Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Kyou no Go no Ni (Today in Class 5-2) – episode 1

April 2, 2006 on 2:37 pm | In Kyou no Go no Ni | 6 Comments

Five short stories about fifth graders, centring on Sato Ryota, the class’s philosopher. I won’t pretend to begin to understand this show, as I have no idea who it was made for. Was it made with lolicon in mind? Was it made for a younger set? Who is supposed to wring maximum enjoyment out of this half hour festival of weirdness and uncertain aim?

The stories are as follows:
“Indecision”: Kazumi has a tooth falling out.
“Collarbone”: Ryota takes the heat off of the guys in class by saying that the most sensual part of a woman is the collarbone.
“Undefeated”: Ryota faces off against his arch rival, Nazumi.
“Memory”: Megumi worries that she’s getting fat.
“Surprise Attack”: Chika, Ryota’s childhood friend, tries to sneak something past him.

At various points of the episode, it’s the kind of show that relies on its animation for comedy, by using various ridiculous faces for Ryota and by giving the round eyed empty look to shock people. It works to an extent.
We’re fine there. But, when Ryota looks down Yuki’s shirt in “Collarbone” an when Megumi strips to weigh herself in “Memory”, what am I getting into? We’ve got a world of childish logic, but then we’ve got these bizarre sexual overtures that are mostly innocent but the “law of nature” says that adult hu-mans are supposed to feel uncomfortable in these sorts of situations, which is why they are normally presented in an awkward fashion.
That said, the oral scene was somehow hilarious.

So what does it all mean? I grew suspicious as this wore on, and tired all too quickly of the lame “comedic” special effects. Would I bother watching it next time? I don’t know. What I do know is that I thought Noto Mamiko’s character was a boy for most of her screen time.