Anime review: "Daily Lives of High School Boys"

I am a little bit late with this post, for it was almost two weeks now since I have watched it. But I had a three-day trip to Germany, few days were spent on field, and so the time passed. It started to fade a bit, but good thing I have made notes.

Anyway, "Daily Lives of High School Boys" was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have any particular wish for watching this anime, but since there was not much out there to choose from and it had a fairly nice rating, I gave it a chance. It turns out that "Daily Lives of High School Boys" is a gag anime with no particular plot. Instead, it consists of several unconnected short "stories" in each episode, between four and eight. There is some timeline to it, but it is not relevant in any case. These short stories revolve around students of one class of all-boys high-school, plus several other boys and girls from other schools (so it is not solely about boys, contrary to the title). The cast is so pretty big, but the names are not really important, since it has different cast for most of the stories.

So, there is no plot, characters are unimportant, why would anybody watch this anime? Because if you are or ever were young, and especially if you are male, you will be able to relate with this anime and find yourself somewhere in it. This anime perfectly depict the mental state of high-schoolers: empty and sarcastic talk, worries about being cool, stupid ideas and wrong facts... But presented in such funny and lovable way. And jokes are just perfect: I watched this anime alone in my room, but kept giggling most of the time, and sometimes even laughing out loud. In spirit, this anime reminded me on "School Rumble", but without the romance part - there is absolutely no drama or angst in this anime. Another anime it reminded me of was "Lucky Star", just that this concentrate on boys and there is no moe.

Unfortunately, there are only 12 episodes. There is a mention of second season in anime, but no information about it on AniDB. Visuals are pretty good, voice acting great, and there is even some catchy music in it.

"Daily Lives of High School Boys" is probably the best gag anime I watched so far, and it is especially good for quick watch - stories last for few minutes each and you can stop whenever you want. If you have any fond memories of high school and like to watch comedies, just try watching the first episode. And remember, later ones are even better!