Daily Archives: July 25, 2014

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Daily Lives of High School Boys

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  • Characters: 3  /3
  • Story: 3  /3
  • Enjoyment: 2  /2
  • Art: 0  /1
  • Animation: 0  /1

Overall Score: 8/10

I finished Daily Lives of High School Boys (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou) the day I started it, but my internet connection was messed up, so I couldn’t write a review.

First off, writing a review for a comedy is obviously different from reviewing something like, oh, Angel Beats!. So, even though I gave Daily Lives a higher score, it’s in a different category entirely. The two can’t be compared because they’re so DIFFERENT. So with that out of the way, let’s get started.

Daily Lives of High School Boys is about exactly what it’s called. Can’t get any simpler than that. It’s comprised of short stories rather than a linear plot.The entire anime is nothing but short, simple, hilarious, rollicking stories. It’s probably the funniest anime I’ve ever seen. 

Pretty much every character in this show is hilarious. The conversations and childish antics they partake in is the center of Daily Lives. Not to mention all the characters are completely likable/lovable! The thought of a comedy centered around high school boys definitely sounded interesting to me. I stress “boys” because school comedies seem to always be centered around high school girls for some reason. Lucky Star, Nichijou, Azumanga Daioh, etc. But one about boys? At first I expected an anime with lots of video games and trying to pick up girls. And while there was a conversation or two about both, Daily Lives had SO much to offer! Something I was really surprised about was the fact that there are actually a LOT of girls in this anime too. Regardless of the fact the main characters attend an all boys school. In an anime like Lucky Star where the characters even go to a coed school, I’m pretty sure there was a maximum of 2 males in the entire show. (It doesn’t count if they’re just characters in the background.) There’s even a short at the end of every episode called High School Girls are Funky! Just because of that, Daily Lives brought something totally new to the table!

I really had to pause the video a couple times because I was laughing so hard! While there were some jokes I normally wouldn’t laugh at in any other anime, Daily Lives gets away with it because of how ridiculous it KNOWS it is. It’s been a while since I could just shut off the “critic” part of my brain, sit down, and just watch something without ever making a snide remark!

 

Even without a plot, Daily Lives managed to become one of my favorite anime. I enjoyed every second of it because I never stopped laughing!

While the art and animation isn’t the best by any means, that doesn’t take away from the show at all. It’s too funny to just NOT enjoy!

While Daily Lives portrays pretty much every female character as treating males like monsters or lower beings, it’s only to give way to funny moments. Rather than coming off as misogynistic, it seemed like the opposite, in fact. It felt a lot more along the lines of “girl power!”.

And the males were all completely lovable as well. There’s even a scene where one of them rants on how guilty he was when he accidentally saw up a girl’s skirt. I feel like it’s rare in anime to find males who act like gentlemen without being either overly flamboyant, prince-like, or shy. Daily Lives breaks the norm once again.

So to sum it up:

Pros: It’s HYSTERICAL. You will be entertained to the very end. There is not one story that didn’t at least make me smile. Not one. The characters are all memorable and lovable – even though it’s not necessary to remember their names!

Cons: The art/animation is under average. (But this definitely doesn’t take away from the anime AT ALL.)

Worth watching? If you like slice of life comedies, this is probably the best one you will ever find. (It’s definitely my favorite.) If you want to watch something that will have you on the floor laughing, Daily Lives is DEFINITELY worth checking out!