. Fu Girl, Director, Sensei, Sommelier, even Kamekonote is just a nickname.
- Fu Girl's actual name is Koharu Yatsu, but her nickname is used just as much if not more than her given name.
- The Lad-ette: Sensei, much to her chagrin.
- Large Ham: Director and Umio have their moments. Ero-hon G-Man all the time being voiced by Yuu Kobayashi helps.
- Lethal Chef: Sensei, particularly when she tried to make Valentine's chocolates in episode 10.
- Limited Wardrobe: The Umanohone crew seems to wear the same outfit every day. Lampshaded in episode 5 of the anime, in which Umio reveals that Sensei owns dozens of identical tracksuits. On the other hand, it was also implied she often wears the same outfit several days in a row, requiring frequent use of Fe--Fair-breeze.
- Love Confession: Sommelier finally gives one to Fu-Girl at the end of Chapter 34... and Ero-han G-man was there to see it.
- Love Hurts: Boy does it...
- Tsumori tries to encourage the other relationships at Umanohone, including Hio and Director, as a means of coping with her own break up with Director, whom she still loves dearly. It doesn't work.
- Kameko loves Director but knows he doesn't reciprocate, and she feels like an outsider compared to the other happy couples at the store.
- Ero-han G-man gives a somewhat violent version this during the End-of-Winter Celebration on Fu-Girl and the others in response to Sommelier's Love Confession in Chapter 34.
- Love Triangle: Hio likes Director, but can't figure out how he feels about her because he's a Tsundere. Director likes Hio but can't bring himself to be honest with how he feels about her. Kameko likes Director, but is afraid of telling him because she knows that he doesn't reciprocate and wants to avoid getting hurt. As of Chapter 34, it turns out there was one brewing off-screen between Sommelier, Fu-Girl, and Ero-han G-man.
- Moral Guardian: This is Ero-hon G-man's day job: enforcing Tokyo's porn ordinances.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Tsumorin is a Light Novel author who also wrote scenarios in Dating Sims.
- Mood Whiplash: Episode 7 starts with the girls goofing off at a hot spring and a lot of light-hearted Ship Tease, then goes straight to Tsumori tearfully declaring she still loves Director, even though she knows he's moved on, and the revelation that Kameko is incredibly lonely and envious of all the other couples at Umanohone.
- Nerds Are Virgins: Some gags are based on this trope.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Fu Girl adores zombies and fantasizes being in a zombie apocalypse. She prepared supplies for it and occasionally ropes the others into her zombie-hunting practice sessions.
- No Communities Were Harmed: The "Denki-gai" is most likely to be Akibahara, as episode 1 stated it is located in central Tokyo.
- Non-Indicative Name: "Fu Girl" is a nickname that comes from fujoshi, but Fu Girl is not a Yaoi Fangirl.
- Pen Name: Sensei is known as Jona Taro in the world of doujinshi.
- Precision F-Strike: In order to motivate everyone to do well in the summer water festival, Fu Girl starts cursing like a sailor.
- Puni Plush: Uses this art style. This makes most of the cast Older Than They Look; Hio and Sensei are already in their twenties and Fu Girl is a high schooler.
- Older Than They Look: The main cast are all at least high-school age, but due to the Puni Plush art style, they look younger than they really are.
- One I Prepared Earlier: Played by Tsumorin in episode 10 as she teaches the other girls making snacks.
- Otaku: While it's impossible for an non-otaku to work in such a store, Umio has most traits of a stereotypical male otaku. The only aversion was Hio, who seems to be oblivious towards the entire subculture.
- Otaku Surrogate: Fu Girl. A mood swinging teenager that's obsessed with zombies? Yep...
- Refuge in Audacity: Many of the jokes wouldn't be nearly as funny if they weren't taken as far as they are.
- Rousing Speech: Ero-Hon G-Man gives a speech about how important porn is to the human race.
- Running Gag: Many.
- Hio sees, hears or thinks about something perverted and gets too flustered to work.
- Fu Girl thinks Umio is a zombie and attacks him with a baseball bat.
- Sensei is a crybaby and has low "girl power".
- The Ero-Hon G-Man declares Sommelier and some aspect of Umanohone "unwholesome" then buys a ton of porn.
- Director does something incredibly outlandish, but he and Umio treat it as completely normal.
- Scenery Censor: When Hio, Sensei and Fu Girl mistakenly run out into the hot spring's waiting room in the buff, they're at least partially covered up by "some really awkward lighting."
- Sequential Artist: Sensei is a doujinshi artist, and later on she works part-time as a mangaka's assistant.
- Serious Business: Anime, manga, light novels, porn, panties and especially dating sims.
- Sexy Soaked Shirt: In episode 5, Fu Girl loses her umbrella and her Sailor Fuku gets soaked. Sommelier quickly lends her his shirt so she can cover up.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: More of a shaggy cat story. Poor Sommelier...
- Ship Tease: Quite a lot. Umio and Sensei, Director and Hio, and Fu Girl and Sommelier are the three main couples.
- Shirtless Scene: Episode 5 sees Sommelier showing up to work without a shirt on. In the rain. The entire female cast is totally entranced.
- Shout-Out: Plenty.
- Fu Girl makes repeated references to George A. Romero's classic zombie films, and even directly compares Umio to a character in the second movie.
- Fu Girl's pose when beating on a zombified Umio for the first time is very reminiscent of a berserking Unit-01 and Hio strikes the infamous Gendo Pose when deliberating on how to help Sensei prepare for her first date with Umio.
- The art style briefly changes to that of Crayon Shin-chan when Director is punishing Hio after she tries to imitate his ex-girlfriend.
- When Umio teaches Sensei all about the correct ways to put panties in a manga, he gains a bushy grey beard and frayed robe, while Sensei wears a bright orange karate gi.
- Several hentai doujinshi was mentioned in episode 11, including Prince of the Shuttercock that Ero-hon G-man said to look like the tennis manga she reads, and Doeraimon that a younger Ero-hon G-man gave Sommelier when she transferred out of their elementary school.
- Sick Episode: Chapter 18/Episode 9 sees Hio taking off due to illness, and some of the staff come see her at her place, for various reasons.
- Skyward Scream: Fu Girl does this in Episode 11, after kissing Sommelier.
- The Stoic: Sommelier doesn't show emotion very often, but he has his moments.
- Trash of the Titans: Umio has to clean up his for Sensei in episode 12, particularly it is overly, or, let's say, stereotypically, associated with his otaku lifestyle.
- Tsundere: Director picks on Hio for most of his teasing and is stricter about disciplining her because he won't be honest about how he feels. Naturally, Hio can't figure out whether he likes or hates her.
- Will They or Won't They?:
- Between all three primary couples.
- Sommelier and Fu-Girl finally confess to each other at the end of Chapter 34.
- Work Com: About working in a manga/ doujinshi store.
- Yaoi Fangirl: Hio and the Ero-Hon G-Man, although the former denies it.
