Ranked #709

Hyakko

This show completely blew me away. Usually when Maceart suggests something to watch, it's some harem melodramatic crap or moe moe crap. But Hyakko is a different beast altogether.

Hyakko is about the lives of students in Kamizono Academy. The cast numbers around 20 well-fleshed out students, mostly high school students and two elementary school students. The series is fairly episodic, and goes into each of the characters one by one.

The characters make Hyakko golden. No other show in recent memory was this funny. The plot synopsis, a group of girls and guys hanging out in this high school, may sound like the most boring thing ever. But it is not. You get the classic hyper girl, the quiet girl, the glasses girl, the scary girl, the tall airheaded girl, the girl who never opens her eyes, the bisexual girl, and many others. To make the show even better, Hyakko introduces a few key guy characters at just the right moments. You get the angry homeroom teacher, the lovesick guy, the bully, and the photographer dude. By the end of 13 episodes, all the characters will be etched inside your head like jam on toast. That analogy was pretty bad, but you get my point. What I mean is that everyone will find at least one character that they like. For me, I loved the lovesick guy and Tatsuki. They are amazingly awesome.

Hyakko has situational comedy defined down to the atomic level. For example, when Torako and the gang visits the cafeteria, you get such classics as COMBO CARDS and BIG SERVINGS. Hyakko can create comedy out of the most mundane things. Thought dodgeball isn't funny? Well you haven't watched Hyakko. How about art class? Well, Hyakko has got that covered too. Hyakko also does not resort to tired conventions such as fanservice to get its comedy across. In that aspect, Hyakko rises above Toradora and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Looking for beach episode? Hot springs episode? Not in Hyakko, nope.

As if the characters and situational comedy aren't enough, Hyakko's music is also awesome, to boot. I'm a classical music buff, and when I heard Vivaldi's 4th Season used as effective background music, I couldn't help but stand up in shock. Shocked in a good way, I mean. All of Vivaldi's work is presented in Hyakko, from Spring to Winter, and it is used so perfectly.

People have asked what kind of animation you should expect in this show. Well, the show airs in HD. Expect orgasmic clouds and super sharp trees in the background. The character designs need some time to get used to, but I love them. Sometimes Hyakko uses the technique of speed lines to animate scenes very well that usually don't require awesome animation. For example, in episode 1, the scene when Ayumi chases Tatsuki and Tatsuki turns around. That must have cost bundles of yen to animate. Like all anime, the animation quality dips during the middle but not to the point of pure QUALITY. It got fine in the end though.

As for the voice acting, Hyakko is littered with an all star cast. Aya Hirano is here. So is Yui Horie. So is Keiji Fujiwara. All the voices were superb. Even the two existential brats were awesome.

Are there any bad things about this show? Well, only episode 2 was kind of on the weak side, as they stretched 18 pages of manga across 24 minutes. But even a weak episode had its golden parts. DREAM TEAM, anyone?

Don't miss this show, please. I implore you not to. If you are looking for references and parodies, there are plenty. Hyakko covers Tetsujin 28, the Ring, Slam Dunk, and the Stonehenge, all within 13 episodes. Looking for lesbian tendencies? Hyakko has also got that base covered. If you are a fan of comedy, watch this show. If you like to watch pretty girls do surrealistic things, watch this show. If you have siblings, watch this show with them. My sister loved this show too.

Hyakko is so good, that I spent the last two days translating the last three episodes. (Sorry Mayu-subs) That's six hours of my life right there, and rightfully spent.

PS: This is more of a final impression/rant/giddiness rather than an objective review. The very long review by tehnominator is more level headed. I hope you still enjoyed reading it, though.
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First impressions are always important.

Imagine wandering around your new school, wondering where you are (since you're more lost than a white sock in the laundry hamper) only to see a girl leap magnificently out of the window from the first floor of the school building. And you watch, with your breath hitched, as she soars through the air, lands, and nearly breaks her ankle. Then you hear her howling in pain with equal magnificence.

That's the first impression anyone has of Hyakko's very own Torako.

Hyakko leads you to believe that this is just going to be another school comedy. You know what? It is just another school comedy. There's nothing new in Hyakko. The story mostly follows the exploits of four girls, fresh into high school, and the friendship they consequentially form after they each get lost on the school grounds on the first day after orientation. Hyakko is mainly an episodic telling of this story with one or two plot twists interspersed throughout the anime. Each episode plays out like a situational comedy in which we see Ayumi, Torako, Suzume and Tatsuki getting into little adventures around school. There are a few instances in which the plotting of the anime truly shines, as seen in the much later episodes.

Some things do remain unanswered throughout the anime. A clear example of this is a young girl named Hitsugi who the anime shifts attention to randomly. While nothing else truly makes Hyakko exceptional from other anime in this genre, it manages to present a decent story of high school teenagers and their exploits. Although, the later episodes become more emotionally-driven, so it isn't purely just an anime created for hilarity. The more "serious" (they're not overly melodramatic or anything, but they're not what you would call scenes to laugh during) scenes add a little something extra to this anime, making the story a little heavier but not too heavy--it is a comedy after all. The emotional content just adds a little weight to this very light series.

Hyakko has a very interesting art style. Although, I do ponder whether it is intentionally sloppy. Yes, the artwork isn't great. The backgrounds have very little detail save for the images of the sky whenever it is seen. The character design is rather good. Torako's design is a lot more unusual than some of the others I've seen (perhaps because she looks normal...), while other character designs seem recycled (case in point: Tatsuki). The animation isn't the best out there, but it isn't awful. This is a mostly average-looking anime.

Personally, the theme songs are not that great, but perhaps another person would be able to like it. The background music is good for the most part. There are scenes set to the backdrop of great violin music, but overall it cannot be said that Hyakko's score left any solid mind-blowing impressions for a listener. It's arguable that for a comedy anime, the only sound that's important are the sound effects for the gags and upbeat poppy compositions, but there have been comedies that have excellent background music. The sound however truly shines with some of the seiyuu work; Orikasa Fumiko's voice acting skills is rather commendable (she's also the voice behind another one of anime's most excellent comedians: Matsuoka Miu of Strawberry Marshmallow). Her acting can be considered part of the sound. She has excellent comic timing. Through her voice, she manages to add a great amount of energy and personality to the anime, and of course, to her character Torako, who is in fact the energy that drives this series.

Speaking of Torako, she is probably the most developed and most intriguing character in this entire anime. Her charm is far-reaching, and she is indeed one of the reasons I continued watching this anime. Her magnetism isn't only for the viewers, but for other characters as well. She is the glue of Hyakko, holding it together to make a good anime and holding the other characters together as well. She does come off rather strongly as the irritating loudmouth who is headstrong in what she wants, but Torako isn't limited only to that. She isn't a troublemaker--trouble just likes her. While she is oblivious half the time, she is not stupid, therefore her actions are not annoying as she is not purposefully problematic. In fact, her nature is rather endearing. Torako isn't limited to just being a goofy, lovable person who everyone in her class is attracted to in some way or the other. She has a deeper past. She cries, and it's heartfelt. When she laughs, it's real, and it makes you want to laugh as well. For Torako alone, it would make sense to call her a great character in comedy.

There's Suzume, who can be pegged as the eclectic oddity of the group (though, there isn't any weight to calling her 'odd' in the context of Hyakko, since there are quite a few weirdos in the cast), who eats a lot, says nothing most of the time, and who is Torako's best friend. I have to call Suzume another good character. While on the surface level you cannot call her complex, there are little actions she does that makes her a lot deeper than the other side characters. A gentle touch here, a mean look there, peaceful confrontations with people who have hurt Torako--little details that don't spit out to the viewer that she is indeed this person's truly best friend.

Unfortunately, the series is also bogged down with a lot of characters who never truly are developed and remain two-dimensional. I think that's a good thing, since they could have been one-dimensional and dreadful. Take Ayumi, for example. She remains nothing more than the shy girl who is very delicate. That's about it. Yet she's one of the protagonists. Tatsuki is nothing more than the series' voice of reason; the refined, rich, polite girl who gets easily bothered by rule-breaking. The supporting cast is made up of some archetypes with a twist: the exploitative photographer who documents people in compromising positions, the perverted bisexual class president, the tall bumbling girl, the intensely creepy chick nobody likes to hang around, the "yankee" who ditches school.

However, Hyakko is to be given credit for putting spins on these characters. Explanation? The photographer doesn't take people's pictures for the sheer purpose of being a pervert. She wants to make money. The perverted bisexual? She knows when to take a hint and cut it out (sometimes, anyway). And then the other characters actually find the bumbling girl annoying, which is quite a stretch, since most of the time it's just the audience who becomes irked at such characters. As for the intensely creepy girl, it does turn out, like most of them, that she is a hidden beauty behind the scary bangs. The twist? She prefers to be extremely creepy even if she does long for friendship. And then the delinquent actually likes things like pudding and strawberry jam. Not a very off-putting image of a troublemaker, is it?

Hyakko isn't the funniest anime out there. There aren't any rolling-on-the-floor funny jokes or gags either. It does also rely heavily on slapstick comedy to bring out the humour rather than its dialogue. In fact, some of the situations rather predictable, and on occasion, most folks would be able to figure out the jokes before the punchline hit. Yet, it does manage to be rather entertaining. Especially considering the characters (well, considering Torako), who make this anime worth watching. There are better school comedies out there, some that would manage to make you cry with laughter. But this anime is worth more than just a glossing over. It's certainly worth some of your time.

While it won't bust your gut making you laugh, Hyakko is a good comedy that will manage to make you crack at least a grin. read more

You could call this series "The Melancholy of Torako Kageyama" and not be far off. If you like Kyon, Mikuru, Yuki and Haruhi you'll probably enjoy Tatsuki, Ayumi, Suzume and Torako almost equally. Normally, Torako would be the the character in charge of slapstick comedy - loud, boisterous, and embarassing like Tomo, Himeko or Kana but here she shines. But Hyakko revolves around Torako no less than MoHS is centered on Haruhi, as a matter of fact if Haruhi were a "normal" human she'd probably be Torako Kageyama. In Torako's world there's too much to do and too many chances for fun and entertainment to spend your time worrying about the sadder aspects of your life. Torako hates sitting still, grasping both life and her classmates with both hands she pulls both along in her wake blithely ignoring complaints and criticisms. There are other "slice of life" school girl comedies that are "funnier", Azumanga for instance, but I doubt if you'll find one with more fully developed characters in both the lead and supporting roles; particularly Torako Kageyama. read more

You can't judge this by watching 1 or 2 episodes... I've watched until sixth and even that may not be enough... But so far, it's was quite good with many hilarious and some heart warming moments.

It's about four girls (friends), all with different personalities and many events that happen between them. I enjoyed a lot of jokes in the series. Although it's not the most hilarious anime you'll ever see, it's certainly a great series that's worth watching.

Voice actings are great and are done by many recognized and popular voice actresses like Hirano Aya (Haruhi), Fumiko Orikasa (Rukia from Bleach), etc.

Hyakko is your usual school comedy slice of life series that provides familiar results to its audience. Even though Hyakko does follow the unoriginal routine, the humor aspect in this school-based series was deliver fairly well its audience.

For the story, it follows an episodic theme where different comedy situations occur from the high school lives of four female leads and other supporting characters. While the story is nothing particulary special in the series, the comedy moments manage to keep this series fairly entertaining in certain parts.

The best feature in Hyakko would have to be its cast of characters, especially since their actions and behavior often execute good humor in this series. For the four female lead characters, they are usually an interesting group since they sometimes provide funny interactions with one another. Each main character provides their own type of personality, so audience members can certainly choose favorites from the four female leads. Some of the supporting characters also manage to provide pretty good humor and it often involves situations with any of the four female leads.

The animation in Hyakko does pretty well in most of its areas. Along with the character designs provided with good drawing results and coloring, different facial illustrations are also provided that mainly highlight the comedy situations in Hyakko. Some of the background designs are also provided with pretty good results in this series. The music is mainly nothing special, but the opening and ending themes are usually good songs to listen to. For an anime that delivers good humor results from its characters, the seiyu's cast certainly did a good job playing out the roles of the characters.

All in all, Hyakko is a series that surprisingly does well in delivering its comedy. Despite the fact that the story and characters tend to be pretty unoriginal, Hyakko is still a pretty good option to consider when it comes to enjoying its comedy. read more

well hyakko is one of the wierdest anime series i seen in my life... the beginning is far too slow and doesnt make any sense until you get to episode 5 or 6. well when i started this series which was when it first aired, it was put on hold for months because the first two episodes didnt really make sense. the beginning feels somewhat like azumanga daioh but less interesting and the story is very slow in the beginning and rushed in the end. the last two episodes is where all the action takes place.
this anime is a school, slice of life, and comedy series, but there is quite alot of drama nearing the end. the characters in this anime doesnt play out that well. some of the support has nothing to do with the main story or the main character in the anime, not sure about the manga though.
to summarize the beginning of this anime is horrible, please dont judge until you are on the 5 or 6 episode, it get really interesting then. read more

Even though I've only seen two episodes, it's easy to tell that Hyakko has potential and we could all agree on that. The characters are so unique that their personalities tie this strong bond that gives the anime a more appealing enjoyment. Likewise, this show is hysterically funny and one of the good laughs for the Fall '08 anime line-up. At first I thought it won't be great, but as I got into the first episode, I found out that it has the potential. Anyways, long story short, Hyakko is a very great anime and has this unique charm to it.

I wish I could write good things about all the shows I review, but I suppose there must be an exception to the rule, and Hyakko would appear to be it.

I think the problem with Hyakko is that its underlying concept is not original. Having a bunch of disparate personalities come together as friends within the school environment has been done countless times (although none come close to the brilliance of Azumanga Daioh). Even the class full of dysfunctional (or maybe just odd, in this case) has been beaten to death in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

That said, it doesn’t start badly. Our four protagonists – the timid and shy Ayumi; haughty and abrasive Tatsuki; impulsive Torako and the quiet Suzume actually form a pretty decent team. Then again, it’s the kind of pairing (or quadrupling if you like) that’s been seen in everything from Manabi Straight to Hidamari Sketch to Sketchbook and so forth. It’s a formula that works, so it gets trundled out again and for the first four episodes it works well and there are some genuinely funny moments, most of which involve Tatsuki having to deal with the human typhoon that is Torako. Foremost amongst these has to be and the antics of the openly bi and predatory class president – who has her eye on the student council presidency, as well as Torako. Suzume’s complete unawareness of the havoc her performing an Y-balance pose (with one leg in the air) would cause on her co-ed art class is also worth a mention.

Sadly, the class president doesn’t get the screen time, or the development, her character needed to add some serious comedy to the whole affair. Likewise, the long-suffering homeroom teacher, Sengoku-sensei, has a couple of classic on-screen moments, usually involving Torako but these are, sadly, too few and far between. However, his portrayal of a world-weary teacher, who’s just realised his karma has caught up with him in the form of this flaxen-haired demon, is nicely done.

After the first four episodes, however, it all starts to fall apart. We are introduced to more of the oddball classmates, which is all well and fine, if you left them to do oddball things. The problem is, they all have issues, which Torako & Co try to resolve. It’s a bit like Clannad’s “introduce-a-broken-chick-and-then-fix-her” motif, but at least Clannad has the decency to put some flesh on the character’s bones, so we know who they are and what makes them tick, before breaking them. In Hyakko, the viewer just isn’t made to care enough about the superficial characters to introduce that kind of drama and make it work. It gets even worse, when additional characters are suddenly out of the blue, in order to resolve Torako’s arc. It ends up messy and feeling very contrived.

The soundtrack is also forgettable with a poor OP and an even worse ED. Aya Hirano, who I like as a seiyuu and who voices Ayumi, would appear have a pretty good deal, as she sings at least one song on whatever series she’s in. The problem is she obviously can’t choose what she sings and they tend to be generally bad and not at all suited for her voice. Maybe she should just stick to voice acting.

On the whole, Hyakko was a disappointment. It never really set out to do anything that hadn’t been done before. It suffers from what I call “not knowing what to do” syndrome – if it wanted to be a comedy, then it shouldn’t have introduced drama and if it wanted to be a drama then it needed to flesh out the characters far more than they were. There are far better comedies in this genre out there and you won’t really have missed anything if you don’t watch Hyakko. read more

FOR YOUR SAKE, watch in this order: Episode 13 then Episodes 1-12.

Why? Because Episode 13 occurs chronologically before all the other episodes, and is a whole lot more enlightening if viewed first, and, I'm sure, will make your viewing experience much more enjoyable. It's a waste of time to see the "first" episode at the very end, because, by that point, you can pretty much fill in all the blanks yourself.

As for the show on the whole, it elicited a lukewarm response from me. At first, it deceivingly markets itself as a comedy, when it truly follows more of the drama/slice-of-life genre, although the drama is mild and far-between.

The only thing driving this show is the characters, comprised of a diverse cast of different personalities. Hyakko's characters are certainly the only thing that saves it from its less-than-lackluster plot.

On the whole, Hyakko is decent. It wasn't for me, but if you're into this kind of genre (and the characters especially), it's certainly worth a run-through. read more

Hyakko… I was actually looking forward to this one from the PV and the other materials I had seen. Needless to say I was greatly disappointed. I almost never drop a show before the tenth episode, but I am seriously considering it. Well, lets start with production values. The OP and ED are crap. The BGM fails to be memorable. The art is sub-par from what I expected, so were the BGs. This is a kind of short review, but I just don’t have anything good to say about this show. The story sits there… there isn’t really any memorable plot to be had. The characters are stereotypical, with the quiet girl who wants to establish herself, the prim and proper bitch, the loud and annoying, headstrong girl, and the weird “eccentric” girl who doesn’t say much. The only character that I liked was the teacher, simply because he was the only male I had seen the entire episode. That’s all I have to say for the show. It just fails to make a mark, or be unique in any way. I’ve got to give this a 4/10.

Production by Nippon Animation. Airs on Wednesdays. Subs by Ayako.
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