Anime Hajime Review: GJ Club

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for GJ Club. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

There exists a special club. It can be found at an unnamed school. In unnamed town. There really is nothing quite like it. And it's called the GJ Club.

Kyouya Shinomiya (voiced by Hiro Shimono) is the its newest member. There he meets the other, unique members. As well as the president, Mao Amatsuka (voiced by Maaya Uchida). When together, they are a sight to behold.

Every day something unusual is bound to happen. But boring is never one of them. The simple act of hanging out can turn into something much more…let’s say, unexpected.

Kyouya and Mao work together to ensure the purpose of the club gets done. And that everyone is having fun while doing it. As time goes on, this group becomes the closest of friends. A bond that will last a lifetime.

If you happen to find yourself in the tucked away clubroom, why not join in? Besides, that’s the only way you’ll be able to answer that all-important question.

Why is the GJ Club the way it is?

Series Positives

I enjoyed GJ Club. I enjoyed it a lot. I was surprised how…pleasant it was.

Kyouya

This show never failed to give me a smile. It felt like there was a lot to it. But in reality, there wasn’t much happening. This series had a slower pace, but it retained a high level of energy. From the first episode, I knew this one would be fun.

And I was right.

GJ Club continued to get better as it went on. There have been other series with a similar premise to this one. They’ve ranged from bad to good and everywhere between. Amongst all those, GJ Club managed to separate itself.

Mao

There may be others like it. Yet there’s only one GJ Club.

This was a series I didn’t want to see finish. But I was also quite satisfied when it did. I could go for more. Yet what I got was plenty.

Comedy

Megumi

There was something about GJ Club. It had plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. But this series wasn’t constantly hilarious. Yet, it was always amusing. Along with that, there were a few dud jokes. They were noticeable, but they were never annoying. They happened and the show moved on.

This was a reliable series. It never disappointed. And even at its worst, it wasn’t all that bad.

Shion

Then it hit me. GJ Club was a lot like Seitokai Yakuindomo. Or at least, it was on the same level, but on the other side of the spectrum. Seitokai Yakuindomo thrived in its raunchier brand of humor. A style that was almost nonexistent in GJ Club. Yet, they both had a similar idea of comedy.

Focus on the situation. Not the energy of the situation.

Kirara

Both shows could be loud and fast paced. But they didn’t rely on that. Jokes didn’t need to be long and drawn out. Most were quick and to the point. And then the episode moved on to the next. They weren’t throwing jokes at us at a million miles an hour.

This wasn’t highbrow. But it wasn’t junk food either. It found a nice middle ground.

Tamaki

All the characters could switch from straight man to goofball. No one was always serious. No one was always silly. This provided a lot of flexibility. It gave each bit a little more life. As well as a touch of unpredictability. You were never a hundred percent sure what direction this show was going to go.

GJ Club let its character’s reactions, attitudes, and personalities do all the work. It didn’t fall into the over-explanation trap. This show realized its audience does have eyes and can think for themselves.

For instance, there was a scene between Kyouya and Shion (voiced by Suzuko Mimori) where they shared a can of coffee. Kyouya didn’t think anything of it. Shion, on the other hand, realized the awkwardness of the situation. It was never explained why it was awkward. That’s because it didn’t need to be.

To go along with this, a lack of explanations was deliberate. These characters had no problem teasing and messing with each other’s minds. And this show had no issue doing the same to the viewer.

GJ Club’s resident maid character, Mori (voiced by Ayumi Tsunematsu) had a great running gag. Mori and her mother were identical in every way. Even members of the family she worked for weren’t aware of this. You never knew who was on screen. That, or, was the show f@#$ing with us? I have no idea since we never saw them together. What an odd detail. But damn if it wasn't brilliant.

Going off that, this show also had great call back humor. Believe it or not, this isn't an anime you can watch out of order. It’s not punishing to do so. But a few jokes won't make sense if you take them at random. By doing this, it built a sense of cohesiveness. It was as if there was actual thought put into this series. Imagine that.

When I started GJ Club I thought it would be nothing more than a standard slice-of-life anime. Color me surprised.

The Characters

Everyone. The entire cast was fantastic. Everyone had a role. Everyone filled that role. There wasn’t a single person I wanted to see gone. The hallmark of a great slice-of-life.

Kyouya was a great center. He was soft spoken and never gave over-the-top reactions. He was calm, for the most part. Although not one for retaliation, he wasn’t easy to push around. That said, he was the target of a lot of teasing from his clubmates. In return, though, he was a reliable friend. Kyouya was someone people could turn to when they needed someone to listen.

Also, Kyouya was the only male in the club. Because of this, it’s not hard to assume harem anime. But that wasn't the case. On occasion, there were moments of affection towards him. Yet this was never the main goal. It was more admiration than anything else.

Mao gave this show its energy. She was the loud one. She was the one volatile one. She was the one who would freak out. It’s fair to say she was kind of a brat at times. But she never got away with it. There was always a price to pay whenever Mao acted up. And she was always aware when she crossed a line. Whatever Mao did was out of light hearted fun. When she went too far, she felt bad about it. Her genuine guilt made it hard not to forgive her.

Megumi (voiced by Yume Miyamoto) was a sweetheart. The polar opposite to her older sister Mao, Megumi was kind and gentle. She wasn’t one to get angry. She wasn’t one to get mad. That’s why it was a bit more terrifying when something did manage to tick her off. Megumi was often the one who had to reign in her sister’s antics. But she wasn’t a stick in the mud. She wasn’t above joining in on occasion.

Shion worried me at first. I thought she would be the know-it-all of the group. Though she was an acknowledge genius, she never took advantage of it out of malice. What made her even better, Shion was an example of how Shomin Sample should have been. She was sheltered. She didn’t have access to many commonplace items. But at least she knew what they were. She could still function in this group and the outside world.

Kirara (voiced by Chika Arakawa) I loved to death. She was adorable. Her cat like tendencies was a nice touch and funny. And the group's acceptance of this made it even better. I would say she was the most "side character" of the club. But how her character arc ended in the final episode was sweet. It was one of my favorite moments of the show. And it wasn’t even a comedic bit.

Tamaki (voiced by Sumire Uesake) came in way too late. And way too sudden. This was a problem. I would have like to have spent more time getting to know her. But the time she did spend in the show wasn’t wasted. Plus, how the show explained her appearance was pretty hilarious. Tamaki was also a great counterbalance to Mao. Her inclusion helped a lot in rounding out the group.

I'll leave it here with these six. The cast is bigger and I'll have something to say about them in a moment. But like I said, all the characters of GJ Club were wonderful. They are what made this show such a blast.

Series Negatives

GJ Club is an in-the-moment kind of anime. Or at least that’s what it feels as I write this review.

What I mean is, this show was funny. It was charming. It was enjoyable, fun, and great. But there wasn’t a wow factor. Nothing that would make it rise above some of the best. Despite it being on par with them.

If I were to sit down and re-watch a series, would GJ Club be one to consider? The answer is a solid yes. But that’s if it comes to mind. Is it not more likely I would pick something like Nichijou? Or Binbougami ga? Or hell, Seitokai Yakuindomo?

About a year ago, I reviewed the series D-Frag. That’s an example of an in-the-moment type of show. I remember enjoying it. To be fair, from what I do remember GJ Club was better. But I don’t remember why. A wow factor can help with that “why” question. But this show lacked that.

Only time will tell and I hope I’m wrong. GJ Club is a show I don’t want to forget.

A Few Missed Opportunities

As a rule, GJ Club was on point. Most jokes landed. There were only a handful of duds. And when there were, the series didn’t dwell on them. This show was quite reliable in this sense.

But on a few notable occasions, this series didn’t go far enough. Or it didn’t follow through on a setup. It might have been due to time constraints, which would be a shame. There were a couple paths that would have been nice to go down.

The biggest one was with the side characters. The majority of the main cast had younger siblings who made several appearances. This would’ve been fine if this were occasional. Except, the show gave just enough detail to indicate there was more to them.

For one, the younger group were all friends. And inspired by their older siblings, they created their own junior high version of the GJ Club. Hey, that’s kind of interesting. I’d be okay with seeing what this other team was up to. But that never happened.

For much of this series, side characters were mentioned more often than showed. A shame since there was something to them. Then again, if this leaves the door open to a possible second series, that’s not a bad thing.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes you come across a good one. A show that’s smarter than it looks. GJ Club wasn’t big, it wasn’t grand. It didn’t get loud or in your face. If anything, it was one of the more subdued slice-of-life comedies I’ve seen. But that was where its charm laid.

Fueled by an amazing cast of characters, GJ Club was fun the whole way through. A few great laughs. A lot of great moments. This show knew how to keep a smile on your face. Any problems it did have were due to what it could’ve done more with. But what it had was plenty.

I was expecting standard. But instead, I got a nice little gem. GJ Club is worth a look.

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