School Daze – The Comedies (Part 1)

I suppose that given that 99% of anime is supposed to be watched by teenagers, it’s only fitting that there’s an awful lot of anime that’s based in and around schools. Some of it’s good, some of it’s terrible and there are a few that have become what might be described as well-loved classics – both in Japan and the rest of the anime-watching world – especially those that aren’t afraid to break the mold. Whereas most high school-based series tend to revolve around one or more of the kids having supreme fighting or magical skills (ho-hum), there are a few that aren’t afraid to either poke fun at the genre, or society in general, or even take a deeper look at what it means to be a teenager and the challenges that come with it. It’s these series (well, those that it’s been my pleasure – and occasional misfortune – to watch) that I’m going to blather on about in this post.

Is that a nosebleed… or are you just happy to see me?

I mentioned facefaults in a previous post, which are more likely to be seen in anime and manga, than in Western cartoons. That’s not to say that cartoons don’t have them, but anime seems to have a wider variety and uses them across the board to depict standard emotions / scenes / wotnots – regardless of who the anime is actually made by. So, bearing in mind that I’m really a kind of facts and figures and useless trivia kind of guy, I thought I’ve have a scrounge around and see just how many variations on the theme I could find. (Ok, and it was also a fun excuse to trawl through my collection looking for examples. That’s another reason why this took so long – I’d often end up watching 3 or 4 episodes of something I hadn’t watched for ages…)

One day you might get deep and meaningful reviews out of me and I might blather on about artwork and such, but until the rest of the world realises that Picasso was a fraud and anybody who bought his work was a sucker, I’ll remain an artistic philistine and stick to facts and figures and useless trivia.