Anime Review - Asobi Asobase - Jebaited

Summer 2018 had a lot of good anime, and even small names were extremely well-received - e.g. Hataraku Saibou and Asobi Asobase, and this was a season where Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3, Grand Blue and many more were airing. Everyone loves comedy once in a while, and I especially love it to take a break from plot-based anime or just to have a chuckle in one's busy life.

Asobi Asobase is a school comedy between 3 girls, all of which are unique and have their likeable and funny quirks. You got Hanako, a rich and smart girl who makes the most ridiculous and funniest faces I seen in my whole anime and manga viewing history. The artist/animator really did a top-notch job when drawing the facial expression of Hanako. I guess it somewhat resembles Junji Ito's artstyle slightly with the scary faces she makes. You got Olivia, a foreign looking girl born to foreign parents, but was brought up in Japan and knows no English, and plays a joke on the others that she knows English. We all know the problems that this lie ensues and Olivia makes some funny faces too. Lastly you got Kasumi, who's a fujoshi and loves BL, but is scared of men. Well that's strange - liking men in gay relationships, but not feeling comfortable around a man. Hmmm LUL.  The other characters are pretty interesting too, most notably Fujiwara, who is fluent in English. I love the episode where Fujiwara speaks in both English and Japanese - Jinglish? and I could relate to this a lot since I speak a mix of Chinese and English with my parents, so it's easier than it looks if you are have a good grasp of both languages.

Asobi Asobase likens itself to the "gag" comedy genre where every situation is extremely exaggerated, and this is sometimes hard to do without a good voice actor. When I was watching the anime, I really enjoyed the voice acting of the characters, especially Hanako. When I searched their biography on MyAnimeList, all three voice actors are relatively new to the scene, and props to them. They nailed it and it was such an amazing job. I think the closest "gag" comedy anime that had really good voice actors were Nichijou, Daily Lives of High School Boys and D-Frag. Voice actors does wonders for a comedy series, and the fresh new actors were a real surprise and I'm hoping to see more of them in future anime series. Every episode had a relatively unique joke to it, and there were some points in the anime where it was hard to hold my laughter in - it was that funny! My favourite scene is where Hanako gets her ass DEMOLISHED by Kasumi, holy shit! The reactions and face expressions of the characters in that scene was comedy gold!

What makes it even better is that the opening and ending of the series were both performed by the three main female voice actors of the series. You rarely see that nowadays and I love it. The opening and ending are also a huge contrast to one another. The opening makes the series seem like an innocent anime, with girls enjoying their lives in school, but that ending is madness! Madness I tell you! Both of them were really enjoyable to listen to, but I definitely preferred the opening song after listening to a couple of times (the first I heard it, I was like meh, but then I'm like Se se se se no daisuki...)

OP Album Cover

ED Album Cover

Overall, Asobi Asobase was a surprising hit among other series in Summer 2018, and I love it when underdogs come up near the top after the battle has ended. Asobi Asobase is a great addition to the comedy genre, and even more so to the gag comedy genre. I'm not sure how much of the manga the anime adapts, but there's definitely not enough content to adapt for a new season in the near future. However, there is a new OVA that will be coming out soon that is bundled with the 7th Volume of the manga, so I can't wait for that. I highly recommend this series to everyone if you are feeling down and you need a little-pick me up, or if you just want a change of genre, whatever the reason, Asobi Asobase is definitely going to be an enjoyable experience.

Overall Score: 9/10

Story: 8/10

Characters: 9/10

Art: 7/10

Sound: 10/10

Enjoyment: 9/10