In these scenes, we get to really know the characters-their loves, hates, hopes, and dreams-we get to see all these things realized and expressed, if only for a moment. Over the course of the show, we eventually see Maika and crew transcend their roles and become caring, funny, and complex characters that are just hard to hate. This kind of "characters that are more than characters" concept really comes together, though, when we get to see the cast just being themselves. So, because of this forward-backward, do-they-don't-they sort of gimmick, the comedy of this show can be understood, analyzed, and explained entirely through the juxtaposition of how the cast plays their assigned characters and how they trip up from time to time since they are more than just their characters. At the same time, however, it can't be denied that they do fit those roles to a certain degree, giving credence to the manager's decision to hire them. At the same time, however, there's a kind of meta-comedy to be had from all this absurdity, in that the show means to say the cast of characters are more than just tropey stereotypes typical of most anime. In this way, Blend S builds its comedy from that simple fact. Kaho is way too air-headed and honest to actually fit the role of tsundere. Mafuyu is very much a responsible adult who is too old to take shit from people who treat her like a kid. Maika is actually a kind and caring person in spite of her cruel gaze. In case the developing trend is not initially clear, the main push of this show's comedy lies in the fact that none of these characters really fit into their roles perfectly. And lastly, Kanzaki Hideri is hired on as the "surprise" idol character in spite of being a guy.kinda. Amano Miu, a published doujinshi author, is hired as the seductive elder sister character because she's trained in hyper-sexualizing characters already. Hinata Kaho was hired on as the shop's tsundere because she's just kinda awkward around people. Along that same kind of screwed up logic, the diminutive Hoshikawa Mafuyu is hired on as the cafe's little sister character even though she's 20 years. The main girl of the show, Sakuranomiya Maika, is hired as a waitress purely on the manager believes that she will be the perfect "Sadistic" waitress due to her characteristic ability to look like she's always glaring or looking down on others. The Cafe Stile, a quaint little cafe owned by an Italian weeaboo, essentially functions as an otaku's paradise where they are served good food by a collection of waitresses who appeal to various stereotypical fantasies. The premise is thrown for a loop, though, when it's made clear that this restaurant is basically just a fetish cafe. To elaborate, the main push of this show is that the cast of characters all work for the same restaurant together and thus have to deal with each other in a variety of different scenarios. While the general premise is a fairly simple one that's been seen dozens of times already, it is far more engaging than the rest because of its multi-layered characters. Love it or hate it though, it can't be denied that this show got A LOT of attention and for good reason. So, like I said, "problematic" is just a good first step to describing Blend S and why I'm not particularly inclined to judge those who tabled this show. Yet, at the same time, these issues do eventually compound when you start to think of the anime as a whole-killing a great anime with a thousand stings-assuming one of the more problematic gags didn't kill your interest in the show then and there. On average, these sensitive and divisive topics are generally played off as, "well, that's just anime for you" kind of stereotypical comedy and they mean very little in the long run. On the other hand, however, Blend S also features a lot of topics and material that ranges from morally questionable to outright offensive. So, in other words, this is something of a god-tier character comedy worthy of all the praise it can get. What's more, to increase their likability, it also goes to great lengths to set up scenarios that allow the characters to really grow or express who they really are. It has a few running gags that define each character for the duration of the show, gags that are rarely monotonous and offer two, distinct looks at who these characters are. I say this because, on the one hand, Blend S is a legitimately good comedy. Review: Calling Blend S a "problematic" anime would be a good first step at addressing the issue that is this show.
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