REVIEW: Servant x Service (manga, vol. 2) by Karino Takatsu, translated by Amanda Haley

Servant x Service is a workplace comedy/romcom manga. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Hasebe and Lucy's first date is coming up - can he successfully convince her that he really likes her and isn't just hitting on her as part of his playboy image? And will Ichimiya finally get the courage to tell his younger sister that he's dating Chihaya? Will that damage the friendship between Chihaya and Ichimiya's sister? Will Chihaya finally get Lucy to cosplay for her? Oh, and will Lucy finally track down the civil servant who allowed her parents to give her a ridiculously long name and give him or her a piece of her mind?

This omnibus volume was devoted more to the characters' various relationship issues than to workplace humor, and I didn't mind - by this point, I was particularly invested in Hasebe and Lucy's potential relationship and needed some kind of closure. Thankfully, rather than dragging things out or leaving things open enough for a potential sequel or something, Takatsu was kind enough to provide closure for pretty much everything I cared about to any degree. No, we never got to see the manager's true face (although Lucy did), and Miyoshi and (younger) Tanaka were pretty much in the same place by the end of the series as they were when they were first introduced, but I got to see how things turned out for Hasebe and Lucy, and the whole mess involving Chihaya, Ichimiya, and Ichimiya's younger sister, so I was satisfied.

Lucy and Hasebe are a favorite couple of mine. Who wouldn't like a bookworm who scrimps and saves on meals so she can afford books, and the supposed playboy who gets embarrassed by his own feelings and who takes the bookworm out for meals at least as much to ensure that she gets something to eat as to sorta kinda date her? Anyway, love them.

As a workplace comedy, this series is bizarre, and even the author admits that it's more a fantasy than any kind of representation of real civil service work. The characters and their relationships totally made it worth it for me, though, and the length (two omnibus volumes) was just right.

Extras:

One page of full-color artwork, a brief note from the author, and several bonus comics that were originally included under the book jackets of the Japanese editions.