Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari

Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari is best described as being both boring and incomprehensible. The premise upon which it's built isn't necessarily the problem- Indeed, the premise seems quite strong, and coming from the creator of Golden Boy, that's to be expected. Instead, it seems to be a problem with how it's been executed. I'll begin with the story here. This tale, ostensibly meant to be a comedy, follows two high school sweethearts who face the trial of potentially being separated by not getting into the same university. It's a solid template for an anime like this one, and indeed, the manga it's based on seems to ... be warmly regarded, but this anime adaptation has a lot of problems. To start, the story feels cramped and rushed, which makes sense since several volumes of the manga were crammed into a mere two episodes. It would have been very difficult to do it justice in the first place as an OVA, but such a truncated runtime doomed the effort before it even began. Moreover, nobody's motivations or reactions make any sense at all, beyond the protagonist being an insatiable horndog with little to no moral fiber. Things just seem to happen, and seem to happen in a vain, desperate, and unceasing series of attempts to make you laugh, almost all of which fail miserably. The final nail in the coffin, however, is the show's vague and all-too-permeable line between daydreams and reality. It doesn't make much of an effort to illustrate that a daydream sequence is initiating, not even so much as a hazy screen effect or harp sounds. It just seamlessly progresses, as though what you're seeing is the real story, only to pull you back after 10 or 15 minutes of what you thought was the story actually taking place. It does this several times, without any warning, and serves no other purpose than to make the story feel disjointed and genuinely schizophrenic, in a very literal sense of the word. The result is confusing, unfunny slop that feels like it has no real reason to exist. As for everything else this show has to offer, there's much less to say.

The art is good, meeting all the basic standards of quality for the time, even having some visual gags that stand out.

The sound is also fine, meeting the basic standards of quality as well, though it fails to stand out in any particular way.

As for the characters, they're fairly weak, and though they are unpredictable, they feel tossed around by the whims of the story, like puppets more than characters. As such, there aren't any favorites to choose from among the cast, given that they're all so broadly lackluster. Overall, Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari is strange, formless, and unfunny. However, it is mercifully short, and due to the story, or lack thereof, being the only major sin, it shakes out to something that is just fundamentally boring, and not fundamentally unwatchable. However, even with that caveat in mind, it remains impossible to recommend. There are very few people, if any, that would actually enjoy this title.

Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari is a short anime adaptation of the long running manga of the same title. Now since I haven’t read the original source material I cannot comment on its accuracy or faithfulness. However it’s obvious that a story that spanned 34 volumes cannot possibly be given justice in a two episode OVA. All of that being said, I can’t say that this program has inspired me to rush out and find any of the manga volumes.

The story starts off fairly interesting enough. The smart but shy high school student Naoki becomes smitten with the beautiful Haruka when attending a ... tennis match she was playing in. He asks her out and she surprisingly agrees. The romance that immediately follows is kind of sweet even though it’s really shallow. The couple promises to share their university life together and resolve to get into the prestigious Tokyo University. Naoki as a top student seems all but guaranteed to get in, while Haruka works hard to bring up her grades and test scores.

Very quickly though the wheels start to come off. As mentioned, it’s really impossible to do the story any justice in barely an hour of film. While the first episode is pretty good, the second is confusing and baffling and a complete train wreck. The most notable change is the evolution of the main character into a complete douchebag and waste of skin. Despite Haruka's faithful devotion to him, Naoki continues to cheat on her. The way he acts, particularly over the second episode makes the eventual ending not all that satisfying.

The lead characters do little to enhance this series. Naoki and Haruka for leads are horribly developed by the story. The romance between them is sweet at times but you don’t feel anything for them because the groundwork for the relationship is never laid. Naoki starts out as a likeable and amusing character, switching between this serious thoughtful character and a raging pervert and lunatic. However he inexplicably becomes a ladies man, seemingly bedding down with every other female character that shows up. Haruka, I suppose plays the silently suffering Japanese woman who is accepting of her boyfriend’s infidelity and is unwavering in her devotion for him. She also doesn’t have any substance to her; she exists, is cute, and has huge tits and a nice ass. That really is the only thing you can say about her.

Tons of supporting characters are crammed into the story that were probably very important in the manga but to someone with no familiarity with them they are completely shallow and uninteresting. None of them are developed, explained, or even likeable and they will pop up out of nowhere and vanish just as mysteriously.

Artistically I felt it was inconsistent. Some of the art is very nicely done but the characters themselves often look crude. Naoki's various facial expressions are hilarious at times and I felt were the strongest point of the artwork. The style reminded me of GTO. The acting is decent overall and the ending theme song is very strong.

I think that really all but the most diehard fans of the manga need to bother with this. I didn’t get much out of it; perhaps I would feel differently with more familiarity with the story. Either way the plot and the characters just aren’t that good for me to even bother with and my recommendation would be to not waste your time with this title.