English Dub Review: Africa Salaryman “Africa Pervert”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Welcome to the world of Africa Salaryman—roughly translated as “African Office Worker.” Before we begin, here’s a quick rundown on this alternate universe. Big Cat is an African lion who wears a business suit and works in middle management at an office. Similar to Bojack Horseman, the world is comprised of anthropomorphic animals, but there aren’t any humans in the mix. His underlings—and the only other two workers we see—are named Lizard and Toucan and they are a Lizard and a Toucan, respectively.

The citizens of this African world—which is more like Japan because they use Yen and eat Soba noodles—are constantly trying to repress their primal urges which doesn’t always go swimmingly. Even though Big Cat is one of the most civilized characters on the show, smaller mammals are afraid of him because he’s a damn lion and lions historically prey on weaker mammals. It’s not like these people haven’t seen the Discovery Channel.

In lieu of a linear story, this episode—and likely many to follow—was divided into a series of shorts depicting highlights of this particular work day. This week’s shorts were primarily focused on Toucan and Lizard. It begins when Toucan—the titular Africa Pervert—is forced to ride the train after his car breaks down. After being all loud and vulgar he accidentally brushes up against two high school girls—a lioness and a gorilla. The girls are pissed and want the bird-brained bird to pay. Lizard tries to convince them that his buddy only likes MILFs. But when they won’t listen, Toucan tears his friend’s regenerative tail off his body causing a bloody distraction.

In the next short, Toucan rips Lizard’s tail off again because they run into the same girls at their local doughnut shop. Lizard was already embarrassed because his primal urges forced him to eat a fly in public. So after Toucan dismembered him, his face becomes both literally and figuratively red. Lizard gets his revenge back at the office by beating the crap out of his ornithological companion.

After work, Toucan and his three bird bros hit the Soba shop for a four-way blind date. While his buddies are teamed with a trio of hotties—a leopard, fennec fox, and red panda—Toucan is stuck with a pig who doesn’t even “speak people.” However, after he overhears that she is the heiress to a mega-company, he plays ball. He keeps his rage in check even after she destroys his expensive hanky and gets slop all over his nice suit. But at the end of the night, he learns his date never showed up and the pig was only her pet. This causes him to explode!

Our Take

Okay, we’re having some fun here. Despite its stilted animation and aimless plot, Africa Salaryman has a certain je ne sais quoi. It’s nowhere near as clever or irreverent as the aforementioned Bojack Horseman, but it is a unique premise that forces you to laugh even if you’re not completely feeling its vibe. I will own my hearty guffaw over Toucan complaining that his date didn’t speak people. Because, come on, what are people in this universe? While everyone has human characteristics they’re still just as animalistic as the next guy.

There was a brief after-credits scene from the POV of the two high school girls from earlier in the episode. This was appreciated, especially in a premiere, because it gave us much needed context to the rest of the world. If we were only given the three work friends POVs throughout the entire series, it wouldn’t be clear whether they were insanely bizarre because of the craziness of where they work or if the whole fake universe is off its nut. Fortunately, now we know it’s the latter. Hallelujah for that! I much prefer a no-holds-barred setting over a heavy-handed analogy that doesn’t really land.

I don’t like Toucan. I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to, but I really don’t. Yes, he personifies “that guy” from many actual offices, but I hope he’s not always the primary focus. In fact, I hope he’s rarely the main protagonist. I think we’ll get the most of him as an eccentric side character who is constantly screwing things up for our main characters. At this point, I really want to relate to Big Cat, but we haven’t had much time with him. You’re distracting, Toucan! Go away!

I’ll end on a strange note. It strikes me as odd that most animals are the size and general shape they’re supposed to be with the exception of Lizard who appeared much larger. Sure, Toucan is a little bigger than average, but let’s not split hairs. Lizards are generally small and could never fill out a human-esque suit. I mean, unless Lizard is a Komodo dragon. But that would be silly, because Komodo dragons aren’t even really lizards. They’re… dragons.