And Yet the Town Moves: Complete Collection

Hotori Arashiyama works in a wannabe maid café (cosplay restaurants found mainly in Japan). Despite her friend Toshiko's attempts to class the place up, it's basically a small neighborhood café that serves coffee (no tea) and has a comfortably worn-down atmosphere. Hotori herself isn't great maid material, being inherently clumsy and more inclined toward happy curiosity and goofiness than scrupulous service. In school, Hotori frustrates her well-meaning math teacher and is oblivious to the amorous feelings of a classmate, but she is also a good friend and sibling. And that is more than enough: And Yet the Town Moves, which is based on the manga by Masakazu Ishiguro, relies heavily on slice-of-life character interactions rather than plot, while serving up very little fan service. Relishing in strange and delightful humor, the show is deeply invested in a sense of everyday living, capturing small touches related to home, school, and work life that offer ample grounding for the series, even when space aliens and ghosts make brief appearances. Sometimes subtle, often clever, and overall gently subversive, the show successfully establishes something beyond the usual high school comedy and cute-girl drama. Compiling all 12 episodes from the 2010 series, rated TV-PG, and presented in Japanese with English subtitles, this is recommended. (L. Martincik)