Let's get down to business. You're either utterly disappointed by this season or super hyped about SG0. Well let's just say if you are planning on losing any more hope for this season, fear not, this is an anime that well deserves your attention. Let's get to it.
So why should you watch it. Firstly, memorability. I remember this anime. It stands out as something that isn't just a bunch of students dicking about. Studio Feels delivered the damn feels. Anzu may not have the layering and depth of clannad but it's there. A slice of life, comedy anime that actually has sad scenes. It's just unexpected. Asides the feels, I noticed how it doesn't just cover school scenes, in fact there's an oddly lack of school scenes, mostly circulating around bars, yakuza office, your local strip club. Totally refreshing to know that japan isn't just a bunch of classrooms connected to each other.
Secondly, lovable characters. They are all lovable. All of them. They are like the opposite of Darling in the franxx. Completely. I would write a love letter to Studio feels for this. The sort of emotional bond between me and basically any character, even side characters are great for 12 episodes. There's not a lot of standout which means there's a lot of interaction between the main and side characters, not just the "I'm the only guy in Japan" syndrome. Awesome. And the main characters just bond so damn well that I feel emotionally attached and want to watch it. All well scripted, all fit in perfectly, all of them are awesome.
Third, execution. This series has everything well laid out. Everything from how Hina responds to how bad dad Nitta thinking that bringing a kid to a strip club is a good idea. It's just clever as the jokes made are of similar style but not the same. Jokes are rarely if ever repeated, they are just made in a manner that fits a characters style. That's comedy right there. This doesn't have the funniest jokes, but it just fits in so well to a character's style that it's automatically funny. It doesn't feel too forced but rather a balance of crudeness and idiocy.
Anything bad? Not much.
Artwork is fine i guess. The only issue I may have is that the colors seem a bit muted and there's less glow to it compared to even last years anime. Maybe you dig it maybe not, just look it up.
Audio is fine i guess. I did a sample on a pair of borrowed Stax and while sound quality isn't quite violet evergarden mind blowing, it's definitely not horrible. Right down the middle. Not very open, not a lot of background liveliness, but voice actors are doing ok. Dub is fine i guess, just as equally weird as every other anime.
As an anime, I think in this particular genre, it probably blows away most of your average comedy series of course. Sure maybe it won't beat Gintama despite their similarities, Gintama has that extra bit of depth and arguably more cruder in jokes and sure maybe it won't beat Nichijou in terms of sheer explosiveness and unexpectedness, but it gets darn close. Just right behind them and arguably matching kobayashi dragon maid which btw is also great comedy slice of life.
This is basically what the ideal comedy slice of life series looks like. Just stop whatever comedy series you are watching, just watch this.
