Kara Dennison
April 12, 2023 
Yuri Is My Job! has kicked off as part of the new spring anime season, and it’s already winning over fans. Based on the manga by Miman—Kodansha USA’s first yuri release—the series is a unique rom-com that draws on a lot of familiar sources. It’s also an inventive idea on a variety of levels… one that might have you wishing a similar café existed.
If you haven’t already given this series a try, allow us to escort you to Café Liebe. There, you’ll find beautiful ladies who are much more than they seem… and have much bigger feelings. Not all of them friendly.
Meet Hime
The star of Yuri Is My Job! is Hime Shiraki, a charming and adorable student. At least, that’s the vibe she’s curating. In actuality, Hime is scheming and driven, with goals of marrying rich and living a life of luxury. In every social encounter, she ensures that she’s putting forward exactly what she wants others to see.
Her charms absolutely work on classmates and the patrons of Café Liebe… but there are a few people who know her true nature.
Genre-Savvy Setting
If you’re a fan of series like Maria Watches Over Us, Yuri Is My Job! feels kind of like coming home. Café Liebe, where Hime finds herself working, is kind of like immersive dinner theater. The waitresses act like students at a posh private girls’ school. You know, the kind where the students become totally platonic besties. The café is, in its own fiction, a salon at said school.
Plot points are even lifted from the series—both in real life and in the context of the show. A major event in the life of “students” is the exchange of rosaries, marking two girls as Schwestern (German for “sisters”). This direct parallel to the “Soeurs” of Maria Watches Over Us extends as far as the tradition of fixing the little sister’s tie in a scene fraught with silent emotions. But in the case of this series, they’re not the emotions you might be expecting.
Love/Hate
The hook of Yuri Is My Job! is a bit like Ouran High School Host Club… in that the characters’ “stage personas” are played against their actual personalities. This is especially true for Hime and Mitsuki. In the context of the salon, the two have become Schwestern. This is due in equal parts to Hime’s bold acting on day one and the fact that regulars think the pair look good together. In actuality, elegant senpai Mitsuki despises Hime.
What are the reasons for this? What does this mean for Hime’s continued efforts to win over everyone she meets? And what are Hime’s real feelings? Start watching now and find out!
Need more rom-coms for your queue? Try Skip and Loafer!
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