Wishing to be independent, 16-year-old Maika Sakuranomiya is desperate to nail down a part-time job so that she can afford to study abroad. Unfortunately, her applications are constantly rejected due to the menacing look she unintentionally makes whenever she smiles, despite her otherwise cheerful disposition.
After yet another failed interview, she chances upon Café Stile, a coffee shop where the servers interact with the customers while roleplaying distinctive characteristics. The Italian store manager, Dino, becomes infatuated with Maika's cuteness at first sight, and offers her a job as a waitress with a sadistic nature. Coupled with her inherent clumsiness, she successfully manages to serve a pair of masochistic customers in accordance with her new, ruthless persona. Alongside Kaho Hinata as the tsundere and Mafuyu Hoshikawa as the younger sister, Maika decides to make the most out of her unique quirk and cements her position in the cafe with merciless cruelty!
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Stark700
What’s better than a cafe with delicious food? A cafe with cute girls to serve you of course! It gets even better. These girls have some exaggerated personalities. From sadistic to tsundere, it’s a place that really gives customers a hell of an experience. Blend S is honestly an anime that I found ridiculously fun to watch. Starting from the beginning, it shouldn’t take long for viewers to recognize that the anime has a lot of fun with itself. The selling point of show is the comedy as every main female characters’ personalities are beyond the normal norm. Honestly, I lost count how many timesI laughed in this show because how over the top it is. From Maika’s sadism to Miu’s older sister behavior, it’s a series that really became self-aware of its intentions. Indeed, Blend S’ storytelling isn’t accomplished through its plot. Every day consist of workplace sitcoms that cleverly delivers its humor. I’m also surprised how smooth the pacing the show felt. It felt like every episode is able to connect with each other and staying true to its premise and genres. The show doesn’t need to really rely on story at all to deliver satisfaction.
Of course, it’s the characters that puts value into the comedy. Here’s the thing: the female characters that work there have some deceptive personalities. Maika is one of the guiltiest examples as she displays traits of sadism in almost every episode. Early impressions of Maika can be surprising as such a sweet innocent girl that can be deceptively sadistic on paper. The words she use and way she talks to her customers become a source of recurring humor. However, be aware that it’s pretty much a parody. Maika isn’t truly malevolent and actually worries about how to treat customers better. The way she snaps back to a more apologetic personality is infectiously amusing to watch. Then, there’s Kaho Hinata, a girl that plays the role of a tsundere. In truth, she’s not a tsundere although the anime really try to get her over as one. Mafuyu Hoshikawa brings in a feel of innocence because of her appearance although in truth, her age is older than she appears to be. In fact, she is one of the more mature characters in the show. This trio is mainly the core of the series that are able to capitalize their personality to astonishing levels.
There are also some other characters that are worth taking notice too. This includes the inspiring idol trap Hideri Kanzaki and the older sister role model, Miu. Although not featured as prominently as the core characters, they still bring it a lot of personality. Through character chemistry, they bring a handful amount of colorful moments to the show that can be deceptively fun to watch. On the other hand, I can’t really say the guys in this anime are memorable. Dino and Koyou are the only two main guys although their role is portrayed more as side characters. They only shine best through character interactions with others (especially Maika and Dino) rather than by themselves. In fact, Dino is portrayed more as a butt monkey that no one can take seriously. This anime also does a fair amount of ship teasing between the cast although nothing really gets serious. Remember, it’s a show that make fun of the working environment. Working at a cafe is mostly seen as part of the blue collar occupation category yet this anime is able to bring the fun out of that. Also do note that the series does occasionally go beyond their restaurant such as the outdoors and even the beach.
As a comedy-slice of life, I think Blend S simply did the best with what it had to work with. Some viewers will point fingers at the dead plot or repetitive jokes. However, I confess that it always feels refreshing to see a show like this step up to the plate. I’ve only read parts of the manga but to say the least, the anime captures the overall mood of the anime accurately and consistent with the character personalities. The way it expresses them is what really gives this show its meaningful value.
I was surprised that A-1 Pictures were announced to be adapting this anime. It didn’t really fit with their style but thankfully, they manage to pull it off. For starters, Café Stile has a surprisingly amount of realism. If you ever walked into a café, then you would expect it to look something very similar to the one in this show. Then, there are the character designs. The waitresses in the show wear their work outfits with certain colors. It’s adorably charming and very fitting for a show especially since the waitresses are the main attraction. Character traits are also evident such as Maika’s height (and occasional ponytail hairstyle), Miu’s oneesama face, Kaho’s signature twin tails, or Hideri’s deceptive look. However, the biggest selling point of the visual style is the character expressions. It reflects the false personalities of the characters as parodies and works in wonder. Maika’s “sadistic” smirk and Kaho’s tsundere reactions are just a few examples. To say the least, A-1 Pictures convince me that they can handle a show like Blend S. Oh and there is some fan service but rather than adapting it in some alluring way, it’s used to portray the credibility of the setting.
Oh boy, the OP song. “Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise, Service” became a meme that went over. You can look up the song on Youtube or some popular video streaming site and see many parodies of it. Those words reflect the fake identity and personalities of the characters. Beyond that, I am also somewhat impressed by the character voices in this show. Maika in particular is noticeable for her ability to shift her tone of voice through certain frames. Miu’s oneesama voice gives off a mixture of mature and sexy vibe that is hard to ignore. Finally, there’s Hideri…and the character is really able to surprise you because of the voice.
Blend S is hardly blend but instead takes great care of its characters. Through their personalities, they are able to sell the show’s immense amount of humor to viewers. Playing as characters that go against stereotypical archetypes isn’t easy but to me, Blend S really worked itself to accomplish that.
HellLyter
Sometimes it just takes and endearing cast and fun situations to make me Smile. Blend S doesn’t boast an intricate plot with elaborate detail and it quite frankly doesn’t need one to be successful. This is a very Sweet anime that managed to be enjoyable and consistently entertaining, which was honestly a Surprise to me since I didn't really have any expectations coming into this anime. Maika with her unintentionally Sadistic looks ended up being my favorite part of the show, though this doesn’t mean that she overshadowed the rest of the cast, who all managed to stand out in their own ways. Even thereally minor characters, like Maika’s Sister, had their moments. Overall, I’d have to say that A-1 pictures did a fine Service to the anime industry by releasing this show.
The basic premise of the show is that a high school girl named Maika wants to get a job so she can pay for the expenses to study abroad. There’s just one problem; nobody wants to hire her because she has a naturally nasty look in her eyes. Feeling dejected, Maika’s fortune changes for the better when the Italian manager of Cafe Stile, Dino, hires her because she’d be perfect at playing a sadistic waitress in his restaurant. His strong penchant for dark haired Japanese girls also played a part in his hiring of Maika. Long story short, Maika finds success at her job and formulates strong friendships with her coworkers.
Basically, each episode showcases different scenarios in which the characters end up in comedic situations. Now these types of shows can either be hits or misses. It ultimately depends on the quality of the characters and the jokes. Fortunately for Blend S, it got both departments right. Let’s briefly analyze the prominent characters to see why they positively contribute to the success of the show.
Maika is the protagonist, and she really is a gentle and innocent girl. She wants to make customers smile and always tries to do her best. Though thanks to her menacing glare and awkwardness, she oftentimes ends up being a picture perfect sadist, much to her chagrin. Though its her unintentional tendency to act like a sadist that makes me and the customers at Cafe Stile adore her so. I was afraid that the emphasis on her vicious glare would end up getting old, but it actually didn’t. It was used in many different scenarios throughout the anime’s runtime that kept the humor revolving around it fresh and fun. Though she’s great on her own, what really makes her shine is her chemistry with the other characters, specifically Dino.
Dino is the manager of Cafe Stile, and its very clear that he is a masochist (and a pervert in the eyes of his employees). He has a one sided love for Maika and has nosebleeds whenever she does something remotely cute. He’s actually one of the better male leads that I’ve seen in recent memory, because while many act too serious to be entertaining characters, Dino’s silliness makes him very fun to watch. Whether it be happily getting stepped on by Maika or failing to get his feelings across to her, Dino never failed to bring a smile to my face whenever he appeared on screen.
Kaho acts as the tsundere at the cafe, though in reality she would be better described as a game addicted shut in. She’s a nice character, though I personally like her best when she interacts with Akizuki, the chef at the cafe. He’s also a recluse and has no experience with women, so his interactions with Kaho usually end up being both cute and comical. Mafuyu is the final original cast member and is the little sister at the cafe. When she works, she puts on a smile that could melt even the coldest of hearts and acts like a loving, bubbly imouto. However, she really is a 20 year old college student who rarely shows emotion. Its an amusing contrast, and since I’m a fan of both of her personality types, I ended up really liking her character.
The other two characters worth giving a shoutout to are Miu and Hideri, who start working at the cafe in the latter portion of the anime. Miu is a dōjinshi artist and a pervert while Hideri is…well, lets just say that Hideri is the “surprise.” Now all of these characters are decent on their own, but when blended together, they really stand out. They just compliment each other remarkably well, which makes for an enjoyable viewing experience.
Blend S was refreshing. Many anime that I’ve seen recently have tried to construct an intricate story filled to the brim with “epic” plot twists and the like. While some succeed, many more ultimately fail, and watching them ends up becoming more of a chore than a pleasant viewing experience. With Blend S, I was able to relax and just enjoy some light hearted comedy, which can honestly be all that’s needed to make a show great. Blend S is by no means spectacular, but it's a nice show to watch if you just want to see some lighthearted fun.
Zaber_san
There are six words starting with "S" you should remember, plus another word starting with "S" you have to add to make it an internet pride. "Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise, Service" - these are the holy words that starts with "S" that summarizes the whole anime itself. I was wondering why its called "Blend S".... Now when I finished it, my first guess was correct (though this is my opinion only). A mix of attributes of the characters. Words that starts with "S" that characters are assigned to. Blend S is an anime this Fall 2017 that offers us a cafethat have the employees acting like anime characters. Though this cafe is not an ordinary cafe you always go to like Starbucks or Costa Coffee. The cafe is called "Cafe Stile", owned by an Italian manager. A crazy one. The staff composes of 5 girls and 2 boys (4 girls and 3 boys specifically when you watched it). Maika, the clumsy employee who smile in a sadist way, which makes the people keep on going in there (along with the manager liking her so much).
Kaho, the gamer who blushes to customers... Basically she's a tsundere...
Mafuyu, the most smallest one, though the most mature one in concept. Although on service, she is the "imouto" type (little sister). Well she is technically a dangerous loli. Miu, a doujinshi author who.. writes those stuffs and have imagination like those. She is the "Onee-san" type (big-sister) who always seduce the customers (not in a bad way though). Hideri, the "suprise" character from the six words. She is the "idol" type who always wants to step on stage to reveal her cuteness (i dont know if I should put "she" or "he" on this person). Then comes the boys which are Dino, the manager and Kouyou, the shut-in gamer but the one who always helps Dino.
Story:
The story follows Maika, who recently got employed in a cafe. A weird cafe. That is the starting of the story of Blend S. We were shown that Maika will be one of the main focus on the plot and as the episode goes the story revolves not only to Maika but the other staff of Cafe Stile as well.
With all of them getting screentime on almost every episode, it is reassuring that all of them have important roles to the progression of the plot up to the ending. I'm going to tell you this. Blend S' focus (On my opinion) of the story or product of it is quite difficult to understand. Summarizing it is possible but not quite easy as each episode is like this episode happens on the other day while this happened on that day etc etc. Or should I say in safer side, the story goes in random places though there are a linkage on some episode... Although I can see as a random anime full of colors, there is one obvious good thing that this anime offers. We see this thing on every characters especially the main girls of the series. They have different traits, though this trait doesnt really show them what they are at homes, school or online. Right.. This girls offers us that a person can be sweet, loving or a tsundere but only on the outside. What matters most is on the inside. We have seen characters revealing there
true identity behind doors of the cafe. They always have hidden things lying in the hearts of them and this things should never be taken light of outside. It is with their own privacy although all of them seems fine showing it to other staff members (as I guess they are friends). Although this inside traits cannot be fulfilled on strangers. Why? The answer is work itself.
Many people tend to have different personalities either they are at school, work and especially at home. Everyone wears a mask outside and pulls it out at home. All of us have unique personalities that not even our parents know about. It is a matter of being human. It's life. Here on this anime we saw the struggles of Maika of how can she express her natural emotions to be appealing to customer. Turns out her sadistic side is very pleasable to the folks of the cafe as well as the other characters. Each one have secrets that they do not reveal often to strangers but to those only for their friends. Those who can trust him/her. For example, it is stated in an episode with Mafuyu (when someone asked Mafuyu to go on a date) that no one will like her if the customer will know the truth. People like her for having a childish personality, though she is sure that no one will like her if she shows her true attitude. Blend S gives us a trip to a happy, cheerful and joyful anime, though have some hidden values regarding their own personal roles.
Characters:
There are limited characters here on the story. You can count the characters by your fingers I bet, though this gives this anime an advantage. English teachers will always say that when writing a story, the fewer the characters, the easy and good the story will be. Though the characters of Blend S are not few or not more (its in between), this gives the author as well as the director a good screentime for every character. Come up with a good situation that the character will participate then finish. I already explained the main ones though there are still some like 'Owner' (the dog) and Maika's brother and sister. There is really not much of an importance to this characters but there is one. It gives information to the characters involved with it. Sure the dog is for Maika and Dino and Maika's brother and sister is for Maika. What about the others? Well, simple. Others will share. For example, Kaho behind the scenes is a shut-in gamer. This attitude applies to Kouyou also so both of them have sharing traits. Miu writes doujins so she knows those things. There is an episode when Kouyou stopped her to say a word that doesnt know the meaning by the other characters so they share personlities as well. Mafuyu's scene with Kaho having study sessions also shows that Mafuyu has an attitude of a mother then Hideri being the idol is very obvious that she wants to stand out more. Finally there's Dino, whom we all know the personality because of his persevarance and so much love sick to Maika. All of the are on phase and makes the anime watchable.
Art:
There's nothing really to talk about with the art here. I can describe the art like a white light going into a triangular glass prism then divides into different colors. Thus, the art is like painting. Lots of colors though its rather simple. Its appeal to the audience is fine and pleasant.
Sound:
You know the opening is already good when it turns into something that the people of the internet will be happy on. The ending is quite unique as it features chibi characters which is cute and nice on my perspective.
Overall thoughts and Enjoyment:
I am not a fan of this type of anime out there, though I have to be honest that I enjoyed watching it. We encountered different traits of the characters reflecting different anime personalities, as well as their hidden personalities relating to our real life attitude at work, school or at home.
Therefore, I recommend you to watch it as its score for me is decent. Being simple or decent is quite beautiful you know.
Piezuri
*insert original "S" joke* Blend S is A-1's attempt at making Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu Ka?, and it's a fair attempt, that falls short because of the bland unlikable characters, unlike the characters of GochiUsa. I had high hopes for Blend S, I thought it would be the first A-1 show that I actually like, but sadly, I was wrong. Story: 3/10 What story? Do you really think A-1 would try to compliment this show with an overarching story like the one in New Game? A story in a Slice of Life CGDCT show is something that can make said show even better, because the events happening complimenteach other instead of being random one-shot episodes. Blend S does not have a story. It tried to, with various character introductions that come later on in the show and the last """confession""" episode, but it fails at doing so.
Basically, Blend S goes as following: Character introduction>episode dedicated to the character>random episode>character introduction>rinse repeat. This would be fine if the characters in the show were actually charismatic and fun, which they are not, something I'll address in the Character section.
The humor in Blend S relies mainly on visual gags. It's the typical humor you'd expect from a CGDCT show. It's boring, unoriginal, and didn't make me laugh a single time. Although, I wasn't really expecting high comedic value out of a show like this.
All in all, Blend S presents episodic stories that could only be interesting or fun to watch to the crowd that enjoyed Gabriel Dropout earlier this year.
Art: 7/10
For once A-1 do not have a noticeable animation drop in their show. The art style is similar to the one in Eromanga-sensei. It's simple and "gets the job done", after all, I wouldn't be expecting a memorable art style from a CGDCT A-1 show.
Sound: 5/10
The opening is catchy, especially since the "Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise" sequence made itself into a meme. What this shows suffers on is the unremarkable voice acting. Aside from Hideri who is voiced by the one and only Tokui Sora (Nico Yazawa's voice actor), who did an amazing job at her role of sounding like a girl and a boy at the same time, the rest of the cast is quite bland and doesn't really stand out.
Character: 2/10
Good thing that Kaho exists, because dear lord the rest of the cast was painful to watch. The cast would be fine if this show were a short, because the characters wouldn't get boring by episode 6, but the same cannot be said for a full 12 episode show. As you'd expect from the premise of the show, every character is reduced to 1 or 2 traits. These traits are kept as they are since episode 1, and get little to no development. If every character was introduced in episode 1, you could literally watch every episode in the order you liked. Worst part, is that one of my favourite character types, the onee-san, ended up being sidelined, and thus, being bland.
The problem here is the untapped potential of the situation the characters are being put into. Personally, watching Blend S, I expected that at some moment the theme of "faking character" was to be brought up, you know, "Forgetting their own personality because they have to fake one for the job they have to do". This theme would make for some interesting character interactions and/or development, but apparently this was too much effort for the scriptwriters.
Enjoyment: 3/10
I gradually started watching this show just for the moments with Akizuki and Kaho. Since the show is way too centered around Maika than it should be, if you do not like Maika, you won't enjoy the show.
Overall: 3/10
Blend S should truly just be called "Bland S"
If you're part of the crowd that enjoys shows with zero character development and no plot like Gabriel Dropout, go ahead and watch Blend S, as you'd surely enjoy it.
Would I recommend Blend S?
Just go watch GochiUsa.
Naneo
This anime is not all about part time work. There is also a romance bit here and there, but the main thing is about bonding and having fun with your coworker. First thing I wanna point out is the romance bit kinda weird. They have a big gap on their age. One is a schoolgirl, one is a manager. So if you are not into it just skip this anime. This is a really great anime to relief stress after going home from work yourself. Story is easy to follow because there aren't like big plot or something. Just some schoolgirl doing a part time jobto go overseas. The shenanigan Cafe Stile produce is so entertaining to not make it a boring anime, considering this anime premise is not engaging. Every episode filled with hillarious moment. And the joke delivery is on point. I never gone an episode without laughing. One problem tho. The only thing that makes the story looks like progressing is when they introduce a character. So when an episode doesnt introduce characters, it feels like just exist to fill the 12 episode count. Because there are hardly any meaningful story at all.
The series also does a great job of introducing the other characters and their roles at the café. Each character has their own unique personality and backstory, and the series does a great job of exploring them. The anime OP point that out. Everyone except the cook have 2 personality. What I love about it even more is they're not perfect. So we can relate to them, its a hospitality job after all. Sometimes their true personality slipped out in front of customers. Always interesting to watch them interact with each other in the backrooms, their rich personality and the context given. The series also does a good job of balancing the comedy with more serious and heartfelt moments, making it an enjoyable watch throughout.
The animation is of course a good quality, with detailed and expressive character designs. The voice acting need to be praised too, with the actors bringing the characters to life in a charming and humorous way. Not to mention they also sing the OP and ED song. Both of it are in my playlist now. Most of the time, its all takes place inside a room. And when they go outside. They didn't miss the opportunity to make the background so beautiful.
Really enjoy this anime, definitely will rewatch this in near future. Oh yeah and read the manga too. This anime is so iconic with that OP. There are tons of people creating memes with various scene and characters, which makes it even more popular. I decided to watch this anime because me myself get my first job too. Although it is not a part time work. I can relate and relax watching it after my 12 hour shift. Thats all I wanna say about this anime. Thank you for reading my review.
PhoenixKola
A comedic slice of life story that follows the antics of employees of a particular maid cafe. Make no mistake, the show is a witty comedy first and a SoL second. If I had to say something bad about Blend-S it would be the plot. Like any other SoL there isn't a sense of anything important happening anytime soon, expect a ton of pointless goofing off. Music has a very smooth selection of instruments (like you'd see at a real cafe) that are low-key and relaxing, though a bit underwhelming.Pieces are overly simple in my opinion, though fitting. If I had to say something goodabout Blend-S it would be the comedy. Brilliant lines are delivered with a great deal of personality. The voice acting and lines combine for a surprisingly funny experience. Visuals are well above average. Everything from backgrounds, to character art, and animation are very pleasing and well detailed. The fast paced episode format is very entertaining, never slowing down for a second of idle, dry dialogue. It will definitely remind you of the 4-panel slapstick comedy manga style.
Overall there are some weaknesses, but as long as you're in this for the comedic content it is quite satisfying. There's a consistent fanservice theme that some might dislike, it isn't too extreme in my opinion. Watch for laughs and antics plus a bit of sexiness, but don't take it too seriously. I give it a 8.5/10.
TL;DR Version: Hilarious SoL with great visuals. Slightly predictable and repetitive, but still creatively brought to life.
kokuborou
Blend-S is a funny and enjoyable show that mantains its composure until the end and doesn't turn into a teen melodrama . The usual anime stereotypes :tsundere, imouto, sadistic,trap etc. are well used for the ironic comedy in this anime.Don't be fooled by the cute girls and moe atmosphere its content has a lot to offer. The story is set in a cafe were a bunch of cute girls who let's say have a unique personality work, using their other personality trait to please the needs of customers.Despite having a moe atmosphere overall the final product is a really enjoyable anime with some references fromold gold anime (Ashita no Joe) and ironic comedy for the purpose of criticizing the japanese society making you laugh until you get a stomach ache.
The characters are cute ,sweet and adorable the perfect stuff for this genre. The funny interactions between them but also the slice of life elements manage to flesh out their unique personality traits, their odd side but also their lovely, adorable and serious character. Everyone in this show is interesting and appealing even the dog manages to stand out in a positive light.
Unfortunatelly some characters weren't explored enough and the show focused too much on Maya casting a shadow on the other girls and guys who work at the cafe. Still it's worth your time and you will have a blast watching it!
6Win6dAn6l
A1 Picture is back at it again, with lowest common denominator entertainment…. but I kind of enjoyed it this time. Blend S is not a good show that explores the human psyche but it neither is an insultingly bad show or one that is boring. I think the main Issue is that the show isn’t really capturing the zeitgeist of slice of life and decided to be kind of dull. Slice of Life anime’s are about growth and character interaction. This show is completely one note in that regard. None of them felt like they grown as a character or have that much of aninteresting dynamic in the end, which really hinders the show immensely. Of course this isn’t to say that all slice of life should be about growth theres plenty out there that is good that isn’t “Mangaka and His Assistant”, “D-Frag” or “Oshiete Galko-Chan” are prime examples of that. But those shows are far funnier and had some interesting dynamics in the show that kept it above from the rest.
Blend S is an anime based on the manga of the same name. The show is similar to Working and Is This Order a Rabbit, where it is mostly work slice of life that takes place in a café/restaurant. The show centres around Maika a High School girl, who got a job in a “wacky maid café” where all the girls plays an anime quirk whetter it’s tsundere, little sister, or an Idol. Which is an interesting concept and they even played with it being that the jokes centre in their clashing personality of each of the character and the quirk they play. Kaho is a sweet heart who has to play a tsundere, Mafuyu is a stone faced mature 20 year old who has to play a little sister etc etc. This is all fine and good but though I chuckle and even laugh once or twice, a level of growth or anything interesting done with it. The jokes in the end were just “ HAHAHA KAHO HAS TITS” or “HAHAHAHAH MAFUYU IS A LOLI”. Which plays in the biggest issue this show has the show lacked so much personality. Though I think the characters are fine, I feel a majority is kind of one note the exception being Mafuyu and Maika. The are a lot of wasted potential here an example would be Kaho and Akizuki, who are shown to have somewhat an on screen romance, but it never went anywhere. Akizuki is a fish eyed weeb whos awkward around women and Kaho is a cheerful beautiful weeb who spends all of her time playing games but is also a massive scaredy cat. They did play with it here and there. But they were forgettable, and the dialogue they share wasn’t interesting. It wasn’t, as funny and intelligent like in Lucky Star where the dialogue felt like satire or as memorable and cutthroat like in Bakemonogatari. Overall it just felt dull. The main character though not completely one note didn’t really grow on me, she was the most boring character I the fray. As her arch of wanting to learn about other culture was barely mentioned and her romance with the manager Dino which had some pretty funny moments such as when Dino was arrested for when he got to close to Maika. Felt manufactured, its your typical “Oh he’s in love with me…. Oh I’m tooo dense to notice hahahah tehehe~” It was disappointing to say the least. The show could have benefited greatly if it stopped emulating popular tropes and instead playing around with it. The beach episode was one of the worst beach episodes; it was just dull and insultingly boring, the side characters were also a huge let down. To the shows credit however, I want bored at least not all the time. Most of the time I feel the show had a little bit charm into it, its dull and repetitive with them repeating the same joke just with a little variety. But part of it has grown on me and some episodes aren’t as bad as the others. I like the part where Mafuyu talks about relationship and her interaction with the cast. I think Kaho and Akizuki though I’ve mention to be kind off dull. I think has some potential into it.
Animation wise, its pretty, A1 picture the cancer of the studio they are can make some good visuals, though not very interesting it’s at least pleasing to the eyes. I particularly like how they animate Mafuyu and Hideri. Character design wise ill give them prop a majority of them I do like. Mafuyu, Maika and Kaho are pretty design though a little uninspired they have interesting facial expressions and overall I find kind of a good blend (Pun not intended) of interesting design choices. Note Kaho is like incredibly hot and Mafuyu is like incredibly cute while Maika is kind of a sweet spot design where it just kind of works.
Music wise its……. serviceable no pun intended. Though its not all over the place like some other A1 shows, it’s definitely not catchy or memorable. It goes for the OP and E. D was kind of disappointed I expected better. Voice acting is pretty good; it features a lot of newcomers, though I do feel the Seiyou for Akizauki and Miu can pretty bad. With Miu a lot of the times I kind of wished she more of memorable voiced, but in the end it felt so boring and even when she’s being a perv she doesn’t really do much with her vocal range. With Akizuki it was ok but anyone could have played this role. If this anime’s goal was to build new seiyou stars, then it failed. None but a few of the cast really showed their range or show how unique their voice. I think the show could have benefited from having Veteran seiyous on the show voicing the supporting characters.
Is it a bad show definitely not there’s moments that I genuinely laugh or even chuckle a little. There’s no one particularly annoying or even insultingly bad. The show is not great or even good. But its definitely not a bad time waster or a good laugh or even an introduction to slice of life that isn’t too slow….. Just don’t expect to come out of it completely satisfied. The show was too busy emulating what was popular it never became it’s own thing and if it wasn’t for the Meme it spawned I don’t think anyone would bat an eye watching it. I came in the show with low expectation and I wasn’t blown away but I wasn’t horrified with what I find. Overall it’s ok; personally check out the show I mention in the first paragraph instead, but if you find the show entertaining I get it, the wacky and warm setting is still welcomed but in the sea of anime this is one that isn’t special or anything. I’m feeling a decent 5 to a Hard 5 on this.
Best Girl: Mafuyu Hoshikawa (Will actually waifu)
Best Boy: Akizuki Kouyou
Best Episodes: Episode 10, 8, 5, 3
Worst Episode: Episode 7, 11
5/10
Dante012
This show is the very definition of what's wrong with japanimation: fanservice, childish, and not realistic. I take those as "global problems in anime", because they are very common. The fact is, many anime are aiming at this otaku cliché (you know : an ugly disgusting shut-in that likes young girls skirts and is afraid of reality). The thing is, the anime community has grown so much, that this otaku cliché is now barely a fraction of the actual market. Now would be a good time for anime studios to realize that. Because if kids would like such a childish anime, clearly they are not the target. STORY It's abouta café who hires young girls as "actor-maids": they have to serve a client, while playing a role.
Now the concept is interesting. Sadly it doesn't go further than that. This anime is a basic Slice of Life. Sadly it gets in the 95% SOL animes that have no interesting story to tell.
ART
Now that was good. It is beautiful to watch. That's in the good average.
SOUND
The opening is catchy (which is why it became a meme on the internet), but aside from that, there is nothing worth remembering. The OST is basic and is not very well used.
As for the seiyuus... I think there are ALL the cliché'd voices you could hear in an anime. The seiyuus themselves are not bad, but they have to play such cliché'd characters, that they have to dub them in a cliché'd way. Anyway, nothing really interesting here either.
CHARACTER
No development whatsoever, not a single original character, not a single background story worth telling.
If you like moe, you'll get moe. But really, does a character need to be superficial and cliché only because it's moe? No, it doesn't. Many anime already proved that, making deep characters with strong stories (do I hear "Madoka Magica"?).
ENJOYMENT
It's gotta be one of the worst anime I finished watching. It's totally cliché, it was a bit funny but sadly the comedy becomes quickly repetitive and thus, gets boring (how is it even possible in a 12-episodes anime?), the art style is not interesting (though it is not bad), the story barely moves on...
Really, the way I see it, this anime is popular only because it became a meme. There is barely anything good in this anime, and whatever was good is better in other animes.
bruh46
Blend-S made a bombastic entry into 2017 with a decent enough premise to draw many people in. However, it let this premise down with terrible performance in nearly every category. You’d think that a show with such a self-aware plot could deliver to most otaku flawlessly, right? Plot- 4/10 A highschool student named Maika finds a job at a cafe where all waiters must fulfill the role of an anime/manga character cliche. Instead of making bright remarks on the plethora of overused gags and character traits in anime, Blend-S proceeds to bombard viewers with fanservice and over-the-top one liners. Either way this ruins the “slice-of-life” aspect asabsolutely nothing feels natural in this anime. Comedy is key for such an anime’s plot yet it seems completely deprived of any decent comedical material.
Characters- 1/10
Blend-S manages to have the most dislikable cast I’ve seen in any slice-of-life anime thus far. Nobody acts like an average, believable human being except some side characters. What I found most jarring about the cast of characters is that after work where they’re paid to be cliches, they still are completely summed up by another cliche.
Maika in-work is sadistic while out-of-work she simply looks sadistic and glares menacingly at everyone accidentally. Like that’s believable. Dino is a borderline pedophile, Miu is a pervert, Kaho is a gamer, etcetera. I’ve seen harems with more character quality than Blend-S.
Art- 5/10
In one word, average. Very average. This seems to be the norm with most slice-of-life’s, but in most cases art direction is accompanied with a clever joke setup and punchline. Blend-S falls short here thus the art really doesn’t have any support.
Sound- 5/10
Aside from the opening there are virtually no memorable tracks. Nothing special here.
Enjoyment- 3/10
Most gags revolve around fanservice, cliches, or Dino’s (utterly terrible) relationship with Maika. Did I mention there’s little to no humor in any of this? I only managed to laugh once through roughly 4.6 hours worth of content. Simply put, Blend-S isn’t very enjoyable.
Overall- 3/10
Blend-S really isn’t worth watching due to the lack of plot and decent comedy. The only likable scene in the entirety of this anime was the nighttime conversation between Kaho and Akizuki in episode 5. While this almost redeemed the show, this progress was utterly demolished by fanservice galore between the two. I’d recommend nearly any Slice-of-life over this, so good luck finding one soldier. This concludes the review.
TheKondor876
Spoiler-free review incoming. To note: Blend S is an anime adaptation of a manga series by the same name. The following review is based off the merits of the show as an anime, and the existence of the source material will be ignored. The Premise: Blend S is a wonderful show that follows the adventures of Maika, a girl who has a naturally scary face due to her eyes, and her friends and co-workers at the themed cafe, Stile. The cafe is themed so that every waitress has a "character" to play to entertain the guests. The Story: Blend S is structured so that each episode has its own littlestory or two to tell. As such, there's not really a large overarching plot. There is, however, and overarching theme that is present throughout the show, and that is purely a story of friendship and relationships. As the show progresses, we see more of how the characters interact with one another, and how their involvement with each other might have caused them to change over time.
The individual stories we see in each episode, however, are not to be ignored. They're all quirky and downright enjoyable. Truly a comedic slice of life with some substance.
The Characters:
In Blend S, each character has their own personality that is unique to them, as well as the "character" they have to play for work at the cafe. Maika is a sweet and innocent girl who plays a "sadistic" role as a waitress, with varying levels of difficulty, of course. Due to her normally sweet disposition, she often has trouble being sadistic when she puts effort into it, but funnily enough has no trouble at all being sadistic by accident. Her friend Kaho is another girl Maika's age who is really into playing video games and plays a "tsundere" character for the cafe. Serious college student Mafuyu plays an"imouto" character in a complete 180 from her usual disposition. Miu is a teenaged adult manga artist who ends up playing a...questionable "onee-san" character. And Hideri shows up to play a very energetic "idol" character. Along with Akizuki the chef and Dino the Manager who are both otakus, we have a wonderfully quirky cast to follow.
The characters don't necessarily receive large amounts of development all throughout the show, but they all have a few episodes where they really get to shine. We get to learn more about these characters, and they often times learn lessons, leading to some amount of development as time goes on.
The Art:
The art of Blend S is right up A-1 Pictures' alley. All of the characters are distinct and have a very typical A-1 style. If you generally like their art, you'll probably like the art in this show. The colors are bright and vibrant. The animation is nothing mind blowing, but you generally don't see any mind blowing animation in slice of life shows, anyway. It's overall very solid in that regard.
The Sound:
To start with the voice acting, I have not seen the English dub of the show, so I can't speak on that front. As for the Japanese VAs, I feel that they all were able to solidly nail the personalities of the characters they voiced, even more so because some of them had essentially two characters to voice depending on the cafe character associated with their main role. The background soundtrack was nice and nothing was overbearing. Of special note, of course, is the show's opening, Bon Appétit, which was catchy and entertaining enough to spawn the "S Stands For..." meme that overtook the internet for a short bit.
The Conclusion:
Blend S was fantastically quirky and enjoyable. The cute characters always managed to find themselves in entertaining situations, and the "characters" they had to play always gave a reason to laugh. Admittedly, I would have liked to see more of the actual cafe work so we could see more of those "characters," but I still enjoyed what we got. The individual stories were all fun, and I really like the show overall. I would certainly give this delightful show a watch if you're wanting a nice slice of life comedy.
As a side note, however, if you're not a fan of fanservice, you might want to evaluate whether or not this is something out of the realm of possibility. This show does have some fanservice in there. But as someone who doesn't find needless fanservice appealing, I didn't mind anything so much in Blend S. I feel in the instances where it existed it served a purpose, and nothing was over the top or anything like that.
And now a recommendation for your alternate viewing pleasure. If you just so happened to enjoy Blend S, I would send you to take a look at Wagnaria, also known as working. It's another show placed in the setting of a restaurant, but it has more of an overarching story and the characters are just as quirky. Really enjoyable show.
Thanks for reading. o/
Gregiboi
Oh boi - Blend S - the mighty overmemed and all around fuckfest of an anime, filled with everything you could ask for - smiles, sweetness, sisters, sadistics and a literal trap. Sounds like a perfect utopia to me, but what do I know. The anime in general has a fresh touch of all of them combined. All of them well mixed to the story, brought out with the art, sound and characters for the maximum enjoyment. (Friendly reminder - the following is purely based on my opinion). • Long story short, the story is great. It's like a revamped version of all our loved andstale anime series. It had the story that you'd expect from an anime that looks like this, but it has extra spice. Spice that just makes it perfect, in a way that you know you shouldn't like it, but you still do. In summary, it has everything that you could ask for, plus more - it's a perfect dealio. There were moments where it was getting a bit repetitive, but it was overlapped by new and surprising (semi-)funny skits and scenes, which made it exxxtra enjoyable.
I rate the story 8/10
• The art is amazing - it brought out the characters and their specialties really well. From their cute looks to sadistic eyesights - it managed to show the emotions in every situation. Different scenes had different feels to it, thanks to it being animated with different and variating styles. Also I have to mention that the background imagery was veri gud, having it's own style of "sketched"/unfinished characters on the background. One would argue that it's laziness, but it honestly fits and only
I rate the art 9/10.
• There isn't too much to say about sounds. It was good as expected. It had quality voice acting and music to back it up - Pretty gud overall.
I rate the sounds 8/10.
• I personally absolutely loved the characters and the design of them. It had something for every taste - big titties for normies, cute looks for weebs, a loli for perverts and last but not least, a trap for dem geis. Every single one of them looked according to their role and had their "special personality" (which really was the main point of the anime). The way that they all had different personalities and the play on differencing 'real' and 'staged', really made the anime, what it is - a semi-masterpiece.
Really loved the characters - I rate them 10/10.
• Enjoyment - I absolutely loved its fun way to bring out different styles and personalities. Honestly surprised how this overmemed and simple looking anime about a cafe could bring me this much enjoyment.
Personally, I really enjoyed watching it - I rate the enjoyment 9/10.
Overall - Blend S is overall lovely. There really shouldn't be much more to say - it's a semi-masterpiece and I really enjoyed it.
This is why I rate it 9/10, would meme again.
Thanks for wasting your time on dis~
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
tlato_but
WARNING: This review contains some spoilers. Blend S, where many types of anime personalities are thrown into to get a surprising and funny blend of pure entertainment and romantic fanservice provided by the cast. -Story: The story is pretty simple, Maika Sakuranomiya is a cosmopolitan Japanese girl who wants to get a part-time job in order to travel the world, but can’t get any job or gets fired easily due to his “sadistic” face. Then finally gets a job in a café called “Stile” where an Italian guy called Dino is the Manager and has gotten quite attached to Japanese culture, who gets infatuated with Maika forhis Japanese outlook. This anime is presented in an episodic way and has a great continuum along the 12 episodes, and while the premise of the show is simplistic, it doesn’t disappoint and gives a lot of entertainment and good romance and implicit dirty talking along the way.
Blend S often presents progressive attitudes well related to our current culture, such as Dino getting arrested for presumably having misconducts with the girls to the point of even kidnapping, and Akizuki groping Kaho just because he was upset for the jungle theme. Also mention Hideri’s desire to be a girl idol while being a boy. And while this may alienate many conservatives just by hearing these things, it won’t, quite the contrary I say, because the virtue is that Blend S pulls off these situations in a subtle and funny way, it’s not forced like most of the Western shows. (8/10)
-Art: The art is a really strong point, because all of the characters are pretty distinguishable from each other and matches very well to their personality, Maika’s Japanese heritage is clearly represented with the straight black hair and her schoolgirl attire. The backgrounds are good, but not memorable, especially in the outdoors. And the animation is extremely great with all the expressions flowing all around our eyes, and never seeming out of place at any moment, well crafted and very consistent along the full 12 episodes. (9/10)
-Sound: The sound is pretty subtle and mostly goes with the scenes of the shows, but it doesn’t stand out and can be easily forgotten. The opening has the catchiest intro that I've heard in several years, such famous that it has already became a meme with the Sweet, Smile, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise and similar comparisons with the S letter, but it’s also worth mentioning that the ending is pretty plain, even considering the good ending scenes.
I have no complaints with the seiyuu cast, most of them are close to the character that are voice acting and express most of what it’s said. But it’d be better if Dino could have a more “accento straniero” to give him more distinction to his already crazy personality, and more importantly, show that he’s an Italian, of course his seiyuu personified really well Dino’s eternal struggles with himself. While Japanese and Italian are pretty simple languages to speak, Italian is spoken more softly and more romantic, thing that Dino doesn’t have. (6/10)
-Characters: Here’s where the show is at its strongest, all 7 main characters have marked personalities and never seem to put off the others by any mean. The 5 waitress attend the customers with a specific personality in order to maintain the customers happy. It’s no coincidence that Maika is assigned the sadistic personality, much to her reluctance and will to present herself as a charming and smiling waitress. Kaho Hinata, while being a massive sweetheart and the most popular waitress of Stile, behaves like a tsundere when treating the customers. Mafuyu Hoshikawa, the most mature and the most closed minded of the cast delivers a little sis behaviour in excellent form due to her small stature. Miu Amano, a +18 doujinshi artist who has a penchant to ship everybody in the café gets the big sister status, never letting a brainstorm going to waste. And Hideri Kanzaki is literally the surprise of the waiters cast.
Hideri is without doubt the best character and the perfect bridge between the girls and the boys, often helping someone to understand better the other ones. Such is the case when he constantly helps Dino with his quest to conquer Maika’s heart, often involving real, and sometimes, crazy advices to his cause, but always in good nature; same with Kouyou Akizuki with his several misunderstandings and mixed feelings with Kaho.
Dino is the Manager and has a massive obsession with anime, which tires him out on the nights, often lazing around when working and trying to flirt every single girl close to her, sometimes getting over the limit and then getting arrested. Kouyou Akizuki is the responsible chef and Dino’s ground cable to reality, in spite of this, he has a massive problem to interact with girls in most situations, clearly expressed in his bluntness when talking to Kaho and still hiding his feelings to her. (10/10)
-Enjoyment: A slice-of-life that doesn’t have enjoyment is not a good slice-of-life is my motto. Blend S provides several moments of enjoyment with the daily interaction between the cast, the more intricate and funny intimate scenes, the working habits of the main cast, some exceptional situations like the mandatory beach and snow episodes, and specially the overall light heart approach of the show. All in all, if you’re very well versed on the slice of life genre, you won’t be disappointed at all, no second is lost by watching this anime, it’s pretty simple and conventional, but remarks clearly why this genre will never die. (8/10)
yolohista10
Do you have ever this monotonous feeling of being overfed of isekai-themed harems, or impostor mecha films that barely scrap the surface of classics? Do you even just dream of having just a series to somehow make you chuckle? Ladies and gent, the memefiable Blend S might come to the rescue. In all of my years of watching anime, this has been my go-to anime series as a sort of unwinding moment to ease myself to another series. It is an anime series that gives the gift of laughter albeit its shortness. There is not much to the story, as it focuses on various aspects of cafe lifeand the fact we can all laugh at Maika's mistaken sadism, Mafuyu's little sister faking, Kaho's happy nature, Miu's dirty slips, Hideri's man-woman conflict and Dino's obsession to Japanese girls.
The art itself is set in a very bright tone to give you the sense that it's always happy. And of course, who would ever forget BonAppetit♡S, the anime song that took the Internet by storm with its catchphrase "Smile, Sweet, Sister, Sadistic, Surprise, Service, we are Stile!"
After all, it is all about good laughs. A rewatch can be done.
wasteis0lation
"Cute girls" anime is rooted in pedophilia and I will die on this hill. I've seen more disturbing attempts at whatever this is, so I could at least enjoy the decent parts of the series. The main girl is so goddamn boring she gets overshadowed by Kaho completely. Honestly the Akizuki and Kaho sublot was far more interesting than Dino and Maika. Speaking of Dino and Maika - they had absolutely no problem just casually dropping the fact they have a 10 year age gap. Whenever I see Dino I get pissed off. And whenever I see Maika I get pissed off as well cause of howboring she is.
But Dino has to take the cake here - 26 year old man hitting on a high school girl. And it's being sold off as comedy. Even worse - romance. I have to laugh.
The supporting cast's charms (except the loli) were able to save this anime somehow. But it's still subpar for what it is. There's better SOL romcoms out there. That aren't borderline pedophilia.
Weak 7/10. It passes the time.
smalltibbygothgf
Would be a 10 without the pedophilia :( Man ngl this was one of my favorite animes until I read that the Manager was canonically 26, they seriously could've gotten away with making him 18 or something it makes me a little sad and creeped out. If you can somehow look past that this is a cute and cheerful anime that you could finish in a day. All the characters are well written and the art style is adorable! Definitely made me smile and was a good addition to the weird slice of life streak I have going on. If there was anything to compareit to I'd say a blend of OHSHC and Kimi ni Todoke, if that makes sense.
LazyPanther
Imagine any generic comedy/harem/action anime with the essential beach/maid-cafe/hot springs episode, remove the rest of the plot-driven episodes and take out the following: 1- Story 2- Character motivation 3- Any conflict 4- Action 5- Any meaningful relationships What you are left with is Blend S(hit).All the characters are one-note to the point that the show itself defines the characters in 1 word each.
This show is just a series of events full of cliches and blatant pandering to otaku culture. There might be a few funny moments but nothing that hasn't been done better in every other generic anime.
A more accurate description of the show will be
"A 26 year old manager of a Cafe hits-on & makes advances towards his 16 year old naive employee,
gets rejected/misunderstood repeatedly,
Hence Comedy"
thetsundereguy
Well Blend S was actually a pretty nice anime to watch and that made me laugh from time to time. This anime is a Slice of life so you don't get a lot of story here, but the relationships that are develop through the series are pretty cute and enjoyable to watch. I personally like all the characters from the series and it made me laugh a lot, but there are some parts that are boring. This anime is pretty cute and nice to watch if you want some comedy and romance but without the drama. The art and animation are pretty nice and cute,I like the designs for most of the characters but sometimes the animation seem laggy. I personally enjoy it and I used to looking forward watching every week.
I Recommend you to watch this anime if you like slice of life and rom-com.
( •́ .̫ •̀ )
pokeruls
***spoiler free*** Before we start I should let you know how I rank my anime. To start off I don't rank anything below 5, I just feel like an awful human being. This means if I rank something 5, it's pretty much the worst thing I've ever seen. A 6 is yeah it has some good points but still pretty bad, 7 means it's average, i might be able to see how people can get enjoyment, however, I didn't get any enjoyment. 8 is my average where I get a bit of enjoyment and I don't think I need to go any higher. Now onto the review!!! Ifyou read my previous paragraph you will see what I said about a rating of 7 (which I gave this). After reading other reviews people said they couldn't stop laughing/smiling. I could. In fact, for a comedy, I think this show maybe got 2 sharp exhales through my nose that some people may consider a laugh. For a comedy to get 2 laughs out of me, that's pretty weak. But hey maybe I just don't have a high enough IQ.
The main point that I can't stand about this show is the creepy pedo vibe that comes with it, let me go a bit more in-depth about that. The main character Maika Sakuranomiya can't find a job and Dino/The Manager offers her a job at his cafe because for him it was love at first sight. However, let me note that Dino is 26 and Maika is 16. A ten year age difference. Is this not a little creepy to anybody else? The best way I can describe it was a similar feeling to what I got when watching Eromanga Sensei when the MC has a harem of lolis. Maika is also completely oblivious to this when it comes to love she is about as thick as Ichika Orimura, the MC from Infinite Stratos. If you're trying to tell me this isn't creepy what about the episode where this 26-year-old guy is helping a 16-year-old girl look for a swimsuit.
Ok back to the normal review format
Story - 6
Minimal story except for the characters getting more friendly with each other. Basically, they all work at a place called Cafe Stile where each waiter has their own personality which I will get onto later
Art - 8
Nothing special
Sound - 9
I gave this a 9 because just about everybody knows the op, however, I wouldn't say the ost is anything special
Characters - 7
Kōyō Akizuki - You're average otaku that seems to have an interest in Kaho Hinata (another character, see below) I get this feeling that Akizuki is supposed to be the most male relatable character
Kaho Hinata - I assume to be the majority of viewers best girl, mainly because she is a gamer and she is thicc and that's what your normie otaku is into. Her personality is tsundere, you know, "It's not like it did it for you or anything baka!"
Dino- As I've said before, don't really like him, a bit of a creep
Hideri Kanzaki- BE AWARE, IS TRAP, gets introduced in about ep 9 or 10 which seems a bit late as this is only a 12 episode anime. His personality is Idol
Miu Amano - Is a manga hentai artist/author (forgive me I can't remember the correct terminology). She spends most of her taking notes of whats happening at the cafe so she can make it into one of her 'stories' later. Her personality is the big sister that helps feed her 'little brothers' (customers)
Mafuyu Hoshikawa - Your everyday loli that's an otaku. Her personality is a little sister. "What can I get you Onii-chan?"
Maika Sakuranomiya - The MC. As sharp as a rubber band. When she smiles she looks pissed off and hence got the personality of sadistic.
Enjoyment - 7
I think I covered this in my first paragraph.
Tl;dr
Some people enjoy it, I thought it was pretty average, I thought there was some underlying pedo vibe and I don't mess with that
