Shachibato! President, It’s Time for Battle! (Season One)

Shachibato President it's time for battle Title

Minato’s father has gone missing, leaving the Kibou Company without a president. With the company in danger of going under, Minato steps in to steady the ship, but can a two-star ranked adventurer do much to help?

What did you watch?

Isn’t funny how there always seems to be similar things coming out at the same time. It’s like Armageddon and Deep Impact or A Bug Life and Antz. Well, in this unusual occurrence, there were three anime shows based on mobile games. All were set in a fantasy world and each one piqued my interest, so I figured I would watch them all and see which one would be champion of the anime based on a mobile game award. So, where did Shachibato end up? While this series will have spoilers for the show, I’m not about to spoil this surprise just yet.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 2 Rivar threatening Kibou Company

What happened?

Minato was convinced by his childhood friend, Yutoria to step in and take over the role of president for the Kibou Company. She was the company secretary and there were three more employees. Together, they would enter dungeons and collect a rare mineral, receiving compensation for their achievements and the Maju that they defeat. Unfortunately, the company was left in a dire state and not only was it facing bankruptcy, but all of their equipment was on hold in a museum and to get it back, they would have to pay an inheritance tax.

So, armed with the bare minimum in equipment, they went about trying to earn enough money to pay the tax, all the while having to deal with a self-proclaimed rival in Rivar. As if this wasn’t enough to worry about, strange phenomenon was occurring across the city resulting in strange new dungeons and Maju. Will they be able to earn the money they need to survive or will their company be liquidated?

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 9 Mineko leads Kibou Company to huge amount of Rare Earth

What did you think?

In case you haven’t noticed, this series leans heavily on the world of business. Yes, it’s a fantasy series about adventurers, but there are human resources aspects, management structures, and anything you might find in an office. At first, I found it a bit novel, however, it quickly became a little too much. Then, somewhere in the middle of the series, the characters stepped forward and took the spotlight off the business world. It was still there, but I found that I was just enjoying seeing what they did that it didn’t matter any more. The series was definitely full of ups and downs with some really fun episodes and some infuriating ones. Unfortunately, the final episode was one of the later ones and the ending always leaves a lasting impression on me.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 3 Minato and Akari

What was your favourite moment?

There was an episode where Minato helped two of his employees in two different situations. Firstly, he helped Guide to file all of their paperwork in time for their audit. They stopped for lunch and had a nice moment and then went for a drink after work to celebrate completing the task. Later, Minato helped Akari to find a present for a male friend. He followed her through various shops and finally helped her to pick out the perfect present. Of course, it was actually for him as thanks for not being a complete screw-up of a president. These two scenes really did a lot to bond me with the characters and while they didn’t advance the story, they did make me appreciate the series more.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 7 Guide walking a drunk Minato home

What was your least favourite moment?

So, I’m going to mention the final episode because it dropped my rating of the show. That might not be fair, but the lasting impression is really important to me and I love a good ending. In the episodes before they’d set up a number of questions that I was eagerly waiting for the answers to and it looked like they were going to deal with them in the last episode. The first one focused on Minato’s previous job where he was fired for work-place violence. Of course, that wasn’t really the case and what happened was a bit of a letdown.

Then, they were facing off against a horde of Maju and a Psychopath Management infected Boss Maju. Minato gave a speech about fair working conditions and everyone left. Even the boss gave up. The second let down. Finally, they got the money needed to summon a goddess and find out where Minato’s father was, but the goddess they summoned was only a clerk level goddess and couldn’t tell them. Third and final let down. Now, if it had just been the last one, it could have been quite a funny way to end things, but three in a row in one episode was too much.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 12 Subaru and Yutoria facing the Pyschopath Management Maju

Who was your favourite character?

I think it’s got to be Yutoria. She was the company secretary but also had a past as a successful adventurer and had acquired some less than flattering nicknames in the process. There was an episode where Yutoria and Minato entered a dungeon and he got to see first-hand how she got these titles. Some of the death stares she fired at Minato every time he mentioned it was hilarious. It was also nice that everyone else had worked out that Yutoria and Minato were meant for one another and set them up on these quests together alone.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 10 Yutoria

Who was your least favourite character?

Makoto is going to get this one, but that didn’t mean I didn’t like him. He was a fine character but just wasn’t as much fun as the others. He had what we can only assume was some sort of Maju in his backpack that could talk and would eat other Maju to protect Makoto, but they never got around to explaining exactly what was going on there. That would have probably gone a long way towards bumping him up the rankings too.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 8 Makoto's backpack eating Skeleton Majus

Would you like some more?

The season finished with a bit of a letdown, but it still left several things open for another season. I don’t know if it will ever happen, but if it did, I would watch it. I enjoyed spending time with these characters and there were times when the office aspects were interesting. It didn’t really do anything special although it was a nice place to hang out for a while and just enjoy the shenanigans.

Shachibato President it's time for battle Episode 11 Kibou Company entering New Dungeon

What have you learnt?

I’m starting to notice more and more when a story takes a little detour and just has fun for a moment. It could be called filler, but I prefer to think of it as character development and bonding. Seeing the characters doing mundane things can make them kind of relatable, especially if they have to struggle to get through them. I’ve been there with a mountain of paperwork to get through or followed a girl around the shops while trying not to get too bored. Little things like this create opportunities for the audience to understand what the characters are going through and it can make them more relatable.