Kitaku-bu Katsudou Kiroku

Deconstruction of the comedy, school genre.

It never takes itself seriously, too many comedies ruin themselves by adding unnecessary drama. The art is quite a bit better than the manga. Sound is appropriate, they manage new OPs and EDs despite their budget.

Very nice and refreshing gag and parody anime. It has nothing to do with "cute girls & cute things" as some people think for unknown reason. The show heavily relays on breaking 4-th wall and abstract humor and it seems most of the anime watchers are not used for this and miss entire point of the series. The show is full of self-irony and mocks anime-industry quite a bit, and it feel kinda honest which I like.

People bash this show due to inability to understand content outside of typical school comedy/drama tropes. So, while I can't guarantee that you will like it, there are no ... reason to trust the current score and skip it without trying on your own, especially if you have sense of humor of more intelligence than banana peel.

With markedly solid new offerings like Love Lab, Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu and Kiniro Mosaic, the Summer 2013 anime season has really been an excellent showcase of schoolgirl shows. With quality production and interesting hooks those anime all work to reaffirm how much fun the genre can be when done right. They also help to highlight the many failings of the peculiar Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, the one new schoolgirl series of the season I would not recommend.

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku is about five high school friends who are part of a club that doesn't really do anything--basically the same premise as Yuru Yuri or Yuyushiki. This ... can be an effective setup, as those shows both proved, but here it's not particularly well executed. The Going Home Club seems ill defined even next to the Amusement Club or the Data Processing Club and mostly just serves as a place for the writers to wring out the next comedic setup. It never feels natural. Yuyushiki got pretty random with its topics, but it made it feel entirely natural through the choice of setup and the brilliant way the characters played off of each other. Here, every setup and punch line feels so very labored.

A big part of the problem is that Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku is not very frequently funny. It tries. It tries really hard actually, but it just falls flat constantly. The timing is off and the jokes often aren't very funny in the first place. One thing it really seems to love a lot is fourth wall jokes; which is fine--they can be quite funny when done well. They're just really not here though and its in part due to the approach. Drawing attention to the fact that your animation budget is small, your writers are dumb and lazy and your show isn't very popular isn't going to hide the fact that its all true. On the contrary, it just highlights the problems for the viewer to scrutinize as they watch.

The anime was produced by the studio Nomad, who looking at their credits, always has been kind of underwhelming, at least from the series of theirs I've seen. Even then Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku really is pretty cheap and generic looking though. The art and animation are substandard. It doesn't fair much better on the sound end either. Music is okay I guess; seems to do what it should and while the opening theme isn't something I'd call particularly great (mostly due to the singers), it does have charm and is peppy enough; the original ending theme is really generic though, but it's quickly replaced by a better song a few episodes in. The big problem with the sound is in the voice acting. The VAs aren't very good. Well, most of them are passable, I suppose, but the voice of the club president has a weird grating quality to it and, more importantly, the main character is miscast and terrible. I usually like tsukkomi characters, but this one just comes across as annoying and shouty in the role--something that absolutely kills any comedy she's supposed to provide.

But what of the characters themselves? Well, they're pretty one note and reductive, reminding me more of the sort of characters you might see in a particularly bad harem anime than something like this. Main character Natsuki is, as said, a tsukkomi, only there to play the straight man to the others and shout about how stupid they are. Karin is a cute airhead. Club president Sakura is energetic in a decidedly generic way. Claire is basically Mugi from K-On! reduced to the dullest core elements. Botan is a kind of weird mix of gamer girl and martial arts girl who is somehow able to do inhuman feats. The show doesn't really bother to ever develop them. Between all the random comedy in Yuyushki, it took the time to develop the characters and make the audience care about their friendship. This show doesn't bother trying to do that. it just presents us with a set of fairly unrealistic, underwritten characters to blather on about whatever the writer wants them to.

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku just isn't a good anime. With unfunny comedy, flat characters and zero in the way of plot, if it had more in the way of fanservice I expect this is what people who despise this genre entirely think it all is. If you want to watch a schoolgirl show this season, you're best off looking elsewhere. Love Lab is much funnier, Kiniro Mosaic is much cuter, C³-bu is peppered with cool action (and just generally better). As a longtime fan of the genre, the best I can give it is a five, but for others I expect the score might be lower. Not recommended.

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku is a comedic manga written by Kuroha and published by Square Enix. Thi year it was adapted into a twelve episode anime by Nomad, a studio that's only headed about a dozen productions, none of which I've seen. Let's take a look and see what this studio can do.

The series opens with High school student Andou Natsuki going in for the opening ceremony. Afterwards she checks out some of the club adverts, the strangest of which is someone flailing around in a seal costume. When asked what club she's going to join she responds by saying that she might ... just join the going home club, only to find out that it's a real thing when her classmate, Touno Karin, decides to go with her to check it out. From their it goes into the details of the club activities, which seems to consist of doing strange things for fun. The comedy in this is a strange blend of absurdist elements, breaking the fourth wall and jokes about everyday school life. The closest anime I can compare the humour to is Gokujou Seitokai. The humour is strange, can be very random and mostly works pretty effectively. The series has a lot of great moments, particularly the musical chairs bit and the Schubert episode. One thing I really appreciate about the series is that they actually use pop culture things they reference for actual jokes and parody purposes, which shouldn't be surprising but there are a lot of series that just treat the reference as a joke by itself because “this thing exists, it's funny” and that's not only completely lacking in humour but just lazy, (glaring at you, Lucky Star.) A lot of their humour is also based around making fun of really stupid tropes, their gags about fan-service for example. They do have some jokes that don't really work or just fall flat, but those are in the minority.

The characters aren't particularly deep. They're really simple archetypes who don't develop very much with their major defining characteristics played up for comedic effect. I will grant that the characters play off of each other very nicely and the dynamics among them are well handled. They're also used in a very self aware fashion, which helps make them more interesting than they would have been had they been played completely straight.

The art is pretty standard. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it isn't anything special or eye-catching. Save for a few visual gags.

The voice acting in this is well done. Most of the main cast doesn't have a lot of roles outside of this which is a shame since they are quite good. Particularly Senhongi Ayaka, Kobayashi Miharu and Kido Ibuki. The music is fun and they do some really clever things with it.

The ho-yay factor is a 6/10. The girls do get really homo-erotic. Karin and Claire are the ones who get the most screen time, but a lot of the dynamics have heavy homo-erotic undertones.

That's Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku. All in all, I rather enjoyed it. There are a lot of funny moments. The characters play off of each other nicely and the voice acting was good. That being said, it wasn't the best comedy I've ever seen and the art was certainly nothing special. Final rating, 7/10. It's a good little anime, check it out if it sounds like your type of humour. That does it for December. The request queue going into the new year is: Battle Athletes Daiundoukai, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge, Shinsekai Yori and One Outs. Next week I'll ignore all of that because it's the beginning of a new year and those of you who have been reading my reviews for a while know what that means. Studio Ghibli month. We'll begin with what some claim is the first Studio Ghibli film and others argue isn't on a technicality, Nausicaa of the valley of the wind.

Probably one of the best 4th wall school comedy I've ever watched. This anime was fucking hilariously awesome.

There are many references and relatables - star wars, real life scenarios, fist of the north star, etc.. It's so funny how this show breaks the 4th wall so many times I just can't get enough. Watching this show felt like playing/talking with a friend. Doing casual, silly stuffs as time proceeds. Only difference is that this "friend" is surreal.

Honestly very underappreciated and underrated. The first three episodes are mediocre, but the rest of the series was a banger. I laughed until the end. It was ... an awesome, unforgettable experience.

Recommended to those who are bored or those who are depressed and is trying to find a cure.

If you ask me to give an example of an anime that is a slow-paced slice-of-life school comedy with a full main character cast of girls in a group, you have anime like Lucky Star, Azumanga Daiou, Hidamari Sketch, K-On, Yuru Yuri, and so on. These types of anime, after all, are really popular and it's really hard to deny that.

Kitaku-bu Katsudou Kiroku, or in English, Chronicles of the Going Home Club is one of these anime, which I believe sadly just didn't get popular like the ones I mentioned above. Like I said earlier, this is a slice-of-life school comedy anime that centers ... around the Going Home Club, which is quite ironically named since in Japanese slang, students who are not part of any club usually call themselves members of the "going home club," which just means they go home right after school. But in this anime, the Going Home Club is an actual school club composed of Karin, an ideal Yamato Nadeshiko who everyone loves; Claire, an extremely rich ojou-sama who spends money like water; Botan, a lady who is immersed in humanly impossible martial arts; Sakura, a self-proclaimed normal girl but is president of a clearly not-so-normal club; and of course, Natsuki, our MAIN main character who got dragged into all of this.

Among all of these characters, I would like to give the club's president, Doumyouji Sakura, an extremely special mention. She has that energetic personality that you can find in just about many comedy characters throughout, she carries about 90% of the comedic scenes in the anime, she does her job really well despite being, quote on quote, a normal girl. But what I believe is the best thing about her is her voice, and by extension, her voice actress Miharu Kobayashi. Whenever I hear Sakura's voice acting, I describe her voice as… perfectly average. I don't mean that her voice is in the middle of the pack, but instead, it's perfectly articulated to portray someone average, and that deserves a lot of praise. Whenever I listen to her voice, I feel like I'm hearing a Japanese person speak with real-life intonation, even though I am not a Japanese person and I do not know what real-life Japanese intonation really is. That's just the vibe I'm getting. Because of this reason, I find her voice really endearing, I love it, and it's a REALLY BIG SHAME that Miharu Kobayashi only has this one role, and the only news about her if she continued voice acting is a short anime about anthropomorphized ramen girls. You could argue that her voice wasn't that special, that's why she did not get any more roles, but I disagree on that stance fully. I love her voice acting for Sakura, and I will die on this hill.

The anime's story portrays the members of the club and their various shenanigans, mostly carried by what I would say well-executed exaggeration, especially when it comes to their fourth wall breaks, and the unrealistic things that happen because of their hijinks. For example, in the very first episode, we get two false credits that happen even before the midpoint of the episode, which caught me off guard, and it left me wondering as to why the anime producers even thought to make the characters do those scenes. Then I remember that there were some scenes where the characters were saying that they did not get enough budget, in which the blatant honesty is very hilarious. I guess being able to reuse scenes even for a few seconds saves some budget, and I'm all for it.

Even so, it is balanced by cute, wholesome, and sometimes ridiculous but oddly relatable moments that remind us that despite all of these, they're still a group of friends making the most of their time to socialize and foster their relationships. These make up the identity of this anime as a whole. It sets itself apart from the other anime I mentioned earlier, but at the same time, it fits in the group just fine,

Now let's delve into its opening theme, 2 Gakki Debut Daisakusen! by Otome Shinto, the same idol group that performed Good Job Club's opening theme as well. The opening melodic line alone is very attention-grabbing. It is one of the very few themes that I actually listened to the whole song the very first time I heard of it, in fact, just remembering it makes me want to sing it.

ichigakki ni wa amanjiteta no (I somewhat underestimated my first semester)
CLASS no POSITION nigun no ichi (My position in class was around in the middle)
Honto ha watashi yareba dekiru ko (But I'm actually a capable student)
sukoshi namaketa dake da mon!! (I was just procrastinating a bit)
sorya seiseki mo ALL 3 (san) dashi (But even if my grades are all 3s)
gakuen DRAMA mitai na seishun mo (Even if my youth isn't like those school dramas) —

Once you start, it's quite difficult to stop. It's very energetic throughout, and I actually like the meaning of the lyrics, so that adds to the punch. Then there's the first ending theme that the first episode was hyping for the entirety of the episode, and boy do I tell you, when it finally ran without being stopped prematurely, the song did not disappoint:

Ima shika dekinai koto ga shitai (There's something I want to do that I can only do now)

Okay, let's stop before I go overboard. Overall, the anime's comedy is really executed well, and it's such a big waste to let this series go hidden any longer. Sure, the art isn't too much of a spectacle, that's why I opted not to talk about it, but that should not distract you from the notion that everything else is astounding. The anime isn't deep, but I believe that its characteristics as a comedy anime, especially in its tendencies to casually break walls give it the depth that it needs, and I hope that you'll like it as much as I did. After all, this anime is truly a must watch.

[This review contains minor spoilers.]
I am glad that I watched this.
I would recommend this to others.
I have watched this three times, subtitled. I have only watched the anime.
I will watch this again.
I purchased the soundtrack, which includes all of the EDs.

---- Positives ----

Situational jokes work well.
... There are many situational jokes that don't rely on a standard stock. The series largely relies on the throw-these-characters-in-a-room-with-a-topic-and-see-where-it-goes comedy, and it's done well.

The situations are interesting.
In general, a series that takes place primarily in the same room can become stale, but this series manages to introduce enough interesting topics and scenarios that this never becomes a problem. Also, they do actually leave their clubroom sometimes, and when they do, they always use their new locations well, for purposes specific to the new locations.

Although not very detailed, the art conveys well.
I wouldn't expect a comedy series like this to boast detailed art, and, as expected, it doesn't. However, the expressions and body language of the characters are represented well. I'd say that the level of detail is just right for what this series is. If anything, this series works very well within the confines of simple art.

The characters play out their types well.
There are five characters, each with different personalities, and they all stay true to their type. Additionally, their voices match well. I particularly think Doumyouji's voice was exceptionally good, though she may sound off-putting to other viewers. These characters, despite having different personalities, work well together, and although they aren't each directly connected with each other, there are enough connections within the five to keep the group together.

The retort-centric comedy works, if you're into that sort of thing.
Doumyouji is the leader, often directing the group. Kokonoe, Oohagi, and Touno are the personalities that form jokes, and Andou comments on what those other three naturally do as funny. Sometimes, Doumyouji exists for a joke personality. I'm struggling on where to place her because she has a few roles that the others don't. The group works, although you may not be amused by the frequency of Andou's retorts, especially if you don't enjoy retort-centric comedy.

Fitting soundtrack, nice OP and EDs.
The soundtrack, OP, and EDs are all great. The soundtrack is used well within the series, per scene. The songs are simple, and that's fitting.

The series starts off strong.
Although, if you don't enjoy the first episode, you probably won't enjoy the rest of the series.

---- Negatives ----

The pacing can be slow.
This is a rather mellow comedy series. This series is best watched when you're calm and not in a rush.
Opportunity for cancel: Sort of. This issue doesn't affect the entire series. Also, related to the next negative, part of the slow-pacing problem with this series may be because of gaps where you won't identify references, so you'll think that there isn't anything interesting happening, when jokes are actually being made without you realizing it.

There are many references, some obscure.
If you don't know certain references, a decent number of the events won't make sense to you. In some cases, you won't even know that a reference is being made. I just had a look at episode 5 to find an example. In it, they're referring to what I assume is Dragon Quest III, an old RPG [video game]. Particularly, the line "おお しんでしまうとは なさけない" and the design for the Demon Lord final boss from that game. Referring to RPGs in general, there's the joke about having a magic-based character use a melee attack against an enemy because using a magic attack would be a waste of MP. Generally speaking, such an attack would do very little damage, and magic users generally have MP to spare, or MP-recovery options, since their main focus is using magic attacks, so using a melee attack instead would be a major insult to the enemy. In the beginning of the next episode, Doumyouji wants the club to play a four-person video game, which would mean that someone would have to be excluded. This scene will make sense even to people who aren't familiar with video games and boards games that work like that, but it will have more of an impact for those who have memories of being in such a situation in the past, where you'd have to watch over someone else's shoulder and wait for your turn to swap in. If you don't play video games, specifically old RPGs, the whole Demon Lord section of episode 5 and the beginning of episode 6 won't be as enjoyable for you as they could potentially be. Where it may be most difficult for those of us watching in the USA is that some of the references are for a Japanese audience. In, again, episode 5, the characters mention Kintarou, a character in Japanese folklore. They also reference the late-to-school-running-around-corner-with-bread-in-mouth thing, which is a cross-series recurring parody in other series. One reference that I identified but don't know where it's from is the crows-cawing-in-the-afternoon-makes-you-want-to-go-home thing, which I've seen used in a few other series.
Opportunity for cancel: Yes. This is a comedy series, so references should be expected. Also, the events are still relatively enjoyable, even if you can't identify the references. If you can't identify many of the references, however, you may not enjoy this series very much because of perceived pacing issues.

If you're going into this expecting some kind of slice of life anime, you will be disappointed.

This is almost purely a comedy anime, and a very well written one at that. There's a lot of breaking the fourth wall and meta-jokes, you can tell the writers had a lot of fun with making this anime.

There is a lot of boke/tsukkomi humor here, a lot of absurdism and a lot of running jokes. It's all very charming and entertaining.

For comedy lovers i'd say this is a must-watch.

Art and sound are fine, the writing is sublime.

I don't understand the low rating of this anime, i ... suspect it's just people who started watching it expecting some kind of slice of life or romcom or something instead of the witty comedy that it is.

This is one of the most random, craziest, easy going anime I've ever watch. This anime lacks depth, character development and purpose. It can be just about anything at all, from kicking cans to bowling and so on.

While these are the things this series lack, these are what that makes it work. Playing ending credits earlier and so on makes it so easy and fun going to watch. It won't stick with you once you are done but it'll be one of those animes that will put a smile on your face when you watch it.

Overall, I give it a 7 because it's easy ... going, random and nuts.

This is more of a gag anime than a slice of life anime. The scenes where there actually is something going on other than girls discussing a topic in the club room are rare. It's pretty much "girls talking about topics the creator cares about", rather than "girls talking about things girls would be talking about". It is similar to Joshiraku in that vein. Though the number of language-related jokes are thankfully less, so the translations aren't a nightmare.

So, given its genre, obviously there is no story. There is not much character development other than very mild crushes/bonds between character pairs that appear halfway through ... the series. The bases of characters aren't very original either: there is a boke (Sakura), a tsukkomi (Natsuki), a healing/dojikko girl (Karin) and a "rich girl" with little personality (Claire). The only relatively uncategorizable girl is Botan, who is a somewhat stoic (despite playing the fool to get tsukommu'd by Natsuki) girl with super-strength. There is also a talking seal hanging around with the girls; I'm not sure what it is supposed to represent, but it felt pretty unnecessary to me.

Despite their blandness in personalities, the characters are brought to life and actually made interesting by the art directors and voice actresses. Or at least Sakura and Natsuki are. Karin and Claire's voices fit too well with their characters (which are pretty passive), and they don't have many expressions either. Botan's voice and face is also relatively monotone. Natsuki and Sakura on the other hand, are always lively, both in expression and sound.

At any rate, the anime itself is surprisingly immersive and enjoyable. Or was for me, at least. It might have been due to the catchy soundtrack, the amusing backdrop images that depict whatever the girls are talking about, or Sakura and Natsuki's childish voices. The peaks of the anime for me were the two scenes where two of the girls are discussing a game strategy telepathically for about five minutes; and an intense shiritori game with very avid narration that lasts for half an episode.

I never took these series seriously and I guess because of that I actually enjoyed it. Every episode left me laughing. I enjoyed the characters because thats basically what the show has. Theirs exciting plot, its just girls caving funny conversations and having a fun time. So I would recommend this show to people who just want a show that will make them laugh for 25 minutes.

I really loved this anime, probably my favorite comedy alongside Joshiraku and Yuyushiki, and Kitakubu seems to be a cross between the two, with Joshiraku's satire and fourth wall breaking and Yuyushiki's everyday jokes, it's a beautiful anime.

Is the Kitakubu production of poor quality? For me there is no problem, in fact, the anime takes the opportunity to make frequent meta-comments and use a self-deprecating humor. You can say that the seiyuus were rookies when they made this anime (even today some only have two roles), but that gives a special touch to the voices and I love it.

I will not do a more extensive ... review because it is not necessary, but this anime is a masterpiece.

You want to watch this anime but still undecided what to do?
Here I am to encourage you to watch this anime
Why?
Because this anime is funny!! Worth every your time
If you're looking for a comedy & 4th wall breaker anime here it is
If you like Gintama without the seriousness, sad stories & actions
You can watch this anime alright xD

May contain minor spoilers from here
-----------------------------------------------
...
Here's the thing...
Have you ever see some anime characters mocking their own anime?
Have you ever see an advanced "shiritori" game with a "taboo" card?
Cliche telepath communication?
Masamune Date Seal? (Date daze!)
You thought the voice actings are bad, later on you thought it's pretty good?
An overpowered gamer girl?
Cliche shounen's villains conversation (I'm the weakest of.. bla bla)
Being praised because you want to go home?

No?
Then welcome to kitakubu!! *ED song start playing
Ehhhh... Just how much ypu want me to end this review?!

The story is exactly like this anime's synopsis
The MC (Andou Natsuki) wanted to be in going home club, so there she is,, wish granted
That what I want to say but actually she just wanted to home afterschool
Slowly but sure she starts to enjoy the club activity

The artstyle
Cute, simple, but nothing special like our MC xD
I don't know that much about Nomad studio, but they did this anime with clean and simple

The sound
OP&EDs are pretty catchy and you'll like it after 3 or 4 episodes
Well beware though, Claire can change the ED anytime she likes!
Voice actings?
The seiyuu(s) are mostly newcomers.. Seriously guys what did you expect?
For first timer I could say they did a very good job
First time watching this anime, maybe their voice sounded pretty weird
But it's actually suited their characters
They did it pretty full of expression too (the voices obviously)

Characters?
Like Normal (invisible MC), Cute airheaded girl, Yandere Ojou-sama, OP old-gamer girl, and... who is she again? Oh right the club prez xD
Maybe you won't see their bonding very well
This anime make it pretty invisible, can't see those pretty well
But their characters & personalities make everything in this anime interesting & rather funny..
Yeah sometimes you'll just cringe because of their silliness

Enjoyment
Maybe this wasn't serious, action-packed, full of stories anime like I mentioned at the beginning
But if you need something silly, make your day better for one or two laughs/cringes
Yeah you'll enjoy this (enjoy the silliness of this anime ofc)

Overall
You know what to expect right?
Comedy.. Cringe-worthy
Sometimes really funny
Cliche
Bad voice acting at first, but you'll grow fond of it

If you enjoy comedy anime (with non stop silliness & cliche jokes), I'll definitely recommend this to you xD
Hope this helps
Please tell me if there's something wrong.. I'm not perfect you know :)

This is like a tumblr fantasy of a Big Bang Theory about dumb people, but where someone screaming something obvious supplants the laugh track. Didn't finish one episode.

Art and sound (aside from screaming everything) were good. Commendable attention to detail. The first episode took two themes and ran with them, but unfortunately couldn't do either particularly well. I guess if you like the "lol random" genre of comedy, you might like this. I actually do like some "lol random" shows, but the one character screaming the obvious ruined things for me. Maybe a fake dub would make ... it more enjoyable for me.

Poor Natsuki; trying to be a relatively ordinary anime character in an at least mildly sensible anime xD

Story - 10/10

Well, it's an SoL, so I wasn't expecting too much in terms of story content. There was a decent bit of story content however, providing a good bit of balance to the abundance of other incoherent happenings, heh. With how non-existent the fourth wall is in Kitakubu, the various gags related to production, previous, current and future episodes are at least coherent, so I don't really have anything to complain about, especially given how well it's all executed.

Art - 10/10

Surprisingly good, even when deliberately reduced for ... comedic effect or jokes. There's nothing particularly standout about the predominant artstyle, but it's easy on the eye and lends itself well to the comedy scenes and also the battle/ confrontation scenes.
Artboards - something that doesn't get used that much in anime but I really appreciate. It's really nice to see the artboards for characters and also the photos taken during the production of the anime as well, for the purpose of authenticity and adding that bit of personal touch :)

Sound - 9/10

Very catchy music for the opening and ending sequences, all of which are pretty fun and compliment the generally light and fun feel of Kitakubu perfectly. The insert music also plays its role very well, having good background accompaniments for comedic scenes and also the more tense scenes as well, to the extent where I could at times notice it, despite the foreground activity being pretty engaging.
Voice acting wasn't absolutely spectacular, though it should be said that the scripting and the focus on comedy maybe didn't lend themselves that well to the sort of voice acting I've seen elsewhere. The voice acting is still very good though; all of the main characters being brought to life very well by their actors across a range of behaviours and emotions, so I can't complain too much here.

Character - 10/10

Some familiar feelings in terms of character design (Claire reminding me of Tsumugi and Karin reminding me of Miho Nishizumi), but that's where the similarities end; these characters are definitely unique, in offering up a spectacular level of silliness when interacting with each other, heh. It's nice to see that they each have other sides to them despite the focus being on comedy and them all having running jokes throughout the season.

Enjoyment - 10/10

The most important factor from an anime classified as comedy/ SoL and Kitakubu excelled on this front. Prior to starting, I had just dropped another anime for not being funny enough and I'm glad I started this instead because it was a complete delight to watch from start of the first episode to the end of the last, where I was kind of upset that it was coming to end, so much fun I was having watching it :c Fourth wall pretty much not existing, genuinely funny jokes aplenty, a few well-executed sentimental moments, to get some tears flowing and a good sound set as well, to complete the production make this one anime that I'll probably come back to for a re-watch at some point in the future as a go-to for great fun and a good laugh :)

Overall - 9.72/10

Not perfect, but it's close enough and given how unique and memorable Kitakubu is, I think it deserves a high score. Also, not much in this anime makes complete sense, which the creators unapologetically revel in, therefore I unashamedly give them this score for having some honest fun with this gem of an anime :)

At first, it reminded me a lot of Seitokai no Ichizon, but it has its own flair to it that really sets it apart.

Right off the bat, like the other anime, the fourth wall is ENTIRELY broken! Well, actually, I think they waited a bit with this one. But, they did it quite heavily and it was...surprisingly enjoyable. However, my score is only as high as it is because, well, every review has to list negative points.

But firstly, what I enjoyed about it was that it delivered humor at a rapid pace, similar to another anime I watched, that is still my favorite, that did ... the same exact thing. However, they broke the fourth wall in a much heavier and not as entertaining fashion as the other one did. Oops, I just threw in another anime for comparison, but it really did feel similar.

The characters are enjoyable, each with their positives and negatives. However, it will follow a similar pattern to a good chunk of anime where there follows a main cast of characters that do things ever so nonchalantly and one logical character to re-bend logic back to its original common sense. Without her, the show would be going AWOL the entire time.

And that girl is Natsuki. Well not too heavily enjoyable at first glance, she surprised me. Once you see her in scenes outside her constant retorting, she is a sight to look at. She looks like a tomboy right off the bat due to her haircut and choosing the male uniform. She has a besbt friend whom she talks to that I actually...wait, I said haircut and forgot to mention her iconic COWLICK that is so freaking different from most anime hairstyles I have ever seen; even more so than Himeko's, as far as prominence goes.

When I first watched this, I immediately compared it to the anime I mentioned first and had considered heavily if I should continue watching it, but it proved to be quite different from that one; and her cowlick was just so entertaining throughout the entire thing! So much so that the episode that finally brought it on as a topic of discussion had one of the most absurd endings I had ever seen.

The other characters are not too enjoyable. Karin is your generic, innocent cute girl that immediately followed the flavor of the other characters without giving it a second thought. Sakura, the president of their club, was also pretty basic and did not deliver too heavily to the comedy. Claire, the most American name of the five, is another generic girl; a rich one, whom just references how wealthy she is all the time.

Oh, wait, there is one that stands out a LOT. Freaking BOTAN with UNNECESSARY SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH FIGHTS BEARS FOR A LIVING and usually talks about it as a main point of discussion all of the time. She gets horrifyingly more hilarious as the anime goes and outshines Natsuki for a bit because of it. If you thought this anime was just going to be a slice of life fun fest, you BETTER turn around right after you see Botan in action.

The humor, writing and story are all adequate at best, but I can neither like, nor dislike, this anime. It delivered enough to make me laugh and cringe at the same time at given points and, well, all I can say is that it is up to you if you want to watch it! But, if you saw Seitokai no Ichizon before, this anime will bear a striking resemblance to that one.

However, despite how foolish that anime was as well, its story proved to be much deeper than this one's was. But, both of them are only a candle compared to that other anime that delivers comedy in such an unimaginably original fashion that it even got an official dub by one of the best dubbing companies in the world.

So, this is an anime where I can say for the first time: I am not too sure. I still gave it a high enough score myself, but I guess I can say it is good enough to watch when you just need a mix of comedy, slice of life and absurdity. And, PREPARE yourself for the latter, because that is all you are going to get. Do NOT expect anything sentimental, except for the first and semi-last episodes, which do treat you to some good moments.

So, enjoy, I guess. Coming from me, this one will not give you a lot, but will still give enough.

Oh the memories..The hate,the pain,the blood running down my comrade's hands,the screams of burning victims as the bombs came down on us like rain,the sweet release of death as our lifeless eyes turned white.

That pretty much sums up everything about CotGHC,so goodbye no........No what are you doing?Why are you dragging me back?Leave me be,don't make me go through this nightmare again please...

Well they said that if i don't write a proper review they'll send me my wife's head in a bag so..

CotGHC then..It's about..Erm..Maybe it has to do something with Japan's school having a ton of clubs for kids to stay out of their parents ... way and kids than don't join one are treated as the plague and nobody loves them and they rot away slowly as time fades and with it fades the empty life of those fucks that stay at home and suck their parents happiness dry.

But because this is Japan they had to think of a shorter name and they went with members of the "Going Home Club"..Which in this anime's case it's an actual club with it's own room and stuff and people can join and it's legal..So Natsuke Andou and Karin Touno decide to join this cult and were ordered to sacrifice a baby seal..But the seal cried and begged for its' life and they couldn't handle the cute seal's tears and ended up making it their mascot.

As for the rest of the cult..Well there's Botan Oohagi who goes around the worlds parks and beats bears to a pulp to prove her martial artistic superiority or something..And no this time i'm not joking.

Then we have Claire Kokonoe,whose family is richer than Elon Musk.She also has a bit of an obsession Karin..I forgot Natsuke who has an antenna for hair,always shouts for some reason and plays the role of the "straight man" in this chaos..Karin is the cute airhead who also cooks and is perfect and all girls want to be with her.

Then there's the cult leader Sakura Domyoji,who wears some enormous red hair ornaments and has so much enthusiasm,one could believe she snorted a kg of cocaine.She founded the cult,which she wanted to be a cult that could be about anything.Unfortunately the cult is about nothing at all in particular.They basically sit around a table and talk about all kinds of uninteresting shit,like why a bird doesn't sing or something like that or why the Demon King is such a wimp.

All in all i think these girls would be better off if they actually DID go home.Apart from some good moments here and there,and i'm being very generous here,and the episode with the word chain(7),this anime has nothing to offer.

My mind keeps returning to a line in the closing song,"Don't think,feel!"..Makes perfect sense cause the more i think about it the more i feel i wanna drink bleach with snake venom in it.