Joshikousei no Mudazukai

"Hey, can I say something amazing?" - Baka "OH HOLY $H!T, why is this show SOOOO criminally underrated!?" - The minority of people watching this (including yours truly) This show is comedy gold that we've been seeking since recent times, and as it goes for a stupidly, insanely great premise for a school comedy, something along the lines of last Summer's Asobi Asobase, but fusing with the characters from Nichijou and Daily Lives Of High School Boys, girls' edition. At first, I thought it was like some mindless random high school JKs just lamenting their lives in school trying to make their own mark everywhere they go,being friends and strangers, all within the space of their own perceptions that looked like a bad premise. But as we all know, it isn't so as time progresses and seeing the character cast of their troupes and cliches that we have come to know and accept their randomness with the endless amount of gags that keeps us on our toes for both the expected and unexpected. That's a punchline! Being a full-on comedic series, you would want the character cast to be as dynamic and unique as possible, as how we've seen with both said series before. And this series did illustrate each and every character to the fullest "potential". More than just being the group of generic "meh" girls with only their unique "quirks" to offer in the midst of jokes that hold up hits and misses at times, mangaka Bino ACTUALLY referenced the names of the character casts to the puns and illusions of their own personalities. And with that being said, let's throw the story out completely and bring on the characters! The trio of same-class classmates: Tanaka "Baka" Nozomu, Akane "Wota" Kikuchi and Shiori "Robo" Saginomiya. At first glance, these 3 girls look like your average school clique of friends. HOWEVER, look past the first impressions and you'd have a group of girls who does the EXACT same thing over and over again, so much so that it transforms the initial annoyance to a gem of classic comedy that's tried-and-truely done impressively well. Baka is the constant being of an incredibly stupid and senseless girl, so much so that nobody wants to retaliate her annoying criticisms about everything that is randomized, plus her opening catchphrase. Wota, on the other hand, is aspiring to be a BL mangaka due in part of her being a fan of BL. Moreover, her heart cries out for Vocaloid Teishotoku P as both a fan and crush...but there's a plot twist to it (that we'll see later)! Robo is the type of girl who is emotionless at everything, from her figure of speech to her interest being experiments on biological stuff, so much so that Tanaka calls her "Robo" due to her no-note talking, as if to mimic a robot. The "Filler" classmayes: Saku "Loli" Momoi, Yamamoto "Yamai" Minami, Ninomae "Majime" Kanade, Kujou "Majo" Hisui and Lily Someya. Due to her physique and appearance being one very similar to an (loli) elemntary school kid, don't ever look down upon this childhood innocence of a high school girl, because she wears kindness over her life due to her upbringing with her granny in Japan while parents are away (well duh, of course). Plus, being tormented by everyone with "adult" misunderstandings meant that Loli could not grasp situations well that pertains to the adult mindset. we must protecc Loli! Yamamoto is your typical average chuunibyou that expunges the daily life with her fix of chuunibyou stuff, so much so that their homeroom teacher is SO irritated by it, he counsels her to insanity. Majime is the sort of character where I would call the "aloof" human, due to her tomboyish character notes while not being a social butterfly. And it is this case where she stalks Robo to no end, admiring her smart intelligence all her life. Majo is the group's occult lead, so much so that nobody would want to go near her as she can chant spells that affect the mundaneness that is the human life. Plus, with Lily Someya transferring into the school (and getting acquainted with Tanaka and Co.), she is (naturally) the school's bishoujo, but her anchor lies in her phobia of men (which Tanaka flinches everytime), and with her character design being a parody of lesbian characters, it's not hard to see striking similarities. Last but not least, the homeroom teacher Masataka "Waseda" Sawatari. Despite his quirky appearance, he holds 2 positions: One, to disperse Yamamoto's chuunibyou habits, and two, act as Wota's secret musical artist admirer. Remember what I said about Teishotoku P? If you're wondering who he is, Waseda IS THE ONE. WOW, WHAT A PLOT TWIST! All the characters here, be it working for or against one another, has always had that magical mystery of clicking together for some insane reason or whatnot, it will always stand to be as the highlight of the series by a long shot due to how much the character interactions become the main crux that plays to release all that pent-up frustration of wasting lives away like it's nothing. Plus, a shout-out to the 9 student-ladies crew of VAs who worked tirelessly on this show to give us an overwhelming positive experience! If there is one person to thank for this marvelous setpiece, it is chief director Takeo Takahashi, who has directed the infamous Aki Sora, the incredible Spice and Wolf, the divisive Yosuga no Sora, and now with studio Passione as studio director. It's by far none his best recent directorial work to date. As with studio Passione doing the art and animation, it's pretty average to say the least, or at least on what the studio has been doing for the last 2 years of decent levelling. Particularly, nothing really stands out other than insane scenarios that had me wailing so hard I got bored and yawned at times. HOWEVER...*OP plays* "YO...Mic Check...JK! Wa! Moon! Dass! Cry! Everyday!" While the OST too is very lacking in expressions, at least it somewhat redeems it based on the OP and ED alone. I hate to say it, but while the ED was fine by any usual standards, the OP...like WHAT THE HELL! It went from being SOOOO "meh" to singing "Uuu~~~~ Wa! Moon! Dass! Cry! Everyday!" every episode, at least it is for me! Now THIS is an OP I can share around with friends and marvel at the visuals and technicals about it, plus the crazy (in)sanity at how this simple song was so damn catchy and knows its shtick very well, it may just be one of (if not) the best and unique OPs of the season due to the amount of creativity that is put forth onto it. And now that song is stuck in my head, singing "Wa! Moon! Dass! Cry! Everyday!"...you know it when the GOAT music director Jin Aketagawa is at the helm. While I'd like to re-watch this sometime in the future, the only gripe I had with this show is that more often than not, as stupid as they seem and sound, the jokes either don't land or have less of an eventful impact, so much that it detracts any fun had with this show. With that being said, that is just my nitpick, but if you like full-on comedy that is satisfying at every nook and cranny, this is the show for you. If only Nichijou and Daily Lives of High School Boys had birthed a child, Joshikousei no Mudazukai is a DAMN GOOD (no pun intended) waste of time, wasting our days as high school JKs recreate those moments for the students in us.

Quick short review: Do you feel like having a fun time and having some good ol' laughs? Trying to feel that missing piece in your heart that craves an anime similar to "Nichijou" or "Asobi Asobase"? Well you came to the right place! Joshikousei no Mudazukai is the anime for you! The story, location, jokes, and even some characters, can't help but constantly remind me of Nichijou/Asobi Asobase, and I like to think of this as a good thing. Others may indeed call this a "Nichijou/Asobi Asobase ripoff" or a "Nichijou/Asobi Asobase wannabe anime", but trust me this isn't the case. Both of them may have a fewsimilarities, but even so, they have there unique features and style of making the jokes pop-off. Ever since Nichijou/Asobi Asobase ended, I have personally been craving for some more of that "good stuff" and "Joshikousei no Mudazukai" finally brought to me what I desired most; laughs. All that aside, I truly believe that this is one of the hidden gems of this anime season, and I am truly amazed that simply not enough people are talking about it. It really does everything right and I highly enjoy it. Overall, giving it a solid 8.2/10. <3

Joshikousei no Mudazukai (2019) This anime by far is the comedy of the year. Kaguya-sama was very close but this show is just hilarious all the way through. Primarily about three girls and their high school experiences but you also get a good fill of the supporting cast to make it feel like a mass of main characters. The art of the series is great and is really satisfying to watch. The show does a really good job with attention to detail. The OP for the series is really good and enjoyable to listen to each time. The ED is also very nice to listen too.Throughout the show, the sound effects are very good and fitting at every turn. Characters are developed fairly heavily throughout the show. They get good segments to explain personalities in much more detail. It would have been nice on a personal standpoint to get to know more about Yamamoto because she is a really interesting character. Enjoyment as a whole is absolutely 10/10 since the show is so funny and varied throughout. The little things like how the OP splits the characters into groups that define the main set, 'weird ones' and others as such. Overall this is the best comedy of 2019 thus far. It will take a lot to change that based on what is expected to come up. A season 2 would be deserving.

Just not funny enough for me, as a Japanese speaker who adores quirky humour. I came across ‘Joshikousei no Mudazukai’ during a search for anime similar to ‘Nichijou’, ‘Asobi Asobase’ and ‘The Daily Lives of Highschool Boys’ - three anime that I’m fond of and think portray the Japanese surreal humour very well and all in all are extremely funny shows. The anime that most people recommended for these three was this anime, ‘Wasteful Days of Highschool Girls’. Now this may be because I am Japanese, and maybe have a high standard of the Japanese humour that I want to see or if it’s because I understandthe humour and language better than perhaps a non-Japanese speaker - but this show just wasn’t that funny to me. I watched it through to the end just because I wanted to give it a chance, but other than its very sparse, occasionally funny jokes and likeable characters, it wasn’t incredibly interesting to me and it did not have me in fits of laughter like ‘Asobi Asobase’ did. Slightly disappointed, if anyone actually would like to see more humour similar to the three above, I would say give ‘Saiki-K’, ‘Grand Blue’ or ‘Sakamoto Desu Ga?’ a try, as this anime just did not hit the mark. I’m giving it a six anyway because, if I ignore the fact that I was searching for a specific type of humour, it is a good show with wholesome moments, dumb remarks and enjoyable characters.

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