| Doki Doki School Hours #1 |
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| Wednesday, 30 November 2005 | |
 It's Doki Doki School Hours, the anime formerly known as Sensei no Ojikan (pay attention in the back!). If you though the girls of Azumanga Daioh
were strange, you haven't met this lot. Mika-sensei's class serve
up four episodes of high-class comedy on this disc, and I challenge you
not to grin like an idiot through all of it.1 - Here Comes Class 2A of Okitsu High School Start of a new school year, and time for the Entrance Ceremony for the new students. Diminutive teacher Mika-sensei isn't having the best of luck, though - she's managed to get lost in the crowd & is more than a bit overwhelmed by all the kids around her - so understandably she's glad to get back into class. Problem is, it's hard for her students to take their sensei seriously when she looks younger than they do... Here's your chance to meet Mika-sensei's class of misfits, from "I love me. who do you love" Seki, through boy-band obsessed Iincho to the overly-fond-of-her-cleaver Tominaga. Find a normal one, and you'll have done better than me.   2 - Measuring and Throwing and Hitting It's physical examination day, and Kobayashi's feeling the stress - she's eaten a bit too much over the break & it's diet time. Looks like her official measurements won't be so good this time around... It's especially frustrating when the rest of the class insists on eating around her. Mika-sensei has her own problems - she has to take the exam as well, and that means another reminder about her height... Later, it's time for the sports festival - Mika-sensei had been looking forward to doing absolutely nothing during it, but when she's drafted in as basketball ref when another teacher goes ill, she's in trouble - while she knew she may have to stand in, she never bothered to learn the rules. There's also that size problem again...   3 - Swimsuits and Exams! Something Drops! It's June, so it's time for the students to switch from their winter uniforms to their summer ones - and for Seki, time to switch from wearing a guy's uniform to a girl's. ^^; It's also time to swim class to start (yay! swimsuits!), and for the girls to get back to worrying about their weight again... The exertion of swimming is too much for Mika-sensei, though - can you say muscle ache? Later, it's exam time again, but Mika-sensei's having problems getting her class properly motivated - "it's just a test, right?" Can she persuade her class to hit the books, or are they just doomed to failure? Or do they have ulterior motives, for wanting to fail?   4 - Mika-sensei's Summer Story It's summer, and Mika-sensei should be enjoying her summer break. Sadly, she's got four losers in her class who are making her give supplementary lessons. What days she does have off are spent lying around the house - until the air conditioning packs in, forcing her to go out in search of ways to cool down - and running in to her students along the way. Later, it's summer festival time, & Seki in a girl's yukata is too scary a sight to describe...   I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is one of the best recent series. Doki Doki School Hours takes everything that was good about Azumanga Diaoh, ratchets the comedy up a level, and leaves you unable to stop the grin that arrives on your face about 30 seconds into the show. There's really not much else to say - like Azumanga, there's nothing in the way of plot to write about, but that's not the point of the show. Having a fully co-ed cast also pays off, by giving the writers even more opportunity to make fun of people and circumstances. The first episode is probably the weakest, if only because it tries to introduce the whole cast in the space of 22 minutes - with around 10 regular characters, that doesn't give them much time each so the episode feels a bit rushed. From there, it slips into a more well-paced one or two "sketches" per episode, and it works really well. And that's about all I can really say about this batch. If you like Azumanga Daioh, you'll love this - and even if you didn't give Doki Doki School Hours a go anyway. It's a fairly low-profile title that deserves a lot more exposure. |
