Sensei no Ojikan: Dokidoki School Hours

When I watched this for the first time, Azumanga Daioh was my benchmark for any slice of life theme anime. And as expected this show took inspiration from the original, but they still managed to expand the plot and characters nicely. Adding male characters helped balance it out, especially since Azumanga only centered on female characters. Adding both yaoi and yuri characters were also a good choice. At some point the show tried to cram too many best-of-the-best jokes that we've seen from other anime show. But it's not so bad. This is the kind of anime I don't mind leave to play on the ... background. When I re-watched it recently I'm surprised that I still some of the catch phrase, especially the fireworks scene. This was the show that first introduced me to the Kaguya-Tamaya tradition. And many other Japanese culture references I also first heard it from here. I won't mind showing this to 5 years old, since most of the adult jokes are subtle yet still hilarious for the younguns to learn Japanese for the first time.

Wow, I didn't think I would find an anime quite unknown to those looking for a moe comedy full of characters with such different personalities. And the result, after watching 12 episodes, is that... it was hilarious and funny at times.

Okay, Sensei no Ojikan (Teacher's Time) tells us about Mika Suzuki, a teacher who, despite being close to her thirties, is very short so her students don't take her seriously.

Well, basically all its episodes do not follow any sense but are sketches of each student doing something with Mika-sensei or with another student, from something normal like talking about a random topic to the surreal ... with one of their characters attached to their own imagination. If you have seen other comedies in the style of Azumanga Daioh, Paniponi Dash or Lucky Star, probably in Sensei no Ojikan you will get a similar experience of cute everyday school life.

Although Mika-sensei is the protagonist, her students are the ones who steal most of the show. In fact, there's a range of characters with personalities typical of a Japanese sitcom, but also other types of characters that you wouldn't normally see in a moe sitcom (the inclusion of male characters is one of those): we have the class representative, the energetic and naive girl, the "ojou-sama", the one who is obsessed by the teacher, by the feminine side. On the masculine side there's the transvestite, the "old man" (although he's really a teenager), the manga-drawing otaku, the dumb athlete, and his best friend who he's in love with (and doesn't know it). Yeah, even if it seems absurd, but this works on many occasions where different personalities mix for different jokes throughout the show.

Of course, which can have its disadvantages since it may be difficult for you to identify a bit with any of them. Likewise, this show is made for a more niche audience with "very Japanese" jokes in which you need to know a little more about their humor and culture. On the other hand, if you feel ready enough to go further down the iceberg of cute Japanese shows, then I'd say Sensei no Ojikan would be an interesting option if you have no idea what to watch for the week. There are episodes where there is comedy, but in others there are moments where Mika-sensei spends good times with her students in her day to day (The Festival episode is one of my favorites).

Despite that, its artistic section is not very striking. The design is much more "pretty" simple and short than if you compare it to Azumanga Daioh (which many will think is inspired even though Sensei no Ojikan's manga was published two years before it). Likewise, don't expect excellent animation either, it's just average and nothing out of the ordinary.

Both its opening and ending theme songs are simple but strangely catchy J-Pop songs. The first, played by can / goo, has a more pop rock style that describes Mika-sensei's day-to-day life, her personal life and her family life, and her life as a teacher with her students from she. The ending, by DROPS, has a more 80s-synth-pop style that, curiously, is a cover of the original 1984 version played by Tom Cat, another Japanese band.

Too bad there aren't many voices that you may have heard from Sensei no Ojikan before. In itself it doesn't seem appealing to an audience looking for a predominantly female cast in moe comedy. But the biggest problem is how it is presented:

Something that Sensei no Ojikan abuses a lot is the use of large texts in each dialogue, joke, action or even when representing the feelings of the character. On some extreme occasion, it seems as if you are watching an animated manga than an anime. Likewise, the show's sound effects can sometimes be missing in favor of using text to represent said sound. It is as if they had saved a budget to even limit the movement of the characters at various times.

Also, said before, if you haven't gotten very far with the anime, it's probably that picking Sensei no Ojikan as one of your first animes can give you a long experience of jokes that are better understood by speaking the language, repetitive structures and some characters that you may find annoying.

However, personally, Sensei no Ojikan was a pleasant experience. Having seen several moe comedies already, Sensei no Ojikan was an experience not so out of the ordinary. The characters were what kept my spirits up as I watched every skit on the show. Also, it has its merits of granting male representation, such as even experimenting with new types of personalities, in a type of show where only cute female characters exist. It can make you laugh a few times, other times it may seem annoying or boring, it will depend on your mood.

And yes, indeed Sensei no Ojikan was... hilarious and funny.

I'm the first person to review this? Okay...

Story: The description of this series sounded interesting but it is executed poorly. 'Doki Doki School Hours' is like the inbred offspring of 'Azumanga Daioh' , 'Pani Poni Dash', and 'Digi Charat'. Series begins 'in medias res' and has no real plot or drama. The pace is really hyper, and throws me off. Each episode is a series of short gags, like a 4-koma comic or something, interspersed with character profiles for scene transitions

Art: It's drawn well, but I highly dislike the extreme 'manga-ness' of it. 'Manga-ness' includes things like large Japanese text on the screen 80% ... of the time, displaying a character's name every scene they are in, and "profiles" of the characters appearing on screen for two seconds (Not enough time to read it, and I am a very fast reader).

Sound: The opening theme was forgettable, the ending theme was not much better, but what I really want to talk about is the LACK of sounds. Instead of having actual sound effects, the animators just write the sounds in kana on the screen. ALL THE TIME. So, instead of putting the sound of a heartbeat in when a character is nervous, there's just these HUMONGO "どきっ! どきっ! どきっ!" all over the screen. The same is done with regard to the sounds of walking, eating, laughing, etc. IT IS REALLY ANNOYING. Also instead of maybe putting some damn music in to convey the mood, the mood of the character is just written in GIANT kanji above/behind/next to them. Look, writing things like "concerned" or "serious" everywhere is okay IN A MANGA. This is just ANNOYING.

Character: The characters are actually done well. This is the thing I had no problem with. But you must be constantly reminded what character is currently on screen, usually with big flashing text at the top and bottom. ANNOYING.

Enjoyment: Like reading a manga without having time to properly look at each . NOT ENJOYABLE.

Overall Doki Doki School Hours is just poorly done. You just have to watch it for yourself to get a feel of how s***y this anime is.