ふしぎ工房症候群 EPISODE.3 「ひとりぼっちの誕生日」

Fushigi Koubou Shoukougun Episode.3 - Hitoribocchi no Tanjoubi

Company: Cosmic Ray
Based on: Original
Released: 2005.06.24
Official Site: http://www.cosmicray.co.jp/fks/

ふしぎ工房症候群 (fushigi koubou shoukougun) translates into something like 'mysterious workshop syndrome'. The mysterious workshop in the title is what binds all of the stories in this series together. The shop can only be found by someone who is lost and really needs it, and is run by an old man, who sells 'happiness'

Each story is told by a (high profile) voice actor who both tells the story and acts out certain characters. The story is told from the perspective of the main character, and mostly centers on that person his thoughts. In each story the main character is going through a troubled period or trauma, and the mysterious workshop becomes a turning point in their lives.

The seiyuu for the third volume is Sakurai Takahiro, and he portraits a man who is a workaholic. Or maybe it is better to say someone who only wants to get higher up, as this means not only doing his work perfectly, but also doing his best at social relations withing his work. The story starts at the morning of his birthday, when his girlfriend calls. However because there will be an important business deal later that day he quickly hangs up. However after dealing with her again around lunch, it turns out that his superiors have chosen someone else to complete the deal, and his world is turned upside down. While still angry and utterly destroyed he stumbles upon the fushigi koubou...

Sakurai does a brilliant job of portraying a snobbish "my-work-is-my-life and everyone else is just a tool to accomplish what I want" kind of character. You're guaranteed to dislike him within minutes. On the other side, in the scene where he realizes he was wrong I was nearly crying. Like I sad before while reviewing episode 1 & 2, the series is constructed in such a way that it feels like you are inside the characters head, meaning that the emotional impact is very strong. That and the soundtrack is beautiful.

Just like how the character from episode 1 is mentioned in episode 2, the character from episode 2 makes a cameo in this episode. Just before finding the fushigi koubou himself Sakurai his character bumps into him on the street. The two were in the same year at university.


Conclusion:
This series will forever be my favorite, and this episode is voiced by my favorite seiyuu so it was a given that I would love this. Not only do I love listening to how versatile the voices of these seiyuu are, but the story in constructed so good that you really feel like you are going through all of the emotions of the main character. You almost feel like you've become a better person yourself.