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
...
-- Game Material --
> models of 3 girls, board game shop, manager
> locked boxes to be opened when instructed
> decision board, pawn
-- Game Setup --
Prepare the game by taking the two models of the introverted (Miki) and the cheerful (Aya) highschool girls out of the game box.
Initiate their starting situation by allowing them to meet, which results in them starting a quest that they'll try to achieve for the foreseeable future. As trivial as it might sound, this quest is an adventure to learn about fun and friendship.
The remaining unlocked models are now added to the mix (the board game shop+manager and the class representative girl named Midori). After making the three girls meet in said shop, the main bulk of our game (and the actual anime) commences.
Prepare a way to note or remember your personal score (which starts at zero), place the decision board in front of you, and the pawn on the first spot.
-- Course of Play --
The rules are simple and straightforward. You control the pawn and move it forward on the board, one step at a time.
On each spot, you decide whether or not you agree with the statement written on it, and if you do, add or subtract the respective points to your personal score. Once you reach the end of the board, your final score will determine the outcome of the game/review.
+2 -- I value the depiction of a growing friendship
+1 -- rather innocent and curious girls are someone I enjoy watching
+1 -- cute girls for the win
-2 -- cute-girl anime mustn't feature any males in order to be enjoyable
+1 -- looking for a slice of life setting that, next to hobbies, also deals with daily problems and interactions in school
+1 -- I don't mind if characters in slice of life anime try something new/engage in activities not commonly seen in anime
+1 -- plot progression in slice of life anime exists, and it happens via character development
+1 -- a colourful/comfortable/picture-book art style gets a thumbs up
+1 -- people are happy and grow to each other by connecting via shared activities
+1 -- having a vivid imagination is no foreign concept to me and/or I enjoy gamifying parts of my life
+1 -- terms and names such as Spiel des Jahres, Alex Randolph, Catan, Eurogame/German-style board game, mean something to me
+3 -- I am interested in what an upcoming board game author needs to worry about, some of the steps required for a board game idea to take form, and perhaps I even tried my hands on an own game creation
+1 -- modern board gaming is something that fascinates me or that I want to learn about
-1 -- traditional games such as Monopoly, Risk or Clue feel decently complex and are all I need
+1 -- when I hear the term "gaming", I picture things that aren't related to video games
+1 -- in case I am German, I like to feel good about my nationality and/or want to experience something that my country has historically been, and nowadays still is, worldwide known for
-- Game End and Scoring --
Your pawn has moved forward, has moved to the final spot, netting or losing you points.
Whatever happened, your final score now determines how this game actually concludes:
(10+)
If today is the first time you've heard of "Houkago Saikoro Club", then let me tell you, it might just be your best day of the entire month! In any case, engage in this anime's world and get blissfully treated ^-^
(7-9)
Well played, and a worthy score for someone who might be looking for something comfortable to watch in order to calm down or explore the world of gaming. This anime is able to offer the desired variety.
(Treat this review as if it's rated 7 instead of 9)
(4-6)
If you are one of MAL's rare board game enthusiasts, Houkago Saikoro Club will almost certainly give you a blast of a time. And if you feel good about cute art and slice of life vibes while also being open to new ideas, this anime is a legit option too. In the end, you'll likely not have to worry about ending up with major things to criticise about this show.
(Treat this review as if it's rated 6 instead of 9)
(Less than 4)
Hmm, even though it might have come down to poor luck or other unfavourable circumstances, the chance of Houkago Saikoro Club not living up to your anime expectations has to be feared. The thing is, while this anime does offer a lot to those who scored highly or are otherwise intrigued by its vibes and themes, there isn't exactly much to find here for the rest of the anime populace. But hey, rather some specialised entertainment than everything trying to please everyone.
(Treat this review as if it's rated 4 instead of 9)
-- Credits --
First things first, you probably wonder what the locked boxes contain and how/when to open them. Well, do you like to be surprised?
LIDENFILMS's adaptation of a comfy manga will introduce characters and games that you might have not expected, but which all add to the entire concept. A game needs to be played after all in order to fully realise the special emotions and interacting mechanics, and same goes for this series.
All games in the anime (aside from those created by voiced characters of the show) are real existing games, and details of all the game boxes are all legit.
The genuine interest in board games by the mangaka, Nakamichi Hiroo, is easily noticeable in both the anime and manga, thus having the board game topic is not done in a cheap way as quick attention grab, but to provide a window for everyone to realise that board gaming is a thriving hobby.
Speaking of which, modern board gaming is in a very healthy spot these days, and people like me can easily spend hours daily just to read about new games or play some with friends/family/coworkers/etc. Board gaming isn't physically demanding, which is also why virtually every age group from young to old can enjoy it, something we also notice in the anime.
And you know, speaking from personal experience, I've noticed board game friends (those who generally don't know about the existence of anime) share trailers and details about Houkago Saikoro Club, and some of them did start watching it. A broader appeal is absolutely there, which I can't say about a lot of other anime/manga that feature certain sports/hobbies as their main activity and quirk.
If there is something I've got to criticise, then that the episode length doesn't allow for actually complex games to be part of the anime, even though I would have loved to see some of those. Well, reason enough for me to get a hold of the manga and see what else we get gaming-wise. And isn't this what a good anime tries to achieve, making you want to deal with its source material~
May these girls and everyone else keep enjoying the activity of board gaming. Its potential is infinite!
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Houkago Saikoro Kurabu
Japanese: 放課後さいころ倶楽部
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
12
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Oct 3, 2019 to Dec 19, 2019
Premiered:
Fall 2019
Broadcast:
Thursdays at 01:15 (JST)
Producers:
Genco, MediaNet, Nippon Columbia, Ai Addiction, Shogakukan, ABC Animation, Happinet, HOBBY BASE Yellow Submarine
Licensors:
Funimation
Studios:
LIDENFILMS
Source:
Manga
Genre:
Comedy
Demographic:
Shounen
Duration:
23 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#59242
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#3274
Members:
53,077
Favorites:
94
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 24 / 24
Sort
Your Feelings Categories Dec 18, 2019
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 ... Oct 24, 2019
Underrated Gem of the season. Wholesome, the anime.
Houkago Saikoro Dice club is not an anime that will blow you away in terms of quality, plot, direction, etc. However, what it excels at is being a very relaxing and enjoyable time, which is why it earns a 10 from me. I base my ratings on my overall enjoyment of a series, I don't care about super complex things that you may see in other reviews. Now that that's out the way, let's get into explaining the series. Dice club starts off with Aya having recently moved to Kyoto and looking for new friends, she ends up encountering ... Dec 18, 2019
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 ... Dec 18, 2019
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 ... Oct 31, 2019
Surprised this isn't higher than it is. While sure it's not an 8, a 9, or a 10. But it's certainly a 7 in my books. A simple concept of board games can be real interesting.
Again, it could be just tastes. But this is a lot better than the rating it is given. The characters are rather cute with how their portrayed and look. With relatable characteristics you see in every day life honestly, that aren't annoying in any stretch that could ruin the experience. As it doesn't here. From shy and timid, to one that is energetic and so on. Great characters overall. It ... Dec 19, 2019
Houkago Saikoro Club (2019)
Beginning with a sad story of an introverted girl due to the bullying she faced from her shyness. She has little in the way of friendship but this changes with the arrival of Aya. Later Midori and Emilia join the fold too. They all share a past time going through the series with analogue games. Miki the introverted girl meets various people and solves a few misunderstandings with some pointless romance devices shown. Pointless because they are barely touched, they could have been not shown and the show would hardly change. Initially, I thought this would be a hidden gem, however, I, ... Dec 20, 2019
On the surface, this may seem like another one of those usual shows where you have cute girls doing cute things for club activities at school. I mean, I get it. If the show was only about girls playing board games and nothing else, you’d probably get pretty board of it early on, right? Okay, that was a bad one…
But, anyway. It isn't, it's better than the usual ones. And I’m here to briefly convince you guys that it is. So let’s jump right into it. As the synopsis mentions, Houkago Saikoro Club begins when three girls meet and come together by chance to start ... Dec 18, 2019
Board games is probably not the most mainstream hobby out there but in my experience, it is one of the best social experiences you can have with your friends. For the past 5-6 years now I've regularly hosted board game nights at home with my former high school classmates and it's one of our most regular ways to hang out and reasons to meet. Board games are a great way to interact with each other in a fun, intelligent and rewarding way which also offers flexibility and versatility, and just in general it's one of the most social experiences you can have. I just wish
...
Nov 2, 2019
Welcome to my review of Houkago Saikoro Club! This review contains minor spoilers!!
Miki are a very shy and insecure girl who rather keep to herself! Sadly she got bullied in her early years. And later in high school she rejected invitations on social activities with her classmates. And because of her odd behaviour, and that she try to close herself in!! Avoiding places where people are gathering and are unwilling to take part of the world outside, I think she may suffer from a mild form of autism!! Aya on the other-hand are a very enthusiastic social and positive young lady! She have recently moved ... Jan 10, 2020
Do you remember Chip and Dale, the worlds most polite and considerate squirrels ? Next up think of Pollyanna the most optimistic girl in the world, toss in Louisa May Alcott's little women blend a little, dumb it down, toss in some do your best to overcome obstacles messaging, last a little gaming and you have After School Dice Club. If you think you would want to watch something like that Dice Club might be for you. The rest of this review is about why it wasn't for me.
First up, I don't think I have ever seen anything aired that had so ... Dec 2, 2019
I’m kind of disappointed by both the current reviews (except the first one - “wholesome” this show is, indeed) and the LACK of ‘current’ reviews. Thing is: ‘topping off’ at the 4th episode, why isn’t this show garnering more attention and reviews further than that? I’m very confused by this, and you can bet I’ll darn-well explain why:
So, firstly, I don’t expect my review to change between this point in the season and ‘by the end of the season’. It has been extremely consistent and, frankly, I’d almost bet my life that it’ll continue to uphold its standards of storytelling, animation, (mediocre) sound design, whatever ... Dec 28, 2019 Story: I missed some parts in it. There was this feeling like something more should be made of it but then the Anime was over. It still got a 9 from me, because it was still a little but nice story and I loved the concept a lot. Art: I have nothing to complain about it but it also wasn't outstanding or something special. It was nice, but that's all. (Not that that's a bad thing) Sound: It was ok. ... Dec 18, 2019
Houkago Saikoro Club, or After School Dice Club, was a refreshing anime, and an overall nice change of pace. I love serious animes with life or death stakes, as much as the next guy, but, I loved having a show this season where the biggest stakes at hand, were simply who would win the board game the girls were playing that episode.
Past that though, Koukago Saikkoro Club is something more, there appear to be a lot of life lessons embedded within the simplistic nature of this anime, leaving you feeling good and refreshed, and even at times, looking up from something that might be bothering ... Apr 16, 2020
Follow along the tranquilizing story and learn about different types and kinds of board games with a group high school of girls! This is Houkago Saikoro Club ( Afterschool Dice Club ), an anime about high school girls playing board games!
As simple as the anime may sound. After School Dice Club actually holds a strong sense of Slice of Life despite not being categorized as one. It could also be reckoned as a CGDCT & Soft Yuri due to how much moe and insignificant teases the show gives off in spite of the fact that the characters look mature and "friendly". This anime shows ... Jul 4, 2023
Who knew that an anime about friendship, happiness and board games would keep me entertained for 12 whole episodes.
A simple anime and perhaps with the aim of commercially popularizing board games, Houkago Saikoro Club explores the adventure of Miki, a girl who seeks to find and understand what happiness means. And the answer appears when she comes across Aya and Midori, two girls who will eventually join the main cast. I felt immersed in the games many times during the course of the work, trying to understand how the game worked as if I was waiting for my turn to play. From episode 6, the anime unfortunately ... Jun 6, 2020
I'm going to miss this show a lot. I wish a lot of people had seen this to make the company have a will for making a second season of this! especially since the manga gives the enough story to make 2-3 more seasons.
So many things good about this anime: 1. the characters! I loved the characters. -Even though there were some that I didn't like, it was me not liking them for a good reason. For that reason, I like them in their own way, also. All the characters have a purpose in the story. 2. The story! -The story in general was really ... Nov 10, 2022
Will charm you more if you are a board game player. Not so much if you aren't.
Calm, relaxing. No stupid cliches. Gets straight to the point - presenting you the most popular and fun board games. Story isn't very unique, the plot is simple and characters have little personality, as is typical for such a short anime, but they are not annoying. Well, maybe slightly towards the beginning and the end. The beginning is really rushed as the anime does not want to waste time on introducing these simple characters, which is actually a plus. The ending is typical secondary school anime melodrama, yet made short ... Jul 1, 2020
if only there's more execution in the story I would give this 9-8
Let's make it simple. This Anime gave me a slight interest in Tabletop games. I like how they briefly explain every game they play, and yes the games they played are real. so you could actually play it with your friend (in real life, if you have any) but it isn't only about school girls playing tabletop games. I really love how they put a splash of romance, flashback, a blonde foreigner (like always), and anxiety~ it's like when the first time you cook, you just put and mixed everything up. And it didn't turn out ... Jun 16, 2020
The idea was really cool. I 'm playing a lot of board games so I thought that it would be a nice anime to watch.
Now if I was watching this series in any other circumstances I would easily rate it with 1 or 2. But my mood was so bad that I needed something soft like this. Something to chill. First, the pros. Most of the time, everything is better in anime format. Something simple as throwing a dice, writing on a notebook, or just plain staredown contest, is always epic to watch. This again applies here most of the time. Board games you know are ... Feb 7, 2020
When you have an anime about a club or sport, there are in general, two ways to go about it. Have it be focused on the sport in terms of competitiveness (Ex: kuroko no Basket) or have it be about more of the character interaction and in a club/sports environment (asobi asobase, Sket Dance, etc etc).
This anime obviously takes the latter route. However, it stands to my attention that this show has absolutely no good character development, personalities, and to pair it off, pretty terrible dialogue and story arcs. It takes a lot of basic and archetypal characters, and does not do a lot with them. ... |


