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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 13 June 2006 00:00 |
 Is there no limit to the number of highschool comedies that anime fandom can support?! Apparently not, as Joshikousei - Girls' High is yet another contribution to the genre, this time using slapstick comedy and fanservice to keep the boys watching. Now why does that sound familiar..?
1 - High School Girls Have Their Stupid Side
Eriko Takahashi is hugely excited to be moving from middle school to high school, and she's not ashamed to let the world know it, much to her brother's embarrassment. Even before the new school term has started, she's been visiting the school grounds to get a feel for the place, and dragging her reluctant friends along with her - doubly reluctant as their "visits" involve a little bit of breaking & entering. But Eriko's about to find out that high school isn't quite what she was expecting...
2 - Physical Examinations are the Scent of a Maiden's Shyness
It's time for the new year's physical examinations, which means... fanservice overload, as the girls get next-to-naked for their various tests - all 14 of 'em. In an attempt to get through the embarrassment more quickly, the girls decide to pair off and see who can complete the tests first. Strangely, though, Himeji's gone missing - could she be trying to hide something? And just what will happen if the girls fail to complete all the test within the time allowed..?
Plenty of fanservice here, with panties making regular appearances without even a pretence at making it "accidental". Long experience of fanservice makes me wary when this happens, as it usually seems done to hide some shortfallings with other aspects of the show.
The series is set at Yamasaki Girls' Academy, and features two groups of girls who after a shaky start soon become a close-knit group of friends. On the one hand, there's Eriko, Yuma and Ayano, who are transferring in to Yamasaki from another junior high. On the other, there's Akari, Kyoko and Ikue, who have come up through Yamasaki's own junior high and should be the ones who know the ropes of the school - but somehow find themselves trusting the "new" girls to take them under thier wings. Go figure.
Don't be expecting much in the way of story, as Girls' High is all about the comedy. The big problem is, if you've been an anime fan for more than a year or two you'll already have seen several series that do just this sort of thing, albeit maybe with slightly different settings and more of a plot to them (Stratos 4 comes to mind, for a start, with Azumanga Daioh or School Rumble definitely being better for comic value). The end result is that without anything different about it to make it stand out - at least, not yet - the show has nothing to really make it worth watching. There'll always be a portion of the audience that sees the pantsu on display and watches for that, but if you're looking for something with more to it, Girls' High isn't it. Pass. |
