˚.🎀༘New Hire⋆

Anai (穴井) is an office worker and a supporting character in the 1-minute TBS Television shorts. He made his official premiere in the Netflix Original series in the episode titled "The New Hire Named Anai" as an antagonist for the first half of Season 2.

Anai is a graduate accountant who works at the same firm as Retsuko and is left in her care for training. Anai's appearance is based on a Japanese badger. He has peach fur and tail, light brown stripes around his eyes, and similarly colored hands. He has thick, black eyebrows and gray eyes.

His work outfit is a white dress shirt with a blue tie, gray pants, and brown dress shoes.

Personality Anai — at first glance — seems pleasant, enthusiastic, and good-natured, but beneath the surface, he is extremely afraid, insecure, and neurotic of his place as a newly hired adult; his paranoia reaching to the extent of reacting to advice rather badly and unable to handle any criticism, and even reporting harassment in the workplace at his worst.

His overtly defensive nature even gets to the point of confrontation through email only and insists that any personal business must only be settled in written form. If anyone tries to talk to him about a problem in person, he resorts to recording them on his phone as a form of protection.

Despite all of this, he is shown to be a great cook and steps up to work obligations when spoken to gently by Kabae and Haida. Although sometimes still paranoid, he has since mellowed out and become less stressed over time.

Co-workers Retsuko At first Retsuko tries to be kind, about their relationship but Anai is too paranoid and sends her threatening e-mails telling her what she did wrong. Later on, Kabae talks to him, helping him become friendly and comfortable around everyone.

Haida The whole time Anai was nice to Haida until he told Anai that he thought what he was doing to Retsuko was rude and that he needed to stop. But after Kabae talked to Anai, he resumed his friendship with Haida.

However, there are times that Anai would bail on Haida, such as refusing to allow Haida to crash on his couch upon knowing that Haida is homeless and unemployed. Still, he was one of the people who forced him out of the internet cafe, despite refusing to house him.

Kabae Kabae and Anai became close friends after he sent threatening e-mails to the entire accounting department, and she unexpectedly was the only one from the department being able to openly speak with him and sharing some lunch with him, calling him admirable which surprised him by her maternal generosity. She would also take up a mentoring role helping him learn his accounting duties and being supportive of him. During the festival, she silently encourages Anai to step up and showcase his talent for cooking which he ends up sharing with his co-workers; allowing him to get some extra money by selling food and making friends in the process.

Anai was the one most affected by her resignation in Season 4. At a break room table with Retsuko, Fenneko and Haida, he said that he planned to sue the company. Haida told him he has no ground to stand on and Anai got angry at him. Realizing he was right, he could only pound the table in frustration. His behavior changed drastically after she resigned, being more unenthusiastic and pessimistic. It is implied that he regained his enthusiasm after she returned to the company.

Anai secretly displays small signs of his nature as a Japanese badger, having a enhanced sense of smell, instinctively turning towards sounds, and having his tail involuntarily stand vertically when finding romantic or sexual interest in someone else, along with when attempting to court a mate will be unintentionally forward and blunt, and will let out whining purrs when attempting to attract a mate, though he usually tries to hide it in shame. If threatened or afraid, his tail will tuck down or between his legs as well.