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A new academic year at Yamabuki High has arrived with changes: Yuno and Miyako are now Juniors, Sae and Hiro have become seniors, and two new freshmen are moving into the Hidamari Apartments! Excited at the prospect of fresh faces in the residences, Yuno and the gang decide to give the two girls, Nori and Nazuna, the warmest welcome that they can. Now as Miyako and Yuno try to decide what electives they wish to take and everyone trying to get to know the new neighbors, the Hidamari Apartments have never been so busy.
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Hiro | heart unheart |
jp. Yuko GOTO
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Miyako | heart unheart |
jp. Kaori MIZUHASHI
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Nazuna | heart unheart |
jp. Chiaki OMIGAWA
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Nori | heart unheart |
jp. Hitomi HARADA
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Sae | heart unheart |
jp. Ryoko SHINTANI
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Ten-year-old genius Chiyo, animal-loving Sakaki, loudmouth Tomo, athletic Kagura, weight-conscious Yomi and dim-witted Osaka are six friends who share laughs, good times, and a high school homeroom. With scary (and sometimes perverted) teachers, school festivals, penguin suits and general hilarity abounding, you can be sure that there's never a dull day in the life of one of these students!
These two shows share the same abstract feel and tempo. Both anime have 4-koma pacing (a joke at the end of every sequence), but also have understated punchlines and thrive mainly on character-driven humor instead of anime references and outlandish slap-stick.
Life is simply not worth living for down and out school teacher Itoshiki Nozomu. He has no hope of progress, no prospect of promotion, no chance at happiness… he is in despair! Even his name spells 'zetsubou' – 'despair', when compressed. But when the time comes to end it all, Itoshiki's attempted suicide on the first day of the new school year is foiled by relentlessly positive Fuura Kafuka. This saves Itoshiki long enough to meet his new class, and the quirky range of students under his care. Will Itoshiki Nozomu depress his students with his anguish? Or will Fuura show Zetsubou-sensei the joys of life and hope?
If you like the SHAFT style of jump cuts and frequent changes in texture, you're going to find Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei equally as rewarding as any Hidamari Sketch title. Both shows share an off-balance pacing which adds to the humor, but SZS, with its outlandish characters makes better use of the technique that makes the art school girls' anime so interesting.
Kajiwara Sora is a shy girl who loves to draw. She's a member of the art club at school, even though one of the other members scares her sometimes. She finds drawing things like flowers or fruit easy enough, but she puzzles over how to capture more fleeting moments, like the flapping of a bird's wings or a cat that won't sit still. There are things she can draw, and things she can't draw, and with the help of her friends in the art club, she's going to experience them all to the fullest.
Sketchbook ~full color's~ and the Hidamari Sketch series all focus on the daily lifes of students from an art school. In neither of them you'll find any compelling story nor any major character development. What you'll find instead is a cast full of colourful characters and your daily dose of comedy/slice-of-life goodness.
