[Story]
There's a lot of reasons why I love Barakamon. From its relaxing settings to Naru being one of the cutest and most fun anime characters to watch to Handa’s amazing growth and him coming to terms with his career anxieties by living in a rural countryside, it was a great piece of quality show that I really enjoyed. The comedy was also one of the best I've seen in anime. I'm all for more Barakamon content so that's why I was a bit excited for Handa-kun. After watching the first few episodes, I was honestly a little bit disappointed.
So what happens when you take out all the core strengths of Barakamon and turn Handa into a teenager and put him in a high school setting? Well, you get this. Although, just because I'm a big fan of Barakamon doesn't mean I hate Handa-kun. Handa-kun actually turned out to be a decent series. I also admit that Handa-kun's comedic aspect was good at times but decent for the most part and it made me laugh at some parts of the episode. Except the first 10 minutes of the first episode breaking the 4th wall, that scene didn't make me laugh at all. Though, I still think Barakamon's comedy was 2 times better.
The show, as a whole, is built on misunderstandings. Unlike Barakamon, which impressively portrayed Handa's amazing character development, this show only focuses on Handa's school life and the things that he has to face every day because of this "misunderstanding". He thinks that everyone hates him but in reality, almost everyone loves him. Now, why does he think like that? It's all thanks to Kawafuji (Remember him from Barakamon?) trolling the shit out of him and Handa actually believing his joke. Since Kawafuji finds the situation funny, he's letting all the events happen. That's the whole joke of Handa-kun. "The misunderstandings between him and the students". Though, it never gets tiring because the jokes has its twists every episode that keeps the joke fresh for the show's entire run. Plus, there's about 2-3 different segments per episode so it isn't just 24 minutes of Handa and that same student for a whole 24 minutes. Each segments focuses on different characters with a different situation and I, admittedly, was laughing my guts out on some of the episodes (mostly in the second half of the series). I just find it hilarious that Handa and the students, especially those on the Handa Force, are never on the same subject and they see things differently.
Also, some of the jokes on Handa-kun were references to Barakamon and it was a nice touch. The reference that I loved the most was the episode about a student who is a fortune teller, with a very accurate fortune telling, and she predicted Handa's future and said "So many children despite not having a single sense of sex drive!" which then shows a background with the kid's silhouette from Barakamon. I love it and I'm glad they did that. God, I miss Barakamon
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[Art/Animation]: (7.5/10)
The Art and Visuals were pretty decent for the most part. The animation was ok, for a slice of life setting and the character designs are good but not the greatest I've seen. The background, on the other hand, looks really cheap. I mean, what the fuck? It looks like a shaded drawing but was horribly rushed. Is there supposed to be some meaning in the cheap background or is it cheap because they didn't have enough budget? Either way, I didn't like it.
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[Sound]: (7/10)
The soundtrack wasn't really anything special and nothing stood so none of the OSTs is worth mentioning. It's just your typical soundtrack for a slice of life anime. Now the OP and ED theme song(s)
The OP theme song is "The LiBERTY" by Fo'xTails. I did not like the OP theme song at all. I'm ok with songs that are rock but heavy rock is not my cup of tea. I ended up skipping the OP after hearing it on the 1st episode.
The ED theme song is "HIDE-AND-SEEK" by Kenichi Suzumura. Now this song, I like. I really love the song's upbeat tune, the melody and that amazing chorus. Plus, the singer's voice is amazing. Also, the ED Animation, while simplistic, was stunning to watch. I love how the amount of characters walking in the ED grows as more characters gets added throughout the series.
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[Characters]: (7/10)
There's really nothing much to say about the characters except that they're just there for the sake of comedy. A new character or a bunch of new characters gets introduced almost every episode and some of the characters will either be back in the future episode or they won't make an appearance again after getting introduced. For example, Mori Maiko, who has feelings for Handa, and her friend with a big-ass head Juri gets introduced in the 1st episode but they barely make any appearances in the future episodes. Like I said, they're just there for the sake of comedy and they get little to no character development (Except the Handa Force members. They get a decent amount of character development). The characters are enjoyable to watch though. The characters vary from a librarian girl who has deep feelings for Handa, a yandere girl, a "normal" boy, a "trap" student council president, the "pretty boy and etc. The show has a lot of variety in terms of characters' personalities that makes watching these characters very interesting and not boring at all.
Handa was a lovable character in Barakamon and watching him in the 1st episode was just.......I don't know. The way he acted in the 1st episode was not the character I fell in love with (No homo). He wasn't even THIS dense in Barakamon. Then I realized that Handa is a teenager in this series. I just couldn't believe that Handa is that dense to the situation around him. Even I'm not that dense and I can read the situation around me (Teenager here). Yea, don't remind me, it's all for comedy. Though, it took a while for me to get used to his teenager side and after that, I enjoyed watching him go through his high school life with full of misunderstandings.
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[Enjoyment]: (7/10)
For the most part, I enjoyed Handa-kun but it doesn't even hold a candle to one of the best slice of life series ever "Barakamon". Handa-kun was just a hilarious and fun mindless show, for me, and I enjoyed the comedic aspect of the series and also, most of the characters in the series.
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[VERDICT]
Handa-kun, a prequel to one of my most beloved slice of life anime series of all-time, turned out to be an alright series at the end. The characters were somewhat enjoyable to watch, especially the members of the Handa Force and while the comedic aspect of the series may not be perfectly executed, it still made me laugh at some parts of the show. Overall, I enjoyed this show but to a certain extent. Of course, if you were to ask me which show I enjoyed more then Barakamon will be an obvious answer from me. If you were to view Handa-kun as a standalone series (or you haven’t watch Barakamon at all) then you might enjoy this series even more. Now that I've finished Handa-kun, I'm really hoping for a sequel (sort of) or an extension to Barakamon that expands more on Handa's life on the island because it felt way too short.
[OVERALL]: (7/10)
Pros:
+Enjoyable series to watch
+Show turned out to be alright at the end
+Decent comedy, with some parts of the show that made me laugh
+Enjoyable characters with different varieties in their personalities
+Nice touch on the Barakamon references.
Cons:
-Cheap looking background
-Handa's dense level annoyed me on the first couple of episodes
-Handa-kun, being a prequel to Barakamon, doesn't exactly feel like a prequel to said series.
