A delightful trip through the lives of several high school girls.
What They Say:
Tanaka Nozomu isn’t exactly brilliant. But, given that her only goal for high school was to get a boyfriend, who else would fail to realize that attending an all-girls school was a bad idea? Well, there’s always the fallback plan of getting other girls to introduce her to boys they know.
Too bad that Tanaka’s “bright” idea of giving her classmates nicknames based on less attractive character traits has caused her un-flattered friends “Robo” (for her apparent lack of emotions) and “Wota” (a reference to a creepy otaku types), as well as not-friends like “Loli” (who’s hypersensitive about her petite size,) to “reward” Tanaka with the special nickname of “Baka” (“idiot”), which is quickly adopted by the entire student body. Well, maybe the second week of school will be better.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language in stereo along with the English language dub, which is done up in stereo as well. Both tracks are encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec though it’s not a huge game-changer as it’s a strong dialogue driven show. The opening and closing sequences make out the best in fullness but the music throughout hits well and the dialogue is solidly done. Placement is spot on where needed and we get a good bit of movement across the forward soundstage with how the characters move as well. The instances of depth are pretty nicely done as well when we get a few more people on screen and the encoding captures it all as it should with clean and clear levels and no dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2019, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twelve episodes are spread across two discs with nine on the first and three on the second. Animated by Passione, the show has a good look about it with a lot of detail to it in the backgrounds and a slightly distinctive look to the character designs so that it doesn’t feel like it’s a cookie-cutter show There’s a lot of good color vibrancy throughout this that helps to set the mood and that level of pop helps to let it stand out a bit more in a crowded field. There’s a good level of background detail to everything that gives it a lived-in feeling that it needs and I like the details we do get for the characters. The encoding is very solid with plenty to like as the colors are solid throughout and we don’t get anything with line noise or problems during panning sequences. I liked what we got here and it should please most fans with larger and small screens alike.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release is a standard-sized Blu-ray case that uses the main key visual that gives us all the main girls plus the teacher that adds a lot of fun to the show. Placing them in the classroom makes for a good design as the chalkboard holds its own quirks but is a good place to add the logo, which is stylish but clean and easy to read. The characters themselves look good with lots of things you can tell about each of them just by looking and the group dynamic hits pretty well too. The back cover keeps the same color design with the chalkboard green and yellow and we get a good strip of shots along the top of the cast and to the right while also having a pretty solid summary of the premise. The extras are clearly listed as well. The production credits along the bottom lay things out well and we get an accurate technical grid that breaks down how the show is put together.
Extras:
The extras for this release are pretty basic with the clean versions of the opening and the ending sequence, which are definitely welcome, as well as some of the Japanese promotional video material.
Based on the manga Joshi Kōsei no Mudazukai by Bino, Wasteful Days of High School Girls is a twelve-episode anime series that aired during the summer 2019 season. The manga itself began in 2014 and has seven volumes out but hasn’t been licensed in North America. The anime adaptation, coming before the live-action drama earlier this year, was done by studio Passione with Takeo Takahshi serving as the chief director and Hijiri Sanepei as the hands-on director. With scripts by Masahiro Kikuya, I think they captured the intent of the original well based on what they’re doing here as it comes across as a property with a lot of smaller skits taking place within the larger context that allows their quirks and personalities to show. By design, they’re named in a way that allows those quirks be quick to identity as well.
The premise is easy as we follow the first-year students going to Sainotama Girls’ High School where Akane is our lead. She’s an aspiring mangaka but hasn’t gotten anywhere with it yet and is feeling frustrated by the whole thing, making it the background radiation of her life. She’s joined at the school by her two best friends from the prior year in Shiori and Nozomu though there are enough times where you question whether they’re really friends. Akane in particular is a hard friend to have in some ways as she gives everyone nicknames that are as we said, based on their quirks. With Shiori’s cold way she gets labeled robo while Nozomu and her energy is only matched by her stupidity, hence her being called baka. The core trio are certainly amusing to watch together though I’ll admit a special affinity for watching Nozomu simply because she does come across in a really bad way with her cognitive function and it makes for some good laughs.
The characters do expand from there, though I’ll say that I liked it more when it focused on its core group, but the addition of Saku was one of the best bits. She’s just the typical short and young-looking character so she gets nicknamed Loli and that just grates on her to no end. But it’s made worse because she lives with her grandmother and has been kept pretty damn innocent along the way so she’s caught up in things without realizing it – or the gags – a lot. She’s also got a different personality outside of school since she’s not so angry there and we see her with her grandmother, who dotes on her like a good grandmother would, and when the others see that happening it just makes them want to torment her all the more. Saku is pretty fun in general and while there are a ton of easy gags with her because of appearance, it’s balanced out well by showing who she really is.
Because of its nature, this series is one that doesn’t have any larger storyline to it other than the end-goal of their high school experience. You root for Akane to achieve her dream of being a mangaka. It’s interesting to watch the bits we do get that deals with Shiori’s desire to be a microbiologist. And it’s just a hoot watching Nozomu trying to get everyone she knows to introduce her to boys because she desperately wants to date. Which is probably why her parents put her in an all-girls school to begin with, which could easily backfire in other ways. This is played out more with the arrival of Lily in the fifth episode, a transfer student who expresses her interest in girls right from the outside, delivering some mild yuri-ish content. This is mostly the standard stuff, the ogling and occasional groping bits that this type of character often engages in, but it was just welcome to have it stated outright (and made clear with her ranking of guys in general) and for it to just be a whatever thing.
The secret weapon of this series is one that can be done really badly but I think they nailed it right here. We get the main male teacher, Sawatari, who has to deal with all of these personalities, some of them definitely of the stronger variety that push back on him when he tries to just answer questions or deal with situations. While he’s got an amusing secret life along the way, just his handling of the kids is welcome. He’s not an adult teach with secret interest in them, nor they of him in a romantic way, but we get to see his kink nicely even if it’s obviously a no-no to say it to a student. His interest in college girls is pervy bad to be sure but the way he goes about it makes for some laughs. There are a lot of good moments to him throughout the series and he presents a really good counterbalance to all the shenanigans of the girls themselves throughout it and that helps more than I think might be recognized at times.
In Summary:
Sometimes a show succeeds because it’s stupid. In a good way. Nozomu and her idiocy shouldn’t delight me as it does here but as part of the larger cast of characters it’s the welcome kind of weirdness. This isn’t an Azumanga Daioh kind of show but it has things that remind me of it, the elements and conceptual aspects of it. There’s a lot of silliness going on here and it embraces both its stupidity and its smartness at times while giving us a look at characters that are getting through their days, unsure that they’re actually achieving much in the way toward their goals, but continuing on nonetheless. Sentai’s release is pretty good all around here with a clean and strong looking encode and a good package. Luci Christian knows exactly how to play a character like Akane and delivers wonderfully as does Genevieve Simmons as Shiori. But, for me, it’s seeing Hilary Haag as Loli and Elissa Cuellar stealing the show as Nozomu that clicked the best for me. It’s definitely one of the better school comedies I’ve seen recently.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Openings, Clean Closings, Japanese Promos
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: September 22nd, 2020
MSRP: $69.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
