Wasteful Days of High School Girls is what Nichijou wished it was. A simple peek into random events among a cast of characters which is injected with subjective humorous encounters and its coinciding aftermath. WDHSG may not have the dose of extreme hijinks of Asobi Asobe or Prison School but it delivered the funny as consistently within its runtime thru its wonderful cast, subdued characterization, and superb voice acting. High school setting has always been anime's topbill choice to tell their story and the show does not give a damn and instead done familiar things by mix-matching the dynamics between the characters.
Comedy works best when the jokes, characters, and most especially, dynamics all converge into a concoction of harmony. WDHSG's initial episodes were not that bombastic, yes, but stick with them and one will be rewarded with a final episode that is probably one of the best among comedy anime. The characters were tropetastic in a glance but their depth were shown as they interact with each other in various scenarios. Most shows would just indulge their main cast with one wacky character to the next with little fanfare but WDHSG actually mixes the cast often and by the end, the whole cast feels like a cohesive unit and that everyone feels like a main character which one can just follow on without waning interest. One of my problems with the acclaimed Nichijou was that there is only like two characters worth anticipating on their next scene. In this show, despite its limited cast, I can just expect how each one would react to an incoming situation however the show has tendency to play it off each other by showing a different side of a certain character. As I said, sticking to the quirks of each character is rewarded on its brilliant final episode.
As a show, it's ED is just ok but its OP was excellent. Wa-Moon-Dass-Cry has a unique, earwormy vibe and found myself unable to skip them because of its entertaining visuals which makes use of its high school setting really well. The VAs were excellent, most notably, on Wota's VA for delivering a strikingly unique, dynamic voice among her high-pitched colleagues. The visuals in the show were complementarily simplistic but pretty, the character designs are great, and definitely passed the vibe check all throughout. The structure of the show was well-done: Intro joke> OP> Main Narrative> ED> Crumbs/Extra Scenes and it was just just paced so well that I've watched it in one sitting. When the show is over, I definitely clamored for more dessert but overall, left satisfied.
As for issues, I would say that it did not have the best pilot episode and has not fully set what to expect for its wonderful continuation. Likewise even when I said that the cast were wonderful, I would say that Robo and Baka, two of its arguably main characters, are quite generic even if Baka's intro lines became one of the show's memorable characteristics. This however was very minor as they get to shine on the show's best moments. Also, jokes are pretty tame but remains to be funny because of how they were delivered, paced, voice-acted, and how left-field they can get.
Watch this binged. May not be the ultimate laugh-out-loud show but it is CONSISTENTLY FUNNY which comedy anime should strive for. Nichijou only has like two funny gags in its whole 20+ episode runtime and yet people love it. I say, please take this show instead. Short, fun, well-delivered, and should get a season 2 ASAP.
