Hyakko – Love and Hate In Kamizono Academy

Author: nova

There are several shows in this season that occupy the gray zone between likeable and trash, but I doubt many of them are as difficult to classify as Hyakko, a 13-episode anime series from Nippon Animation. Hyakko threads the bloody battlefield of slice-of-life school comedies with mainly female cast, but will it end up as a mangled, bloody corpse? Or will it be able to follow in the footsteps of the genre pioneers and emerge as a winner? My answer to both: No.

The main problem of Hyakko does not lie in the graphical execution – although character animation takes a dive at times, overall Hyakko is pleasant to watch. Especially the background art is worthy of recognition with its high contrast, highly saturated look. It isn’t Makoto Shinkai, but the use of light, shadows and bright colors give the environments a vivid look and feel. Character animation style is original, fluid and consistent – there is a notable difference to the stiff stone characters of for example Kimikiss which I am currently watching as well. Nor is there anything to complain about in the seiyuu-department. While some may dislike Hirano Aya, I’d say she’s doing a decent job as Ayumi and I have no complaints to present about the rest of the cast either.

Posting Suzu for great justice.

The setting and characters of Hyakko do their job as well – they may lack originality but in this genre drastic innovations aren’t really something to be expected anyway. As a positive note the cast includes some male characters and screentime is granted to them as well, which manages to at least somehow break the mould of the world consisting 90% of females. Although many of the jokes used in the show are just textbook examples seen dozens of times before, there are plenty of amusing happenings which keep on increasing as the show progresses. Hell, episode 7 cracked me up good, probably because I could relate to Kitsune so much as an older brother myself.

Where Hyakko fails is the execution of certain character interaction. Remember Kana-Chiaki-pairing in Minami-ke and how some people were annoyed how Chiaki was being a flat-out bitch to her sister? Thought Tomo sometimes went a bit too far with Yomi? Well, Hyakko gives us impulsive, selfish Torako and pairs her up with a reserved and cool ojou-sama Tatsuki, which ends up in the former annoying the shit out of the latter. There’s nothing wrong with this on an ideal level, but what Hyakko fails at is staying within the limits of good taste. Oftentimes Torako’s actions are just plain uncalled for and mean, which doesn’t really amuse me – especially when the show lets Torako to get away with it.

Nobody fucks with mecha-Torako.

Aside from Torako-Tatsuki-interaction, some of Hyakko’s comedy scenes seem to lack certain intensity which spoils their humor potential. Also, sometimes it feels like the joke could have been milked a bit further but the show pulls out early without really extracting every bit of lulz there would be available. All in all I believe it’s the rookie director Fukuda Michio’s lack of confidence in his own show that undermines Hyakko’s potential at being a great series.

All this being said however, I still think Hyakko is worth watching. It does have its good moments and memorable gags, such as mecha Torako, and the artwork is above average. The show has the potential, but for now lacks the certain oomph to back it up – however, recent improvement gives a reason for hope. And as such, from this post on Hyakko is on my watchlist.