Shachibato! President, It's Time for Battle! (Episode 5) - New Employee

Shachibato President it's time for battle Title

After the fun they had on their adventure with Marika, Minato and Yutoria are still left without any money. That changes when Marika comes into the office with two big bags of money, but there are some strings attached!

What happened?

Marika gave Minato and Yutoria a big bag of money that she got for exchanging the items from the ghost Maju she’d defeated on their previous adventure. Then, when she saw Yutoria’s reaction she gave them the other bag but asked that she become an employee of Kibou Company. Minato accepted. He then learnt from Guide that Marika needs to sign an official contract of employment and it needs to be filed tomorrow. With Marika on vacation (first day on the job and already on vacation!), Minato goes to her house to collect the contract. Only problem is that Marika has lost it. They search the storeroom and find it, but accidentally set off an intruder trap and are transported to a tunnel beneath the city which has a weird metallic corrosion spreading throughout.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 5 Yutoria hugging a bag of gold in front of Marika and Minato

What did you think?

Firstly, I’m glad that Marika is becoming a confirmed member of Kibou Company because she was quite nuts and it’s definitely something that this series needed. She’s your typical tsundere and even though she’s younger than the others, she’s quite comfortable bossing them around, even the President. Then, we had the situation where Minato and Marika found themselves in the strange tunnels beneath the city. With the weird metallic corrosion, the place was starting to look like the inside of a fancy spaceship! This has to be the most interesting development in the series so far and it certainly has me intrigued. I’m actually looking forward to the next episode.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 5 Marika and Minato

What have you learnt?

It might seem like a good time to remind viewers to give stories a chance as they often don’t end up exactly how the first couple of episodes set them up. However, I’m going to flip it and make an observation that something like this should have been introduced much earlier. Sure, it’s great to have an interesting twist coming, but if no one is around to see that twist, you’ve already lost. With so many choices for entertainment, you really can’t afford to give the audience an excuse to walk away. The goal has to be to develop some intrigue and give them a reason to come back. Not everyone is as resistant to dropping shows as I am.