What do you call a series that should be starring a completely different set of characters? A genre that is usually populated by saccharin, overly cute, bubbly yet hilarious teenage girls? I don’t know why slice of life, high school comedies have always been based on groups of girls, but it works. So how exactly does an anime like Daily Lives of High School Boys work out?
While I normally try to base my reviews of television shows on their first episodes, for some reason, Daily Lives of High School Boys calls for a little more. Despite the shounen ai-esque title, this anime isn’t about homoerotic pre-adults at all. The nickname of the show on the internet is NichiBros, because it’s basically fan favorite slice of life comedy Nichijou with a cast of young men. Daily Lives is a plotless, hysterical mélange of everyday life. The show mainly follows the exploits of three young men named Yoshitake, Tadakuni, and Hidenori. These three are much like any high school boy you meet. They hang out and talk about weird shit that only boys really talk about, they get involved in stupid situations that really only boys get involved in, and they’re basically just boys.
The show is funny. I mean, very funny. It makes fun of the fact that boys are, in a word, stupid. As much as I absolutely loved its comparison counterpart Nichijou, there’s just something a little special to me about Daily Lives. It could very well be because I was a high school boy once myself and can relate to some of the incredibly stupid shit these guys talk about and get into. Whatever it is, the show is great. There are jokes after jokes and it just plain makes me laugh. The characters are pretty standard by themselves, and unlike most slice of life shows that star a cast of overly cute girls, these guys don’t really seem to have much in the way of differing personalities. Each guy seems pretty interchangeable with the next, and for what this show wants to do it works.
Daily Lives of High School Boys is absolutely not for everyone. I can see straightaway that not everyone will like this show as nearly as much as I do. But then again, I love a good laugh. Slice of life comedies are my bread and butter and when they’re done well, it’s even better. While I’ve compared this to Nichijou, it’s nowhere near as well written or as polished or as funny, but that isn’t a knock against it. Daily Lives is still hilarious and I still enjoy watching it. If you’re the kind of person that can laugh at young men trying on their sister’s underwear, Daily Lives might just be for you. Watch it and judge for yourself, but I’ll be laughing my ass off in the corner while you decide.
This review based on the first 4 episodes.
