First Impression – Denpa Kyoushi
Going back to School
Another FI from Highway, this time we’re heading back to school, but on the teacher side. What happens when a brilliant teenager who lost all his motivation to do anything but be an otaku NEET in college gets railroaded into becoming a physics teacher at the high school he graduated from? Let’s see if we can find out.
YD, not ED (that’s a different anime airing now)
Get back to work!
This offering from A-1 Pictures features Hiroshi Kamiya as Junichirou Kagami, who’s forced to work as a physics teacher at the local high school by his sister, who is tired of his lazing around being a NEET. And as much as he doesn’t want to do it, he’s kind of roped in when hearing someone singing an anime OP. That gets Junichirou interested in the goings on of Kanou, who has a dream of being a seiyuu. But she’s gotta leave behind her past as a delinquent, including the former ‘friends’ who are bullying her about leaving them behind. In this opener he eventually uses his otaku powers to show them what it’s like to be bullied.
Darn Blond Bullies
It seems likely that the rest of the series will follow this sort of pattern, with Junichirou getting interested in the problems of a certain student, and working to fix their problems. And it’s likely that he’ll already have some connection with them, like he did with Kanou as the person who inspired her to change her life around. Perhaps the main interest of the show will be to see how these conflicts get worked out, and if the show can come up with interesting ways to do it throughout. If it can’t, and they get a little too samey-samey, interest in the show could wane very quickly.
The Real Point of the Show
Ha-HA!
We’ll probably see what the real point of the show is, but for now, it seems like the reason for this show is as a vehicle for Hiroshi Kamiya to play a Hiroshi Kamiya character. skylion dropped the line that Kamiyan is almost the Robin Williams of anime, and I think that there’s probably more truth in that than otherwise. Like Williams was famous in his movies for ad libbing scenes, playing off the setting, and being the main driver of the atmosphere of a movie, we see a lot of the same things here (and in almost any series) from Kamiyan. There’s no piece of scenery that goes unchewed, there’s no verbal cue left untouched. While I doubt that it’s anywhere near as unscripted as a Robin Williams scene, there’s probably very little “direction” as we’d consider it going on.
Reversal of Bullying
And to a large degree it works. It’s what people expect from a show with Kamiyan as the lead. Monogatari, Noragami, and now Denpa Kyoushi, they all feature, for the most part, Kamiyan being Kamiyan. When you have more of an ensemble cast, to his credit, he ramps it down significantly (Durarara, Working!, and Attack on Titan for instance). But put him out there front and center, and you’re going to hear a lot like this. And if you like that, then you’ll probably really like this show, even if you don’t really connect with the setting or the other characters.
What happened to her face?
And apart from Kamiyan, I don’t know how confident I am in this A-1 pictures production. It seemed that the characters go off-model pretty frequently, especially in profile. Detail falls off really quickly with any distance, and while the streaky backgrounds aren’t too bad as a style, it contributes somewhat to an “unfinished” feel for me.
Here’s the kind of statement that can really come back to haunt someone in 3 months: Denpa Kyoushi might be a fairly fun show to watch, but I don’t really think it’ll end up being something that takes off. Saying something like that is like daring the universe to prove you wrong, something it likes to do. But I just don’t know if what seems like a fairly limited story possibilities will be able to carry it far enough. And we’ll see if any characters stick around, or if we mostly get a new character with a problem every episode or two, while the old ones make, essentially, cameo appearances to keep them in people’s minds. Reviews of the manga are fairly high, of course, so there might be something there, but that’s no guarantee of either good source or a good adaptation.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 140 comments
Here is a statement I don’t intend to take back: Denpa Kyoshi is a show that actually disgusted me as I watched it. There are many, many, MANY bad anime where the MC is absolute perfection on every level. But I don’t remember the last time I actively hated a character like Kagami. Yeah aspiring VA, how dare you have dreams! Hey shitty girls, I’m gonna dox you to the whole world! And before anyone compares this to GTO; 1 I don’t like GTO that much anyway and 2 Onizuka never spits on a kids dreams. This show is poison to my eyes and deserves no ones attention.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
There’s a term for it: Famous last words. A lot of people die from uttering their famous last words.
Uh oh… what were we just discussing?
By the end of June, we will see how this pans out. I for one am not going to do anything but fan the flames of trolldom for fun. *inches away*
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Also, MC kinda looks like a grownup Negi (from Negima for those that are too young to remember)
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Not sure how I feel on this one. It wasn’t as humorous as I thought it would, a bit forced and the lead is overcompensating with his otaku passion, outweighing his good points in being a source of motivation. Denpa Kyoshi will get another shot with the second episode but the odds of getting dropped are higher than being followed.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
As far as formula goes this is watchable. It won’t really top any lists, unless you happen to be an established fan of the manga.
But, even with the derpy animation, it does have it’s own style. I’m already a fan of Suzune, his sister. Maybe it’s the short shorts, but it’s probably the new VA behind the performance. She really does sound like she’s a hair’s breathe form killing him….
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
The animation was a miss for me. While I found the manga decent enough (at least entertaining), I can’t really say the same for the anime. But then again, I haven’t read the manga in some time (it’s actually in my backlog to continue), so maybe I’d have a different opinion of the manga if I were to re-read it.
The reverse bullying didn’t feel well executed to me in the anime, and the drinking of juice with chalk? I didn’t even really feel any bullying vibes… it was almost as if she was deciding to drink the solution from some minor peer pressure.
I agree with sklion, I do find Suzune interesting. Although she has a small act from what I recall, so I don’t know if that’ll be enough to keep my interest in watching this show. I figure I’ll give it another episode before deciding whether to throw in the towel or not.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Actually, I take that back. The manga is pretty much the same as the anime, I got them confused with a different series I really enjoy (Yasashii Sekai no Tsukurikata, similar story with a young prodigy teaching at a high school, but with more of a focus on romance and drama and little comedy).
After 4 episodes, I haven’t been sold, so adding this to my dropped list. But I do have to say I’m really enjoying the ED DREAMIN – never heard of Tokyo Performance Doll, but eagerly looking forward to the single release on June 10, 2015.