thilpert - 2015-09-04 16:07:10

Easy to watch, has to be one of the funniest shows out there.

holly.kautzer - 2015-03-12 00:09:38

i mean, to be fair like, it was pretty good. can't complain, you know yourself.

ian86 - 2014-12-17 01:49:41

This show is constantly mocking stereotypes seen all too often in slice of life anime. The show itself takes a stab at the anime industry, constantly breaking the fourth wall to remind the audience that an anime about the daily lives of high school girls isn't interesting to watch whilst questioning why the daily lives of high school boys would be an different, whilst simultaneously doing everything 'ironically' - purposely falling into common cliches found in slice of life anime and turning it into comedy gold.
The show doesn't follow any specific plot, much like the overwhelming number of slice of life anime, and events take place for no other reason than for comedy; except unlike it's counterparts, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou is actually funny, and when you realise that it is parodizing slice of life anime (even subtly mocking many of Kyoto Ani's works in the process), the comedy effect and value increases significantly.

The animation style is nothing to boast about, nor is it's quality, though its not particularly anything bad either. In a sense, you could argue it works in its favour of further taking the piss out of slice of life anime, though that's debatable.
Likewise, the story isn't anything life-changing, and the 'plot' is divided into several, usually unrelated segments per episode. Sometimes a reoccurring story is told through many segments, including the "High School Boys and Literature Girl" mini series. Though again, like with everything else (from a production stand-point), it could be argued that this lack of story is their attempt at comedically emulating a slice of life anime.

I was rather surprised at how decent the audio and music of this series is, however. The opening and closing, again, is nothing but run of the mill J-Pop with cliche lyrics, however the background audio, sound effects and voice acting of the series was done splendidly. The background music fits nicely with each scene, nothing appears abnormal or out of the ordinary unless its for a comedic effect, and each character's personality shines through their vocal portrayal, with nice acting by voice actors and actresses who know their character well.
Continuing on, the characters of this series are all their own unique entities. Unlike some other anime series', each character has their own defining traits and personality quirks whilst still fitting nicely into their designed stereotype. The only downfall with this is that there is little to no room for character development, but once again, [insert cliche argument here].

Overall, my I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It's a popcorn series through and through, a series best enjoyed with a friend by your side to laugh with. I laughed, I cried (from laughter) and now I have a bunch new inside jokes with my friends. The series has no need for another season, for the non-existent plot needs no further tying up, and the series would turn into exactly what it was making fun of - rubbish.

brown.hazle - 2014-11-22 21:20:48

This is my favorite anime.
Daily Lives is the epitome of the Slice of Life genre. It's a hilarious, interesting and relatable look at how boys turn everything into a game, and how sometimes the world is just as bizarre as you pretend it is. It uses a lot of self-aware jokes and unique punchlines, which are used in an excellent, intelligent way to build character through the humor.

I checked out the manga it was based on, and that helped me realize something important. The series works so well because of the amazing voice acting talent. The actors know what they're doing. The humor is delivered perfectly. The voices all sound like they come from the same universe; no one is out of place or doesn't fit in. And on top of that, it sounds like they're having a blast in the recording studio.

The Literary Girl segments are my favorites, though I also like it whenever the boys tell "horror" stories to one another, or pretend to be going on a quest. The Highschool Girls are Funky segment provides constrast to the boy's segment, but not in a way you'd anticipate.

Honestly, I can't recommend this one enough. Just watch it.

dubuque.nora - 2014-10-15 23:35:56

[Old review is old.]

It’s impossible to talk about Daily Lives Of High School Boys without bringing up the show that it directly rips off. In 2011, Kyoto Animation brought Nichijou to the table, redefining the definition of anime madcap comedy before Kill La Kill did later on. The show was carried by extreme surrealist humor taken to much more daring heights than something like Azumanga Dioh, so much so that it completely overshadows it. Lighthearted lovable characters mixed with a batshit insane world with impeccably timed and well-executed comedy made Nichijou a force to be reckoned with.

So along comes Sunrise who, despite collaborating with another studio, will not be putting any effort into their newest comedy show. Daily Lives Of High School Boys revolves around three high school boys at an all boys school as they explore the mysterious realm of girls and talk about weird things that don’t go anywhere and do nothing except fill time for five hours.

Before I bring that ripoff topic back up, let’s talk about the other things that don’t work. So as if anime didn’t display the most juvenile sexism towards girls enough as it does, the entire concept of making contact with a girl is now overplayed to the point of elementary school boys fussing over cooties, while retaining knowledge of eroticism. The girls they do encounter are unnaturally reserved, unimaginably annoying, or both, all to feed this boyish concept that serves as the one truly original aspect of this show. All of the off-putting comedy is generated from the three leads combating boredom after classes, meaning another variation of disjoined random discussions that follow no story and cater to those who like a specific type of gag humor. Unless you are male and want to find the anime manifestation of you and your friends dicking around in middle school, nothing else is going to be worthwhile in this show.

The boys themselves are your standard school guys, always messing around, trying to check out the weird creatures that are women, and doing a ton of fun things on their down time. At least some of the things they do to pass the time were somewhat entertaining, like live action video games in public or outdoing each other with ghost stories. Aside from a fraction of the stuff they do, these guys are bland as dirt when it comes to actual characterization. The show does this thing where they don't give faces to most of the girls, because girls are mysterious entities to boys and all that, but it was just needlessly creepy. On a final note, the voice actors provided energetic deliveries of their lines, but most of the time that energy comes across as irritating screaming that makes for a challenge to listen to hour after hour.

So now we take a look at how a simple ripoff cements the anime as an apathetic wreck. Much like any other anime of its type, simplistic sketches that barely connect with eachother attempt overplayed punchlines. These sketches are then spliced between breather shots of completely unrelated, usually tranquil events, directly lifting a screenwriting method used in Nichijou. Nichijou is completely nonsensical and this presentation of prolonged banal scenes only adds to the surreality. The meat of Daily Lives makes perfect sense. It’s just some bored students in our normal world thinking of random stuff that sometimes ends up being kind of quirky.

Why is this such a big deal? It’s a message that the producers truly do not care about this show. It means that they are making a product that doesn’t ride on their own efforts. A boring, tedious script is bad enough on its own, and this stealing serves no purpose other than saying that it wants badly to be like a specific successful comedy show. This is the only recognizable piece of unique identity that the show has outside of the distance from girls and the immature humor which fail anyway. It isn’t subtle and it thinks it will elevate the show to a better level if they incorporate it without thought. So we solidify the creators as indifferent and pathetic, and the show becomes a self evident cheap product that needs the success of other things as hope to sell.

Speaking of cheap, Sunrise went above and beyond with just how awful their animation department could be. The movement is very restricted and inexpressive, just a bunch of poorly-paid animators following instructions to make someone walk or raise an arm or swing a stick. The go-to reaction for jokes is a face without eyes with a bit of line shading, repeated with every gag pulled in the show, and not only was it unfunny the first time, but it is an effective cue to frown at every joke the show tries to pull. Aside from random things happening in the first minute, like a tacky Gundam coming in from out of nowhere because it’s Sunrise and Sunrise means Gundam and derpitydoo, you will not be seeing any semi-interesting visuals in this anime.

I'm convinced there were only 3 background tracks in this show, because I grew exceedingly tired of the typical OST they provide. The OP was bad, but the ED is something to talk about at least. The music used was a duet of ridiculous singers yelling out a chipper tune á la Keima Katsuragi in his video game heaven. The cast performs a play with many nonsensical oddities to amplify the amount of confusion. This is what makes good surreal humor, and it’s the only part of the show that is remotely effective at it.

ED that isn’t even really that good aside, it’s amazing how this show seems to fall flat on its ass everywhere else. I can get a snicker or two out of a lot of anime I watch, so when a comedy driven show doesn’t even deliver a few laughs, something must be up. I found none of the stale, childish humor entertaining, and the whole thing was incomparably lifeless, even as a storyless episodic gag anime. I have no real guilt in saying this because I’m nearly convinced that the producers refused to inject the project with a bit of passion or hard work. Take that as you will.

Daily Lives Of High School Boys (2012):
3.0/10

nbechtelar - 2013-12-15 03:29:39

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, or Daily Lives of High School Boys (will be called Nichibros for my and maybe your sake) is a 12 episode anime made by Silver Link and directed by the same person who did Gintama and School Rumble. If you're looking for a straightfoward comedy, watch it now!

Welcome to my lazily done review.

Let's admit. "High school boys being high school boys". Nothing to give. Nothing special.

Wait! Don't leave! There can be a lot of things happening!

The delivery is actually really well done. Full of hilarious moments, relatable situations, non stop comedy and references. Even for a nothing special anime, it does a lot. Only minus side is, that some (but rare) jokes miss it, are unfunny or just not the time. Not much character development either but it can do a lot without it.

It's really simple. However it fits the mood. Its a normal anime about normal life of high school boys. Backgrounds are well done and so are the comical moments. Their reactions are well done too. Movements are fluids, lighting and shades are done well. Simple but nice.

The OP is really relaxing and nice to listen to. Even for a comedy anime, it displays the closeness of friendships. The ED was purely for humour, yet displays how boys were bonding and having fun.

Really fit the moments despite being so... well, normal! The hilarious moments were even funnier sometimes

Of course, they aren't super fitting - but that what makes it normal. Not everyone has a perfect matching voice, but they talk how normal, Japanese people would talk - their local dialect, style and straight from their hearts and not a fake cover like a lot of other anime trying to sound cute or badass.

Normal designs of normal high school boys.

/normal

Each have their own unique personality which gives the anime more taste.

Yes, of course you'd expect some dear sobstories, dialogue, trouble pasts or whatnot - Nichibros developing their characters personalities without that is what makes it unique. You get to know the characters flesh out in a comedic way.

I found this one of the most enjoyable anime. It's pure comedy that can do everything with it. It made me crack up and smile each minute even if it wasn't funny at times. I was able to relate to it a lot as well. If you're looking for laughs, this is it. if you're looking for something deep then look somewhere else.

prath - 2013-09-10 12:30:33

DAILY LIVES OF HIGH SCHOOL BOYS...Uhmm its really hilarious i can't think of anything while watching this show and i was like ROFL for real

Story

It show how high school lives of a teenage boy really happening i can relate because some incident in the story is the same as mine during my high school days. Mostly from being random to when it actually make sense i always thought it that way. It show how an individual face their problem and also how they are able to solve them its quite fascinating how they are making it look like something that can be laugh at, so complicated into simple.

Animation

The animation is really funny it kinda remind me of those anime that i always watch during my vacant time at school

Sound

The sound is average

Character

The character here are really funny given with their unique style of how they will perceive a simple problem making it so much complicated and making themselve look stupid

littel.aurelio - 2013-07-23 08:41:00

I apologize for the LONG review but I hope it helps, and sorry also for any grammar or spelling errors that might appear.

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, or Daily Lives of High School Boys, is a slice of life, comedy made by Sunrise, the lovely people who made Gundam, and Cowboy Bebop. This series aired from Jan 2012 to March 2012. This show... is for the lolz.

Story

This series is LITERALLY what the title is. Since its called the Daily Lives of High School Boys it is about the the daily lives of high school boys, no tricks, no epic robots falling out of the sky (besides the first episode) NOPE this show is LITERALLY the daily lives of high school boys. It is pure Slice of life comedy following groups of boys who attend the all boys school, Sanada North Boys High, as we go through their entire high school life where the last episode is graduation. If you want to call it a over arching plot be my guest.

Now the story is done in 3 - 8ish min sections focusing on different character(s), in different settings or situations. This means that really in a episode you are getting about 4-5 smaller stories that can be long or short. Some of the stories get extra parts for a example early on we get the story of Hidenori and Yassan as Yassan tried to write a novel and looks at Hidenori for quotes and inspiration, since the story is about a girl who meets a boy at a river bank. This story appears to continue in different episodes giving it more detail. The last example I will use is the Culture Festival where that took up a full episode, but was still divided into smaller plots, changing characters and situations. Overall its a different experience from a typical full episode focusing on a situation and branches off to other parts that might or might not continue, but they do a good job and know when it should go on or when it should be a one time thing.

Animation/Sound

Animation wise this is pretty average but I have to note this. Some times the characters have the BEST expressions i have ever seen animated. Its not detailed art or animation but is just the basic which is fine for this show, it doesn't need to be very sparkly.

However the music is very fitting and every storyline has its own music. There's enough music that I cant believe it all fit in a 13 episode series. Also each special episode has some of its own unique songs all are very fitting.

Character

This series did a wonderful job at each character. There are too many to list but everyone of them has their own personality, motivations, hobbies, families, and other stories that bring almost all of them out to act like a (or what they think) a high school boy should act. Some are smarter then others, while some are just plan stupid. All the character interactions are gold, a character is rarely solo in a section, and if they are then they bring out what the character does in a special situation. Overall the characters being the whole story are a blast to watch at what funny thing will they do in the next situation.

Enjoyment/Overall

Overall if you just want some stupid fun comedy this is the show for you. It's a breath of fresh air from all the action shows I watched, since this show was all just fun and humor and even a little romance, and some action every now and then. This show is recommend for everyone that just wants a laugh at something. Sometimes you might be able to relate to a situation they are in and wounder what will happen next. Personally I watched this whole show in a single day because I wanted some laughs from all the depressing shows I have been watching. it really can bring out the child hidden within you and personally this became a small guilty pleasure for me when I just want to smile. If you are looking for something serious then this is not the show for you. All you can find in this show is humor and LOTS of it.

Hope this is helpful to anyone watching it in the future.

Thank you

-Toramelle

levi73 - 2013-06-10 11:48:41

With my own high school experience in mind, and after watching a few other high-school set anime like Azumanga Daioh or Cromartie High School, I decided to give Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou a shot. I needed something that was slapstick and simple, with no complicated plot in my anime diet and it successfully managed to satisfy that hunger.It's exactly what the title depicts: daily life as a high school boy. It involves three high school friends who go to an all boy's high school and their wacky encounters in life. While some of their antics are typical to boys, such as stealing panties and playing RPGs, the way they handle situations is what makes it hilarious. Sometimes the gags itself aren't that funny, but the characters are the ones that make up for it. They have their own sarcastic , geeky, troubled, obnoxious, calculated personalities that add to the humor.Oh, and there are girls... but heh, they are a handful on their own and not your average cliched high school girls...The animation is average, but in this type of comedy anime, animation seems irrelevant to me at least, as long as the characters look relatively human and proportioned, I'm good. It is a typical school comedy anime that will be shelved with others of its kind. Yet, there is something about this show's parodies and sense of humor that makes it a bit different than the average anime comedy. Or maybe I acted too much like these high school boys in high school that I actually find them relatable (I hope not. I wasn't THAT ridiculous. At least I don't think so). So, if you need something to watch after a long stressful day, or want to take a waltz down memory lane give it a shot,worst case, you ended up laughing.

ashly.rau - 2013-05-22 09:19:55

Warning: There will be a copious amount of taking my comedy anime seriouslyDaily Lives of Highschool Boys is a satire of anime's depiction of highschool life. The entire name and set up is a direct reference to the glut of anime about a bunch of girls doing cute shit in highschool, although it frequently jumps into referencing romance anime or other dude wish fulfilment stuff. From the very direct referencing of K-ON to the highlighting that boys 'are only any use in sports or battle anime', it's constantly lampshading this genre. But what makes it better than most anime's attempts at parody is it's not a 'playful parody'. It's not doing the exact same thing these other anime are doing except pointing to itself occasionally and shouting 'look at me, I'm doing this thing that other anime does, aren't I cool'. It mocks these aspects and satirises them, and through its depiction highlights what makes them ridiculous or dumb.Take the show's seemingly most popular segment, Literature Girl. The characters start to spout lines about the weather is, except in poetic ways to indicate their feelings at the time. But instead of leaving it at that, which is what many self-serious romance anime do, it provides a running commentary track with the male character constantly berating his own attempts to sound cool, and in turn laughing at the girl's own attempts to fulfil this ideal romantic scene she's seen in romance stories. It's also satirised it from the girl's side too, a character whose own attempts to put herself into these idealistic romantic situations turn her into this raving mad girl whose desperation to fulfil these checklists from her fanfiction only serve to drag her further down in the eyes of the male love interest of her choice.Another area of choice Nichibros mocks other anime is the depiction of girls. Instead of cutesy ideal girlfriends, the women in this series are how highschool boys in real life feel girls are like. They're scary monstrous beings, completely incomprehensible, whose only aim is to jam more suffering onto the lives of the boys. The depiction is no less realistic than the hyper cutesy versions of other anime (although many of the women I follow on twitter seemed to find this less-celebratory depiction more realistic), the fact that they go all out with this depiction of girls as universally horrible is a large part of the reason I respect its devotion to satire. This all comes to a head in the Highschool Girls Are Funky segments, which takes a group of girls starting scenarios the exact same way the girls in something like K-ON does, but go in completely different directions due to how horrible they all are. The first segment in particular stands out, for one girl asks what they are going to do today, followed by another girl yelling at her and punching her in the face. Completely fucking ridiculous, but its direct contrast and reference to K-ON and its ilk frames the scene and uses this contrast to highlight how ridiculous the insufferably nice versions of highschool girls are.And so on and so forth, the show satirises so many various aspects of how unrealistic the depictions of highschool life is. Sometimes it's just through placing this scenes in more realistic settings, such as the above literature girl segment, or how the boys try to act out scenes from their favourite RPGs but completely lose the sense of the plot. There's satirising through exaggeration, such as the depiction of girls or the very opening segment where the main character leaves house with a piece of toast in his mouth, followed by his friends eating bowls of ramen. There's a few ones that defy classification, such as the depiction of sisters. They're not desirable love toys. Rather, they're inhuman creatures that you've spent so much time around that you don't even consider them as girls anymore. They're referred to solely as "X's imouto" and are never shown to have any eyes.Again I could go on, but all I'd be doing is continuing to spoil the various jokes in the anime. What I'm trying to say is that Daily Lives of Highschool Boys is a satire of modern anime's depiction of highschool and how this can warp the expectations of teenagers for how this life is supposed to run. When viewed through this filter, every joke in the series takes on a new light. It's not the actual daily lives of highschool boys. It's the daily lives of highschool boys as viewed through the filter of how anime thinks their lives should go.On a personal note, I had pegged this show completely incorrectly pre-season. I probably shouldn't have, what with the director being the same guy who did School Rumble and Gintama. But a season before this we got Kimi to Boku. It was an unusual idea, having cute boys doing cute things rather than girls. But the end result was the exact bloody same. You could have swapped those genders around and got the exact same shit we have been getting for the past few years, except now seen through a more shoujo-y filter. It made me depressed. I love anime because of how it can take totally crazy ideas and animate them to make wonderful stories no other medium would even dare to try approach. Yet we were living in an era where it was becoming commonplace to make non-stories about a bunch of kids doing nothing. The announcement of Daily Lives of Highschool Boys struck fear into my heart because I thought perhaps Kimi to Boku was not just a once off, and that cute girls doing nothing was going to spread into other genres.So thank you Daily Dudes. Thank you for not only being that, but satirising the very thing I thought you were going to be.