Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
MewsicMagic
Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san or Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is an anime that can be summed up in a single sentence. "Extremely simple, but extremely effective." It's a show that tells about the real life bookseller Honda-san's experiences working at a bookstore just with a nice skeleton styled look. From the customers he deals with, to stocking the store, to even outside things like publishers and printing hassles, it's generally done in a rather comedic way but takes a more serious tone when necessary. It's simplicity is the strength that enables it to be simply entertaining and that's most of what there is to it.
This anime would generally apply to fans of CGDCT, Workplace, or Slice of Life anime. It's extremely simple, but the bookseller work life and comedy can hold their own and…
Read at the sourceGeekBoi
An ode to those that have worked in retail or a service industry. From the strange requests of customers to the weird and wonderful work colleagues you meet along the way, it’s short, bitesize episodes encapsulate a job that many of us have done at one time or another.
That’s the point where you are either with this show or not. The story will be familiar to those that have seen managers making enforced demands made by someone a thousand miles away and with little understanding of how people actually work.
Told with a lightness of touch and a sweetness of intentions, Honda-San may not be for everyone, but for those that it touches it will not soon be forgotten.
Read at the sourceDIE-LET-DOWN
This short anime is a real underrated gem. A fun journey that will make you learn a lot about how bookstores work and that will inform you of the general mood of the workers at such stores. I was so enamoured by the daily struggles of Honda and co-workers, as they deal with publishers, wholesalers, foreigners and obsessive manga fans. The animation is super good and original in the way it presents the story and the gags. The writing is hilarious, you can tell the author knows how to ironize his experiences properly.
Maybe the one complaint i have is that the pacing is incredibly fast. I had to sometimes rewind back some scenes because I had missed a joke or two.
But apart from that, this is a piece that I reccomend wholeheartedly. Just a serious good time spent into the hard life of a bo…
Read at the sourceCayusashi
I never thought a skeleton could be so cute and wholesome. This short slice of life anime is exactly what you'd expect and I'm here for it.
Honda-san works at a bookstore and the series follows his daily adventures. Helping customers, stocking shelves, making book recommendations, and more are all here. Every task is given a comedic spin for the show, really displaying the chaos of the retail environment and how coworkers can support you through the long days. If you currently work in retail, fast food, or other customer service jobs you'll feel represented and if you no longer work those jobs you'll feel almost nostalgic for those times. Honda-san is great at highlighting the good in these jobs and how fulfilling they can be for the right people.
Honda-san and his coworkers provide a li…
Read at the sourceuptoolate
To be honest, I almost gave up on this anime around episode 5, as at that point despite the good vibes of the show in general, none of the jokes had really landed. I'm glad I stuck it out, and really when the episodes are as short as these it wasn't any real struggle.
The strongest point, for me, was how visually interesting this anime ended up being, despite how few setting changes there are. I really enjoyed the styling of the various booksellers and employees. I also tend to like episodic structure, and that was no different for this anime.
The main sticking point for me ends up being the content itself. I just wasn't particularly entertained, overall. I didn't find the stories that interesting, and I didn't find the jokes that funny. As the story and comedy are the backbone of this a…
Read at the sourceSirSpeedster
As someone who's worked in retail, this whole series made me smile. I feel heard by this show and the wide variety of situations you can be put in while on the job. The fun designs of the characters make this show very unique from other shows with similar premises. All the characters feel like my old coworkers, so even though the show isn't that long, it feels like I have a close connection with every single one of them.
It's a short show that's a nice watch relaxing after work, or even on your break. I highly recommend this show to you. Please watch this if you work in retail.
Read at the sourceJustKeepBinging
This is a legit slice of life anime. There is like actually no storyline and it just shows his daily life. We get to see snippets of how he started a new section of books but other than that its just a really cute and lighthearted anime. All the characters are funny and relatable and it is based off the author’s real experience working at a bookstore. The characters are also real people. He just named them based on their mask for privacy reasons. He’s so funny and his customer service struggles are so relatable. Especially when he starts to speak english to a french person its hilarious. I highly recommend.
Read at the sourceBlondeFox
I didn't realize going into this that it was a short-episode anime, with the episodes being roughly 10 minutes which includes the intro and outro. While it has its funny moments, I felt a couple gags be repeated such as the foreigners and how brazen they are about yaoi and BL to be a little repetitive. The first time or two it was funny but after that it just feels like part of the job and it loses its shock with these depictions.
I enjoyed the character heads as it helped define each employee. The art in general though is very simple and the use of certain frames and expressions to be noticeably repeated. The most detail went into the foreign customers, but there was never much movement.
The show felt informative to the ins and outs of book selling and specifically manga trends. As so…
Read at the sourcegiraffenanime
Another anime done in a day... loving this short, compacted series that I can binge in one go *sparkly emoji*. Let's get right into the anime basics!
Story; A title that is no lie, literally a story about a Skull Face Bookseller named Honda-san. We don't know how he began to work here, but I'll assume that he just loved reading (based off of the amount of books he purchases, says he wants to read and the ending with him chilling with a book every second). Watch Honda-san in his daily life working at a bookstore that specializes in comics; for all ages, genres and interest! Art; I love the quirky, realistic/fantasied animation of this short anime! I love how Honda-san can turn into a science room skeleton in one moment and then a frightened potato in the next. Sound; The OST gets you pumpe…
Read at the sourcedorothychan
I don't think there's ever going to be a time where this series doesn't manage to hold up.
I love series that show the lives of retail workers that shows what we, the customers, don't usually see. This series manages to have such an eccentric aesthetic down pat, and tell a humorous story with it.
Everything from the moments with foreigners who stop into the shop (see the iconic "SPECIAL YAOI BOOK" instance), to the designs of the characters (come on, who thinks of a different way to hide every employee's face and make them work with the characters themselves?), to the intro and ending (painfully chaotic and colorful, and sets a great tone for the show), all harmonize and manage to showcase the life of a bookstore worker. It's tons of things you'd never think would work together, but the…
Read at the sourcenessaniwa
This was a really feel good anime. You get to see the behind-the-scenes of being in a bookstore. As a book lover who always frequents the bookstores myself, I find it enlightening to see the point of view of the workers. Being in a bookstore as a customer is fun, but it's also nice to see how the employees view their customers. After watching, I really got tempted to work in a bookstore myself!
It was also nice that an episode is around 10 to 12 minutes long, it didn't get dragging. It's a must watch if you want to get lighthearted laughs!
Thanks for this!
Read at the sourceSexyComando22
Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san is an episodic comedy with some autobiographic tones where the author presents a satire of himself at the time he was working in a bookstore while writing this manga.
In the story he depicts himself as Honda-san, A timid Skeleton bookseller who is in charge of the American comics and Foreign comic book section of the bookstore.
The Nucleus of the show is based on Honda san, and his equaly colorfulf co-workers trying to manage all the stressful and inconvenient aspects of working in a bookstore as best as they can and keep the store afloat, while trying to mantain a good morale.
Why would you watch this? because its fun,its funny, its surprisingly light and easy to digest and the short episodes makes it hard for you to get tired of it, the art can seem a bit we…
Read at the sourceChrismas95
Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san succeeds in being both very funny and very informative about how bookstores are run behind the scenes, the latter of which surprised me. It achieves this by having every episode be based around some aspect of being a part of bookstore staff, whether it be dealing with certain kinds of customers or ordering and organizing books, then having the poor cast of fun characters try to handle them. It's always played for laughs and never feels like actual complaining, yet you still understand that it's not easy work.
The "lazy" animation style didn't bother me too much because it doesn't take away from anything. The characters still express themselves amazingly, and the anime's theme doesn't NEED fluid animation because it's all about the writing.
How short Gaikotsu S…
Read at the sourcefelixlovesanime
My only complaint is this: Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san should have been 24-minute long. Why? Because it is such a rare specimen, we don't know when something like this can come up again.
Judging from the premise alone (a skull-faced bookseller working in a, well, bookstore), it is reasonable when the first concern that pops in mind is: "Would it be just as same as an infomercial or after-school special or something?" but somehow, the boney Honda-san manages to whip up a narrative that is both informative and entertaining while the good people of DLE Studio managed to whip up such a quirky and stylish adaptation. Honda-san and the gang never sugarcoat their work as booksellers but they always deliver a valuable lesson: even when our job is a pain in the ass, it is the pain of our own choos…
Read at the sourcescottishrob13
This was a wonderful surprise. I'm sliding it up there with my all-time favourites, not necessarily because I think it compares in a vacuum but because it accomplishes what it was trying to do so well that I ended up loving every precious minute of it. I don't typically seek out these slice of life kinds of shows, but hot damn did Honda-san entertain and educate me. So, taking into account the unexpectedly positive response I had to it, I would have to wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the mundane. I would also feel comfortable recommending it to people, like me, for whom this typically falls outside of our comfort zone.
Read at the sourceBigDamnHero
It's a short where you're learning about the book-selling industry in Japan with really wacky comedy. So, if you're into anime/manga this might be good to watch if you're curious about the industry stuff and what book sellers have to navigate in Japan. Good art, great timing, basically the little show that could.
I just want to take a moment to gush at how good the voice acting in this show is, particularly the main character Honda-san. You can tell even with the language barrier that he's an extremely funny, talented voice actor and is able to carry the show on his own.
Overall, there's no reason not to see it. Definitely watch it.
Read at the sourceCaio0202
Very underrated. The art can be intimidating to people who don't know what it's about, and keep them from watching the anime.
The theme is something I never thought I'd enjoy (it's about working on a bookstore?) but the way it is presented is great. Although initially the art made me a little anxious, in the end I believe it was a plus, and also made it very easy to associate the characters. The comedy transmitted through a spooky skeleton was also much more smooth than I would have otherwise thought.
It is very interesting and funny, and also kinda informative. The 140 or so minutes are very much worth it.
Read at the sourceForgedusk
Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is a wonderful slice-of-life anime short series. It follows the real life of a bookseller and manga artist, Honda-san. As with most great relaxed slice-of-life series, it aims to capture the comedy and magic in everyday experiences. We meet Honda-san's quirky co-workers working in the same bookstore as well the rest of the supply chain: wholesalers, publishers, and customers.
As mentioned by other reviewers, Honda-san is a very likeable character #husbando2018. He's awkward, but he's also earnest about his job. He tries his hardest to give the best experience to customers, and often helps out his co-workers. That's why the struggles the series tackles are never frustrating to watch (because the audience trusts Honda-san is competent and a good person). So,…
Read at the sourceAshiya-chan
It's so nice to see something different once in a while. It's not about people faces of voices. It's about people's personality and qualities, and this is why the artist didn't just draw bishoujo or ikemen. ♡´･ᴗ･`♡
That being said, I won't start explaining the details about the characters or the plot. This anime is just too...ONE OF A KIND to get into this. (｡♥‿♥｡)
Every otaku has to watch something out of the ordinary, and this is a must.
Unique comedy, strange but incredible art.
You kinda feel sympathy for the employees and think how otakus can be weird. But you are one of them, and you laugh it off (=^.^=)
I became a better person after watching the agony of Honda-san, haha ( ´艸｀)
Read at the sourceIvivinPigeon
Quick Summary: The show follows Honda-san and his coworkers at a bookstore.
The Hook: Honda-san and his coworkers are all depicted as odd mascot representations of themselves. Honda-san, to no one’s surprise, is a skeleton. Others include: a fencing mask, a paper bag, and a knight’s helm.
The Good: The show is charming and funny. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and can be very wholesome without sacrificing humour.
The Bad: Though the show uses it to its advantage (think Inferno Cop, dialed down from an 11 to like a 6), the production quality is minimal. Some of the side-stories fall flat, though not many.
Overall: Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san was a great ride. The episodes were about half-length of traditional length episodes of anime. In that time, they usually pack 2 or 3 little v…
Read at the source
