Running time: 24 minutes
Number of episodes: 13
Vintage: 2004-04-04 to 2004-06-27
Age rating: Older Children (May contain mild bad language, bloodless violence)
Genres: Comedy, Slice of Life
Animation Production: J.C. Staff, Studio Guts, Studio Matrix
Source: Anime News Network
There’s no denying that once you start watching Sensei no Ojikan you’ll immediately be reminded of Azumanga Daioh if you’ve seen Azumanga Daioh before. At first I thought everything was just a blatant cash-in by J.C. Staff to reap more profit from Azumanga’s success. However, further investigation showed that Sensei no Ojikan’s 4 panel manga was serialized 2 years before Azumanga’s, so in reality the source material for this show is older than Azumanga’s.
Sensei no Ojikan is a comedy school anime much like the well-known Azumanga Daioh. These two anime share a lot in common beyond coming from the same studio. Some of the gags in Sensei no Ojikan felt like they were pulled straight out of Azumanga (although the truth might be the other way around). The pool jokes, the gaijin jokes, and a few other major parts of Azumanga are found in some remixed form here. I can’t be too negative about Sensei no Ojikan though, because it’s not completely Azumanga-lite. One of the more refreshing aspects that Sensei no Ojikan has over Azumanga is the more prominent role of males. I enjoyed the girl bunch in Azumanga a ton, but the inclusion of an equal amount of guys with differing personalities allows Sensei no Ojikan to create situations that were not possible in Azumanga.
Every character in Sensei no Ojikan fills a particular personality. On the girls’ side we have the main character, Mika-sensei (Suzuki Mika) who is a 27 year old woman that looks like an elementary school student. She still lives with her parents and her father spoils her like the child she looks like. There’s no doubt you’ll be reminded of Chiyo from Azumanga who’s equally as cute and short. There’s also Tominaga Miko, a stuck-up rich girl who is part of the cooking club. She likes to say things as they are without any consideration for anyone’s feelings. There’s also Kobayashi Akane who is very lazy but likes to buy expensive stuff and also worries too much about her appearance. She’s has a bit of similarities with Tomo from Azumanga, including her appearance. Then comes Nagare Shizuka, also called iincho. As class president she has a bit more brains than the rest, but has an obsession with a certain pop idol. This obsession and her “megane” look makes her resemble Yomi from Azumanga. Finally, there’s Kitagawa Rio who adores Mika-sensei too much. She doesn’t like boys at all and instead gets off cute tiny girls like Mika-sensei. I’d go as far as say she’s a twisted version of Sakaki from Azumanga. They are both tall and good looking in the eyes of their peers, but unlike Sakaki who is incredibly shy about liking cute things, Rio is the complete opposite and embraces cute things openly. There’s a few more girls but those are the main ones.
The guys are a more original set of characters. There’s Suetake Kenta who is admittedly dumb and loves sports, Kudo Yuichi who’s openly gay and is in love with Suetake, Sei Jyoji a super feminine guy who loves himself more than anyone and also seeking a girlfriend, Wantabe Takumi, president of the manga club and a hardcore otaku, and Nakamura Gen, a student that looks like a 40 year old man whom everyone calls “Oyaji” meaning “Old man.” The homo erotic jokes between the guys are frequent because of this set up, and surprisingly are some of the more daring and funny bits of the show. Nosebleeds and everything are included. However, even with a diverse mix of both male and female characters, Sensei no Ojikan just can’t match Azumanga’s level of attraction. Even with less characters, Azumanga carries on for 26 episodes full of funny situations. Azumanga is also a much more personal experience. It has less characters, so you learn more about each one and tend to care about them more. It’s a great relationship to have with anime. Sensei no Ojikan, on the other hand, uses the same mold over and over and drags the same gags to death. There’s only so many times you can see Mika-sensei jump for sweets because she’s too short or Rio setting Mika up to cry, and the list goes on. There’s plenty of remixed content that really hurts the experience.
There’s no doubt Sensei no Ojikan suffers from high expectations when Azumanga is upheld as a staple in comedy anime. The show never quite equals Azumanga at any single point in time. However, there is some original and funny stuff to be found that it might be worth your time if you want Azumanga-style comedy. It’s less refined and its pacing is all over the place, but it ultimately delivers an acceptable level of comedy fun that can be watched at least once and enjoyed. Anyone who’s never seen Azumanga Daioh might actually have a better time than those of us who have.
Recent Comments