Giriko Kirigiri is an office lady pushed to her absolute limit, both financially and mentally. To cope with the exhaustion of her daily work life and a perpetually tight budget, she resorts to creating what she calls extreme struggle meals. These are not gourmet dishes but rather unconventional and often bizarre culinary creations made from the bare minimum of ingredients, such as untoasted bread seasoned only with salt and monosodium glutamate. The story follows her daily misadventures as she reviews these meals, finding a strange form of dark humor and satisfaction in pushing the boundaries of cheap, improvised cooking.

The narrative is set in the mundane world of a modern Japanese office worker, using food as a lens to explore themes of stress, economic pressure, and the absurdity of adult survival. The main character, Giriko Kirigiri, is an everywoman whose relatable struggles with career stagnation and burnout are exaggerated for comedic effect. Her world is populated by fellow office ladies, including her coworkers Aya Ichikawa and Yuri Himekusa, who occasionally interact with Giriko and provide a contrast to her extreme lifestyle.

The story is structured around short, episodic adventures, each focusing on a specific struggle meal and the circumstances that led to its creation. A notable narrative arc involves Giriko’s internal monologues, where she contrasts her grim reality with beautifully illustrated fantasy sequences of luxurious dining, making the actual poverty of her situation even funnier. Another recurring theme is the end of the month, when her resources are at their lowest, leading to her most desperate and creative recipes, such as turning leftover condiment packets into a complete meal. The series continues to explore her attempts to survive the working week with her dignity and stomach intact, one strange meal at a time.

The manga’s popularity led to the production of a short-form anime adaptation. The anime consists of 32 episodes, each running approximately 30 seconds, a format designed for quick consumption on social media. The series features the voice of Kaori Shimizu as the beleaguered Giriko Kirigiri, with Ryoka Yuzuki and Wakana Kowaka portraying her colleagues, Aya Ichikawa and Yuri Himekusa. The production was handled by Dai Nippon Printing.