Hataraki Man


Hataraki Man is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Moyoco Anno, serialized in the seinen magazine Morning since 2004. The story centers on 28-year-old Hiroko Matsukata, editor at the magazine Weekly JIDAI. Talented and hard-working, Hiroko's colleagues refer to her as Hataraki Man because of her dedication to her job. But despite her successes in the workplace, she struggles with moments of self-doubt and with the challenge of balancing life and career.
It has been adapted into an anime television series broadcast from October to December 2006 and a drama that aired from October 2007 to December 2007.
In North America, the anime series has been licensed by Maiden Japan.

Plot

Hiroko Matsukata is a woman who works for a magazine company. She puts all she has into her work, and is known as a strong, straightforward working girl, who can at will turn herself into Hataraki man mode. Despite Hiroko's success at work, her life lacks romance. Even though a hard worker, she'd leave early anytime to go on a date. Too bad her boyfriend is an even bigger workaholic than Hiroko.

Development

Anno has said that "Absolutely, women need a Man Switch", saying that more understanding is needed of male and female psychology in the workplace. She is critical of a "laziness" in modern Japanese culture, saying that "The traditional virtue of Japan was that people took everything very seriously. As those traditions have been eroded, the quality of Japanese work has been downgraded."

Characters

;Hiroko Matsukata
;Maiko Kaji
;Akihisa Kobayashi
;Mayu Nagisa
;Kimio Narita
;Yumi Nogawa
;Fumiya Sugawara
;Kunio Tanaka
;Tatsuhiko Umemiya
;Shinji Yamashiro

Media

Manga

Hataraki Man is written and illustrated by Moyoco Anno. The series started its serialization in Kodansha's seinen magazine Morning in 2004. The series has been on hiatus since March 2008, due to Anno's health.

Volume list

Anime

TitleOriginal air date

Drama

Reception

The realism of the series has been regarded as key to its popularity with readers facing the same issues in life.