Aho Girl / First Impressions

OP1.02 Sequence

OP: 「全力☆Summer!」 Zenryoku☆Summer! by Angela

「増える！アホガール」 (Fueru! Aho gauru)
“Aho Girl Multiplies!”

The secret word for this episode is “assimilation”. Yoshiko’s ultimate goal is outlined clearly this time around as she tries to convince street hooligan Ryuichi (Yashiru Taku), Akuru’s sister Ruri (Senbongi Sayaka), and a group of school children into joining the ranks as members of her cabal of idiots. And after I started marathoning the manga in between episodes 1 and 2, so was I!

Yoshiko’s gravitational pull gives her an opportunity to be hilarious through her impulse to slack off as well as her encouragement of others to live how she does. In order to drag her away from a playground to study, Akuru has to play along with her games by holding a frightened kid hostage and countering Yoshiko as she launches herself at him from a swingset. She gets Ryuichi to abandon his tough demeanor by giving him a lecture about wanting to play with him after she misunderstands his desire to “play” with Sayaka as a desperate attempt to find someone willing to be his friend. Her true colors come out the most with Ruri as she takes delight in the prospect of her being as awful at exams as she is. It’s at this point where her obsession with playing and failing her classes has a direct effect on the cast, giving her incentive to brag and showboat about her negative influence on Akuru, Ryuichi, and Ruri.

What I really loved about Episode 2 is how they’re willing to expand the cast and jokes beyond just Yoshiko and Akuru’s interactions, and how they’ve given everyone in the cast their fair share of jokes. Yoshiko’s jokes with Akuru were alright, but this episode has given all of the other characters their time to shine. Now that we’re familiar with Akuru, we can laugh at how unaware he is of how insulted Ruri feels about his doting placing emphasis on loving her regardless of her grades. Akuru bringing the pain to Yoshiko is made funnier in scenarios like a playground battle between the two when she’s quickly amused by being swung by her legs and gets excited by the possibility of Akuru peeping as he launches her into a tree. The Public Morals Chairwoman (Uesaka Sumire) was one of the biggest highlights in the episode as we see that their encounter last week bred an obsession with Akuru that goes far enough to rub Yoshiko AND Akuru the wrong way.

Even though the character archetypes in Aho Girl run the risk of being overused, how creative the show gets with the scenarios the characters find themselves in, and taking them beyond the classroom setting gives the characters the opportunity to keep their jokes consistently funny. Episode 2 is a good example of how the show’s brand of stupidity can offer the potential to elevate the hilarious situations it constructs to it’s highest heights. It also gives credence to the idea that the audience is just as susceptible to Yoshiko’s idiot virus as Akuru and the rest of the cast are.

Preview

22 Comments

  3. God… THE IDIOCY of the girl is really, to the highest level… if this there is a GOD of IDIOCY it is definitely that GIRL. and gotta love the gender equality in this show. i myself will not only throw the girl to a tree to hopefully fix her brain like what the guy did, i will also strangle her on top of tokyo tower and threaten to drop her.

    Jeffers
    Reply

  4. https://randomc.net/image/Aho%20Girl/Aho%20Girl%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
    Poor Ruri… Desperately working hard to escape from the clutches of idiocy, only to get dragged back in by Yoshiko’s antics–and her older brother’s possible siscon tendencies… (Wait, what? This ain’t OreImo, or Mahouka, or even Eromanga-sensei! Those–and Yosuga no Sora–provided more than enough siscon material already!)

    https://randomc.net/image/Aho%20Girl/Aho%20Girl%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
    Man, that Moral Standards/Public Morals/Disciplinary Committee girl sure is thirsty… Didn’t lose my sh*t laughing yet, but that’s a good start.

    Also, I initially thought she was voiced by Hitomi Nabatame, then thought she was Kana Ueda in this episode, so color me surprised that it’s actually Sumire Uesaka’s voice. (Also recently heard as Aletta in Isekai Shokudou and apparently in that other isekai show for this season whose first episode should be up by now.)

    Incognito
    Reply

    1. Ruri’s probably the most tragic figure in the show as the person who is in a tug-of-war between Yoshiko’s terrible influence and Akuru’s condescending doting.

      It does explain why Akuru might be tsundere towards Yoshiko though since his desire to take care of Ruri if she does end up forever dumb is very similar to why he feels an obligation to take care of Yoshiko despite getting on his last nerves. His paternal instincts motivate his protectiveness over Ruri and his impulse to push Yoshiko towards making better life decisions.

      There are some newer VA’s I’m not as familiar with, but I do remember Sumire doing a great job in Outbreak Company and Shimoneta.

      Choya
      Reply

  5. While this show has been awesome, I sympathize with Akuru. If a person is that much of an idiot, even I wouldn’t even care if she flashed her undies in front of me.

    paulrenzo
    Reply

  6. I’ve come to the conclusion that A-kun is the only sane person while the rest are idiots in their own way. We have the champion of idiots, an idiot who doesn’t want to be an idiot, society idiot and an idiot who is idiot at reading emotions of people and confession.

    Velvet Scarlantina
    Reply

    1. I get the feeling that even though A-kun is the most sane person in the cast, he tends to get too invested in what he does that he doesn’t read situations well, like getting too deep into his playground battle with Yoshiko and some children, or being overly protective of his little sister enough so that he comes off like an oblivious helicopter parent.

      Choya
      Reply

  7. I really like this! A-kun (and his voice) is really making me like him a lot as a character. Usually the main guy is soft on his idiot of a girl friend, but I love how he’s totally ok (too ok!) with blasting her away all the time. I think this show works for me because everything is a gag – it doesn’t actually have proper plot, but I think it’s actually good how it doesn’t try to do both and end up somewhere in between, failing terribly.
    The voice of Aho Girl really nails it for me too, it’s a joy to listen to her. And how she embraces her stupidity and goes on to spread it makes it even better. Even if it’s repetitive jokes, the energy of the show keeps me from feeling bored and bland. I don’t even know exactly why it’s funny but it is.
    Gonna be looking forward to this.

    ZJZJ
    Reply

    1. The no-frills approach is something I appreciate about the show, especially since it does justice to how short the show is to have everything set up a gag. Too many people get obsessed about the plot of a comedy where they’d give it a low score because there wasn’t a straight-forward story, but for a comedy, all I expect is the show to make me laugh. Luckily, Aho Girl met those expectations. The short length also keeps things fresh since you get short bursts of the characters every week instead of full blasts.

      At first, I was a little meh about Akuru being tough on Yoshiko. But after watching some shows this season where the main guy is a pushover loser who can’t say what an ordinary person would say in normal situations, I realized I took Akuru for granted. It’s also good that they’ve been giving him more opportunities to be funny as the show continues.

      Aoi Yuuki sells Yoshiko’s pride in her stupidity very well, especially in moments like when she’s bragging about how brilliant she is for very dumb ideas.

      Choya
      Reply

    1. That does explain what she’s getting out of her infatuation with Akuru.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Choya
      Reply

    1. Reading what others say about it does help contextualize and make sense of what happened on the show. It’s not the most sophisticated program, but finding writers and commenters react to what makes Yoshiko so dangerously awful can be funnier than seeing her do these actions.

      That is, unless you’re laughing at us. In that case, T_T

      Choya
      Reply

  10. Firstly Choya, thanks for the write-up. I didn’t know I can summarise this episode with just a word. Guess I’m an idiot too lol

    As with last episode, I don’t know but, I’ve been drawn to the President (I’m lazy to spell it out) scenes this episode too (maybe the Seitokai Yakuindomo resemblence haha how Shino-chan should be behaving), and I desperately want just a romance story about her and Akkun Akuru if possible hehe been watching too many romance shows this season

    I’m banging on this show to continuously provide creative ways to express that idiocy so that I can laugh at this show every episode. I, for once, am convinced that this show has potential.

    Kaineng
    Reply

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