O Holy Night! The tangerines are tumbling!
Wait, what? Episode 10 of Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You begins with a not-particularly-Christmasy Christmas episode, and then continues with a brand new pairing to root for (and I ship it FULLY).
On to the review!
The Shift
In Part A, Sasaki is walking the lighted streets during Christmastime, feeling a bit “left behind” by the world as he works hard and barely realizes the holiday is upon him. But as he turns toward the smoking area of the grocery store, Sasaki realizes he’s not the only troubled person this Christmas.
In Part B, Obata, introduced earlier in the episode, happens upon the unflappable manager, Goto. Except that she doesn’t seem so unflappable in the moment, as he finds her weeping! What can he do, he wonders, to help the boss that he admires so?
The Smoke Break
I was a little thrown off by episode ten—in part because the opening seconds set you up for a Christmas episode, but then doesn’t focus on Christmas at all. We’re huge on Christmas episodes here, so that was definitely disappointing.
Surely, the series is saving the real Christmas episode for later on when Sasaki and Yamada are dating or nearly so. And I cannot wait!
Instead, the episode focuses on the other part that threw me off: a brand new character. Thankfully, he’s a really good one! Sasaki stumbles upon Obata in the smoking area behind the supermarket when the latter spills a carton of tangerines after being viciously attacked by Daigorou.
Well, Obata acts as if Daigorou trying to get some pets is a vicious attack, and we discover that’s quite in character for him. As he and Sasaki bond, I quickly came to like Obata, though. Sometimes these nervous characters can be hard to endure, but Obata is quick to see the good in Sasaki. He’s a good dude. Plus, he’s voiced terrifically by Rikuya Yasuda, whom you may know from Tune In to the Midnight Heart but who is otherwise fairly new to the industry; his little shrieks and utterances for Obata are hilarious and charming!
Part B focuses even more on Obata, who admires (aka harbors a major crush on) on the manager. It’s an unexpected focus on these two characters (Yamada gets very little screen time in this episode and Sasaki isn’t in the second half at all), but their story is nice enough. Plus, we get a little time focusing on the manager’s manga addiction, which is always fun!
I would note that Part B unusually focuses on the idea of leadership. Goto usually leads with confidence and strength, which anyone who studies leadership will tell you is absolutely necessary. But there’s a balance in this episode with showing vulnerability as well. In real life, that’s a tightrope that’s difficult to walk across, but Goto’s model is pretty right now. LinkedIn-worthy content in an anime episode—who woulda thunk it?
After the Smoke Clears
Episode ten takes us a little away from the romcom setup of previous episodes and more into the realm of a workplace anime, like Working!! The past several episodes have afforded more screen time to Yamada’s co-workers, allowing for the transition to occur, but it was still a little surprising. Nonetheless, I like these characters, so I appreciate the series spending more time with them—I just wonder if part of the reason for it is that the mangaka is running out of cute ideas for Tamaya and Sasaki. If so, that isn’t a good sign.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
©Jinushi/SQUARE ENIX, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You Production Committee
