Recap

Seki-kun finds several new ways to kill time, including an unconventional game of Shogi, polishing his desk, an even less conventional game of Go Chess, and crafting a seal out of an eraser.

Jel’s Thoughts

I’ve been trying to figure out how best to cover this show because I really love it. As with any short, I can’t really justify devoting an entire post to it every week. But now that the approximate length of a regular anime episode has gone by since its debut, I will remain silent no more!

Regular Glorio Blog readers or those few people that have actually seen our bio page may know I love dumb, loud comedies with heart. In that sense I feel like Tonari no Seki-kun was made for me, although in this case calling it dumb would be doing the show a disservice. It actually asks a lot from its viewers, letting your brain craft your own perception of Yokoi and Seki-kun’s relationship – all by watching her watch his ridiculous and completely inconsequential methods of fending off boredom.

Episode 2’s Shogi intrigue highlights how Yokoi has an equally vivid, if not crazier, imagination compared to her mute aisle mate. It’s really amusing how she manages to fill in the gaps in terms of the motivations of the kings and generals when you consider all she sees are a couple of broken Shogi pieces. Even funnier, and sweet for that matter, is the fact that she’s probably dead on in guessing what Seki-kun is thinking. She really makes the perfect accomplice for his odd little projects.

Episode 3 is probably the dullest of the bunch but still fun nonetheless. The relatively normal activity of polishing your desk means less distraction from how Yokoi views Seki-kun himself. You have to admit its pretty adorable when she hands over her pencil board and acknowledges his cute side, proving it’s not whatever crazy thing he’s up to that interests her but its really the boy himself.

I was worried that episode 4 would be a rehash of the board game madness from episode 2, so I was relieved to see they found a new direction to take “playing with game pieces the wrong way”. Again, it was pretty cute seeing Yokoi’s imagination get the best of her, particularly naming the various attacks the adorable assailants were dishing out. Seriously, I laughed harder at the “Bunny Chop” to the throat than I probably should have. Yes, this episode had a bunny made out of Go pieces chopping a teddy bear made of Go pieces in the throat. How can you not want to watch this show?

This week’s episode went even further in easing my worries, showing they’re not afraid to step out of the classroom… all the way to the SCIENCE LAB! They also did a brilliant job at somehow introducing a “villain” to the mix as the oafish Uzawa comes crashing into their little world. His complete lack of nuance makes a great foil for Seki-kun, and their contrast really highlights the theme. Like any great Slice of Life series, Tonari no Seki-kun is about appreciating the details and Uzawa most certainly does not. After his appearance in episode 5 I can’t wait to see what other little surprises the series has in store for us, and I’m not ashamed to admit I just may look forward watching this short little show the most every week.