Synopsis
The demon Allura has come to the human world to harvest the evil energies that emanate from selfish people prowling the streets. She hopes to do so by working at a convenience store in Osaka’s premier entertainment district. Upon realizing how soul-crushing a late night shift can be and learning she can’t absorb nearly as much dark energy as she had hoped, she must decide if she can handle the horrors of the night shift or if the underworld is a more peaceful place for her to be.
The Good
Fans of cute girls doing cute things who don’t mind some of those cute things involving the suffering caused by night shift minimum wage work will find so much joy in the pages of this book. Despite this aspect of suffering, it’s easy to classify the story as an iyashikei, a work meant to have a healing effect on its audience, as the characters at the Akumart always manage to get through their difficulties. Its 4-koma structure keeps the comedy short and punchy, allowing for easy, light reading. The book can be picked up and put down easily which would be lovely for people without a lot of time to read, perhaps due to a tough work schedule of their own, who need the soul-healing story of a little demon working her way towards happiness with her coworkers.
The Bad
It’s hard to see Workin’ the Night Shift at Akumart as anything other than just another version of a story that has been done many times before—a fish out of water with some sort of powers forced to do normal activities in our regular human world. While the 4-koma structure keeps things fast and light, there doesn’t seem to be much of an interesting underlying story waiting to be uncovered, unlike other stories in this broad genre. But there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of junk food reading! It’s just that when there are more delicious and nourishing readable options on the menu, it feels hard to order this one unless you’ve already sampled the rest of what the book restaurant has to offer.
The Verdict
Anyone looking for a nice, simple, fluffy read will find a lot to enjoy in Workin’ the Night Shift at Akumart. The only problem I found is that the best way to describe what I read was “fine.” It’s not a story I would fight hard to track down at my local bookstore, but I wouldn’t complain if it was offered to me to sit down to read. Anyone who enjoys this style of story will likely find it perfect, but anyone outside that fold should consider hunting down something with a bit more bite to read.
Workin’ the Night Shift at Akumart Vol. 1 is available from Bookshop, Amazon, Books-A-Million, and Indigo.
If you liked Workin’ the Night Shift at Akumart, you might also like…
- The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated by Wakame Konbu
- Mr. Villain’s Day Off by Yuu Morikawa
- The Devil is a Part-Timer by Akio Hiragi
Credits:
Story and Art: Najimi
Translation: Evan Ward
Lettering: Isabell Struble
Cover Design: H. Qi
Copy Editor: B. Lillian Martin
Proofreader: Jan Cash
Production Designer: Melina
Editor: Nick Mamatas
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Thank you to Seven Seas Entertainment for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy did not affect the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here.
Article edited by: Anne Estrada
The Good
- A light and easy read.
- Cute girls doing iyashikei-styled night shift suffering.
The Bad
- Book version of junk food.
- Doesn’t offer much new to its intended genre of story.
Big thank you to our supporters
From their continous support, we are able to pay our team for their time and hard work on the site.
We have a Thank-You page dedicated to those who help us continue the work that we’ve been doing.
See our thank you page
