The Cafe Terrace, Anime Recommendation of the Week!

Article at a glance:
The show features well-developed characters with distinct personalities and strong dynamics, particularly between Hayato and the five girls.
The story centers on Hayato inheriting and trying to save his grandmother’s cafe, adding layers of personal growth and challenges in running a business.
While the show has decent animations and soundtracks, it includes a notable amount of fan service, which might be a turn-off for some viewers but doesn’t detract significantly from the overall enjoyment.

Right, I saw that this anime recently got a second season, and I saw a pretty funny clip from it on Reddit. So I finally decided to give it a chance. I don’t know what I was expecting, but The Cafe Terrace and its Goddesses is quite different from what I imagined. I am 6 episodes in and I am having fun with this anime. I am not quite fond of certain aspects, but in general, I think this is a decent show and worth a shot.

The second season is currently airing and I will get to it eventually, of course. For now, though, welcome back to another edition of our anime recommendation series. This week we are talking about The Cafe Terrace and its Goddesses. The title is kind of misleading but it will make sense as you watch the show.

Introduction

The Cafe Terrace and its Goddesses is based on the manga of the same name by Seo Kouji. The manga has been serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shounen magazine since Feb 2021. It is still ongoing. As for the anime, it is made by Tezuks Productions. The first season aired during the Spring 2023 season. The second season is currently airing, at the time of wiring, episode 2 just dropped.

Plot

The story follows Hayato, a student at Tokyo University. He inherits a cafe after his grandmother passes away. He initially planned on demolishing the cafe and turning it into a parking lot. But upon seeing that his grandmother had taken in 5 girls and feeling a little attachment to the cafe himself, he decides to reopen the cafe. He decides to give it a year, if the cafe runs well, he will continue with it. Otherwise, he’d go through his original plan of demolishing it.

The plot follows Hayato as he navigates through all kinds of challenges that come with running the cafe. And his colorful staff isn’t exactly helping things either. Despite initially seeming cold though, Hayato wants the cafe to succeed as well.

Characters

Being a SOL anime, the characters are more important. And the characters in this show are good. All 5 girls, Ouka, Akane, Ami, Shiraguki, and Riho have very distinct personalities. Their interactions are really well done. And then there is Hayato. He comes off as cold and harsh at first but he isn’t like that. Despite his initial reluctance, he soon grows into the role of the shop manager. And what I like the most about him is that he is smart and he always speaks his mind. Always good to have an anime protagonist who is upfront about his thoughts and admits his shortcomings.

And he too has some nice dynamics with all five girls. The show does a great job of highlighting every character.

Animations and Soundtracks

Nothing too crazy here. The animations and soundtracks are decent, nothing to write home about but not too bad either. The show is a little heavy on the fan service, I know that kind of stuff is a turn-off for some people and I do think certain scenes are a little much but it’s nothing I can’t deal with because the rest of the show is pretty good.