Diving myself into this series felt like entering a world of absolute absurdity. Asobi Asobase is like a deconstruction of the ‘cute girls doing cute things’ at its finest. And I say this as someone who really enjoy slice of life anime. There’s no complex storytelling and a show like Asobi Asobase knew what it was doing from the very start.
Right off the bat, we are introduced to the trio of main cast – Hanako Honda, Olivia, and Kasumi Nomura. They make up the heart and soul of this show as every episode deals with their daily live adventures. Together, they are the Pastimers Club. As the most energetic girl of the group, Hanako often gets her classmates into playing games at school. These games often ends up being formulated with outrageous rules and ideas. Her classmate Olivia pretends to be an American with broken Japanese in order to fit with the crowd. Finally, Kasumi is the studious girl in the show with a dislike of playing games. With such an oddball cast, you’d wonder how this show can connect with the audience. Well, stop. Don’t think hard about this show because if you do, then there won’t be enjoyment coming from it. Asobi Asobase’s key to selling itself is the absurd humor. Nothing will probably ever make sense in the end and it doesn’t need to be. The games that these girls participate in often have high stakes too such as the loser being having to lick armpits. While this sets up for anticipating who the victor or loser will be, the sheer thrill of getting to the outcome always end up in an outrageously humorous manner.
The main trio does indeed carry most of the show but some of the supporting cast also gets their own moments of fame. Characters like Chisato Higuchi makes a fool of herself despite being a teacher. Oka adds her own taste to occult games to bring out this show’s black comedy. Characters like Tsugumi Azora become a source of feminine jokes because of her appearance. On the contrary, the show also loves to make fun of masculinity with characters like Takayanagi. If you don’t believe me, just look at her face and tell me if she is manly or not. We even have a butler in the show by the name of Maeda who would do anything for Hanako. As you may guess, it leads to hilarious moments like when he shoots beams from his butt. There’s actually more on that list but the general idea is that Asobi Asobase doesn’t care about whether it makes sense or not. It cares about being entertaining.
By the time you read up to here, the general consensus is probably just accept this for what it is or not. It’s an easy decision as the show isn’t hiding its intentions from the moment the girls appeared on screen. I’m not going to lie though, there are definitely some episodes that stands out more than others. However, each episode contains multiple segments where at least one stands out more than the rest. In some cases, you may end up liking them all equally or hate them altogether. There’s also so many jokes in this show that ranges from many categories to the point where you may think everything may be a parody. Believe it or not, it’s more about making its viewers laugh rather than looking for attention.
What also did catch my attention is the character expressions. Watching Asobi Asobase is like the show literally challenging you to laugh at how characters react. The way characters show their expressions is often exaggerated at very chance it gets. It never takes a step back to showcase how mean the characters can be. Add to their hyperactive personalities and you get absurd humor. As such, praise should definitely be given to studio Lerche for drawing that out. The artwork is also mostly soft with palette coloring. Yet, it’s never hard to take eyes off the Pastimer Club as they stand out above all else that’s going on in every scene. Character designs in the show is delicate with the main cast as teenage girls. Others such as Oka and Takayanagi stand out with their own unique appearances.
Quite frankly, character voicing in the show should also be given exception praise. Every dialogue in the show coming from the main characters sounds like a shtick. It’s almost if the characters are part of a stage performance. The theme songs are also performed by the main characters where every lyric can easily catch your attention. As gimmicky as everything sounds, I have no shadow of a doubt that the show knew what it was doing all along.
Asobi Asobase takes the risk of bringing comedy to levels of being near incomprehensible. It’s much more about “cute girls doing cute things” to what you’re used to. However, be aware. This is definitely not an anime for everyone. If this style of anime selling is not your cup of tea, then definitely turn your head and walk away. But if you’re here to stay, then it’s a showstopper that gives absurdity a new meaning.
