Anime Review: Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san (Funny Shorts and Insightful Perspective on Booksellers)

Fall 2018 had a lot of series that surprised many viewers, and as a result, there can be hidden gems that are overlooked when rummaging through the posts of popular series like Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai, Zombieland Saga, etc. Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san (Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san) was one of these hidden gems. To be fair, Crunchyroll did highlight it once in a while and that's how it peaked my interest but it was rarely discussed in reddit threads and forums. Even on the list of anime for Fall 2018, it is easy to miss it when browsing since it's further down the list. Nevertheless, I am glad I found this series.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is from a bookseller's perspective, mainly from our MC, Honda-san. I find this interesting because many individuals never think from the perspective of the seller/retail workers, so this anime gives us the opportunity to view the bookstore from a bookseller's perspective, and give us the basics behind managing the daily works of managing a bookstore - the struggles with packing, stock management, customer assistance, and the list goes on. However, the anime takes a comedic perspective so not everything depicted is applicable to reality. Nevertheless, I like the comedic approach, and it's an anime - you can't believe everything you see in anime, and the anime gives us a basic perspective anyway, and most of it is most likely factual. 

It's English Bullshitting time. Who doesn't do that IRL?

Furthermore, if there are any people who are doubting whether they should watch this series (I understand, the MAL score is not that high - only a 7.42), each episode is only 11 mins long, so the whole season (12 episodes) is about 2 hours. Whilst not all the episodes are equally exciting/interesting, it is generally very enjoyable and fun to watch. My favourite episode was involving the father asking for a Yaoi book that involved Gintoki from Gintama for his daughter. If that happened in real life, that would be so funny. Honda replies, it is "SPECIAL YAOI BOOK", but he handles it like anyone would, since bookstores usually don't sell doujinshi so it's just best to tell the customer that they don't have that in this store. Another funny episode is where booksellers give recommendations to customers based on some information given to them, and I find it believable since some person who wants a short series, ultimately went for Berserk (lmao).

Overall, Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is an extremely funny and enjoyable series to watch, and many would have glimpsed back this hidden gem. It's a short series so even if you don't like it, it's not going to take that much of your time, but it's comedy, how can one hate on comedy, especially if it's gag. I highly recommend everyone to watch this series if you want to watch a short comedic series. Personally, I like the idea of having comedy anime with 11-12 min episodes since it's not too long or not too short, and it's perfect for comedy anime since it removes filler and allows focus on comedy. This anime is undoubtedly an underrated series in Fall 2018, and it's a pity to see it rated so long (the
reviews however tell a different story - personally 9 or 10 rating is probably too high for this short series)
 

Overall Score: 8.25/10

"Story": 8/10

Characters: 8/10

Art: 8/10

Sound: 8/10

Enjoyment: 9/10