We see how everyone prepared for their first day of school, before the series started.

Impressions:

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this episode. The previous episode had a very “final episode” feel to it. The way it showed everyone together, all Torako’s friends coming together in her support, gave off the kind of feel that a final episode would have, so I suspected that this episode would be different, and it was. I just didn’t quite expect for it to be a prologue like this. I did find it very good though. It really showed how much all of these characters have changed. Seeing Ayu really lonely, seeing Torako and Suzume by themselves, it really helped to show how important the series we just saw was to these characters, how it helped them get these friends and become happier.

I was slightly disappointed that the last couple of episodes weren’t really focused on the comedy. Just when they had finally gotten though introducing so many characters, they show that in one episode when they feature them together its hilarious, but then they don’t’ build on that any more. They just drop the whole thing and shift more to a slice of life focus where they show how troubled everyone was before becoming friends and so on. I’m not disappointed because those things they did were done badly. In fact I thought they were done very well and were actually some of the better episodes. It’s just hat they had those episodes right after finally having the opportunity for better comedy. I just wish they would have consolidated one or two episodes that introduced the classmates into one so they had more room for episodes like the dodgeball one.

Final Words:

This series hasn’t been my favorite comedy series, not by a few series. It isn’t my favorite slice of life series either. Looking at both genres this series falls into, and even them as a combined genre, this show doesn’t really come out on top. It’s not the greatest by any means as there are many shows that just do a better job at coming up with comedy and making you care and feel for the characters in the slice of life aspect. However, this series is far from bad. Although it doesn’t do anything outstanding, it’s still a very solid series. Just wanting a series to watch and not think too hard about, not have to think of theories or contemplate what things mean, just a relaxing enjoyable watch. In that sense, this show does great. It’s nothing special, but not bad at all. It was a very enjoyable and fun series to watch and just relax to.

As far as characters go in this series, it’s obvious that Torako is hands down the life of this series. Although they tried to make it come across that there were four main characters and then the other classmates as support characters, really everyone was a side character compared to Torako. As many comedy shows do, she was the eccentric character that did wild and crazy things that ended up pulling these other characters into action. She’s not unique in that aspect, as plenty of other characters fit her role in their respective series, but just looking at this series Torako was a joy to watch.

We learn of the problems Torako has with her family as her sister Oniyuri is introduced.

Impressions:

I was very surprised by this episode. It wasn’t at all what I expected. I eventually expected the show to give some focus to Torako’s sister, as they kept briefly featuring her, but I didn’t think that when they did it would be a whole episode that focused on Torako like this. It wasn’t even like it was focusing on her in a funny comedy way like all the other episodes that focused on side characters, this was pretty serious. Things such as Torako struggling with her family, whether they are really her family, and feeling alone but having her friends all rally together. It was something that was very different from the rest of this show, but in the end I thought it was a great episode. I didn’t even get a hit that Torako had a serious story to herself so showing this was very nice and great character development.

I’m curious as to whether or not they’ll return to doing episodes a bit more focused on comedy. Although this was a very good episode and revealed a lot of about the characters, it was pretty devoid of comedy. This episode could have been the last episode, easily, as they finished the episode off with all this talk about friendship and how they are all there for Torako when she is facing problems like her family. If I didn’t know there was another episode after this I would easily have suspected it of being the last one because it really had that kind of feel to it. I’m curious if the next, last episode, is going to be normal then or if it will vary from the path of normal episodes a lot.

Torako’s class all plays dodge ball against each other.

Impressions:

I thought this was a great episode. I really hope they fit in more episodes with everyone together as a group like this. Although the individual episodes that focused on one character were fun, when they showcase everyone together like this, it’s just a whole other level better. It combines all those unique and fun personalities we’ve seen together interacting with one another. This really felt like a great comedy episode with fun characters, where many of the other episodes, although good, seemed somewhat forced in that they were talking about the individual characters. The way they were playing the game so violently was great, everyone laying there like a corpse after getting hit, it was definitely extremely fun and entertaining to watch.

I’m curious as to what kind of focus they’ll give to Torako’s sister, the girl with the blue hair. They’ve shown her before so it seems that she’s at least somewhat important, but so far there hasn’t really been any more shown to her other then nodding to the brother. There has to be something in content for them to show, otherwise it would be very odd and wasteful to keep showing her like that and doing absolutely nothing actually with her.

Torako tries to befriend Touma, but continues to fail when Touma wants nothing to do with her.

Impressions:

This episode seemed quite a bit different from the previous episodes that focused on one of the side characters. Of course it was the same by the fact that it focused on a side character, but beyond that I found it to just have a bit of a different feel then some of the other episodes. It wasn’t so much introducing the character and some weird quirks, it almost seemed like they developed Touma’s character a lot more. They didn’t’ just showcase some weird habits or interesting, they showed her trying to be alone, showing her having mixed feelings about whether to be friends or not, and so on. It still wasn’t anything too deep. After all, it was still just an episode in a pure comedy show, but it still had a bit of a different feel. I really felt that Touma was a much more interesting character then some of the others they had introduced. I hope they show her a lot more, more then just the quick shot of her avoiding people like previous episodes.

I am curious as to how things will progress from here. They seem to have pretty much introduced all of the side characters so some things have to change slightly. It seems like the next episode will feature all of them in a dodge ball setting, which could be interesting to see. Not so much the dodge ball bit, but showing all of them interacting with each other. Previously it had just been the one side character girl interacting with the four main ones, but hopefully now that they are all introduced, the next episode and the ones that come ever later after that will be more about all of them as a group.

When Torako helps out a classmate, she starts to cling to her trying to pay her back for her kindness.

Impressions:

I thought this episode was pretty funny. I didn’t know what to expect from Ooba’s character, as before these episodes dedicated to the side characters, little is known about them. Still, I found it very entertaining. I thought it was great how clueless she was, yet she was such a crybaby no one could tell her directly. Their plan was effectively to get her sad and mad at them, yet when they pulled it off they all crumbled before her tears, I thought it was great. It did seem slightly odd that they didn’t conclude anything. It seemed like they just had the situation get more interesting with Suzu there to compete with Ooba for Torako, yet it seemed like nothing really was resolved with it. However it is a pure comedy show so it’s kind of expected that nothing big and concrete happens. Either way, it was very funny.

I found the Suzu bit at the end great as well. It wasn’t really drop dead hilarious or anything, but it was still very funny and nice to watch. It was just a simple, non-complicated bit. I thought it did a great job of showing Suzu without her hardly ever saying anything. Just walking up to people and having them give her food and candy.

When Inori, a girl in the other girls’ class reaches out in friendship it inspires Torako to give everyone a change.

Impressions:

This episode was a lot of fun. It followed some previous episodes of picking out some member of the class and really focusing on them. I wasn’t quite expecting an episode like this for the “creepy girl” as it was a bit surprising and somewhat heartwarming to see that she is just shy and just wants friends. It really reminded me of Nodoka from Negima, being extremely shy and having her face covered by her hair, but then removing it revealing extreme cuteness. I was just overall surprised about how interesting her character episode was.

On a lighter less important note it was just fun seeing everyone in different hairstyles. While it brought about no point, the whole point of pure comedy shows like this is that there is no point. It was just fun, which is what shows like this should be. I did really like the Horie Yui girl begging for her glasses as she couldn’t see what was going on with all the hairstyle changes.

Kitsune is introduced as Torako’s brother, and shows himself to be just as unique as Torako.

Impressions:

I was impressed with this episode. It was a bit more then absolute randomness that the other episodes presented. Although it still had a good amount of comedy to it, it seemed to do a lot more. It not only introduced a new character, but it seemed to produce more relationships and connections between characters. We have Torako’s brother which connects the guy who likes Torako to her a bit more, and having someone to counter balance Torako like that can cause for the show not to be dominated.

I am quite surprised to see that they are in fact developing the line of “plot” of Shisimaru liking Torako. I would think that that is such an odd random thin that they wouldn’t really be able to develop it more, but then again I can see it being such a hilarious thing to have someone like him like someone as weird and unique as Torako.

Takki questions whether or not the others are really her friends.

Impressions:

I thought this episode was very good. Takki (I don’t’ know her real name, and am too lazy to re-watch and find it) has been a character that has mostly been un-featured. Ayumi is so cute and innocent, they show her all the time while Suzu and Torako both are very weird, they add to the content, Takki just kind of fades into the background so it was nice to see her featured a bit more. I do have to say that this episode had some great bits. I was in a public place watching this on my laptop and laughed out loud when Torako grabbed Ayumi and used her as a cute shield. That and many other moments were very great in this episode.

Now… as for the second part of this episode…the “preview”….WTF!?! I was so confused watching this part. It was so random just for the sake of being random that it ended up being hilarious. They took so many cliché bits of drama or action kind of stories and put them together, it was great. They didn’t even attempt to explain any of this, which also added to how funny and random it was. I almost want to see a full series of the story they actually showed there. It wouldn’t be anything actually serious, but it would truly be hilarious for how stupid it ends up being.

Torako skips classes to hang out with a delinquent classmate.

Impressions:

I thought this episode was pretty good. It seems like this series has taken on a definite pattern of focusing on one of the side characters each episode, as last episode was Horie Yui robot girl, and here we have the “delinquent” girl. I think this pattern is fine, because honestly I don’t think the show is interesting enough with just the four main characters. Something like that will get old quickly even if it was amazing by itself.

I do have to say that this episode really showed that Torako is the high point of this series so far. Even though Ayumi is incredibly cute, is voiced by one of my favorite seiyuu, she just doesn’t really do anything to arouse the laughs like Torako does. At the end of the episode I just found it absolutely hilarious that she put her hand in the vase and screamed out “Ah! My hand turned into a vase!” Random things like that really are what make comedy shows like this the best. It’s the same principle behind so many other pure comedy shows, like Kana was in Minami-ke, or Miyu from Ichigo Mashimaro.

The girls head to the cafeteria and later go to art class where they sketch each other.

Impressions:

This episode again I found to be great. As I said in the last episode’s post, the first two episodes didn’t’ really get my attention. I didn’t find them hilarious or anything and I doubted whether or not this show would be very good. Last episode was good, and this episode showed to me at least that it wasn’t just a fluke. This episode was great too and I hope to find the rest of the series as such.

There isn’t anything really unique about this show when it comes to comparing it to other comedies. I wouldn’t even say it is as good as some others, but it’s not bad either. However even without having that unique aspect to it, using the same old things that other shows have had, such as a cute/shy girl, an eccentric one, a quiet weird one, its all been done before yet when they are presented here, it doesn’t really feel stale even though its not new. It fits fine with this series and I’m looking forward to more laughs from it.