Well then, it looks like I’m about to try another show about an otaku. Well hopefully this can’t be worse than the one from last season…right?…..RIGHT?
Ah well, let’s see what happens. Let’s give it the old college try. Here we go. Episode 1 of Denpa Kyoushi.
So the series begins with our main character Kagami working on an anime blog. (Whoa. That’s meta) his sister tells him that he has to go get a job..and by telling, i mean she threatens him with a baseball bat.
The job he’s been accepted as? A part time school teacher.
Why was this guy accepted? Apparently he’s this super smart guy who graduated college when he was 17. Problem is, he doesn’t care about science or anything and would rather work on anime stuff.
However, to his chagrin he ends up going to work as a teacher. But, while having a conversation with the principal he hears a girl singing an anime song and runs to go listen to it.
When he reaches the roof he meets a girl who tells him that she wants to be a voice actor to which he flips his shit basically telling her that she can’t take being a voice actress lightly.
To which she punches him in the face….classy.
He then goes to teach his students. He figures the best way to see the kids personalities is to have them play a cell phone game and see how they interact with each other and how skilled they are by offering a free 100% on their next quiz if they can beat his score. (Geez, where was THIS guy when “I’ was in high school?)
He learns quickly that the girl he’s nicknamed ‘Face Punch’ is a social outcast who is being bullied because she won’t hang around with her old delinquent friends.
When he confronts her about it she tells him not to interfere.
Still, on the way home, she’s jumped by a random guy and Kagami ends up saving her.
Heading to a park to lay low she ends up telling Kagami the reason she wants to be a voice actor is to be a hero. Wait. what?
Wait, I gotta pause here. Okay. So she wants to be a voice actor because she believes that’s the only job where she could be constituted as a hero?
She says it’s because the quote that someone once said to her to help her with her depression was from an anime but…..wouldn’t that mean you’d be better off being a writer then? Also, who says that if you became a voice actor you’d GET to be a hero? What if you got cast as the villain? Would you turn it down? Would you like…ONLY be the hero?
And what about other heroes like policemen, firemen, doctors…..those guys aren’t heroes?
I mean, wanting to be a voice actor is a great thing, but…to be a hero?
I completely agree that fictional characters can say lines of dialogue that can evoke hope and happiness, but if her ENTIRE GOAL is to be a hero, a voice actor is NOT the only way to go about it. Sorry to bring the review to a halt, but that really bugged me.
Anywho, we find out that the reason she got attacked is because the bullies were messing around with her profile on her student facebook. The breaking point however is when they give her a drink mixed with chalk and it fucks up her voice. Going too far, Kagami has to teach them a lesson.
He shows up at a convenience store and pours chalk dust all over them and tells the girls that he’s going to release their personal information to the world as well as their crimes to the girl to the police. The girls freak out but he reveals he was just trolling them and they break down and cry.
The episode ends with the girl realizing that the guy on the internet forum that cheered her up several years ago was actually Kagami and calls him sensei. and a shadowy girl in a car saying evilly “interesting…”
So how was this show? Was it actually any good?
Well….yeah. It kinda was.
I mean, it’s not going to revolutionize the way anime is seen or create 20,000 + pieces of merchandise, but…so far it’s a cute show. I’m not really a big fan of the face punching, but then again I never have been.
Head: the plot isn’t exactly the most original thing in the world. We’ve had super intelligent teens, young teachers, and crazy otaku before. It’s nothing new. However, it’s done in sort of a cute way that, while albeit it’s generic, is generic in an entertaining way. Like I said, it’s not going to light the anime world on fire but….it’s an okay plot. 6.5/10
Eye: The art, a lot of the time is very well done, although at times you can see where they cut some corners. They obviously didn’t bring their A+ team to work on this show. I don’t know what other series this company’s worked on before, but I’ll just say, while it has cute designs and animation, Miyazaki it ain’t. 6.5/10
Heart: It’s already episode 1 and they’re trying to shove the “feels” down our throat. I don’t really know enough about these people to really give a flying fuck but for some reason i’m assuming they believe I should. I’m sure as the series goes on I’ll care more, but as for right now…I’m going to wait and see where it goes. 6/10
Overall score about a 6.5/10. Not a fantastic start, but enough that i’ll stick with it. At least to see where it goes. The first episode didn’t in fact blow me away, but It’s not a show like Ushinawareta where I could tell right off the bat I hated it.
Watching: Moderate
Covering: Moderate
So…yeah, i’ll see you guys next week for this show.
-Hideki