Tuesday 29 October 2013

Super slapstick (Gj-Bu review)



Opening songs
OP 1 - Moso Kokan Nikki (Otome Shinto)

Ending songs
Too many to list*

Genre: Comedy, Slice Of Life

Episodes: 12



Remember "Seitokai No Ichizon"? Remember "K-on"? Screw it, remember all those animes that you've watched which featured nothing but focusing on the life of a bunch of high school students in a school club? Because I sure do, and there's a ton of these titles out there, just scroll through my list of reviewed anime and you'll more than probably find more than 10 of these animes. Having a club is cool and all, but having an entire season circling around this exact same club with 1 guy and a bunch of girls has become a genre mainstay in the anime industry nowadays. "Gj-Bu" is another one of those animes, and it doesn't do anything too special to differentiate itself from the rest, nor does it actually suck at what its doing. It gives out a vibe of being "just there", which isn't exactly a bad thing. If you've got nothing to do on a Friday night, and you don't really feel like watching anything too extreme, "Gj-Bu" is one of those animes that you can pop in and just watch for no reason.



Hahaha! We will take over the world!

"Gj-Bu" is another one of those animes with a lot of ending songs, so I won't be covering them. There's 4 of them, one ending every 3 episodes or so. Given the theme of the anime though, the opening song fits extremely well. "Moso Kokan Nikki" by Otome Shinto (probably the seiyuus of all the girls in the anime, I'm not sure, need confirmation on this) is easily one of the most catchy opening songs I've heard in a very long time, especially the opening segment, its gold. It really makes you feel like you're watching one of those slapstick comedy animes.



Rating: 7.0/10



As I mentioned earlier, there's nothing too special about "Gj-Bu" that separates it from other animes with the same theme and genre. While it manages to be funny at times, it doesn't cap out at the levels of "MM!" or "Seitokai No Ichizon" when it comes to comedy. What's more, most of the time that the club spends is inside the club room, so we don't get many different interesting scenarios outside a small few unique situations. The characters are pretty okay, but a few of them are pretty much generic stereotypes you can find in any other anime. The main character is alright, and some of the side characters are arguably better than some of the main cast, so its quite unfortunate that we don't get more screen time on some of these characters. If they would explore more ridiculous situations, this could have been an overall more entertaining series.



Dat bust!

Shinomiya Kyoya is a pretty generic dude. Nothing stands out about him, all he does is read manga, and he knows that he's just some generic high school student in the midst of thousands of them. He belongs to the Gj club, a club that pretty much does nothing and has a ridiculous rule that differentiates it from the rest. As long as you are caught loitering outside the Gj club's club room, you will be abducted and you will be forced to become a member of it, that's how our unfortunate main character ended up here. The 4 girls in the club dubbed him as Kyolo, for being nothing but a generic idiot. The other 4 girls in the club pretty much do their own things, since there aren't any restrictions placed. Kirara is always eating, the loli prez is always reading manga with Kyolo, her sister Meg is always pouring tea, and the prodigy Shion is always playing virtual chess on the club's PC. And that was how they spent their high school lives.


That ends today's post. "Gj-Bu" is getting a season 2, according to some news I read at ANN. If its true, then its good for the series, it might get some more exposure, as well as another chance to make the series better. As for this season, its generic, and while its not bad, its not something you can't find elsewhere that has done it better.


Peace.