Review of Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You

Behind the simple premise of two people smoking together, this anime packs a lot of sociological commentary. You see, first it’s about a romance with a big age gap of 20 years between its main characters, with the older one being the man but the assertive one being the woman, thus it’s a spin on usual gender dynamics in romance anime. Second, it’s about the stressful and tiresome working life in Japan that only leaves time of the day to rush to the supermarket nearby to grab some junk that replaces a proper meal of some actual fucking food. Third, it’s about how the only worth things left to live for are the little moments and expressions of human connection, reflected in the main guy brightening his day only by seeing the woman of his dreams smile, and as you may know if you navigate through the Internet, the most beautiful women that walk over this Earth are random cashiers. Related to that, fourth, it’s about how other few things worth living for are the little moments of relaxation, such as sitting down to grab a smoke, and look at how well it’s connected with the theme from before, as that’s another form of human connection, shared between the protagonist and the woman he likes pretending to be another one. Hold on, does that mean that women are liars?? Well I don’t know, there aren’t any of those on the Internet. No, you see, fifth, the girl hides her real identity from the guy to check his intentions and whether he’s a creep or not, so the anime tells about the daily sexual harassment suffered by women. Heck, sixth, even in the past she was targeted by a male customer to complain about her for no reason, so it’s about women being looked down and belittled by misogynists and their power play in mind as well. And as she comments, seventh, she puts up an image in order to seem friendlier and sell more as she was trained to do, it’s capitalism applied to the bodies themselves. And when you look at the dynamic of the relationship between the main characters, eighth, it’s about how people are attracted to an ideal version and image of others more so than their real selves. Ninth, from the perspective of the girl, it is also about being insecure about yourself and being afraid to show your true self to others, even the one you like. But as the man himself says, there’s nothing bad about people being more of what you know of them, finding out more facets of them does not mean they are hysterical and liars, so the viewer knows that he would comprehend her and be fine with her and they would be a good couple, thus leaving us wanting to see when he finally connects the two women as one and they start to go out. So it reminds me of romance series from the past like KareKano, Horimiya or Wotakoi, the latter which did not have a couple only showing their true selves to the others but the protagonist was afraid of people finding out about her otaku self. Tenth, despite the female main character being assertive, she wants the male to connect the dots and find her out, so it’s also about being scared to take a step forward in a relationship yourself and leaving that step and task to the other person. And finally, eleventh, since smoking is a big deal here, it’s also about the changes of public spaces over time, reflected in the changes of public spaces where people can smoke between the current time in the story and the flashbacks we see in the series. Truly a masterpiece of an anime that deserves to be among the most popular and highly rated of its season and year, with only one issue, it’s still ongoing so we didn’t get the ending we all wanted where all these wonderful themes connect and get a closure and the characters find catharsis and love together, thus I can only score with a 9/10.



Nah, just kidding, that was just me overthinking a simple premise to make it a grandiose concept to feel like I’m watching something extraordinary and justify my consumption of meaningful, insightful and valuable art during my limited time on Earth. Ok no that was also a joke, except for the first part, I did think about all of those things while watching the anime but only so briefly, and only by overthinking single lines of script. It could have easily been done by a really annoying kind of anime fans that luckily for this show, instead focused on the other smoking series of the season, Yani Neko, and left this one alone. So yeah let’s see how those things from my long ass first paragraph actually appear in the anime.

First point, the age gap is real and apparently there was a bit of controversy that thankfully didn’t reach me. For once I don’t mind much, it’s a bit weird but I do know a real couple like that. Well they are 15 years apart, not 20, but still. And the woman from the show is an adult and she is the assertive one so I don’t see much to complain about here. Just in case my wording here gives you weird ideas, the real couple I know of are both adults as well.

The second point is the most present throughout the show actually, but since this is a lighthearted romcom with very little drama, even the tiresome working life in Japan is shown more in a comical manner than an actual critique of it.

Third and fourth points are real but way too exaggerated by me. The guy does indeed look forward to see the cashier every day, while she in return is amused to get reactions out of him as her real self, and they do share a good smoke most of the time, but it’s more about sharing time together and talking about their lives than anything else. They sit down, complain a bit, they bent, one of them gives some advice to the other, she teases him, moving on. It’s a nice adult dynamic for a change but not enough to blow it out of proportions like I previously did.

The fifth point is real but appears as a throwaway line at the very beginning of the series, while the sixth does happen during a flashback but is treated more as an isolated case than a general and systematic problem. It’s more about playing the usual card of the main characters knowing each other from way back without realizing, so at that point their dynamic becomes ironic. The woman gets pissed that the man is dense and does not take advances, but she herself does not connect that the guy she likes now is the same she liked in the past, and once again the viewer is hoping for the moment when they notice that they like each other from way back and start going out together.

The seventh point is mentioned but as a single throwaway line at the beginning of the series, just like the fifth, and no mention of the systematic issue and cause whatsoever.

The eighth, ninth and tenth points do appear as an important aspect of the main dynamic, as the man do likes the ideal constructed version and image of the woman a lot more than her real self that he unknowingly also knows about, and that’s why she gets pissed a lot of the times, and other characters did tell her that she should be honest and upfront with him and stop playing third wheel with herself, but once again it’s more of a lighthearted wholesome dynamic than anything else. The dude does tell her those things about people being more than what they show and the audience does want for them to realize it and get together, however. If you do want to see more about romances where main characters do hide aspects of themselves to others, I do recommend checking out KareKano, Horimiya as a weaker alternative to it, and Wotakoi for the otaku protagonists. However, the first and third ones aren’t finished so going for their source materials is also a must, while the second was adapted incompletely once and in a rushed and out of order way the second time, so maybe you would do well to do the same as with the other ones.

The eleventh point appears as a throwaway concept as well, more of a visual gag and the setup for the main space where the main characters interact, but not much else.

As you see, the concepts I attributed to the series are either lies or me blowing aspects of it out of proportion, while in series they appear briefly and just mentioned in a throwaway line with no more depth than they would have on a real casual conversation, because after all that’s what the main thing happening in the anime is.

In reality is another show that labels itself a romance but it’s more about the yearning than an actual development of a couple, like most fiction within the genre seems to be, something which I do not get. What? Does romance die once people get together or why do most authors don’t explore the dynamics of an actually established couple?

What I’m getting at here is that we need either an adaptation of Yaiteru Futari besides the live action one, for the official release or the fansubs to finally catch up with the rest of the manga, or more romance like it everywhere. I mean I guess there’s Tonikawa but I’m personally not fond of it and thus I didn’t even watch its second season nor jumped to its manga. But anyways if you want an actual romance work of an actually established couple and what happens after they get together, I do recommend checking out the wholesome gourmet romcom manga Yaiteru Futari out, once the fansubs or the official release catch up with the 40 or so chapters still left to come outside of Japan.

I already covered the characters well enough but if you want me to say something more of them, they will still feel teen-like somewhat despite being adults. The woman for her long road play and the man for his awkward reactions, very typical romance anime characterization.

There are more characters than those two in the anime but aside from the boss of the woman, none have any importance to them and the one episode that had a secondary character take the place of one of the main ones was rated the lowest everywhere for good reasons. The side cast is not as interesting nor as fleshed out when they take spotlight out of the main couple, to excuse them taking screentime for themselves. Thus we are here to see the two protagonists, not half an episode dedicated to some guy that’s even more spineless than the main one, for a dynamic that’s basically the reverse of the main one (the woman is the older one), but far less interesting, looked into and enjoyable.

There isn’t much to say about the production of the anime itself. It’s basic but serviceable for what it needs, decent artwork with no drops, very limited backgrounds, static animation, whatever special effects, and simple character designs. The real look of the woman did shock a lot of people for having a slight resemblance to Makima from Chainsaw Man for them. That wasn’t exactly the case for me but I do think that Tayama looks closer to fanart Makima than Makima herself does in her official media. The idea of the guy not recognizing the two women being the same was the subject of a lot of jokes and memes and initially did make me think that it would be nonsense, but the Clark Kent effect has shown to work out for a lot of real people so let’s let it slide. I liked both of her designs because they reminded me of the looks of a real woman I came to know about this year but that’s not important so let’s move past on to the audio department.

The sound effects and voice acting are also serviceable, with the only stand outs being that the male main does not sound 45 but a lot younger and not as a smoker at all, Megumi Toyoguchi voicing a side old woman, that did surprise me and I would have never recognized her without checking the staff, and the woman voicing the female main nailing her two types of voices, the fake typical sweet one and her real deeper, smooth and smoker one, even switching from one to another a few times in the series. What’s more impressive is that she’s still very new at it with only a few years and roles in the industry, so good job.

The music does not stand out on its own but it has a relaxed jazz-like feel to it so they do add a lot to the scenes once you notice it. The openings and endings are typical soft jpop stuff but they are fine and fit the show nicely. And yes, there are two of each, as there are two versions of the anime, with the first one being the first half of the show divided into a full course of miniepisodes, with its own opening and ending, and airing a lot earlier than the season actually began, as a marketing idea. And at least as far as the West goes, it sure worked out.

I started this anime out of curiosity and just expecting to drop it within two episodes but I ended up liking it a lot more than what I initially expected, heck it was one of the few anime I liked from its season and year, something which I did not expect at all. Despite that it’s still another not romance piece of fiction that’s more about yearning than an actual romantic development of a couple, so even though you can overthink aspects of it to the moon thanks to the dynamic of the adult main couple, it’s still not much more than a typical fluff wholesome romcom to kill some time weakly, ok to check out to relax to but nothing beyond that.

Recommended stuff

Well I already mentioned them in the review but KareKano, Horimiya and Wotakoi are romances where main characters hide something about themselves.

Yaiteru Futari and Tonikaku Kawaii are romances with couples established early on.

You can also check out the stuff in http:// myanimelist.net/ stacks /85045 for more smoking manga I guess (let this review have this link mods please, it’s relevant).


5/10