OP Sequence

OP: 「Shiny tale」 by Mix Speaker’s, Inc.
Watch the OP!: Streaming ▼

「男子高校生と放課後、スカート、怪談、同伴少女、文学少女」
(Danshi Koukousei to Houkago, Sukaato, Kaidan, Douhan Shoujo, Bungaku Shoujo)
“High School Boys and After School, Skirts, Ghost Stories, a Female Escort, the Literature Girl.”

I don’t often try to force a new show on readers, but if you’re not watching “The Daily Lives of High School Boys” even after all the good things I said about it in the Winter 2012 Preview, you should start asking yourself why. “Do I not like good shows? Do I not want to watch the funniest show of the season? Do I not want to laugh until it hurts?” If you’re not watching this show simply because you didn’t like the character designs you saw from one piece of promo art, I dare say our blogger/reader relationship is over! (Okay, not really, but go watch the first episode before you think I’m talking “craaazy”.) If you’re not sold on this series even after watching the premiere, fair enough. I can accept that. If you don’t even watch the first episode, you’ll likely be hearing about it from me in the year-end Best of Anime post though, as this is already the forerunner for my favorite comedy of 2012.

At its core, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou is a slice-of-life comedy where boys will be boys. Not only that, but where boys will be stupid. …stupidly awesome that is. We follow a trio of high school boys idiots from Sanada North, Tadakuni (Irino Miyu), Hidenori (Sugita Tomokazu), and Yoshitake (Suzumura Kenichi), who are too good for last names in a Japanese show. Cast-wise, Sugita Tomokazu and Suzumura Kenichi — two of the funniest seiyuu in person — bring all the idiotic goodness, while Irino Miyu tries to play the straight guy in the never-ending manzai routine, only to epically fail every time for our personal amusement. When Tadakuni’s in tears, I usually am too from laughing too much. What makes the comedy work so well isn’t just the fact that the three of them do really stupid things, but the fact that they do those stupid things even when they know exactly how stupid they are. They ignore common sense and just go wherever their trollish inner desires take them. What’s more, they’re completely shameless, which makes their hijinks an absolute riot.

Anyone who’s seen the pre-airing mini skits are probably already been on board Square Enix and Sunrise’s collaboration project, but for those who haven’t, don’t sweat it because three of the eight were part of this first episode. Thus far, every skit has been brilliantly scripted. This includes the pre-opening sequence skit with Sunrise trolling themselves and Square Enix just because they can. The ghost story and female escort ones were new to me and hit the mark just as well as the others. Even when things weren’t overly funny, all it ever took was one scene to change all that. The humor comes in all forms too, such as Hidenori’s sarcastic inner dialogue that’s hilariously reminiscent of Kyon in Suzumiya Haruhi thanks to Tomokazu. In terms of side characters, I’ll be looking forward to seeing more of Tadakuni’s faceless sister (Takagaki Ayahi) and the Literature Girl (Hikasa Youko), who don’t even have proper names. Anyway, I think I’ve said my fair share to give this series some well-deserved attention, so I’ll just leave you with one final recommendation: Go watch it. Go watch it NOW!

* Equivalent trade at its finest. “Touka Koukan!”
* Full-length images: 06, 16, 21, 33, plus a special spread for all you guys out there.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「文学少女」 (Bungaku Shoujo) by ENA
Watch the ED!: Streaming ▼

Preview

End Card

118 Comments

  1. Not going to lie, I haven’t laughed out loud at a show this much in a loooong time. I mean, I’ve already done that for multiple shows this season a few times, but nothing like this. This show is friggin’ awesome! Go, watch it. Watch it now!

    Stilts
    1. Not going to lie either, I haven’t laughed out loud at a show from only screen captures this much in a loooong time…

      (sorry for the C&P off your comment there Stilts, but it was that funny)

      info600
  2. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s in the running for the comedy of the year, but it is definitely a good laugh. Despite the comedy however, didn’t really feel like my kind of thing though. However I thought the same of the likes of Lucky Star, Working!! and Kimi to Boku when they first came out and ended up loving those series. Will watch a few more episodes and maybe it’ll grow on me 🙂

    Taiakun
  3. This was awesome. This the show that I expected from Kimi to Boku, which I still liked, but not for what I thought I would. That last skit with Bungaku Shoujo really hit it home with me. I have always wondered how acting out a drama/scripted scene on would work out given the circumstances. Not very well I guess.

    Saya
  4. It’s insane how many parodies, both of specific shows and whole genres, are crammed into this show. The pre-opening sequence scene alone already parodies Gundam, Dragon Quest, typical romantic comedy opening scenes (Running to school with bread in your mouth) and Nichijou (giant explosion in the middle of the town in the first minute).

    Also the level of parody varies greatly, from easy to understand stuff (Gundam again) to multi-layered parodies like one scene from the preview airings, when
    Show Spoiler ▼

    I definetly agree that this is already a candidate for best comedy of the year. I had already watched the bungaku shoujo scene 10 times before and still have to laugh.

    Zannafar
  5. “Leave behind your tsundere childhood friend, throw out your little sister who’s unrelated by blood! Run past that beautiful mysterious transfer student until she fades into the distance!”

    My favorite quote, epic win and I totally agree with said statement.

  6. Divine, or anyone, please keep regular weekly coverage of this! It’s worth the lulz! *Ahem* That opening with the gundam-colored-Zakus totally caught me off guard, and Amuro’s manual leading into DQ… epic. Yoshitake must be related to Chiba (Mitsudomoe) somehow!

    Kyzel
  7. First 3 skits weren’t funny.

    The last one by the river bank though, hahahaha that was golden.

    loved hearing the thought process he had when the girl sat down next to him. If all the skits were of this level of calibur I would make this a regular show.

    I’ll wait for next episode before I drop or continue.

    exia
  8. i went through something similar to what happened to tadakuni during the liturature girl skit, only replace the river bank with a shared apartment room… to this day i still question what happened that day

    Xziled
  9. The actual review for this episode: the jokes themselves may be a hit-or-miss affair, but the EXECUTION of the jokes…they were golden – due to the characters’ overreactions towards almost all normal situation (that and maybe some characteristics…).

    info600
  10. wow. This anime has a Gintama-vibe (not to mention it also has sugita tomokazu as seiyuu, hurr hurr!!!), and that is a compliment for a comedy series!! I never thought I would laugh that bad!!
    Totally on my list. Love the setting and the characters!! The “horror stoy” part was just too funny, the last one too!

    KGFJ
  11. Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou is freaking awesome. Can’t remember when was the last time I LOL so hard. Our baka trio are hilariously over the top, but this is by far the most accurate portrayal of high school boys. Unfortunately for the fujoshis, boys do have the tendency to act like retards (at times). I’ll admit the thought of what it’s like to wear a skirt has crossed my mind and BS-ing about some very repulsive stories in the hope of grossing everyone out, those are some good memories 🙂

    Seishun Otoko
  12. I love this show. Laughing so hard from the boys’ troll. This is how highschool boys supposed to be when they’re not busy looking for girls, having fun by trolling each other lol.

    kuroishinigami
  13. I’d say what makes this series so funny is how relatable the situations and characters are. We’ve all done stupid and embarrassing things and this show brings up those memories. I myself can personally relate to the girlfriend visualization and horror story skits since I’ve been on the trolling end of them.

    UnFear
  14. Wasn’t planning on watching but because of that Zaku screenshot I watched it.
    Didn’t laugh that hard but the funny parts came through as funny to me 😛

    The Literature Girl skit reminds me of Kyon’s solo mental monologues (same seiyuu anyway).
    So far the skits except the first one are pretty down to earth.

    The first one stands out using the IP of both companies and a skit that reminds me of Hayate no Gotoku.

    The ED is pretty original too 😛

    iron2000
  15. Any comedy show with Sugita Tomokazu performing = instant pure win. Especially his OTT inner monologues on supposedly mundane situations.

    Rather than Kyon, Sugita’s performance in this show reminded me more of Gintama, and no wonder, since both Sugita, Suzumura Kenichi and even the Director Takamatsu Shinji all worked together at Gintama, and boy that series can really get you laughing your ass off most of the time.

    PS Don’t be trolled by the “ED” this episode, even the captions after the credits said that wasn’t the real ED.

    Kinny Riddle
  16. As there’s just too many funny sketches to comment on, I’m writing this separately from my post above, or else it’ll get too long.

    The show aired at 2am here in Tokyo, so this show had me struggling to contain my laughter, lest I incur my neighbours’ wrath. lol

    – After all the dating simulations, Tadakuni lamented “But we’re in a boys’ school”.

    – Yoshitake shaving his nipples till it bleeds. LOLWTF

    – Hidenori and Yoshitake totally trolled Tadakuni into wearing a skirt. Man, I actually laughed out loudly here.

    (Gotta love Square-Enix parodying FMA here: “Transmuting” a pair of panties. Nice… )

    (Trap alert: Who else here thought Tadakuni actually looked so moe in a skirt?
    https://randomc.net/image/Danshi%20Koukousei%20no%20Nichijou/Danshi%20Koukousei%20no%20Nichijou%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2019.jpg )

    The moment where Tadakuni’s sister catching her brother wearing her underwear red-handed was just pure gold.

    – Maybe it’s the seiyuu (Hikasa Youko), but Literature Girl’s hime-haircut and her getting all flustered reminded me of Mio a bit.

    Kinny Riddle
  17. Too many gags… that it was funny. Definitely a funny anime, if you’re a person that likes people… well acting abnormal and weird. Too be honest… I wasn’t expecting much out of the anime to begin with, but he first joke they did got me hook line and sinker and made me come back for more.

    Sora no Kaze
  18. I was already expecting something special when I saw those Gundam colored Zakus. The FFF Inquisition’s attempt to punish Tadakuni was a riot. I didn’t expect a lost girl asking for directions as the punchline. I was wondering if they’ll include Tadakuni’s potato chip dialogue in the ending song lyrics since there was a pattern but I thought that’s already too silly…oh wait they did.

    Zhinvu
  19. Funniest show of this season, really? I couldn’t understand why you guys would find this series funny. The only scene that made me laugh was the parody of FMA, other than that I find the supposedly random jokes too predictable.

    DebuChocobo
  20. Hello Divine. I am a long time fan of yours and I like when you get defensive when someone tries to point out something you did. God of defense. Anyways, i wish they showed the sister’s face and hope they don’t keep hiding it in future eps.

    John
    1. the chopstick story is just a spoof of scary stories. Usually its something like, you pick up a hitchhiker and when you look in the rearview you don’t see anyone. In this case, he sees a random girl at the cafeteria and after shes done eating, all the food is still there, but with one extra chopstick, which isn’t scary, just completely random. The punchline, is that the Little Sister was listening on the story and she was already puking in the bathroom before they got there.

      stuff
  21. First time I’ve ever paid attention to a seiyu in anime before: Hidenori is Gintoki Sakata. And since Gintama has always been and forever will be my #1 comedy anime, this is basically a condensed Gintama with shorter stories and without the action/adventure/sci-fi stuff.

    Gotta say, pure win and an unexpected gem in the winter lineup.

    Actene
  22. Am I the only one who didn’t see how the last skit was the funniest this week? …was she aiming to have the moment exactly like how she wrote it in her manuscript? I guess that’s not my type of humor.

    starss
    1. Comedy is incredibly subjective and varied for each person. If you aren’t a fan of inner-dialogue humor (which was the main aspect of that particular skit with the ending coincidence as a great punchline), chances are, you wouldn’t have enjoyed the last skit as many others have.

      Soiyeruda
    2. Don’t try to think about the situations seriously or logically. The comedy is more about the character’s reactions and interactions. And like Soiyeruda said comedy is extremely subjective. It can depend on how well you relate to the situation, if you get know certain references or how well you are able to understand Bakemonogatari wordplay . Sadly not everything is going to be funny for everyone and that’s okay. Hopefully the other skits got you laughing as hard as Bungaku Shoujo did for others.

      Yoshitake's Nipple
  23. The humor comes in all forms too, such as Hidenori’s sarcastic inner dialogue that’s hilariously reminiscent of Kyon in Suzumiya Haruhi thanks to Tomokazu.

    I’d say it’s more close to Gintoki’s inner voice style that crops up whenever he gets himself into awkward situations. Kyon’s style is more composed/cynical.

    Izzard

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