"You're just my father, don't give me advice" - Saiki Kusuo

Comedy is a very tough genre to excel at. Why? It's because of the difficulty in knowing what tickles people's funny bone. School comedies are even more tougher to work since the school setting makes it hard to step out and make people laugh. Now there are many supernatural school comedies but none of them made me laugh. Except Saiki Kusuo. Behold, the anime that made a comedy lover like me already decide it's score at a 10 in the middle of watching the show (I decide on ratings after binging a show). This is my review of Saiki Kusuo no PSI Nan. Yare yare, here we go. Original review written March 18, 2018 on MAL.

"JUSTICE KNIGHTS OF THUNDER!!!"

Supernatural powers already allow so much more comedy that the folks went overboard and made a 120 episode anime over it, now even though they're 5 mins each they're to be enjoyed in bite sizes, much like coffee jello. Since it's a comedy a plot would be too much too ask (which makes sense) and so the only "plot" we got to see was the introduction of new characters. That and some very loosely tied events showed that the story isn't Saiki's best parts but plot progression isn't the only thing that is calculated in a comedy, it being a slice of life excuses that fact so we judge the scenarios that the characters are put in, and so far maybe around 5 out of the 120 episodes were remotely predictable and maybe kinda meh. The rest? Brilliant scenario making and not to mention brilliant story telling. The 5 minute per scenario focus made it even better since everything just kept a consistency of being fresh again and again. And so despite the fact that plot progression isn't the best of what a SOL (or any SOL for that matter) can offer, it more than made up for it by it's scenarios. The way the independent story moved on was easy-going and a joy to watch, even for J.C Staff who are known for being rushers. What does all this mean? Saiki has got a goddamn epic story telling mangaka being the works.

Arguably the best part of the anime is how lovable all the idiots in the anime are. We've got the main character Saiki who seems like he's the only smart guy in the group but then he gets baited by coffee jello, making him a very relatable character for reasons countless apart from the one I mentioned above. Teruhashi as well is an idiot in her own way and the fun part is how determined she is to make Saiki for "Oh!". Nendou goes without saying, his stupidity was so massive that it was refreshing to see such a baka in a comedy anime. Justice Knight of Thunder as well was as Chuuni as you get and Hairo was the Goku everyone knew him to be. Chiyo as well was a funny love interest although she wasn't too fixated on Saiki as Teruhashi was. That leaves us with a few characters who came a bit later on so I won't be spoiling them for you. The point is, if there's one reason why I hold Saiki Kusuo to such high regard, it's the characters. They are, were and always will be the quintessential part of the anime and a huge reason why it's such a joy to watch. An important thing about an anime is to have memorable characters, but just making them stronger and stronger and giving them multiple Saiyan powers won't do the trick, you have to make them lovable. Needless to say Saiki Kusuo more than managed that. There wasn't a single character I disliked in the anime, and that's saying something because I always have that one character I nitpick on and frankly Saiki Kusuo had me dancing with joy and laughter since it's character were so lovable and so fun to watch and interact with together. If there's one thing you should take away from this (overrating) reviewer, it's that Saiki Kusuo has one of the best casts in anime. Period.

Casts remind me of something very important that should definitely not be missed out here, the staff who worked on this beautiful anime. The highlight would of course be our leading man Saiki Kusuo, played by legendary VA Kamiya Hiroshi. You all may know him as Ararararararararagi if you watch the Monogatari series to name just one of the many award winning roles he's played. The rest of the cast isn't an A-Lister but to push them away would be the biggest mistake you'd ever do apart from say Coffee Jello is shit (I WILL end you if you say that), none, I repeat NONE of the characters were bad in their voicing and each of the VAs selected were brilliant. Another important part is the soundtrack. (JUSTICE KNIGHTS OF THUNDER) The OST in this anime is simply breathtaking, I fell in love with the soundtrack early on and that's to say nothing about Natsuki Hanae's oh-so-wonderful voice. His voice graced the first OP and second ED and let's just say it made me go "Oh!". Another thing I went "Oh!" at was Dempagumi.inc. (What? You think I'd go "Oh!" at Teruhashi? Bakaka [I'm lying]). Dempagumi.inc balanced out Hanae's soothing voice with some cheerful and playful action. It was reflected in the visual itself. A fun fact is that Hanae also played Reita in the anime apart from the theme songs. This all shows just how wonderful the soundtrack was along with the amazing characters which I'm sure I don't need to mention by now.

I've loved J.C Staff for a long time, but to say that J.C is the sole reason the anime looks good is totally unfair, the mangaka made the characters so beautiful from both the inside and outside that I was shell-shocked. Everyone was unique in their own way, and like I said before, to make an anime memorable you NEED to make them lovable and unique, and the mangaka and J.C Staff for that matter did that job elegantly. My reviews are rated according to my critical analysis of the anime by my point of view, so many times my score rating and my review rating are at odds but sometimes they do match and I'm sure this is one of those times they do. Why am I saying this? I gave Saiki a score of 10. Now I don't know what rating I gave it now (since I'm writing this before actually rating it in it's respective places) but I'm sure they'll be really close. The reasons are very simple. Be it my critical analysis or my personal enjoyment, Saiki Kusuo is an anime that is simple fun. It's an anime you relax to, cheer up to where you're down or just laugh when you're with your Aibos. Even if you don't have friends (Hontoni just find some friends then :P) watching these lovable idiots in action will give your perhaps cold heart some much needed warmth.

Saiki has a lot of things to it's name. It's first and foremost THE most hilarious school comedy I have EVER seen. Then it has some of the most memorable characters. A soundtrack to dance or sleep to (Ah Hanae Natsuki <3). A well constructed MC. A non-flat love interest. A hilarious Chuuni for once. A whole set of lovable idiots and so much more. And if these don't sell you off then I'm sorry but you won't find a school comedy that gets better than this. I'm well aware that I used to overrated anime before but this isn't just me speaking. This is the MAL score speaking, this is the popularity speaking, this is the amount of favorites this anime has that's speaking. I'm constantly rambling on about the good of the anime (ahem no faults here apart from plot progression) but it's all on you the viewer. Saiki Kusuo speaks for itself. Will you try a much praised show? Are you going to lose something by trying a 5 min per ep show? Do you want to laugh? If your answers to all three questions was "Yes!" then dear sir/madam/person, get your funny bone ready, because it's about to be tickled, like REALLY tickled. Say hello to the best school comedy anime!

P.S: Girl Saiki is worth dying for. Yes, Girl Saiki is better than Teruhashi (maybe)

Wait, the review is over already? Yare-yare.