First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

「風間一派だ！」 (Kazama Ippada!)
“Kazama’s Party!”

D-Frag is a zany boke & tsukkomi comedy about one guy surrounded by a lot of crazy girls. Crazy guys too. Pretty much everyone is nuts but the one guy, and so far it’s funny!

Boke & Tsukkomi

For those who aren’t familiar with the form, have some relevant articles. Got it? D-Frag is a prototypical boke & tsukkomi routine, and a pretty good one so far. Even though I was pretty hungover when I watched the episode (don’t judge me) it got some honest laughs, and I left the episode with an overall good impression of all the characters. My favorite is easily the only sane man in the show (trope!) Kazama Kenji (Konishi Katsuyuki), whose tsukkomis were high-energy and frequently hilarious. The Vice President and Kenji’s old friend Kawahara Ataru (Fukuyama Jun) was also amazing thanks to FukuJun’s high-energy delivery, as were his two best bros Nagayama Hiroshi (Matsuda Kenichirou) and Yokoshima (Gotou Hiroki). This could have easily been a one-guy-tons-of-girls type of show, I’m actually glad we have some funny male characters as well. Even I get tired of harems all the time.

Speaking of the girls, President Karasuyama Chitose (Saito Chiwa) and the airheaded Mizukami Sakura (Takahashi Mikako) were probably my favorites, though I liked them all. What surprised was how the chibi-blonde club president Shibasaki Roka (Hanazawa Kana) didn’t become my instant favorite, as my well-documented love for HanaKana (her acting, you perverts!) is well documented. She still had some great gags though, so not really a weak link in the cast so far, or if there is at least they’re not too weak.

Great Seiyuu, Mostly Great Delivery

I’m something of a seiyuu buff nowadays (I blame Divine), so getting to hear some of the best seiyuu in the industry all messing around was a treat to me. Having some of my favorite seiyuu in Hanazawa Kana, Itou Shizuka (her character hasn’t appeared yet), Saito Chiwa, and Fukuyama Jun is great! Konishi Katsuyuki was still my favorite this episode though, for he tsukkomi’d so well.

Not Just Gags, But Mostly Gags

It’s hard to blog about a comedy because you either thought a gag was funny or you didn’t. The extended elemental type joke, the demonic president, Kazama always running away…if you thought those were funny then I would probably keep watching this, because I expect we’ll see similar jokes for the rest of the series.

What I liked was that there was something going on besides the gags. I prefer comedies like Binbougami ga! to Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku and Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou (though as one of the best examples of its form, I still enjoyed Danshi quite a lot), and D-Frag’s use of the crisis for more club members and a few heartwarming scenes between Kenji and Roka says this isn’t going to be strictly a gag comedy (probably). It’s still mostly going to be one though, if you couldn’t tell by how the touching scene when Kenji was hanging out of the window was quickly subverted for laughs. I’m fine with that balance on the whole.

Looking Ahead

I haven’t the faintest idea of what to expect from the next episode other than more gags. I won’t be covering the rest of this series, but feel free to check in with me on twitter for my impressions.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – A solid boke & tsukkomi comedy all around. It made me laugh! #dfrag 01

Random thoughts:

Check out my blog about storytelling and the fantasy novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Urgency & the rush to come, Explain yourself, Mix it up, and Look for execution.

Full-length images: 20, 32, 39.

OP Sequence

OP: 「すているめいと!」 (Stalemate!) by IOSYS jk Girls

End Card

63 Comments

  1. I’m a little so/so on the animation but I can ignore that because of the comedy and the great cast. Over all I enjoyed it.

    I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did Imouto, but I best keep quiet about that since everybody in the world hates it, it seems.

    P Ko
    Reply

    2. About Imouto, to be fair even if you don’t totally hate the show, it’s still very hard to discuss about it at this point. We were given lawd scenes without any idea what the hell is going on. Better to wait couple more episodes before start discussing anything good about it.

      Just visit
      Reply

  2. One of my favourite comedy manga of the recent years got an anime and it’s off to a great start. Kind of sad nobody is going to cover it though.

    Anyone else think Nagayama should have been the one named Kenji? Just sayin’.

    I completely agree.

    Zannafar
    Reply

  3. Though I’m not that fond of most of these gag shows (didn’t find stuff like GJ-Bu all that interesting, for one), I kind of liked this one. Not every joke worked, but its zany cast does have potential and I did get some kind of Nichibros vibe from this, even if it was only a little bit. Not to mention that it seems to go more for the comedy-route than the harem one (also evident by the multiple guys in the cast, and Fukuyama Jun’s one was hilarious). So yes, giving this a chance.

    I also wonder if and how much serious aspects will play a role. I’d dislike it if it went the Binbougami-ga! route myself, as I felt that show drowned in its own melodrama. Hataraku Maou-sama did that balance better, in my opinion. Though both shows were more plot-driven from the start, so I don’t know if it’s even a legitimate worry. Eh, we’ll see.

    Dvalinn
    Reply

  4. ahhhh this is the best, was rly scared from watching the PV that it was gona get butchered, So glad i was wrong :D, this is just gona get better and better, also anyone know how many episodes its gona be??? cause the manga has been SLOW AS FUCK to update :/

    tomtomr92
    Reply

    1. Covering pure comedies is kind of hard, because humor is subjective. I had enough trouble figuring out what to say this time without going “I liked that gag, I didn’t like that gag”, etc, & I doubt it’d get better next week.

      Also, tres rude! But Shakespearean rude, so sorta classy too.

      Stilts
      Reply

  7. If there’s a certain style of comedy that i dislike very much, it’s the one that tries too hard to be funny; where the characters talk too much and too loud, and behave in the most bizarre manner as possible, which is this series is all about. it’s one of those obnoxious hyperactive comedies where the whole joke is “everyone’s yelling and overreacting to everything all the time”, which means lots of unnecessary dialogues, people screaming, absurd ideas introduced and then smashed into the camera over and over again as if to say ‘LOOK HOW WACKY WE ARE’ sort of thing. This one episode is particularly shrill and unfunny; it’s a bunch of rapid-fire jokes, sometimes nonsequitur, sometimes contextual but never actually funny, none of which land or even seem like they were thought through very much. Worse yet, they repeatedly throw in some meta jokes that aren’t really funny over and over again, to the point of repetitive and trite.

    I might pass on this show and go marathoning the rest of Valvrave with its glorious fail drama. After all, when drama fails, you can still laugh at it ironically. But when comedy fails, nothing’s left

    Amiluhur
    Reply

  9. Just wondering did you also read the manga by any chance Stilts? This pilot episode was great though Show Spoiler ▼

    Darkness-type Roka-chan is still kinda moe. Terrifying, terrifying moe.

    The swirling and light effects in her eyes were a nice touch. And that voice…creepy but cute.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

    1. I have not read the manga. I rarely get the chance to read manga anymore to be honest, mainly because I spend too much time watching anime (and reading books, and writing books, and working, and commenting on RC, and drinkin’ delicious beer, etc) to have the time for it :X

      Stilts
      Reply

  11. This show is almost worth following just for HanaKana’s performance of Roka. Love how she switches between her fire-type moe voice and her dark-type voice. (Kinda reminded me of Monogatari, somehow.)

    The rest of the episode was pretty good, too. I’ll give it another episode.

    stardf29
    Reply

  15. I’ll be watching this for a bit to see if the comedy can keep me interested. When the president reminds me so much of Chizuru from Seitokai no Ichizon though I have a feeling that won’t be any problem. Loved the locker reverse tug of war outside the second storey girls’ changeroom window.

    Pancakes
    Reply

  16. I don’t like shows where the protagonist is a punching bag for all the girls. It works in other shows because the guy isn’t a punching bag all the time and he cam stand up for himself most of the time. This show I think will be one sided. A pass for me as there are other shows this season that are better than this.

    MilkfishCop
    Reply

    1. I know where you’re coming from, and when it gets too much then it starts to annoy me too. The saving grace on this one (so far) is that A) there are other boke male characters, so it’s not like a male vs female thing, it’s an everyone vs Kenji thing, and B) most of their stuff is silly rather than abusive, at least so far. Though granted that’s at least in part because Kenji is good at running away, haha, so we’ll see how long that lasts.

      I don’t blame you though. Like I’ve said many times before, comedy is very subjective, so if it doesn’t work for you then no biggie. No use watching something that’s supposed to make you laugh if it doesn’t.

      Stilts
      Reply

  17. Wow, at the first I was skeptical about this show. I got some laughs at the beginning, but when it got to torture scene, is where I hated this show. Look, I did not read the manga of this I went though this blind and I thought it was going to be one of those short (3 to 5 minute) anime, but I was wrong. At first, like I said like the how it started, until Kenji being torture part. I really hate those kinds of anime that have person A being forced to do what person B says. If you guys like this fine but for me, I’m dropping this show.

    ToaZx
    Reply

    1. Comedic sociopathy is a fine line to walk, because what one person finds to be funny seems cruel to the next. But like I said above, comedy is subjective, yadda yadda, so no biggie. I hope there’s another comedy this season that’s more to your taste!

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. Well your right about that and I understand. People have different taste in things and I have to say the taste started out good, until the after taste kick in for me unfortunate. Thank you for time and I do hope Mikakunin de Shinkoukei, Sakura Trick, and Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha will be good (but I can’t to see silver spoon 2).

        ToaZx
        Reply

  19. Show is off to a great start =03. Personally, as a manga reader who has kept up with the story, I never truly did like the first couple of chapters(which consisted of the first half of this ep). I think it gets much better later on.

    The thing that stands out about D-Frag the most is how everyone, no matter how insignificant that may seem, plays some part or another somewhere down the line. It’s truly remarkable how well the author is able to include everyone, and I mean everyone in a particular episode/part, and not just the main cast(Kenji + club girls). The part with Chitose and Ataru near the end is a good indication of this.

    Even some random person or group you might have seen talking earlier might play a part in things, and it was a treat when said guy/girl/group would say “I was that guy/girl/group in one panel in chp 3″ making me go back and check to say, ‘Damn, he/she/they WAS/WERE there!”. Well, that’s my two cents anyways. I’ll be looking forward to all of the hijinks that will ensue after this ep (^,^ )!

    frubam
    Reply

  20. I’m just waiting for next week as Takao is introduced, she IS the best girl after all. As far as the episode goes, it’s a pretty faithful adaptation of the manga, which means the show will be firing jokes and gags non-stop and they’re going to be hit or miss.
    Regardless, it’s a lot of fun- as the character interactions with one another are great.

    katsudon
    Reply

    1. I can’t really make promises since I don’t know what else I’ll be blogging and I don’t know what I’ll be doing that week. That said… Well, you’ll have to wait to find out what I was going to say : )

      Stilts
      Reply

  24. Cannot wait to see the fight scenes, as well as Shawn Conecone-sensei. To say the least, well, nobody holds anything back in a fight. That, and the school is full of people with unique skills and personality traits.

    ReverseTales
    Reply

  27. I dropped the manga like a bad habit. Too repetitive and the jokes wasn’t as funny anymore.

    I don’t see this anime getting a second season, which is good because D Frag was better in the beginning anyways.

    Magoiichi
    Reply

  28. I’m so glad that KanaHana is embracing her darker side more and more often lately. And I don’t even mean the full-blown insane kind of voice she can pull of, but rather anything that’s not her usual moe-moe stuff. Which, of course, makes her moe-moe even more effective when she doesn’t go for it all the freaking time.

    On a related note, there really are lots of awesome voice actors here. FukuJun manages to be both Lelouch and Toori/himself in this one, Chiwa Saito is as great as ever (though I wouldn’t mind if she demonstrated more of her ridiculous range), and the others are excellent fits for the roles they got. I can’t even imagine how much better it’s going to get from now on.

    And of course, Takeuchi couldn’t resist drawing another Saber, even if it’s an ED card in a completely unrelated show. Wait, she looks more like Arcueid.

    SingerOfW
    Reply

    1. Agree on HanaKana! I like to see actors (voice or otherwise) step outside of their typecasting and do something a little different. It’s like Kugimiya Rie…I’m fine with her wrathful lolis, they’re great, but hearing her as what’s-her-name in Freezing and Koto in Kyousougiga was just a treat. Same thing with different Kana-san.

      And it is true, Saito Chiwa’s range is ridiculous. Mostly I just want her to giggle for me again. Tatenashi~!! (Yes yes, crap show, but Chiwacchi’s giggling is the best <3)

      Stilts
      Reply

  29. For anyone dropping this because you don’t like how Kenji’s is everyone’s punching bag, I just want to make a point in that I think you’re being a bit to hasty on your assumptions.

    I’ve read a fair share of the manga (not all of it so I count vouch for the whole thing) and while it’s been awhile since then, I don’t recall Kenji being tortured constantly by these girls. Actually I think the first chapter is one of the few times it happens. There is a lot more random stuff going on then him being a punching bag, which he isn’t.

    Diyedas
    Reply

    1. I can see where you are coming from, but the actual point is, that it is entertaining.

      As long as you can enjoy the show what it stands for – and that is comedy – theres not really something to complain about.

      For the comedy part, its doing a good job, because I am looking forward to see more!

      ~fineyristensen
      Reply

  34. Hilarious anime with frequent laughs!!

    And Stilts, since comedy is subjective as you already mentioned, you shouldnt look too far into trying too rate the show objectively.

    Id rather recommend to lean back, have a laugh or two and just enjoy the show~!

    ~fineyristensen
    Reply

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