Hello and welcome to G-Views, where SoL reigns supreme, moe is respected and Dokuro-chan sucks poopie. Here we have yet another awesome comedy starring a “shorty” type teacher with her group of students who each have their own quirky personality. It’s like going to High School all over again. So let’s get right down to it with Sensei no Ojikan/Doki Doki School hours.
Genres: comedy, slice of life
Themes: school
Number of episodes: 20 (13 TV episodes and 7 OVAs.)
G-Rating: 8/10
Plot Summary: Meet Suzuki Mika, teacher at Okitsu High School. Mika-sensei is a good teacher, but she has a small problem… literally. Although she’s 27, she is only 148 cm tall, and has the face of a child. As a result, it is often difficult for Mika-sensei to get anyone to take her seriously.
This is a very simple show. It is an utterly lighthearted, fluffy, and not so serious school comedy, very similar to Azumanga Daioh. The characters are the students and Mika-sensei the teacher. However, this show is even more off-the-wall than Azumanga; in some episodes the school setting is completely ditched in favor of some hilarious alternate setting featuring the same characters, such as a post-apocalyptic fighting series, a crime show parody, or the far future, simply for the comedy value.
The music reminds me of Azumanga Daioh. Aside from the 1st OP, not much else about the show’s soundtrack is worth noticing. It’s decent, but not memorable.
The animation is straightforward and bubbly. Nothing amazing or hideous, just okay.
The characters:
Mika-sensei is 27 years old, but despite this she is incredibly short and very childlike in her mannerisms, though she is an intelligent adult woman who loves reading (but is also extremely lazy). Her students all have quirky personalities…one is a manga fanatic for example, another is very fashion-conscious….one is a cross-dresser…one is gay, and one is a lesbian. ^_^
Wait what?! But it’s quite true. Kudo is an otherwise normal boy, except he has a colossal crush on his “friend” Suetake, a completely oblivious, cheerful, athletic blockhead. Far more importantly is the one whom I affectionately refer to as “The Chosen One” (even though the characters all have given first names, the show invariably has everyone calling everyone else by their family names except Mika). She is tall, blonde, smart, and beautiful with a great personality. She also has a clearly stated preference for girls, and especially Mika-sensei. Pay close attention to the Chosen One later on, because she will show you that her feelings are NOT to be taken lightly, despite the humorous tone of the show…believe me. When exactly? Watch the show and see for yourself. It’s not my style to spoil a show unless it sucks.
Now as this is a comedy show, these proclivities are running gags that are invariably used for joke fodder, but it’s all very good-natured. (In fact, Kudo and Kitagawa are probably the two smartest students in the class, and extremely level-headed compared to some of the more extreme personalities in the group. :P) Also, their romantic interests are far less ambiguous than you might think. Even if they’re gags, their preferences are real, and feature in pretty much every episode.
The rest of the cast consists of the following:
Minako Tominaga
A brutally honest student who belongs to the cooking club. She is often shown moaning about being surrounded by “idiots” in her class, or telling people off. She loves slasher films.
Akane Kobayashi
Basically the “Tomo” of the show, just not as hyperactive and hard headed.
Shizuka Nagare
The Class President of Class 2A. She wanted to be class president due to her favorite pop star stating that he liked class presidents: she decided to be class president for the rest of her life. She is highly intelligent and friendly, but is seem at times being brutal to people, especially when they somehow insult her idol.
Jyoji Seki
A student who used to love beautiful girls and turned into a narcissist, to the point that he usually goes to school in makeup. He goes on and on about how lovely a girl can be, if she uses the right products.
Takumi “Watabe” Watanabe
The head (and, originally, sole member) of the school’s manga club. He has great artistic ability, but he’s only ever seen drawing stereotypical bishōjo-type characters, and his obsession tends to get a little on the creepy side.
Gen Nakamura, aka “Old Man” or “Oyaji”
The 17-year old student carries himself in a stereotypically “40-year old” manner, and therefore is nicknamed “Old Man”.
Matsumoto-sensei
Okitsu High School’s Doctor and Mika’s best friend on the faculty.
Chinatsu Nakayama
A member of Takumi Watanabe’s manga club who, ironically, is terrible at drawing manga. She idolizes and has a large crush on Takumi. He seems to know, but manages to throw her off.
Anthony M.Chamberlain
A transfer student who is studying abroad from America. He is fluent in Japanese because he is an otaku. He appears in the 2nd season.
Now for episodes, I recommend watching the subbed version of the show because the English voices are HORRENDOUS, especially my beloved Chosen One. What had they done to her? The mystical charm her subbed seiyuu gave her was switched for a cliche, mismatched adult woman’s voice. It simply did not match her supreme divinity in my opinion. Of course the other characters were also given similar shameful treatments, except Mika-sensei whose voice is okay for the most part.
In conclusion: This is definitely a fun and underrated show that is easily overshadowed by Azumanga. Sure it’s not as impact making as the former but it’s definitely worth a look if you liked Azumanga.
The Yuri Empire 