Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sou

Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sō (2014)
          The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior

Studio: Brain's Base

Licensed By (NA): Sentai Filmworks

                     

Director: Shigeyuki Miwa

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice-of-life

Main Cast:

Kazunari Usa - Voiced by Yūichi Iguchi (JP)

Ritsu Kawai - Voiced by Kana Hanazawa (JP)

Mayumi Nishikino - Voiced by Rina Satō (JP)

Sayaka Watanabe - Voiced by Hisako Kanemoto (JP)

Shirosaki - Voiced by Go Shinomiya (JP)

Sumiko - Voiced by Sanae Kobayashi (JP)

          
          Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sō is based off of the manga of the same name by Ruri Miyahara. The title actually has two meanings in Japanese. The first is “We Are All from Kawai Dormitory (or Complex), and the second (when the phrase is said out loud) is “We Are All Pitiful,” which I think sums up the series pretty well. Unfortunately this doesn’t translate to English what-so-fucking-ever, so the official English title is The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior. Because the singular pun in the Japanese title would not translate to English at all, Sentai Filmworks decided to make a title with three puns. At least it's not the worst title change that Sentai Filmworks has come up with. *cough* Wagnaria *cough*
          Kazunari Usa dreams of leaving behind his middle school nickname, “Oddball Handler,” and starting over fresh in high school; all he wants is a normal life and maybe a nice girlfriend (his eye being on Ritsu Kawai, a second year he often sees in the school library). In his first year of high school, Usa’s parents had to move for their jobs and Usa decided to move into his own place where he could have a little bit of freedom. As Usa is on his way to the dormitory for the first time, he runs into a man who can clearly be described as an ‘oddball’ who was sticking his head through a hole in the fence of an elementary school. The man calls out to Usa by name, but Usa is able to escape when the man is apprehended by a police officer. Usa continues onto the dormitory to meet with the dormitory manager, Sumiko. Upon being shown his room, which he thought was going to be a 4.5 tatami-sized single room, he discovers that it is actually a 9 tatami-sized shared room with a dividing curtain. His roommate: The pervert he had ran into earlier, Shirosaki (also called Shiro), who knew Usa from a picture Sumiko had shown him. Usa is angry upon learning that his mom had lied to him about the accommodations and was ready to storm out of the dormitory, when he runs into his dream girl, Ritsu Kawai (who happens to be the dormitory’s owners’ daughter and grandniece of Sumiko), who is also living at the dormitory. Usa then decides maybe it’s not such a bad thing to stay at this dorm and get closer to Ritsu. Now if he can only deal with the rest of the wacky inhabitants of Kawai Dormitory…

Writing

          The plot is typical of a slice-of-life series: literally it is just bits of the characters normal lives with the only main plotline going on is Usa trying to get closer to Ritsu (and everyone else trying to ruin his chances.) Towards the end of the series, I felt as though they had added in a couple of conflicts just to spice up the story a bit, even though the lighthearted comedy they had going on before that was perfectly fine.

Characters

          The main character of the story is Kazunari Usa (you may have noticed that I refer to Usa by his surname, this is because that is how everyone in the series calls him, and I didn’t even know his given name until the LAST episode.) Usa was known as the “Oddball Handler” in middle school (often shortened to “Oddhand,” which sounds horrible) due to his ability to easily deal with the oddballs of the school. Ritsu Kawai is a nigh-expressionless, antisocial bookworm whom Usa has a crush on. She is also one of the most adorable characters this season and my favorite character from Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sō. Mayumi is the resident drunk and unmarried over 25-year-old woman who often plays the role of instigator for most of Usa’s problems. Sayaka is the evil college student who likes to pull mean pranks on people (Usa) and sexually harass Mayumi. Shiro is a novelist in his mid-twenties who is an extreme masochist and has the scorn of everyone in the series (much to his delight.) Sumiko is the manager of Kawai Complex and Ritsu’s great aunt. She is also the most badass character in the show. Don’t make her mad. Ever.

          

She will fucking kill you... for fun.

          I really love the characters in Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sō, and I really feel as though the show is mainly driven by the characters and the wacky shit that they do. The only points I took off were because a couple of the characters were definitely the usual clichés that you see in these sorts of anime.

Visuals

          Visually? Awesome. I love the artwork in this series, especially the moments when it goes manga-styled and has the words appear on the screen (which apparently the other characters can see, too.) The character designs are amazing (like I said, Ritsu is the most adorable character from the spring ’14 season.) Also, something that I loved, is the opening sequence. It has such wonderful imagery that, even though the song is not one of my favorites, the opening is one of my favorite from Spring ’14.

This is the nope bug. It comes from the nope region of not going there country, on the Aw, HELL no continent.

          

Audio

         Bokura wa Minna Kawai-sō has just about the perfect voice cast and none of the characters feel out of place what-so-ever, including all of the minor characters. Of particular note are Kana Hanazawa, Rina Satō, and Hisako Kanemoto as Ritsu, Mayumi, and Sayaka respectively. They are really excellent in this and their voices fit their characters perfectly.
          The opening and ending songs are also pretty good. The opening song is "Itsuka no, Iku Tsuka no Kimi to no Sekai" sung by Fhána, and the ending song is “My Sweet Shelter” sung by Kana Hanazawa, Rina Satō, and Hisako Kanemoto (as their respective characters.)

Personal Enjoyment

          There is not much else to say, other than I fucking loved this series. The comedy, visual gags, and the somewhat toxic interactions between the characters really just had me anticipating each episode. I really, really, really recommend this anime.

          

The Final Word

          If you are a fan of comedy, seriously watch this series. It had me rolling with laughter from beginning to end.