Hataraki Man is a story about Matsukata Hiroko, a 28-year-old single woman who is an editor of Weekly Magazine, JIDAI. She’s often at odds with Tanaka Kunio, a novice editor. Her work already stresses her out and he’s unapologetic about his own mistakes! Everyone refers to Hiroko as a masculine woman for how seriously she takes her work. She smokes too much, works too much, and never has sex. However, when it’s time to get a story done, she switches into “Working Man” mode where the testosterone in her blood increases, she works three times her normal speed, and all thoughts of life’s necessities disappear. (Source: Entropy)
Written by Moyoco Anno of Sugar Sugar Rune fame, it was adapted into an 11 episodes anime in 2006 that aired in the noitaminA slot and a live-action drama in 2007.
Hataraki Man contains examples of:
- Anime Theme Song: Puffy AmiYumi's 'Hataraku Otoko' is the opening theme & All-girl indie group chatmonchy provided the ending song "Shangri-la".
- Big Eater: Akihisa, who writes for the food and porn section of the magazine, as he's obsessed with both.
- Orphaned Series: The manga was put on hiatus after 4 volumes and has not been continued since.
- Plucky Office Girl: Hiroko.
- Workaholic: Hiroko Matsukata earned the nickname Hataraki Man (meaning hardworking man) from her friends as she spends so much time and energy on her job. Her (ex)boyfriend Shinji also counts. This puts a strain on their relationship, since they barely have time for each other.
