Episode 1 – “Due to A Mix-up at The Hotel, Two Coworkers End Up Sharing a Room on A Business Trip”
First Thoughts.
When I heard the tights-drawing artist Yom would soon have another anime adaptation of his art books, I eagerly waited to see where I could watch it. Ganbare Doukichan (Senpai is Mine), a title that fulfills your office lady and pantyhose fetishes, has become quite popular. It even had a fun crossover book with the Tawawa on Monday series, drawn by Kiseki Himura, costarring his office pair of Kouhai and Senpai.
Unfortunately, the only information on the official Ganbare Doukichan website pointed to Japanese streaming sources. I thought I would need to wait a few weeks before any other available sources stepped up. Imagine my surprise when the premiere date arrived, and I found this show on Crunchyroll. And Tawawa on Monday’s second season popped up right after! That Kiseki Himura is sneaky! The artist did not mention it at all on social media. J-List’s senpai Peter Payne wrote about the premiere of both these shows expressing his surprise too.
Knowing that Yom and Himura collaborated before, it would not be a surprise if Ganbare Doukichan and Tawawa on Monday had crossover episodes. I can only hope.
Hmm.
The episode titles for Ganbare Doukichan are so long that the anime short might be over before you finish reading them aloud. I kid, but the headings do a lot of heavy lifting. They provide the context, the premise, the setting, and the plot summary in one shot. Since each episode is about five minutes long, we need to get into what’s going on inside Doukichan’s mind as quickly as possible. That’s good because it maximizes the time that we spend with her sexual fantasies starring Doukikun. Poor frustrated Doukichan. Don’t give up!
Heh.
Hey. Everything that just happened to Doukichan and Doukikun was right in the Ganbare Doukichan episode title. Thanks! Hoh. The little minx wants something to happen between them.
Read the room, Doukikun. She already dragged you up there, so you better stay. Oh, come on, Doukichan. Don’t scare off your obvious crush with a threat to his social life. That’s playing too hard to get. Aw. Doukikun is a nice guy. Too considerate for Doukichan. She wants a wolf to eat up her defenseless bunny self.
Ganbare Doukichan! Go for it! Time to gear up for night battle. Red sexy lingerie, check. Eye makeup, check. Lipstick, check. Yoshi! Totsugeki (charge)!
Aargh! Nothing happened. Doukichan feels the frustration.
The credits sequence gives us key details. Like confirmation that the dude’s name is “Doukikun.” Also, Doukichan has a cat.
Ooh! Sexy epilogue for Ganbare Doukichan. Ah. Doukichan has a sexually fulfilling dream life. It’s fun to compare how the anime scenes to the artbook. Doukikun cares about his colleague, but he’s not receiving her inviting signals. This dynamic will play out during the whole season, I’m sure.
Artist Hanekoto illustrates a collage of Ganbare Doukichan’s principal elements in the end card.
Ganbare Doukichan streams on Crunchyroll and VRV.
