The shenanigans are those of teenage trouble-child Torako Kageyama and the many odd friends she makes at Kamizono Academy. And what a eclectic group of friends she has; including the cute and shy Ayumi, snobbish Tatsuki, physically fit and gluttonous Suzume, yankee Ushio, Sadako look-a-like Inori, bisexual class president Nene, and so many other peculiar personalities. With such a wide variety quirky characters bouncing off each, the show is undoubtedly fun. The show has dozens of character gags from Torako and Tatsuki's conflicting personalities, to Suzume's oddly nonchalant personality and excessive eating, to Nene's drooling over the rest of the female cast. The gags and jokes are quite simple but the animated personalities of the girls make them work enough. Of course this is essentially just another 'cute girls doing cute things' anime, as evident by the fact most of the characters are girls even though Kamizono is a co-ed school; there are only 4 reoccurring male characters, one of them being a teacher.
The overall tone of the show is largely zany. This is unmistakably a comedy show, and it rarely takes itself seriously. Most of the show's run time is spent on Torako's hair-brained antics and slowly introducing more characters into Torako's ever expanding group of friends. The usual episode is light and breezy, easy to watch and completely comfortable; devoid of any actual tension. While this makes the show enjoyable, it is also why the show ultimately doesn't accomplish anything of consequence, it is a good time but there is nothing more grasp onto. With no real plot and minimal conflict, the events of every episode blend together into a fuzzy glob of jokes. The comedy itself isn't particularly original or exceedingly crafty, it is more or less the usual anime humor of silly situations and overreactions, albeit done fairly well.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that Hyakko does have the potential to be more than the average school life comedy, the show just never capitalizes on it. The potential lies in two characters, Tatsuki and our lead, Torako. Tatsuki is a rich heiress with a complicated family life, she's used to being alone and despite attending Kamizono Academy since elementary she hasn't made any real long lasting friendships. In one of the show's rare slightly more serious episodes, Tatsuki ponders the solidarity of her school life til high school and the value of her new friends, only to realize she actually treasures them when they drop by her house in a surprise visit. This is a nice bit of development, which makes it too bad that it is confined to a single episode; pushed aside for high goofy shenanigans.
Likewise, Torako also has a complicated relationship with her family, probably even more so. She doesn't get alone well with the other members of her family, and often runs away from home. This could have been the foundation for some potent, maybe even mature family drama; perhaps even delving into why Torako behaves the way she does. However, this is only elaborated in a single admittedly good episode near the end of the series. There isn't really anything wrong with a show focusing on comedy, but Hyakko has clear potential for meaningful drama that it passes up, content with showing cute girls doing cute things. As a consequence, the show feels like a real under-achiever.
On a technical standpoint, Hyakko isn't all that impressive either. It is by no means a bad looking show; the character designs are quite adequate, certainly cute enough. They are more or less what is expected from an anime with a high school setting, and that is kind of the problem with them. Kamizono Academy is laid out well enough to feel like an actual place, but the backgrounds settle for passable; adequate enough to properly establish the setting, but never exceedingly well detailed. The animation is full of shortcuts and fully animated movement is rare. Such shortcuts are commonplace in slice-of-life comedies such as Hyakko, however this is a show that was made after The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, and other much better animated slice-of-life series, so it is hardly the best looking show of its kind or of its time. The music is largely light and wacky, adhering to the show's dominantly comedic tone. However, there are times when it achieves more emotional richness, which works well when the show aims to be slightly more serious or melancholy.
Hyakko certainly isn't an unpleasant show, quite the contrary. It has likeable characters and plenty of funny moments. The zany antics and personalities are easy enough to enjoy; the show is an easy and comfortable watch. In fact, it is probably too easy of a watch. There is essentially no plot, little tension or conflict, and sparse character development. The potential for such things is there, but the show is so preoccupied with being cute and funny that it neglects to be anything more. Fun though the show might be, it is ultimately unremarkable and unmemorable.
