Hidamari Sketch

Hidamari sketch is a wonderful 12 episode slice of life comedy about (SUPRISE!) four high school girls attending an art school. So what makes this show unique from all the other high school comedy's about a group of girls?
Their story may be the same as everyone else,
but their delivery is unlike most other high school
sitcoms you have seen.





When you start watching this show, the first thing you will notice right away is the art style and animation. Its definitely like nothing I've seen before. Well its more like theres two opposing art styles to the show. One is the standard cute ... chibi loli look (round faces and short stature). The second style is the super simplified look of the first style but taken to a whole new level. Its a little hard to explain but when you watch it you will realize what I mean. On top of that you will notice that the character backgrounds are quite unique as well. They emphasize more on simple single color backgrounds with light patterns. My favorite part of the show was how they used real photos of actual Japanese food and products.

That is another thing you will notice is that this show does a lot of fast camera switching. Basically changing scenes/viewpoints in under 2 seconds. It's long enough to understand what they're showing and what they're joking about, but it's a style that most people might get a little confused at first (i certainly did). This is what makes this show a little more unique than others of the same genre. It's comedy focuses more on one-shot gags more than anything else. While some shows do this once and a while, this show relies heavily on them. One-shot gags are basically telling a joke and showing what they mean real fast and then moving on to the next joke. Its a difficult style to understand since you will have to understand what they're talking about or you'll just waste your time trying to understand the previous joke. The casual anime viewer will most likely be confused more than anything since they're all jokes about Japanese culture, but its also a good way to learn the culture too. The show is also set as a sitcom style, with each episode representing one whole day (and specific day's at that). So you can essentially watch all the episodes in any order.

What seems to be where all the hard work (aka money) has been put into show is from the choice of voice actors. It's a mix of veteran seiyu's and rookie seiyu's but the outcome of it all comes off perfect since they all sound so insanely cute. From their school principal all the way down to one of the characters little sister's, they all have that air of cuteness in their voice. Even though their character types are very stereotypical of a high school sitcom, I found the characters to be very memorable. They are all drawn very cute, sound cute and act cute, so I found it VERY hard not to like every single one of them. But if i had to choose, the chemistry between Hiro and Sae would have to be my favorite part of the show. But as far as individual characters go, Miyako is my favorite even though I'm not a huge fan of the energetic-type characters.

For a show that sounds like just like another cookie cutter high school sitcom, they try their best to make this show different from the rest. From the story telling to art work, to even the way they tell their jokes its all unique. I definitely recommend this to anyone who love high school sitcoms or who wants some cheap laughs (or lolicon). Unfortunately, casual anime viewers might want to steer clear of this show simply for the Japanese one shot gags.

Hidamari Sketch commits to the idea of slow television, or at least the anime equivalent of it, which to some might be a good thing, but true to its name, slow television is sluggish, my eyes, ears, and thoughts all move much faster than the onscreen characters, and it leaves me wanting more. Within a slice of life where ‘nothing’ happens, enough has to actually happen to keep me focused and engaged with the characters, but Hidamari doesn’t quite do that.

It’s not a bad anime by any means, the basic components are still functional enough, I’ve certainly seen a whole lot worse, but if there ... is a single issue I have, it is that of the main cast, nobody is of any particular interest. Yuno is okay, I guess, but she’s not got any memorable lines, and for a supposed comedy, there is a considerable absence of any real jokes, an issue compounded by the fact most the jokes you do see are just kanji puns, which of course, don’t make any sense when they’re translated. Compared to Lucky Star for instance, you had various archetypes, which while basic, worked well with each other, making one main character an otaku, and another a hard worker is going to create humorous interactions, but nobody in Hidamari Sketch has any distinctive traits, and while you can compartmentalise them, a lot of the time, they end up slipping into the roles of each other – Sae is meant to be ‘the shy one who gets embarrassed easily’, but Yuno acts embarrassed in the exact same manner plenty of times, which means none of them are hugely distinct. When it comes down to it, the most memorable character was the teacher, whose performance seemed to have a whole lot more energy put into it than any of the main cast, which certainly isn’t a good thing, considering she’s a side character.

In actuality, these flaws are not major, while they aren’t something that can be entirely ignored, they also aren’t something that I should give more prominence than is necessary. Hidamari Sketch certainly does a better job than most at providing a relaxing atmosphere, the characters are not particularly distinctive or expressive compared to most anime, but that is because it would conflict with the overall aesthetic of the show, which is to provide a relaxing atmosphere, and it does that well, the colour palette, the seiyuus’ enunciation, and the music, which is probably the best part of the show, all contributes to a calming atmosphere. Hidamari Sketch is an anime you could have an easy time falling asleep to, whether or not that is a bad thing depends entirely on what it is you want from it. And that summarises it rather well, the characters aren’t that great, the comedy even less so, but it’s definitely relaxing, I wasn’t particularly impressed, but it is good at what it does, and maybe if you’re some crackhead who wants to watch anime and try and sleep at the same time, maybe you’ll like Hidamari Sketch more than I did.

Hidamari Sketch definitely fills the role, "A Splice of Life." With four girls hanging out as friends for life, this anime creates a relaxing atmosphere where one can just settle down and enjoy watching the dasy which our main characters live through.

I'd like to give a thorough review which allows the readers of my reviews to decide whether they want to watch this anime or not, but unfortunately, I will have to be rather bias for this particular anime.

Story - 3. As an anime of "A Splice of Life," nothing particular happens within this series. In fact, so much so that there really is no ... Build Up, Climax, then Falling Action like the series I'm much more adapted to watching. There is no plot, just four girls going through ordinary lives as they attempt to make it through Art School.

Art - 1. The drawings of the characters themselves are rather well proportioned, and definitely brings out the term, "individualism." However, the animation aspect efficiently lacks any effort in work. Each episode consists mostly of text or isolated animation objects in order to avoid actually animated the full scene.

Sound - 1. The music felt misplaced, and quite a bit of "dead air" was introduced during the course of this anime. Dead air tends to make the moments animated rather stale and bland to watch.

Character - 7. For a splice of life, these characters definitely fit the bill, and the voices certainly play out their parts. I've no complaints here.

Enjoyment - 1. I have learned that I cannot handle animes dwelling in the field, "A Splice of Life." While others may enjoy it, I live to find animes where plots develop and characters continue to "fight." This genre of anime does not fit that bill, because the random events leading towards no climax drove me nuts to the very end.

Overall - 3. That's the average. I've never rated an anime so low before, but there you have it, my bias review to those who don't know what they're getting into. I've never felt the need to drop an anime so badly in my life. It may be a rather entertaining anime for those who don't hope for a plotline, but I certainly could not handle it.