Story: With a title that literally translates to 'Idiot Girl', Aho Girl follows the comedic school romp of an idiotic girl named Yoshiko and her childhood 'friend' Akuru filled with fast comedic misunderstandings, leaps in logic, and some vaguely illegal things, ultimately creating a show that when you put it into perspective...makes absolutely no sense.
In a word, Aho Girl is pure nonsense. Based on a 4-koma manga of the same name, the entire runtime of Aho Girl spans roughly six full length episodes (or twelve, twelve minute long episodes) purely about pure insanity about a high school girl with a head so empty you'll wonder how she ever got to high school, and if she even has a functioning brain stem.
The show primarily uses a double act style of comedy, where someone (usually Yoshiko) begins a chain of misunderstandings and high energy moments only to be counteracted by the few members of the cast who act as the straight man for a resolution to the whole thing and bring the energy back down to earth after it's spiraled out of control to astronomical proportions. You'd think the show would be tiring after using this routine in basically every scene, but each episode manages to bring out different situations with different members of the side cast to really create a...unique viewing experience.
I think the best part about Aho Girl is the fact that the jokes don't overstay their welcome. We get the setup, the buildup, a little more buildup, the payoff, end. It's quick, it's snappy, and it makes just enough impact for the viewer to know what's going on and potentially want to continue watching just to see what kind of shit Yoshiko's gonna bring the rest of the cast into. So as a result, the show feels refreshing and is honestly quite amusing to watch.
Overview:
+ Quick, snappy comedy
+ Jokes don't overstay their welcome
+/- Comedy is subjective
Characters: Hanabatake Yoshiko, the Aho Girl herself, is no doubt the show's biggest selling point as not only is she the titular character, but her character is so devoid of intelligent or rational thoughts that it's a wonder how a character like this hasn't really been advertised like her. A simple creature with an extreme fondness for bananas, Yoshiko spends the entire series dragging in practically every member of the cast into her brainless schemes, usually dramatizing everything up to the payoff for the sake of comedy. As expected her character both doesn't change and is incapable of change, but has a nice healthy dose of comeuppance to counteract the crazy shit and splintering headaches that she gives to those around her who have even half of a working brain.
Then there's Aktsu Akuru, the show's primary straight man and childhood friend to Yoshiko. As a man who primarily focuses his time on studying, Akuru is a character who is completely out of fucks to give, easily giving into his temperament when it comes to what Yoshiko does in order to try and involve him with things. So I guess he's kinda stupid for falling for that so many times... Which actually brings up a very good point.
While the show does follow the style of a double act, everyone in this show has a few screws loose, and the straight men as a result have problems maintaining their position given the state of the situation spiraling out of at hand. Each member of the side cast brings their own brand of insanity from stalker, to lonely and needy housewife, an intelligent dog, to even comedically branded learning disabled children (poor Ruri), mixing around who is involved in what situation so we get to see how some of these characters react with others, and wait and see to witness what in the hell we're about to see in front of us. They're wacky, they're nonsensical, and quite honestly, that's what makes them at the very least fun to watch.
Overview:
+ Strange yet fun cast
- No one is safe from stupidity. NO ONE!
Art: Produced by Diomedia, the art for Aho Girl really isn't that noteworthy. It's of decent quality and has enough to it so that you're aware with what's going on, but the nitty gritty of it has very few interesting things to tell. This is most likely because the characters are so animated and bounce all over the place that any additional effort on the quality of the art would increase the amount of work needed to produce the show. Really though, it's not that bad.
Sound: This show has only one track to show for itself. Its OP named "Zenryoku☆Summer!" is a sporadic, nonsensical, fast piece that...for some reason sounds like it veers into like three different genres of music. It's such a weird piece that I can't help but call it memorable simply for that reason alone. It's not actually that bad either, and it's very fitting. It's just...I don't have words to make of it.
Personal Enjoyment: As someone who read and enjoyed its source material, Aho Girl is a very faithful replication of the 4-koma with the right amount of insanity added in to have it make absolutely no sense, yet somehow still be interesting yet fun to watch. I'm a simple person, I like stupid shit, so yes, I did giggle like a schoolgirl watching the sheer lack of brain cells and logic leaps that these failures as human beings showcased in their daily lives.
Did I like this anime?
Yes. My favorite parts involve the disciplinary committee chairwoman. I find it amusing seeing a character fall from grace all because of one person and the kind of depravity they fall into without knowing the full extent of their descent from the moral high ground. Also the dog. The dog is great.
What didn't I like about this anime?
Yoshiko. To be fair, I believe you're supposed to hate her because she's the epitome of 'dumb' but still acts all high and mighty sometimes to an almost annoying degree only to get comeuppance later by Akuru later so she can't bask in her self-satisfaction. Or something.
Would I recommend this anime?
If you want some quick and stupid comedy, this is a perfect fit. It definitely is a 'turn off your brain' show, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The show was made purely for entertainment reasons, so watching something dumb for the sake of getting a good chuckle is good enough in my book. Plus, you'll probably never find this many characters with this much lacking thinking power in one place again. So that's something.
