Eren the Southpaw puts me in mind of that old carnival sign, “This is a dark ride”. There are times when I feel almost a physical pain watching it, as I think almost anyone who’s worked in a corporate environment would echo. I said last week about the mangaka (Kappy) that no one who hadn’t lived this material could write it. And boy, this episode just reinforces that. While the environment at big Japanese companies is uniquely toxic, there’s still enough toxicity in American ones to bring down a herd of elephants. Hidarikiki no Eren is a real PTSD inducer for me, and I imagine I’m not the only one.

You see that manifested in the fact that Kamiya – who’s no prize – is one of the “good” ones. But the main focus here is the antagonistic relationship that exists between different departments at one of these big corporations. I’ve never worked in advertising so there are specific elements I can’t speak to from personal experience. But in terms of the sales and the creatives being at each other’s throats? Oh, hell yes. Sales promising any shit to get the contract, then making it harder for the people who have to actually deliver to do so? Absolutely.

I’ve actually been on both sides of that divide so I get where each is coming from. Sales feels like they’re the ones who put bread on the company table (usually by humiliating themselves), and they never get any credit when things go right. This whole business with having to use an enka singer to sell hot chips to pubescent nimrods is definitely funny on some level. The head of sales is responsible, which is so goddam typical. They’re usually disconnected from reality even by sales standards. This old fossil made a promise to try and seal a deal and its his underlings who have to find a way to goad the creative team into making it work.

The other major theme of Hidarikiki no Eren – which has been less in focus of late – is the creative process. Micchan and Kouichi’s conversation on then topic is a really fascinating one, but the problem is, her process isn’t going to work for him. Everybody is different that way, which is why being creative for a living is an indescribably lonely fate even if you’re part of a team. Then we have Rukawa-san, the sales rep who’s actually in charge of the client relationship. He’s a failed creative, and there’s nothing more venal and sadistic than a failed creative in a suit and tie.

Kouichi is the butt of Rukawa’s resentment and anger. But Rukawa has space in his heart to resent all creatives. This is the usual dynamic – the suits think creatives have a fun job where they dress like slobs and come and go as they please. Creatives think they’re the heart and soul of the company, and all the troglodytes in suits are leeching off their genius. And to make matters worse Kouichi has no self-confidence anyway, and Rukawa’s dig about his not being able to work as a “real artist” – vicious and petty as it was – hit him square in the plums.

There have been times when I’ve wondered if this series wasn’t taking the position that Japan’s black company culture was necessary and even desirable, but I really don’t think so. Kappy is now the president of a company whose motto is “busy and play”, and while that can be taken a couple of ways, I suspect he’s firmly convinced that a better way exists. With Kamiya-san quitting to form his own company and not taking Kouichi (or Micchan) with him and Kouichi being assigned to the vile Yanagi-san (and demoted) his lot in life is only going to get worse. It’s hard to imagine Eren the Southpaw getting even more depressing than the past two episodes, but it looks like that’s exactly what’s going to happen.