Houkago Saikoro Club (After School Dice Club)

Miki Takekasa is an introverted high schooler who does not socialize with her classmates. However, she wants to know what "fun" really is, waiting for someone who could help her understand its true meaning. One day after school, she crosses paths with her classmate Aya Takayashiki, who takes her on a little adventure. Miki discovers wonders she had never seen before, opening a way to change her withdrawn life.

On their way home, Miki and Aya see their class representative Midori Oono entering Saikoro Club, a store specializing in board games. After trying out a German board game, Miki soon understands the kind of fun she had been looking for: playing various games after school along with the friends and acquaintances she makes from her newfound pleasure.

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Yashiro, Taku
Japanese

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Cook, Justin

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Sasaki, Reiko

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Herek, Samantha

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Imaizumi, Kenichi

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Opening Theme

"Present Moment" by Miyu Tomita

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Ending Theme

"On the Board" by Aya (Marika Kouno), Miki (Saki Miyashita), Midori (Miyu Tomita)

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Dec 18, 2019

Xiaraith

Recommended

Friendship through the power of board games - a board-gamified review of Houkago Saikoro Club

(this review is structured and meant to be read as if it was a board game manual)

-- General game info --
> game idea and concept by Xiaraith
> inspired by LIDENFILMS
> original story and art by Nakamichi Hiroo
> for any player count, age 13+
> Playing time: 5 minutes, potentially leads to another game of 276 minutes
...

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Dec 18, 2019

Stark700

Recommended

The foundation of Houkago Saikoro Club (Afterschool Dice Club) is based on tabletop games in the form of card games, board games, and of course, dice games. Chances are that you played a tabletop game at least once in your lifetime, whether it’s between friends or family. Hiroo Nakamichi manages to create a manga about tabletop game culture and to my delight, this is a slice of series I can recommend to just about anyone.

To start off, you don’t need to be a fan of tabletop games to really enjoy the show. I haven’t played tabletop games in a long time but had no problem ... looking into interest from the very first episode. We meet Miki Takekasa, an antisocial girl who has trouble finding fun in her life. After meeting Aya Takayashiki and Midoro Ono, she discovers a world of fun and excitement with tabletop games. Welcome to the Dice Club. This club is more than just an experience at games. It’s a social connection that bonds together characters such as Miki.

Indeed, character connection is an important element from the very beginning. Miki started off as being socially awkward but begins to grow out of her shell after joining the club. This is thanks to the friendly characters she meets including Aya and Midori. Both characters may be different but they manage to bring together the fun of experiencing with board games. From the show itself, we have cockroach poker, roleplaying tabletops, and even popular real world games such as Bunny Kingdom. However, it would seem a majority of the games are based on European tabletops than ones from North America. Ironically, a foreign character does later join in the show named Emilia. Known for her Irish descent, she brings in new excitement for her friends as she also experience the joy of board games. Like I said before, Houkago Saikoro Club delivers the social experience of people together rather than high stake competitions.

As a slice of life, the story flows in an episodic structure without a complicated plot. Character development is minimal although Miki’s growth is exceptionally noticeable the more she plays with her new friends. Every episode introduces games with different rules to keep the show refreshing. Sometimes, we even get episodes taking place outside of the store such as at the beach or school. During these times, the club members experience the teenager dream – being able to hang out together as normal people and enjoying life. With the light comedy, the comedic humor is generally tame that’s usually based on character personalities than dry humor. That is to say, this anime isn’t trying to make you laugh. It’s here to show how board games can change people’s lives.

Watching the series from start to finish, I do have to say that the male character cast is generally underwhelming. Characters such as Aoshima and Shouta are easily forgettable and fits the role of stereotypical school roles. The only guy in the show I commend on being noticeable is Kinjou Takeru, the store manager. With a bald head, apron, and intimidating sunglasses, you’d least expect him to be someone who would run the store. Thankfully, the anime also introduces Maki Kyouko. She may not be featured as much as the main cast but to me, she is a breakout character. From the moment she was introduced, Maki displays a free spirited attitude and loves making friends. In one particular episode, she and Aya goes on an outdoor adventure of their own to enjoy themselves. And that’s the same attitude you should have when watching Hokuago Saikoro Club. Enjoy this show with an open mind with a free spirited attitude.

Hokuago Saikoro Club’s art style is very manga-like with the drawn characters. The anime brings their character designs in definitive form with enhanced quality. Every character in the show stands out with the vibrant look. Character expressions is usually demonstrated with interactions than reactions. It aims to show how characters bond together with a common interest in games. To my delight, studio Liden Films even manages to make impressive appeal to the board games themselves. With each game featuring unique styles of gameplay, the show itself looks and feels different every episode.

I don’t think there’s much more need for a slice of life such as Hokuago Saikoro Club. From the very beginning, it knew what the audience wanted and delivered on almost every aspect of their goals. It seems nowadays, slice of life has taken on many forms. A show about a group of friends playing tabletop games together and experiencing the creative excitement is most welcoming.

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Dec 18, 2019

Fircoal

Recommended

Houkago Saikoro Club is a simple show that manages to succeed with its accurate representation of playing board games along with the character development and heartwarming interactions that are brought on by these games. There are lots of fun moments that can happen during a board game and the show does a good job of communicating these moments and showcasing the fun, glory, and growth that they get from playing these games.

The characters in Saikoro Club are generally well developed and showcase a good example growth that is tied in well to the subject matter that is being focused on. In the case of ... Miki we see a girl who is not only an introvert but is very shy from being bullied frequently in her youth. Her mental state reminds me of my own back in the day. She is hesitant to join with others and makes a beeline to and from school not stopping along the way. She is unable to bond with others, and has this feeling of loneliness rooted in her. But then she meets a friend. And along that she is introduced to the world of board games. The usage of board games both is nice as a tool to get her to open up and to be able to interact with friends, as well as use an activity that is able to provide group interaction while also allowing Miki to be her introverted self. The growth that we see from her is real and the games provide a good mirror as we see her grow in the action of the games. It's not as if she's not an introvert, she always is. But her timidness shrinks and the moves she plays in the games become grow bolder, showcasing her growth.

In the case of Midori, we see someone who already enjoys board games a lot and already is more put together from the start. However she does have a dream, one that she has been working on for a while, but that was pushed more to the back-burner. I really enjoyed the development of her dream as she was pushed to continue it and go outside of her comfort level. It's nice to see her missteps guided through and the development that her dream goes through, as she tries to push it towards reality. There are choices that she makes that make sense in thought but actually negatively effect her dream and keep it in its infant stages without growth. I like how the show was able to call out these patterns and give better advice to fuel the dream and push for the best result the dream could have. Not only did the advice and path make perfect sense to me, as the information given was all correct, but it was nice to see this growth and showcase the common failings that can happen in the path of making a dream a reality. While this dream is specific to the focus of the show I think there are good parallels that can be made with many dreams, and provides general good advice for dreams. I liked how the show didn't just make the dream happen but managed to have realistic set backs that I think are common for many people to go through even outside of the medium that Midori was focused on. It's a nice change to shows that focus more on overly dramatic roadblocks rather than the more real roadblocks we push ourselves into.

As a fan of board games myself it's fun to see the board games played out. I think the explanation of the games is excellent. Especially with how well they're able to explain the base rules, have it still be entertaining, and not have it take too much time. I have been introduced to a lot of new games and have had to bare through a lot of awful explanations. So to see good explanations for these games and to not be bored is quite a boon in my opinion considering how boring (at best) they can be in real life. The games themselves were fun to watch. It was cool seeing games that I had played before being played in an anime. Some of the games looked quite interesting too and made me want to play them myself. While how well the show was able to showcase the game being focused on varied from episode to episode the bulk of the games were fun to watch and had nice interactions between the characters. In particular the game in episode 2 was fun to watch as you could see the character's naivete and lack of skill very prominently which led to very funny results. These moments in playing board games are highlights of them and can be quite fun to watch and see.

The graphics and sound quality of the show is a much more mixed bag. The show isn't wowing it with its production, although it doesn't have any quality issues either. It's very average to the point of being exceedingly average, if that's even possible. It looks fine. Never great but never awful.

Overall Houkago Saikoro Club is a great anime that is able to use it's subject matter and give good development and growth based off of it. It has the heartwarming interactions and fun that is needed of a CGDCT, and never fails to be a fun little ride. It's a modest show but it fits together really well.

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