Gambare!
How to be a new hire, an anime-based guide to career success
It can be intimidating to step into a new career, especially right out of college. Luckily, anime comes from a culture that values the ability to become an outstanding and dependable employee. While the medium has depicted “black companies” like the one Akira Tendo works for at the beginning of Zom 100 and borderline abusive employer-employee relationships like Rock finds himself in at the beginning of Black Lagoon, it can also offer a blueprint of professional collaboration, conflict resolution, and an all-around successful career. So let’s look at a few lessons from some Work-life-focused shows that would be great for anyone who is about to start a new job and what they say about working.
Jobs are about working with people to achieve a goal. In that way, working at, say, an accounting firm and working at an animation studio are stunningly alike. While you may not consider you job very “creative” all creative work places are still offices and the people who work in these jobs still deal with stubborn colleagues tight deadlines and setbacks. The big difference in these environments is creativity is treated as a skill, not a talent. That means that people are encouraged to find novel solutions to problems as they come up. In Shiro Bako, a 2014 anime that focuses on a small animation studio and was created to be a look at the Japanese animation industry When one of the show's supporting characters, Aoi, and a young animator gets criticized for her work in season 01, episode 07 after she has issues drawing cats in a cut of animation for the project the studio is currently working on a fellow more experienced animator tells her to go observe cats in real life and draw from reference to improve her craft. You can take two things away from this: first, it’s OK to struggle in your job as long as you can learn and grow from the experience, and second, It’s OK and often best to ask for help when you’re struggling instead of going it alone.
While Shiro Bako feels like an exploration of the anime industry worts and all New Game! from 2016 is much less critical of the video game industry, notably dodging issues like crunch, but it still has great things to take away. When Tsubame, an old friend of the main character, is introduced, she’s seen as kind of goofy, but by the end of the show, she’s seen as a skilled playtester and is growing into a skilled programmer. This is an excellent example of someone who’s initially not taken very seriously but turns out to be quite skilled and capable when given a chance, even if they don’t always believe they’re capable of it themselves. To sum it up, if someone puts their trust in you on the job, it’s because they think there’s a good chance you’ll rise to the challenge. If you’re sensing a common theme with the shows mentioned, that’s not wrong. Many of the work-life anime focus on creative careers and have a substantial slice-of-life vibe with a hint of iyashikei (healing anime) since they come out of the creative minds that work in those industries.
It can be pretty tricky to find a job, and once you get one, it’s tempting to feel like you need to know everything and that you’ll constantly be quizzed on it by your higher-ups. In reality, as long as you’re prepared, you’ll have people to help you. Kana, the main character of Magilumiere from 2024, is the show that inspired this article since its concept of a magical girl being a job deals with this at the beginning of the series. The show proceeds to be a thoughtful meditation on stepping into your first job and growing into it while learning on the job and applying what you’ve learned in the future.
Not everyone dreams of working an office job; in fact, many people don’t work in the field they studied in college. That OK! Your dreams can have nothing to do with your job. Sometimes, you just need to pay rent. That doesn’t mean giving up on yourself or your goals. Aggestuko, from 2016, focuses on a young woman who has a pretty standard office job and blows off steam by singing Death Metal in a local karaoke place in her apartment. The story progresses as she focuses on personal goals such as getting a driver’s license and seeing more of the world, proving that your job doesn’t and shouldn’t be your whole life.
Freelancer work is a little different but more common than you might think. Imagine getting a new job every couple of weeks. It can be a real challenge because it requires a level of adaptability and discipline that a traditional 9-to-5 job does not. Luckily, an O.V.A. ( short for original video animation) released in 1995 by the name of Golden Boy, a six-episode ecchi comedy that follows a Tokyo university dropout who has elected to travel across Japan on his Bicycel while taking temp jobs along the way, is not only funny as hell but also serves a great guide to being the best Freeter (the sows word for temp worker) you can be. Kintaro, the show's main character, is diligent, motivated, and an eternal student. He never blames people for their mistakes and does his best to do what he can to help everyone around him, wherever he works. Over time, he seems to supernaturally help every business he works at in ways his bosses don’t realize until he’s gone.
Hopefully, these lessons and these shows help you find success in your new job. All the shows mentioned in this piece offer some sort of lesson that you can take into your workplace, even if you have been in your job for a while. Any job can be challenging to grow into, but with time, you can flourish! As they say, in japan ganbare! (fight) you got this!
