Anime Hajime Review: A-Channel

***Warning the following may contain spoilers for A-Channel. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Our story starts in the hallway of your average high school. Run Momoki (voiced by Kaori Fukuhara) is with her friends Yuko Nishi (voiced by Minako Kotobuki) and Nagisa Tennoji (voiced by Yumi Uchiyama) when a group of boys begins chatting with Run.

Out of nowhere, something comes flying up the stairs carrying a metal bat and chases the boys away. It's Toru Ichii (voiced by Aoi Yuki), Run's best friend since kindergarten.

From here, we join these four girls as they live out their daily lives. Taking every chance to spend time together.

Toru is a year younger than her friends. About the size of your average grade schooler, it's difficult for her to find clothes that fit. Thus she is often found wearing oversized long sleeved shirts. Quiet and shy, she is protective of Run and can get quite lonely without her.

Run has blonde hair with a distinct strand sticking up resembling a parakeet. Having known Toru for years, the two are inseparable. Unlike Toru, though, Run is sociable and friendly with everyone she meets. Calling her an airhead would be an understatement. The only thing matching her ditziness is her kindhearted nature.

Yuko's a beautiful young woman who is always complimented on her model-like appearance. Like Run, she's friendly and kind. Yet her eagerness to help often causes her to overreact to all kinds of situations. She dislikes scary things, which results in teasing from Toru and Nagisa.

Toru

Nagisa, better known as Nagi, more often than not is the straight man of the group, but she has her moments. Despite having a slender figure, she's concerned about her weight. But she never has the discipline to follow through on a diet. With a scheme always in the works, Nagi is there for friends whenever they need help.

Series Positives

Run

When I first started watching A-Channel there was something familiar about it. The show reminded me of several other shows. In particular, I saw elements of Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, Nichijou, and K-On. So if you enjoy any of those, odds are you'll enjoy this.

Characters

Yuko

In a show like this, there needs to be an outstanding cast you'll want care about and take the time to get to know. Otherwise, what would be the point? Without a doubt, the best and most enduring thing about A-Channel were its characters.

Nagisa

Out of the four girls, I found Nagi to be the least interesting. This is not me dinging the series or Nagi in any way. When the least interesting character is still enjoyable, something's going right. The only reason why Nagi isn’t higher on my radar was because she always played the role of instigator. She never had her own story development. She served the part well, so, in the end, this is more of a small nitpick instead of a complaint.

Yuko was great for the exact reason why I think Nagi could have been a stronger character. She was the butt of every joke. She wasn't an idiot (in fact she was one of the smartest in the show) but she would always give a reaction. Do you have a friend that you find great enjoyment in teasing because they will always respond to it? That friend would be Yuko.

What made this even better, she was never bothered by the constant jabs. Well, that's not true. She was always bothered by them. What I mean to say, she never held a grudge and recognized there was no ill intent. Plus she had no qualms about retaliating and would fire back every now and then.

This next one worried me at first. I've seen a lot of airhead characters before, but few hold a candle to Run. Her self-awareness was lacking and she was always at risk of injury just by walking down the street. She was the makings of a constant headache. Thank God this never came to fruition.

What made this work, Run wasn't a moron. Just forgetful and naive. She tried her best and would go out of her way to get things done. This aspect of her personality fit with her already mentioned kind and loving nature.

And last but not least we have Toru. I love Toru. She was so damn cute. The show played this up from beginning to end. When she needed to be mature, she was mature. When she needed to be childish, she was childish. I took her serious and found her adorable at the same time.

Toru was expressive in a monotone kind of way. If that makes sense. There was never any question what was going through her mind. But her face and tone of voice never changed all that much. If there was one thing I'll remember about this show, it will be her.

Series Negatives

The fact that A-Channel reminded me of so many other great anime was its biggest drawback. There was nothing new here. You've seen it all before if you've ever seen any other slice of life comedy. Never did it break away and be its own thing.

Since it conjured up so many memories of other shows, this one fell flat in comparison. The humor is good and you will laugh quite a bit. But it won't come close to the level as say Azumanga Daioh or Nichijou.

I'll most likely come back to this series to help prevent me from going to bed at a decent hour. But it will never be just for the joy of watching it by itself. A-Channel will be in a lineup of several other series in one long marathon run at two in the morning.

Music Montages…A lot of Them

While all the positives of A-Channel are in other shows, there was one thing that annoyed me beyond all else.

In every single episode, someone thought it was a good idea to add a short musical montage. I get why these were in the show. It was supposed to illustrate the girls growing as friends. What I'm saying is that it didn't need these moments.

They broke up the flow and added nothing to what the show was already doing a great job with. The worst part, the A-Channel specials did a far better representation of growth. Using the same amount of time and without the need of a stupid song in the middle of everything. The musical numbers should've been the specials and not part of the main series.

In all fairness, these moments did work once or twice. Unfortunately not enough to warrant them getting repeated twelve times. And then two more times during the OVAs.

Final Thoughts

Good but not great.

If you like slice-of-life comedies, you're going to like this one; no question.

A-Channel doesn’t break any new ground, but it didn't need too. It’s a show with a simple premise, meant to be enjoyed for what it is. A glimpse into the lives of four high schoolers.

While the ending did leave me content with what I watched, I would be more than happy to see some new episodes. There is still a ton that can be done, but for we have right now it’s enough.

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