Manga / Wagnaria!!

"Someone, one one! Someone else!"

Wagnaria!! (AKA Working!! in Japan) is a comedy / slice-of-life / romance Yonkoma by Karino Takatsu. The manga was published in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine from 2005 to 2014.

Popura Taneshima is a short girl who works at a family restaurant. One day her boss gives her the ultimatum to go out and find some more help, as no one wishes to apply for the job. After spending an entire day asking, she accidentally bumps into Souta Takanashi, who thinks she's a lost child, and proclaims herself to actually be 17, a year older than he is. Souta ends up taking the job and quickly learns about his new dysfunctional co-workers.

Despite its massive popularity, it originally started life as a spinoff to WORKING!, a similarly themed 2002 webcomic which was also set in a Wagnaria restaurant. When Takatsu decided to adapt it for Young GanGan, she moved the action to another part of the same town, focused on a different branch and its staff, and threw an extra exclaimation point in the title for good measure. Though the two are mostly unrelated, you can expect to see characters cross over from time to time.

Its well-known anime adaptation aired in the spring of 2010. The series has been picked up by NIS America in their anime collection in an English sub-only format under the title Wagnaria!!, with polarizing reactions from the fans regarding to the title change. Furthermore, their license for the first season expired in November 2015, causing it to fall out-of-print. A second season was announced in 2013, but not before an April Fools' prank making it look like a spinoff show about the WORKING! cast was getting animated and released on VHS. A third season of the anime aired as part of the summer 2015 season, while the (hour long!) Grand Finale, titled Lord of the Takanashi, was aired during the fall 2015 season, on Christmas Day no less.

All three seasons can be watched at Crunchyroll under the name Wagnaria!! in the following regions: ^note North America, Central America, South America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. In Germany and France all three seasons were once available on Viewster under the names Working!!, Working!!2 and Working!!3. Seasons 1 & 2 had English subtitles, while Season 3 was simulcast with German, English and French subtitles.

After many, many years where the webcomic was subject to April Fools' Day jokes for the anime (and finally getting printed as Web-ban WORKING!!), an official anime adaptation of the predecessor manga was announced under the name of WWW.WORKING!!. It aired during the Fall 2016 season.

Compare to Servant × Service, another Work Com by Karino Takatsu, this time focusing on the misadventures of a group of government employees. Not to be confused with Working, the '90s Work Com starring Fred Savage of Wonder Years fame, or with the musical Working by Stephen Schwartz, the songwriter for Wicked. The name change to Wagnaria for the English-speaking audience was probably to prevent confusion to these works.

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Provides examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: Popura cannot call Takanashi properly by his name, instead calling him "Katanashi". Inami got confused with that until she found out that he only lets Popura call him that.
• A-Cup Angst: Being the smallest woman at Wagnaria, Inami falls into this frequently (though not as much in the anime).
  • It certainly doesn't help that the 12-year old Nazuna is already bigger than her.
  • The anime doesn't seem to play it up until Takanashi, crossdressing is shown to be larger than her.
• A Day In The Lime Light: Maya Matsumoto, who was largely relegated as a Living Prop, gets much more screen time in episode 13 of Season 2. While it's not dedicated solely to her, she has a much bigger speaking role, and helps Popura with an important decision.
• The Alcoholic: Souta's older sister, Kozue Takanashi, is practically the anime poster child for AA. It's quite hard to find her actually sober.
• Alcohol-Induced Bisexuality: Kozue Takanashi, who has a steady stream of male lovers, tells Mizuki Mishiba that intimacy between two women is just "unproductive thinking". That doesn't stop Kozue from flirting with Mizuki when she's drunk. And Kozue is often drunk.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Poor, poor Jun.
  • Yachiyo's feelings for Kyouko might also fall under this.
  • And Mizuki's feelings for Yachiyo, in turn.
• Aloof Big Brother: Jun.
• Alternate Character Reading: Episode 9 features Kotori, whose name is an Alternate Character Reading of Takanashi. To be more specific, Takanashi -> Kotoriasobi.
  • This refers to a Japanese saying - "There are no hawks (taka nashi) where little birds play (kotori asobi)".
• And the Adventure Continues: The last episode of season 1 ends with Inami, Souta, and Popura lining up to greet some unseen customers as the camera pulls back from Wagnaria.
• Angry Cheek Puff: Popura will frequently puff out her cheeks in anger, often with little puffs of steam coming off of her, when she is A). Mocked about her short stature by Satou, B). Praised for her short stature by Souta, or C.) Satou rearranges her hair (literally and figuratively teasing her) when he's in a foul mood about his unrequited crush on Yachiyo.
• Anti-Role Model: All of Souta's older sisters.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Takanashi, when he cross-dressed as Kotori, got hit on by some of the male customers.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Otoo pulls one off against Yachiyo.
• Big Damn Heroes: Done by the Wagnaria crew for Souta in episode 14 of season 3 after his mother attempted to force him to quit working there. Inami goes there to talk to her, backed up by Nazuna, but their attempts don't seem to sway his mother at all. Only after their other coworkers show up does she then reconsider. Especially Popura, who surprises her when she sees how short Souta's coworker is, yet sees that he's fallen in love with Inami, who is much taller and outside his usual "loves little things" category.
• Big Eater: Kyouko.
• Bishie Sparkle: Souma-san has black and grey sparkles whenever he's happy. Considering who he is, and that his happiness means someone else's unhappiness, this makes sense.
  • Kotori has some the first time she shows up.
  • It appears on other characters from time to time, such as Souta and Yachiyo.
• Black Mail: Nazuna, with the help of Souma and Aoi's mother, attempts to do this towards her mother in episode 14 of season 3 in an attempt to help Souta. She shows off a picture of her mother when she was a younger, showing that she was very short, and not too happy about it. Subverted after her initial shock, and she tells Nazuna to go ahead and show her sisters the picture.
• Bland-Name Product: Apparenty Wagnaria is based on Saizerya.
• Blatant Lies: Yamada during her intro claims a lot of things, but Souta sees right through them. However, he is forced to play along since it seems everyone else believed her claims and probably wouldn't believe him anyway.
• Blue with Shock: Satou gets a lot of this when dealing with Yachiyo, especially when she's being particularly clueless about his feelings. Episode 10 takes it to new levels, when she tries to serve him the way she does Kyouko.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Satou complains when Bishie Sparkles appear around him.
  • In episode 10 of the first season, Souma and Aoi briefly summarize what happened in episode 9 with Souta crossdressing as Kotori to talk to Mahiru's father. Afterwards the camera switches angles, and it's revealed they were technically telling Kyouko about it, though Souma mentioning "the previous episode" is what brings this trope into play.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Apparently, Souma spends all that time and effort collecting blackmail on his co-workers so he doesn't have to actually do any of his own work.
  • With Jun and Inami, though, such tactics are hit and miss.
• Brown Bag Mask: Mahiru wears one in episode 5 of season 3, after being asked by Izumi to meet her brother and attempt to hook the two up, and not realizing Izumi meant Souta.
• Bubbly Waitress: Being a work comedy set in a restaurant, there are a couple of examples.
  • Popura Taneshima is seventeen, bright and cheerful (when Satou isn't poking fun at her height or rearranging her hair). She's also very good with the customers. And when a couple of customers start to bully her and pull on her signature ponytail, the Manager, Kyouko, administers a reprimand to them via boot-to-the-head.
  • Yachiyo Todoroki is competent, kind, and upbeat. She'd be more popular with the customers, but her penchant for carrying a katana (and attempting to use it on anyone who comes between her and her Kyoko) has them on edge when she's waiting on them.
  • Souta's little sister, Nazuna, is only twelve, but just as tall as her sixteen year old brother, and bright and cheerful whenever she volunteers to fill in at Wagnaria.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: One has to wonder how some of the characters manage to keep their jobs at the restaurant, or even how it manages to stay running due to their weird quirks, such as Yachiyo carrying around a katana, and Kyouko being a fairly lazy and indifferent manager. Popura mentions in episode 2 that many of their customers like the danger, but Souta is thoroughly confused by it.
• Butt-Monkey: Aoi, to a degree. The girl never gets even a smidgen of sympathy—except from Souma, of all people.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Souta of all people. He lays into Inami's father over his method of parenting that resulted in Inami becoming violently androphobic. Souta may or may not be doing this for Inami, rather for all the abuse he's been forced to take as a result of Inami's fears.
• The Cameo: The cellphone lady and her co-worker at the phone store Satou and Yachiyo visit in the second season are actually characters from CU no Oneesan, one of Karino Takatsu's older web comics (found here).
• Cannot Spit It Out: One source of tension is Jun's rather obvious crush on Yachiyo, which he absolutely refuses to admit (certainly not in front of Yachiyo herself). Of course, (considering she probably doesn't swing that way) he's permanently stuck in the "friend" zone, so he gets to hear all about how much Yachiyo loves Kyouko. At length. It's pretty much as sad as it sounds, yet still funny thanks to schadenfreude.
• Cherry Tapping: Done to Souta's glasses in episode 2 of season 3. They've withstood tremendous abuse, such as getting hit by Inami. However, in episode 2 of season 3, Yamada lightly taps his face with her teddy bear Daisy after they discuss its nigh-invulnerability. Said tap then ends up breaking the lenses.
• Children Are Innocent: Used on Nazuna in episode 2 of season 3 when Kazue's ex-husband, Tooru Minegishi, wants to report to their mother, and his boss, about how they're doing. It turns out that Minegishi is Too Kinky to Torture, and Souta didn't want her picking up any bad influences.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Early in the first episode, a couple other people can be seen working with Souma and Satou, but are never seen again.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Yachiyo towards Kyouko. Even if it's something so simple as giving Kyouko food, Yachiyo will get angry.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Aoi, although most of the cast has a rather strained relationship with reality.
  • Of course, her behavior could also be a case of obfuscating stupidity.
• Color Failure: Kazue whenever her ex-husband, Tooru Minegishi, is mentioned.
• Comically Missing the Point: In episode 5 of season 3, Nazuna hears that Souta had a fight with Mahiru, his "girlfriend". Hilariously she thinks that Mahiru not hitting him hard was what caused the problem in their relationship.
• Comically Serious: What makes Satou hilarious is the absurd situations he always faces while still maintaining an aloof composure.
• Contrived Coincidence: The executive assistant to Souta's mother, Shizuka Takanashi, just so happens to be Yamada's mother.
• Cool Big Sis: Subverted with all of Souta's older sisters:
  • Kazue is a short-tempered, physically-abusive lawyer who throws big books at Souta's head.
  • Izumi is a struggling romance writer and reclusive shut-in who can't take care of herself.
  • Kozue is an alcoholic lush incapable of keeping a job or boyfriend, despite hitting on men as much as she hits the bottle.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Two examples:
  • Satou towards Yachiyo whenever she's fawning over Kyouko. However, he takes it out on Popura instead, usually by making fun of her height, or playing around with her hair.
  • Souta invokes this trope in episode 4 of Season 2 when he suspects Inami's constant staring at Satou means she must like him. However, he tells Souma that the feelings he's having are like training a dog not to bite the owner, but the dog does it anyway, then shows affections towards another owner. Souma however, knows it's not true, but plays along anyway because he finds the misunderstanding funny. He also invokes this trope whenever Kirio is around Inami.
• Crazy Workplace: Family restaurant Wagnaria has a high school girl who looks like she's in elementary school, a waitress who carries around a katana and goes on lengthy speeches about her crush on the manager, a cook who's hopelessly smitten with said waitress, and takes out his frustrations by messing with the Token Mini-Moe and her hair, another cook who manipulates everyone around him, a androphobic waitress with a Megaton Punch, a manager with a bottomless pit for a stomach and all the charm of a thug, and a waiter obsessed with small, cute things.
• Credits Running Sequence: The ED has Souta, Satou and Souma running; Lampshaded in that at the end of the sequence they all stop to catch their breath.
• Crossover: Working!! Reorder act like this to the main series and Web-ban. Sayuri, Masahiro, Yuta, Shiho, Kisaki and Sakaki have appeared and interacted with the main group.
• Cross-Popping Veins: Nazuna displays one in episode 2 of season 3 after Izumi makes multiple complaints while the two are heading to the grocery store. However, she quickly reminds herself that she loves her sister.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Popura, Aoi.
• Cuteness Proximity: Souta is a buff for them. Perhaps it runs in the family, as Popura provokes this from Souta's oldest sister Kazue, of all people, leading to a very close encounter.
  • Sometimes this is coupled with Attention Deficit... Ooh Shiny!
  • Kotori provokes a similar reaction from Popura, much to Souta's dismay. Episode 10 has Souma selling photos of Kotori-chan to Popura, who reacts much as Souta does around her.
  • Souta gets afflicted with this quite heavily in episode 1 of season 3 when the lost little girl from episode 5 in season 2 shows back up while her mother is visiting. He spends much of the day behind the scenes in the back of the restaurant, while the little girl clings onto his back like a backpack.
• Date Peepers: Souma, Yamada, and Popura were originally going to spy on Inami and Souta during their date near the end of the first season, but Satou immediately stops all of them, either with bribes, or threats, before they can get anywhere near the two.
• Deadpan Snarker: Souta. Or maybe he's just insensitive. Or both.
• Demoted to Extra: Poor Popura. She starts out as the main instigator of the story, but later is mostly used to provide commentary on what happens in the restaurant. Besides Souma, we know the least of Popura's background out of the main cast.
  • Otoo as well. He was introduced in the first volume of the manga alongside most of the main cast, and seemed to be designated as part of it. In contrast to the anime, he was actually present and working normally around the restaurant. However, he eventually gets overshadowed by Souma and Yamada upon their introductions in volume 2.
• Department of Redundancy Department: In episode 13 of Season 2, both Satou and Souma talk about "normal" things, and Matsumoto eventually starts hearing that word in every sentence they say during that scene.
• Description Cut: When Souma asks Satou how to avoid Mahiru's daily dose of Megaton Punch.
  Satou: Take this for example: You're cleaning in a storage room and Inami shows up.
  (Inami shows up in front of Souma. Souma goes Blue with Shock.)
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When Nazuna comes by the restaurant to help out in episode 3 of Season 2, she makes Yamada look fairly worthless, as she knows more about the job than the latter despite only working there a few days and not being paid. Yamada then develops a dark aura, and mentions getting rid of her, to which Souma tells her it's not a good thing to be thinking. She then thinks the next sentence, but her aura is so dark Souma knows what she's thinking.
  • Souma himself sometimes does this, usually when teasing Satou about his lack of progress with Yachiyo.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: The opening theme song's melody is playing as background music in the restaurant in episode 9 of the second season.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: All three openings are sung by Popura, Inami and Yachiyo while the endings are sung by Souta, Jun, and Souma.
• Does Not Like Men: Mahiru has such a deep seated fear of men that simply being near them results in Megaton Punches.
  • To further prove it's in her head, she has little problem when a man uses a feminine sentence structure - at first, anyways.
  • Or just look at when she first meets Otoo-san, she doesn't even care if Souta's a guy when there's another guy around, better the guy you know than the guy you don't...
  • Deconstructed, or at least discussed, when Souta asks her if she would hit young boys, the elderly, or crossdressing men. It manages to thoroughly confuse her, and she can't give a proper answer other than she'll "use her instincts."
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Double subverted. Inami's called out a bit for hitting men, but otherwise little effort is made on stopping her or helping her get over that. In fact, when Takanashi in the second season gets fed up and calls her out, HE is seen as the bad guy, and Aoi breaking a few plates gets punished much worse than Inami ever gets for breaking faces.
  • And now, thanks to a misunderstanding, Souta's younger sister has got it into her head that Souta actually likes that stuff.
  • As of episode 7 of season 2, he was able to clear it with Nazuna that he is not a masochist. This also helps him get out from his Heroic BSoD.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Hilariously played with in Chapter 197, where all of the Takanashi siblings dreamt about their mother and after learning about each other's dreams the next day immediately concluded them to represent a Portent of Doom (except for Nazuna)!
• Dynamic Entry: Kozue does it to Youhei in episode 9 of Season 2 after he nonchalantly says he sees a beautiful woman sitting at the table in the restaurant.
• Dysfunction Junction: A light-hearted version, certainly, but there aren't very many "normal" psyches among this bunch.
  • Well, we haven't taken a look into Maya Matsumoto's psyche yet.
    • The last episode makes it seem that her desire for normality is so intense that it comes off as weird to other characters, so the trope probably holds.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Pretty much for all the characters in love, they have to work through quite a bit to get their happy ending, such as Inami having to "rescue" Souta from his mother.
• Easily Forgiven/Double Standard: In reality, beating up people on a regular basis would likely land you in jail, and/or fired from your job.
  • Apparently you're forgetting Kyouko's juniors - leaving the cops out is just good sense.
• Everyone Meets Everyone: Hilariously done in Chapter 116, which not only revealed how the main cast members got their jobs in Wagnaria, but also the reasons for them being employed were a result of Kyouko taking Otoo-san's specifications for new employees too literally!
• Evil Matriarch: Played for Laughs. The mother of the Takanashi siblings appears to them as such (except for Nazuna) as she evokes various fears amongst them.^note To Kazue she will mercilessly comment on her failed marriage; to Izumi she will order her to do household chores; to Kozue she will ignore her; to Souta her presence reminds him of his history of cross-dressing. It does not help that she is a politician adept in the art of manipulation.
• Evolving Credits: When Aoi Yamada joins the cast, the OP and ED are changed to include her. The same applies in season two for Haruna Otoo, Youhei and Mizuki Mashiba, and Kirio Yamada, and in season three for Toru Minegishi, Kikuno Yamada, and Shizuka Takanashi.
• Eyes Always Shut: Yachiyo and Otoo. Hiroomi also does this at times, but keeps his eyes mostly open (so he won't miss any of the interesting stuff happening in the restaurant).
  • In Yachiyo's case, her eyes open once in episode 7.
• Face Doodling: Happens to Popura when Satou is upset, and to Yamada when she's being too ... Yamada.
• Fever Dream Episode: Episode 6 of season 3, in which Popura has a dream where she's a Magical Girl and Souta is the Big Bad of a magical kingdom. Jun the "Sugar Fairy" tells her he's turning everyone tiny, and it's up to her to stop him. Unfortunately her magic attacks are completely useless against him, and worse, makes her smaller every time she uses it. In the end she "defeats" him when he suffers a Nose Bleed from getting hit by Cuteness Proximity after seeing her mini-form.
• First-Name Basis: Yachiyo to Kyouko. When Kyouko has to leave for business in episode 10, she tries this with Satou-san. It doesn't end well.
• Food as Bribe: In episode 13 of season 1, Souma, Popura, and Aoi all plan to spy on Souta and Mahiru on their date. To stop them, Jun then says he'll treat Popura to lunch, and tells Aoi that Souma will buy her some clothing. However, for Souma, Jun simply tells him to join with them, or he was going to punch him in the face. Souma does lampshade the difference in treatment/bribery between the girls and him.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The little lost girl from episode 5 of Season 2 can be seen with her mother right after the credits in episode 2 of Season 2.
  • In season 2, Yachiyo is upset when she hears that Satou is considering leaving Wagnaria, an early hint that she does feel something for him and might return his feelings.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Kirio tells Souta that he fell in love with the fourth Takanashi child, who was really Souta dressed up as a girl, since his mother used to bring him to their house. He then tells Souta he's perfectly okay with him being a Wholesome Crossdresser. Souta beats him up shortly afterwards.
• For the Evulz: When Souma isn't trying to blackmail his co-workers into doing his work for him, he's usually trying to arrange embarrassing or irritating situations for the people around him... pretty much because he thinks it's funny.
• Found Family via Work: The staff of Wagnaria become very effectively a family unit. They spend even their days off together doing things like going to a resort, and Souma even helps "Yamada" dodge her actual family. "Yamada" lampshading this almost gets Otoo killed, since she assigned him the role of father and Kyoko the role of mother, much to the ire of Yachiru Todoroki, who believes Otoo is trying to steal her Kyoko from her. Good thing Otoo knows how to pull a Bare-Handed Blade Block. Satou is also like an elder brother to most of the cast, such as teasing Popura by messing with her hair, or hitting Souma when he teases him about his own infatuation with Yachiru.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the second opening, when Popura dashes past the camera as the title card shows up, one can see a tiny Yamada holding onto the end of Popura's ponytail.
  • During the first season opening song, if you pause it at the right time, you'll notice that one of the marching mini-Popuras has a different facial expression than the others. She also moves her arms differently than the rest of them.
  • In season 2's opening, one of the flying mini-Popura has an exhausted look on her face as she flies with the others.
  • Continuing the trend, season 3's opening has Aoi disguised as some of the mini-Popuras.
  • In episode 3 of season 3, the shift schedule which Satou kept on staring at actually listed all the Wagnaria part-timers in the order of their length of employment^note Todoroki is the longest-serving, followed by Satou, Souma, Taneshima, Inami, Matsumoto, Takanashi, and finally Yamada.
• Freudian Excuse: The reason for Souta's love of little things (and hatred for huge ones).
  • To elaborate: Despite being sixteen he's shorter than all of his older sisters, and his younger sister is almost as tall as he. All of his older sisters bully or abuse him in some way, and he suspects his younger sister will eventually turn out the same way.
• Freudian Slip: Kirio accidentally does this with Takanashi while he's dressed up as Kotori in episode 12 of season 3. He initially seems oblivious to the fact, but after telling Kotori that whoever she loves would accept her, he then calls him Takanashi. Kirio also relates a Forgotten First Meeting incident, and gets beaten up afterwards.
• Frying Pan of Doom: If both Jun and Souma are in the kitchen, and some of what Souma does happens to affect Jun in a bad way, this happens.
• Found Family via Work: The staff of Wagnaria become very effectively a family unit. They spend even their days off together doing things like going to a resort, and Souma even helps "Yamada" dodge her actual family. "Yamada" lampshading this almost gets Otoo killed, since she assigned him the role of father and Kyoko the role of mother, much to the ire of Yachiru Todoroki, who believes Otoo is trying to steal her Kyoko from her. Good thing Otoo knows how to pull a Bare-Handed Blade Block. Satou is also like an elder brother to most of the cast, such as teasing Popura by messing with her hair, or hitting Souma when he teases him about his own infatuation with Yachiru.
• Genius Ditz: On occasion, Yamada demonstrates an extraordinary depth and variety of skills, despite spending most of the time making up for her clumsiness. It makes one wonder if she's actually as spacy as she seems, or if she's hiding a much greater intellect.
• Girly Run: Yachiyo is susceptible to this, which is perhaps caused by her carrying a sword.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: At one point, Souma buys Aoi a stuffed bear. She names it "Daisy" and treasures it immensely.
• The Glomp: One is done in episode 3 of season 3, following an awkward evening drinking out by Yachiyo and Jun, due to weird advice she was given by other women. However, she said she had fun, and hopes that he would stay with her forever. Jun then immediately hugs her very tightly and says the same thing to her. Then he has an Oh, Crap! moment when he realized what he just did and tries to downplay it. She's mostly speechless, and falls to her knees, perhaps due to not knowing how to react to these newfound feelings.
• Gone Horribly Right: Inami's overprotective father did everything in his power to make her completely afraid of men, as well as secretly using weights to increase her strength so she could defend herself. Unfortunately for him, her dislike of men is so bad now that she'll even deck him.
• Grand Finale: The hilariously-titled Lord of Takanashi, an hour-long special aired during Christmas Day 2015, is this for the whole series.
• Headbutt Thermometer: Yachiyo just melts in Kyouko's arms when the latter does this to the former.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Souta suffers from one in Episode 7 of Season 2 when he sees Inami chatting with Kirio.
  • He suffers another one in episode 5 of season 3 after a fight with Mahiru from the previous episode. However, he shows it by cleaning the house too much, to the point that Kazue says they're going to go blind from how sparkling and shiny everything in the house is.
• Hidden Depths: For a guy who claims he's only following the manual when prepping meals, Satou is astonishingly good at styling women's hair, as he once gave the diminutive waitress no fewer than four different hairstyles in the span of a minute, to her annoyance, Souma's amusement, and Takanashi's Squeeing. He also once styled Popura's hair into a fairly elaborate rendition of a Christmas tree, complete with ornaments.
• Hide Your Lesbians: While the heterosexual crushes are often put in a more serious light, Yachiyo's feelings for Kyouko are purely seen as a source of jokes.
• High-Pressure Emotion: Inami in episode 2 of season 3 after Souta gets extremely close to her to get a look at who was approaching him. She wasn't sure what to do, as he was Blind Without 'Em due to Yamada accidentally breaking his glasses.
• Hime Cut: Aoi.
• Holding in Laughter: In season three, after Satou has asked Yachiyo out for a drink, and Yachiyo, who has never been drinking before asks Kozue for advice, Satou notes that Souma is pounding the wall trying hard to hold in his laughter at the entire situation. Souma is notable for being a Shipper on Deck for Yachiyo and Satou, but also for deliberately instigating situations For the Lulz.
• Hopeless Suitor: Souta invokes this trope on Inami in episode 4 of Season 2. After misinterpreting her constantly staring at Satou as her liking him, Souta asks her if she has someone she likes. She says she does, but he tells her she should immediately stop pursuing him, because he already likes someone else. Inami becomes visibly sad, until Souta mentions Satou's name, to which she immediately tries to clarify the situation. She then tells him she does have someone she likes, but Souta is once again surprised, not realizing that she actually likes him, but Cannot Spit It Out.
• Hot Springs Episode: Episode 8, without the actual bathing in the hot springs scenes.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Popura and Souta... and virtually every other male character in the series. The only way you could avert this trope with her is to get some grade school boy to stand next to her. Inverted in that Souta is small compared to his sisters, including his younger sister (see below).
• Huge Schoolgirl: Souta's youngest sister, Nazuna, (12 years old) is on her way to being this, and is already kind of this for her age group, being able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her brother and sisters despite being in grade school.
• Hypocritical Humor: Mahiru fears men because she thinks they're violent and they might have a weapon. She says this while hiding behind Yachiyo.
  • Not to mention that almost ALL of the violence in the series is Inami hitting a guy, usually before he even finishes a sentence.
  • In episode 4, Yachiyo tells Jun that walking around with a knife is dangerous when he's looking for the sharpening stone in the kitchen. She says this while sharpening her katana.
  • In episode 9 of Season 2, Kozue laments to Inami about the latest guy she broke up with not liking violent women, so she gives him a German suplex. Inami immediately thinks about the irony in her statement.
  • Souta is frequently warning Kirio to stay from Inami, ostensibly because there's a serious danger that she could hurt him. Souta gets so annoyed that he tends to blow off this warning that eventually Souta starts using painful submission holds on him to try and chase him away. Kirio eventually lampshades the fact that Souta has hurt him way more than Inami ever has.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Inami, regarding Souta. Less sexually implicit as it is romantically implicit - but it still gets the same reaction out of her.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!:
  • Souta said this once about Popura going into a Corner of Woe.
  • Again when Souta finds a lost girl in the parking lot.
  • Souta's mother attempts to do this to Popura in episode 14 of season 3, attempting to take her back to work with her. She even has her held in one arm, prompting Souta to tell her not to take Popura.
• Incest Subtext: Not explicitly stated, but it's more of a vague attraction played for laughs and... drama? Perhaps it's even a complex. Anyway, three of the Takanashi sisters do seem a bit too dependent or close to Souta. One grew up for the purpose of helping her older brother, one is an apparently always boyfriend-less, hopeless Hard-Drinking Party Girl, and the last is a romance novelist who can't do anything by herself despite being 28.
  • While drunk and incoherent, the Hard-Drinking Party Girl sometimes asks Souta if he wants to have sex with her. No inhibition indeed.
  • Izumi is incredibly possessive of Souta because he's so kind to her (read: she can't do anything without him). After hearing he has a girlfriend (supposedly Inami), she becomes even more depressed than usual and decides to clear her mind by going outside for fresh air. Alone. For someone like Izumi, that's an act of suicide. She even leaves a letter that sounds like a final farewell.
  • It's becoming increasingly clear that Nazuna would do ANYTHING to make her brother happy, no matter the personal troubles it causes. Taken just a little further, her devotion would cross into a unhealthy degree — if it's quietly not there already.
• Incompatible Orientation: Jun is in love with Yachiyo, who is lesbian. Or at least, she is with regard to Kyouko. Kyouko herself seems to be asexual, having no interest in guys or girls and preferring gluttony to lust.
• Instant Bandages: Kyouko's clipboard even gets these.
• Insistent Terminology: In the first episode, Popura is corrected by Souta Takanashi at first about mispronouncing his name. She tries to say it correctly, but has a really hard time doing it, so ends up sticking with "Katanashi" instead. However, due to her small stature and his attraction to such things, he lets her get away with it. When Inami tried it, he kind of lost it and freaked her out.
• It Runs in the Family: According to Izumi, love of small things runs in the Takanashi family. Although only Souta appears to exhibit that love to obsessive levels.
• Japanese Delinquents: Kyouko used to be one. The Mashiba twins, being Kyouko's henchmen back in high school, also count as reformed versions of these.
• Jokers Love Junk Food: Wagnaria's manager, Kyoko, is a lazy bum and former delinquent who ran a gang. Customer service isn't her forte, or any task one expects of a manager. When she isn't scarfing down parfaits made for her by Yachiyo, she's often seen leaning back against one of the counters munching on potato chips, usually leaving crumbs behind, to the consternation of Souta Takanashi, who once had to be restrained to keep from going after her with a broom.
• Kewpie Doll Surprise: Popura does this a lot.
• The Klutz: Aoi Yamada cleans up plates from the floor on a regular basis.
• Lampshaded Double Entendre: Happily subverted. In Episode 11, Kozue forces Inami into Souta's room. She then hears them saying things like "Are you sure? It's my first time doing this..." Yamada is curious as to what they might be doing, and Kozue tells her they're "doing what guys and girls do behind closed doors."
  Yamada: Playing card games?
  • And wouldn't you know it, they were playing card games.
• Lampshade Hanging: For a comedy series, it's rather good about this. The Fridge Logic example and There Are No Therapists example both qualify.
• Last Episode, New Character: Maya Matsumoto.
  • She was seen throughout the show, including in the OP, but did not get a speaking role until the last episode.
  • This actually ends up being a good gag (despite missing out on using a potentially good character). Maya is obsessed with being straight-laced and sane when stacked against her coworkers. The fact she only appears at the end to berate the rest of the staff on how weird they are shows how steadfast she is in her commitment to be "normal" (though it comes back to bite her because she's developed a normality complex). She shows up to work, does her job, doesn't get involved with her coworkers' eccentricity, and leaves without making much of a fuss. So we see her in the background and ignore her, which is exactly what she wants.
• Likes Older Women: Yachiyo, a lesbian version. Though that may just be a Single-Target Sexuality for Kyouko.
• Living Prop: Maya Matsumoto, who actually appears in the OP.
  • Curiously, she gets a speaking part in the last episodes of every season.
  • Izumi, one of Souta's older sisters, invokes this trope near the end of Episode 3 in Season 2. A whole day passes by with the various characters going about their day, while she's sitting in the same exact position the entire day. At the end of the night, as the other family members are gathering around the table for dinner, she finally says she has to get stronger first. They all then wonder if that's all she did that day.
• Loners Are Freaks: Maya doesn't like to socialize with her colleagues, which makes the others think she's a bit weird.
• Love Confession: Halfway through season 3 Satou finally manages to tell Yachiyo his feelings for her, he skips work for a week after that due to the amount of effort it took. In the same vein, It takes Souta the whole 3rd season to be able to confess to Inami. Thankfully both couples end happily together.
• Love Epiphany: Inami has one at the end of episode 9 after Souta's scathing speech to her father about secretly training her to hate men. Of course, him being a Nice Guy and giving a present on White Day in earlier episodes helped too.
  • Souta starts to realize he may have feelings for Inami in episode 13 of Season 1, but immediately tries to beat it out of his head, and says out loud that she's just a dog. Just as she returns with some juice.
• Loving a Shadow: Kozue often gives the impression that it's actually Mizuki she is after, and that she is merely using Yohei to give herself an excuse for doing so.
• Love Triangle: Yamada sees Popura fawning over Souta and thinks one of these is developing between those two and Inami—it turns out that Popura is just admiring "Kotori" for being everything she wants to be.
• Lyrical Cold Open: Both opening and ending themes of Season 1 and the opening theme of Season 2.
• Made of Iron: With sisters like his, it's no wonder Souta can withstand all of that stuff Inami does to him.
• Manipulative Bastard: Souma. Jun's probably only the one who's immune to Souma's schemes. Nazuna's also showing hints of this.
  • Apparently Aoi is turning into Souma's kryptonite.
    • Inami was immune due to the fact she would give him a Megaton Punch just for being in range.
  • Nazuna also seems to enjoy being able to control the behavior of her older siblings.
  • Jun completely out-manipulates Souma in the last episode.
• Marshmallow Hell: Popura gets this treatment from Kazue when she first meets her in episode 12 of season 1.
• Mr. Vice Guy: If not for his maniacal obsession with miniature things, there isn't much to criticize Souta for.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Souma somehow managed to sense Jun hugging Yachiyo at the end of Episode 3 of Season 3 (an omake in Volume 9 of the manga in between Chapters 164-165), though he had no idea what actually happened.
• Mysterious Past: No one is quite sure where Aoi came from (though it's hinted that she ran away from home), no one is sure why she decided to run away and work at the restaurant, and no one knows where she learned how to plant a bug on someone's clothing. All of this gets revealed, of course, in the third season, where not only is it revealed that Aoi's reason for running away was pretty mundane, but her so-called skills were just an outgrowth of trying to live with a fairly-odd mother.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The end of the third season's stinger hyped up the show's Grand Finale as a Dragon Quest style adventure, with Inami turning into a fantasy heroine out to rescue Souta from the Demon Queen (his mother), with Poplar as her fairy companion. When the hour-long special finally aired, it was anything but, and actually matched up with the fairly mundane nature of the series.
• No Sense of Direction: Otoo's wife went missing a long time ago, and hasn't found her way back. His trying to find her is one of the recurring gags in the series.
• No Romantic Resolution: Averted come Season 3, where both main couples (Satou/Yachiyo and Souta/Inami) eventually get together.
• Oblivious to Love: While there is Yachiyo and her blindness to Satou's crush on her, Souta is just as bad in regard to Inami's crush on him. (Though, to be fair, her treatment of him is not helping her case.)
  • In Souta's case, he tells Kirio about Inami being interested in another guy. He then lists all the things he did for her in previous episodes, and based on that, Kirio is able to figure out that Inami's crush is on Souta himself. However, he initially decides to play dumb and pretend he doesn't know, if nothing else because he finds it funny.
  • In episode 4 of season 3, Kirio flat out tells Souta that those odd feelings he has when thinking about Mahiru means he's in love with her. The next scene shows Popura trying to wake up Kirio, who apparently "passed out" behind the restaurant.
• Official Couple: Inami/Souta and Yachiyo/Satou by season 3.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Haruna, Otoo-san's long lost wife, is so elusive that even when she finally appeared in the series, she is still prone to disappearing without a trace. In one occasion she managed to leave a completely sealed room without anybody noticing it! Season 3, episode 9 has her describe events from prior episodes she couldn't have been in, leaving one with the impression that she's wandering through space and time.
• Older Than They Look: Popura is older than Souta. Aside from a sizable chest, you'd be hard pressed to tell.
• One Degree of Separation: Working Reorder shows that there are connections between the casts of Working and Working!! Web-ban. Kyouko is old friends with Sakaki, the manager from Web-ban and as a result Yachiyo knows him too. Souta is friends with Masahiro, the chief from Web-ban and knows Sayuri as a result.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Episode 10 has Nazuna and Inami talking. Nazuna asks if Souta enjoys being punched, while Inami confesses to liking Souta. Except the question Inami answered wasn't what Nazuna asked, even if the answer is 'yes'. Poor Souta.
  • Episode 3 in Season 2 has Izumi asking her sisters questions about Inami and misinterpreting them as descriptions of Popura. The end result is Izumi mistakenly thinking Popura is an underage girl and her brother being a pedophile. Izumi also fears he'll stop taking care of her since he must have a girlfriend.
  • In episode 5 of season 3, the Takanashi sisters hear that Souta broke up with his girlfriend. When Nazuna mentions this to Izumi, the latter assumes he was dating Popura based on the the picture she saw of her in Nazuna's cellphone, while Nazuna assumes it was Mahiru not hitting him hard enough that was the cause of the problem. Neither one of them realizes that he actually isn't dating anyone.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Souta thinks everyone working in that restaurant's somewhat strange in one way or another, although he himself isn't any different, being the minicon he is.
  • Seeing how Maya stays out of the craziness she might qualify—if only we'd know more about her. We find out in the final episode that Maya indeed does think herself to be this. So much, in fact, that she tries too hard to be normal and inadvertently makes herself come off as weird.
    Souma: Matsumoto-san is a bit strange, isn't she?
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Aoi once managed to fool (albeit temporarily) Kirio into thinking she's not her by simply wearing a wig.
• Parental Abandonment: Souta's father apparently had passed on for quite a long time before the start of the series, and the entire family became extremely awkward and switched conversational topics immediately when their mother was once mentioned.
  • The mother finally appeared in Chapter 207. And chapter 245 confirmed that the father is deceased.
• Precocious Crush: Yachiyo's feelings for Kyouko started from here.
• Psycho Lesbian: Naturally, when in a series like this a girl has feelings for her female boss, she has to have some loose screws.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Invoked temporarily by the Takanashi sisters in Lord of the Takanashi, in which they're ordered by their mother to stop Inami from reaching Souta at their house. This being a comedy, none of them put up much of a fight, mostly because they're okay with Inami dating Souta.
• Real-Place Background: The clock tower shown before the On the Next segment of every episode actually exists in real life, being located in Hiraoka Park in Kiyota Ward, Sapporo.
• Relationship Upgrade: Jun finally spit it out to Yachiyo in Chapter 223/episode 11 of season 3, and Souta confesses to Mahiru in Chapter 250/episode 14 of season 3.
• Replacement Goldfish:
  • Jun Satou becomes one to Yachiyo when Kyouko had to leave for a business trip. It was an unpleasant few days for him.
  • Souta asks Popura to pretend to be his little sister in episode 8 of Season 2 when he realizes that his real sister Nazuna has grown to be slightly taller than him.
  • In episode 1 of season 3, Popura feels that the little girl visiting their restaurant would take over her role with Takanashi. Fortunately the little girl is smart and was about to head home anyway, and he tells her that no one could replace his "little senpai".
• Schmuck Bait: In episode 4, Popura tells Satou that she's jealous at how tall he is. He tells her he can make her taller, then simply raises her hair a little. It annoys her, but he tells her not to get mad, because anger kills cells, and that's why tall, cool guys like him are never mad. She immediately buys his explanation.
• Secret Test of Character: In Lord of the Takanashi, Nazuna angrily confronts Inami, doing a What the Hell, Hero? on her after finding out Souta isn't really a masochist, and that she didn't like the fact that he was continually punched by her. She then calls Inami out for a fight. After Inami says she can't hit Nazuna, and explains that he was helping cure her androphobia, Nazuna then says she wasn't actually looking for a fight, and saw that despite her odd relationship with Souta, she was a good person at heart.
• Shipper on Deck: Yamada, Popura, and Kozue appear to have jumped on the Inami/Souta bandwagon. Even Souma's Bishie Sparkles turn light at the thought of them hooking up.
  • Izumi also ended up shipping Satou and Inami, though she had no idea about Inami's relationship to Satou; she just appears to Izumi to be a kind person that can look after her as well.
  • Souma is shipping Satou and Yachiyo too. Mizuki's reluctantly on his team too.
  • Souta's mother is full of this.
• Ship Tease: Despite protests from both, Souta and Inami have been teased as a potential pairing.
  • And despite the fact that Yachiyo will always go for Kyouko, we have some teasing for Yachiyo and Jun. The poor bastard can't even get let down properly.
• Shout-Out: Inami is voiced by Saki Fujita , who is also the voice of Hatsune Miku. Consequently, Inami occasionally wears hairpins shaped like leeks.
  • The Grand Finale is titled Lord of the Takanashi. Even Souta's mother Shizuka is Sauron-like (although her character is more like Elrond), with Inami and Souta as Gender Flip Aragorn and Arwen, respectively.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Yachiyo -> Kyouko.
  • Although at one time Yachiyo is seen fawning over Aoi as well, because Aoi looks a little like Kyouko.
• Slice of Life: The show focuses on staff of Wagnaria while they're going about their day, and occasionally Takanashi's family.
• Smoking Is Cool: Satou.
• Snipe Hunt: Souma tells Aoi to go find something in episode 8 of season 2 when her brother's trying to find her in the restaurant. Like the trope implies, she has no idea what he wants or where to even look for it.
• Spell My Name With An S: Poplar versus Popura. She's supposed to be named after the tree for irony's sake.
• Spit Take: Kyouko does one after seeing Souta cross-dressed in episode 9.
  • Kozue does one complete with mini-rainbow after Yamada told her Inami was interested in Souta.
• Status Quo Is God:
  • Mostly true, as in most Slice of Life comedies, though there are occasional minor shifts: Inami learns to at least stand within a few feet of men without hitting them, Aoi Yamada is added to the team, Jun resolves to improve his relationship with Yachiyo, and both Kirio and Hyougo just barely miss finding Aoi and Haruna respectively. However, for the most part things have remained relatively constant in the show.
  • Until Season 3 starts tying up one loose thread after another. Jun and Yachiyo's relationship suddenly makes more progress in a week than it had in 4 years, Aoi Yamada reunites with her family, Haruna Otoo is found, Souta proclaims Inami cured, Souta's older sister reunites with her husband, Souta suddenly straightens out his head over his relationship with Inami, and Souta's mother comes home. Phew!
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Several characters seem capable of doing this, such as Kyouko and strangely enough, Izumi manages it in episode 3 of Season 2 after her walk outside.
• Stealth Pun: When Satou is messing with Popura's hair, he is literally teasing her.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: When Mizuki claims Satou would "devour" Yachiyo first chance he got, both Yachiyo and and Kyouko immediately imagine him eating her hair.
• Super-Deformed: A large group of mini-Popuras march by Souta in a short scene during the opening for Season 1. Gosh darn it if they don't look adorable too.
  • In general, Popura has a tendency to slip into this from time to time, further accentuating her small stature.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  • Inami when Souma talks to Souta about her hairpin.
  • Souta shows up for his date with Mahiru as Kotori. A Flash Back then shows that he went to the restaurant first, and Aoi "accidentally" slips and tosses a bucket of water on him. Souma then mentions there's no spare clothes around except for some women's clothing. However, Souta already knew they planned to make him go as Kotori one way or another, so he just gives up and does it, despite the suspicious "mistakes".
  • Yachiyo claims to not be worrying about Satou when he asks her what's wrong in episode 11 of Season 2, after she overhears that he likes someone, and wonders who it is.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: One incident happens in episode 4 of Season 2, involving Yachiyo meeting Otoo's long lost wife, Haruna, then having her vanish the moment her eyes are off the woman. This causes some misunderstandings between her and Satou, which Inami later misinterprets. Inami's misinterpretation of the event causes Popura to also misinterpret, then finally Souta, who confronts Inami about it. Satou finally forces Yachiyo to come clean with why she was going through a Heroic BSoD, and after she does, it turns out no one was going to hate her for losing track of Haruna.
  • This trope is in play again during episode 13 of Season 2, when Yamada blew a casual conversation she had with Popura out of proportion. Popura mentioned quitting to focus on school, but decided not to. However, Yamada tells everyone she is definitely going to quit, causing all of them to talk to Popura as if she were really going away. Which then causes Popura to start crying and wondering about it.
• Taking the Bullet: Played for Laughs in episode 12 of Season 2. After going a long time without punching a guy, Yamada tries to speed up curing Inami's androphobia, so she pushes Souma towards her. Inami instinctively starts throwing a punch at the approaching Souma, but Satou throws Yamada's teddy bear to intercept the fist. Souma escapes unharmed, but the teddy bear "dies", and the characters send a farewell to it, until Yamada points out that it's merely lying on the floor.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Souta is being told by Kyouko that employee romantic relationships are forbidden, he tries to justify why he's so interested in Popura. He says he likes small things such as kittens and water fleas. Then he says Popura is like a water flea, and therefore it would be wrong for him to date a water flea, right? Except his explanation makes even less sense to Kyouko.
  • In episode 6, when Inami meets Kazue, one of Souta's older sisters, for the first time, she says she "lays him out all the time". She meant she hits him, but it could also be taken as a Sexual Euphemism.
  • In episode 11, Yamada is looking for someone, which she claims is the product of her and Souma. Both Takanashi and Popura stare at him, wondering what she meant by that. Turns out it was the teddy bear he bought for her in episode 8, which she named Daisy.
• Theme Naming: All of Souta's sisters have "zu" in the middle of their names. Kazue, Izumi, Kozue and Nazuna. Their mother, Shizuna, shares this with them.
• There Are No Therapists: Inami really should get one. Lampshaded by Souta, who wonders in one episode why Inami hasn't been committed.
  • Make sure the therapist is female, though.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Souta delivers this to Inami's father after learning just how far he's gone to keep her completely terrified of men.
• The Runaway: Aoi.
• Third-Person Person: Aoi, Nazuna.
  • Yamada doesn't do this at first; it's just when it's becoming painfully clear she can't remember her own (assumed) name.
• Throw the Book at Them: According to Souta, Kazue has a penchant for smacking him with her law books at any opportunity. She then demonstrates by hitting him in the forehead with the one she's currently holding.
  • Apparently that's why she became a lawyer.
• Tin-Can Telephone: Used in episode 6 of season 2. Popura makes one for Jun as a way for him to talk to Mahiru without getting hit by her as the latter Does Not Like Men and usually hits any guy who gets too close to her. He immediately tells Souma to call Mahiru on his cellphone, but Souma refuses, stating that not using the cup phone would insult Popura. Jun attempts it, until Souma starts laughing at him, prompting him to angrily yank at the phone while crushing the cup. They end up using the cellphone afterwards.
• Token Mini-Moe: Nazuna is a borderline case, seeing how she is about Souta's height already.
  • Popura fits the role better except for her chest.
• Too Kinky to Torture: Kazue's ex-husband, who also works for the Takanashi's mother. He absolutely loves getting chided by and berated by his boss and his ex-wife, and even tells Souta to yell at him during their meeting in episode 2 in season 3.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Kyouko loves her parfaits, which is why Yachiyo is all too happy to bring them to her.
• Troll: Despite being under the threat of Satou's frying pan and Inami's punch, Souma still is one.
  • Also Satou himself namely Popura.
• Training from Hell: A very mild example also Played for Laughs in episode 5 of season 3. Izumi mentions that she's spent a little time each day with Kozue to toughen her body enough so she could go find that girl she met from episode 3 of season 2 and hook her up with Souta to cheer him up after apparently breaking up with his girlfriend. Despite this however, she can only sustain being outside under her own strength for short periods of time, and still needs Nazuna to come get her with the cart after she finishes talking to Mahiru.
• Tsurime Eyes: Aoi, most notably.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Yachiyo walks around with a katana all the time, and most of the time people don't comment on it. That being said, she has scared away customers before because, well, they were afraid. Of course, they have nothing to worry about, so long as they don't insult, attack or hit on Kyouko.
• Vague Age: Aoi is dodgy about giving up her age in the anime (when Souta tells her he's 16, she responds that she's 16 as well). She appears to have a 16-year-old brother who refers to her as his younger sister, so she might be the same age or younger.
• Visual Pun: When Satou rearranges Popura's hair, he is figuratively and literally teasing her.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Satou and Souma.
• The Voiceless: Aoi's mother turns out to be one when she finally appeared in Chapter 188. Though this is due to her spending too much time thinking, as shown by her Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness whenever Kirio engages in Facial Dialogue with her.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: In episode 5 of season 3, Izumi proposes marrying her editor so she could then focus on her writing and have someone take care of her like Souta does. Unfortunately, her editor, despite the masculine appearance, is actually a woman too.
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 3 in season 3, after Yachiyo spends an evening drinking at a restaurant with Jun. Due to all the weird advice by other women she was given, it's a mostly awkward date, and Jun cuts it short before she starts doing anything else Kozue told her to. However, she says that she enjoys spending time with him and hopes that he'll stay by her side forever. He immediately hugs her tightly, says likewise, then realizes he probably went too far. He backs off and calls a cab for her, while she's mostly speechless at the sudden turn of events.
  • Souta trying to find out how he really feels about Mahiru in episode 4 and 5 of season 3. Despite Kirio blatantly saying it to him, it's confusing to him because Mahiru isn't tiny, which is what he's normally attracted to.
  • In episode 6 of season 3, Kirio shows up looking for Aoi again. Souma tells her to hide in the attic again or else he would stop being her "big brother". They still end up meeting, though at least for now she isn't forced home with Kirio
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Discussed heavily in episode 4 of season 3 by Yachiyo and her new strange feelings around Jun, as well as Souta and his unknown reactions towards a non-violent Mahiru who isn't hitting him constantly. Played for Laughs entirely, as Kirio flat out tells Souta that his feelings for Mahiru are love, and in the next scene Kirio is laying on the pavement behind the restaurant with Popura trying to wake him up.
• What the Hell, Hero?: A minor one also Played for Laughs in episode 3 of season 3, when Aoi gets mad at Souta because he won't pat her on the head like he accidentally did in the previous episode. She claims that she wasted her time actually working without breaking anything. He then bops her on the head like he normally does, and tells her that's how she should be doing it all the time.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Souta, much to the confusion of Inami.
  • Hilariously, he looks really good as a girl: he was adorable when he was a child, and he was good-looking enough when he cross-dressed to fool Inami's dad that some guys hit on him. Of course, that makes him like it even less.
  • Apparently, even Popura liked him as a crossdresser more than normally.
  • Apparently though, Mahiru's mother doesn't seem to be all that fooled by Souta's disguise.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Nazuna.
• Work Com: The show focuses heavily on the staff of the Wagnaria restaurant as they work. However, Souta's sisters get some screentime as well, and some episodes will follow the characters outside of work too, such as when most of them went to a hot springs for the day in episode 8 of season 1.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In episode 14 of season 3, Aoi sets up a ridiculously silly trap using natto under a basket in an attempt to "capture" Souma, who had been hiding from her for a short while. She then claims the trap backfired and called for help, prompting him to come out of hiding from the corner of the restaurant. Aoi then claims her "trap" worked.
• Yandere: Woe to whoever tries to take Kyouko away from Yachiyo...
  • Thing is, nobody has: Yachiyo's bad enough you shouldn't even consider giving Kyouko a present where she can find out.

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