Anime Reviews (2010-2019): African Salaryman – The Complete Series (2019)

I can easily say that if you are a person with an open mind when it comes to comedy, definitely give “African Salaryman” a try.  It’s crazy, a bit vulgar and fun (but also a bit repetitive), but if you are looking for lovable, cute animal characters, this is not that type of anime.

Image courtesy of © 2020 FUNimation. All Rights Reserved.

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TITLE: African Salaryman – The Complete Series

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2019

DURATION: (Episodes 1-12) 300 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), English DolbyTrue HD 5.1, Japanese DolbyTrue HD 2.0, English subtitles

COMPANY: FUNimation

Release Date: September 1, 2020

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Originally created by Gamu

Directed by Tatamitani Tetsuya

Series Composition by Momose Yuichiro

Music by Yamaguchi Tako

Art Director: Tatamitani Tetsuya

Anime Production: HOTZIPANG

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Featuring the following voice talent:

Ohtsuka Akio/Cris George as Lion-Senpai/Lion

Tsuda Kenjiro/Ian Sinclair as Togakuge-kun/Lizard

Shimono Hiro/Larry Brantley as Ohashi/Toucan

Kitamura Eri/Amber Lee Connors as Shishimura

Ishida Akira/Ben Phillips as President Turtle

Kamiya Hiroshi/J. Michael Tatum as Caracal

Kino Hina/Jad Saxton as Sassho Hamster/Lethal Hamster

Ogura Yui/Monica Rial as Gorimi

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Navigating office life can be hard, especially when you work with animals! From middle management to presentations, Lion, Toucan, and Lizard try to survive in the wild world of office life. Adulting can be rough—even for these animals.

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Please note that I am reviewing the Digital Version and not the Blu-ray:

Since 2014, those who have perused the pixiv Comic website, many have followed the comedy manga “Africa no Salaryman” by Gamu.

The web comic has been collected into four tankobon volumes and in 2017, even received 10 ONA (orginal net animation) videos (three minutes long) on Production I.G. Tate Anime app.

An anime TV series adaptation would air on Tokyo MX and other stations featuring anime production courtesy of HOTZIPANG and was directed by Tatamitani Tetsuya and series composition by Momose Yuichiro.

Now it’s one thing to create an anime series about salarymen but its even more interesting when you make these salarymen into animals.

You have Lion-senpai, a nice and hardwork salaryman (voiced by Otsuka Akio, best known for his voice role of Snake in the “Metal Gear Solid” series) but because he is a lion, everyone is scared or intimidated by him.  Then there is Ohashi the Toucan, the extremely perverted salaryman.  And there is the serious Tokage-kun, the lizard who is the butt of jokes that has a tail that keeps coming off and is often bleeding.

The company president is an aging turtle, Caracal works in HR, Sassho Hamster looks cute but is a violent hamster that carries blades/knives, Honey Badger is a risk taker, Honeyguide is the subordinate of Honey Badger and likes to see the misfortune of others, while Shishimura is the daughter of lion and a typical teenager, Gorimi is an ape that is Shishimura’s friend and likes to work out but does badly in school.

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I actually had high hopes for “African Salaryman”, for one, a chance to create a series around the usual Japanese salaryman life utilizing animal characters that talk and presented in anthropomorphic style.

It’s no doubt a crazy anime series, and it’s one that I probably can take one or two episodes because it’s a kind of series that may seem repetitive.

People are scared of Lion, Toucan is the carefree pervert, Tokage is the lizard that is serious but also the person that Toucan likes to screw over and many other characters that take part in episodes of awkward situations.

In Japan, “African Salaryman” is a series that one either loves it or hates it.  And it’s been a series that for Japanese sensibility, some find rather unpleasant or vulgar and many thought it would be a lighter story in the same vane of “Shirokuma Cafe”, but in the US, the anime series is something that would go well with American audiences because of the type of humor featured.

So, I can easily say that if you are a person with an open mind when it comes to comedy, definitely give “African Salaryman” a try.  It’s crazy, a bit vulgar and fun (but also a bit repetitive), but if you are looking for lovable, cute animal characters, this is not that type of anime.

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