Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku

Initially didn’t plan on picking up “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku”, but on a whim decided to try out the show and quickly found myself watching all four already aired episodes back to back.

Adapted from the original “帰宅部活動記録” manga by Kuroha, the story revolves around five high school girls, all member of the ‘going-home club’ which is dedicated to having fun doing leisurely activities, silly conversations or indulge in downright ludicrous shenanigans.

What makes “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” an enjoyable comedy for me is the combination of the high school club setting filled with oddball characters, absurd humor, verbal jabs and retorts, all divided into multiple comedic segments per episode, much like “Seitokai Yakuindomo”.

Each episode being comprised of several small comedic segments, does mean one might not enjoy all of those different segments. In fact, while I have really enjoyed the show so far, each episode had at least one segment that did not find as humorous as it could have been.

Although “Seitokai Yakuindomo” relied heavily on ecchi humor, “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” forgoes such perverted innuendo for more generic comedy and absurd situations. Nonetheless, this show too is filled with tsukkomi or ‘straight man’ retorts by Natsuki, similar to those by Tsuda and Suzu in “Seitokai Yakuindomo”.

Another distinctive element where “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” sets itself apart from similar series like “Nichijou” or “Daily Lives of High School Boys”, is in its ability to mock itself and frequently breaking the fourth wall.

In its first episode already, “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku” breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges itself as being a fictional anime, for instance in the scene after ojousama Claire’s introduction, Natsuki retorts she mustn’t use up so many frames because of the show’s limited budget.

In the fourth episode the imaginary wall with the viewers is again broken down, one of that episode’s running gags is how the show might change its vibe or genre to keep the viewers’ attention. A rather clever stab at some other anime series that do undergo sudden changes to attract more viewers.

Overall animation by studio Nomad is quite good, though there are obviously scenes which are better cared for than others, the visual style used here is rather different from the studio’s other works like “Kämpfer” or “Sola”.

Although the overall voice acting is just fine, do personally feel that for some characters the chosen voice talent is not always a perfect match for that character type.

Experienced this mostly for ojousama character Claire, while Senbongi Ayaka delivers a solid performance, she alas just does not sound like the typical ojousama as portrayed for instance by Kotobuki Minako who voiced Tsumugi in “K-ON!”, Itou Shizuka as Luvia in “Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya”, Satou Satomi who voiced Aria in “Seitokai Yakuindomo”, Kitamura Eri as Kanade in “Mayo Chiki!”,…

Most of the voice cast do not seem to have much other roles credited to heir name yet, like Yuuna Mitsuki who voices too-cute Karin, Aiuchi Sae who voices Botan or Kobayashi Miharu who voices Sakura.

Young Kido Ibuki delivers a nice performance as Natsuki, she also voiced Akiko in “Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne”.

If you’re looking for a nice comedy with lots of absurd humor and verbal banter, definitely give this show a try!