English Dub Review: Africa Salaryman “Africa Salaryman”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

It’s the final episode and Big Cat, Lizard, and Toucan are facing extinction. Well, not literal extinction, but President Turtle assures them they’ll all be fired if their presentation doesn’t nab a new client. To make matters worse, their best guy, Big Cat, is distracted by the competition. Tiger and Leopard have a longstanding and unresolved beef with the lion and they will not let the big oaf forget it.

Since the boys are blocked, a few of their coworkers attempt to “help.” First Honeyguide barges in on a tiny tricycle and pokes fun at the hardworking group. He’s the office prankster, remember? Anyway, Toucan gets fed up after eight seconds and tosses the annoying bird out of the ninetieth story window. Amazingly, Honeyguide survives this, but I really wish he hadn’t.

Honey Badger comes in heavy with a completed presentation. When Big Cat informs him the work is worthless since it’s for the wrong department, the fearless mammal has a conniption. He would’ve continued to throw his fit until the real presentation was due, if President Turtle hadn’t swooped in to save the day. All he had to do was cut Honey Badger’s pay and the bully immediately shut up.

For the next five days, our holy trinity toil their fingers to the bone preparing the presentation and business plan. Everyone gives it their all, including Toucan who works harder than ever before in his life. In fact, when the group oversleeps and almost misses the competition, it’s that damn bird that wakes everybody up, getting them to the meeting with only seconds to spare.

Tiger and Leopard put on a fantastic presentation, and the judges go wild. However, just as our boys are about to give up, they get crazy motivated. As a mantra, they keep repeating: “It’s better to LOSE proud than to WIN scared.” This enables them to put on the presentation of a lifetime. Sadly, no matter how much they scrimp and save, they can’t beat Tiger and Leopard’s low, low prices.

But in a divine turn of events, the judges don’t care. They prefer Team Big Cat’s presentation because they recognize the heart that was put into it. Tiger and Leopard’s, on the other hand, was written by a team of overworked interns and wasn’t personalized in the slightest. So the good guys win and the bad guys lose as our heroes march triumphantly into the sunset.

Wait! So why did Tiger and Leopard hold such a grudge against Big Cat? We learn, years ago, the great lion pulled a “Toucan” and ate their flans from the company refrigerator. Embarrassed that he once acted so foolishly, Big Cat offers to buy his old friends a bunch of flans to make up for his reckless youth. The wild jungle cats agree and all is right in the world. And thus ends Africa Salaryman!

 

Our Take

Behold: a primarily linear episode for a change. That’s quite suiting for a finale, because we just don’t have time to send all our characters gallivanting around Africa as they all stop to smell the blooming flowers in their personalized plots. Not that interesting characters like Lizard ever got one of his own plotlines, but that’s a rant for another review.

Our three main characters spent the majority of this high-tension episode locked in a room together. However, things were much different this time around. Instead of arguing and throwing down with one another out of frustration, they united for the greater good. When I woke this morning—or rather late this afternoon, following a bender—I never expected to be praising an Africa Salaryman scene. However, when Big Cat bought his crew pizza, which caused them to come together and bond as brothers-in-arms, I couldn’t have been happier.

It’s the little moments that often make shows great. That’s true even when the entirety of the program exists inside a much grander design. Such a configuration can account for high adventure, complex plots, deep mystery, or even exaggerated, slapstick comedy. Africa Salaryman is an example of a comedic show that always has to be “big” in a futile attempt to continue to top its own craziness. This is the reason I don’t generally care for the show. However, when they portray smaller, more intimate moments to balance the silliness, I make sure to mention such occasions and give them their due. This self-contained pizza scene was Africa Salaryman’s apex of small moments, and yet it wasn’t enough to rectify the constantly uneven series as a whole.

Be that as it may, I’m still proud of the main trio of workers. What began as a group of non-relatable sots, gradually developed into a close-knit, comfortable, and intriguing group of colleagues. Of course, they took an awkward detour reminiscent of The Wind in the Willows—which involved Toucan getting far too much screen time. But hey, nobody’s perfect.