Today in Class 5-2

Hold your breath... STORY 7 / 10 For an anime so distinctly rooted in wrongness, I was surprised how subtle these attributes came across in Kyou no Go no Ni. Indeed, much of the humor carries many sexual undertones, but none of it came across in an offensive or intrusive manner; it was all played on the innocence and naïveté of the characters. Thus, when deciding whether or not to watch Kyou no Go no Ni, it's important to note that it's not really ecchi or overly perverted - it merely plays on embarrassing childhood situations and runs with the gags for a bit. For anOVA involving exclusively children, these are some of the most unrealistic fifth graders I've come across; while they have childlike reactions to most events, their personalities tend to be much more mature than their age would suggest. Hell, back when I was that age boys and girls were just starting to mingle with one another and get beyond the "cootie" phase. Still, regardless of this, it's entertaining just to watch all eight kids interact with one another. Like Azumanga Daioh, the OVA is chopped up into twenty-four five minute clips and manages to pass surprisingly quick because of this - by the time I got through an hour I had thought fifteen minutes or so had passed. Every single clip has an astoundingly simple premise - such as the boys fighting over whose bouncy ball will fly higher - and there's really no drag whatsoever. Ultimately, though, I think the overall innocent and harmless atmosphere of the story is what makes it so endearing. While, as an adult, I found many of scenes disturbingly hilarious, the characters themselves never act out in such a fashion to make any of the situations (such as the sexual ones) seem either awkward or uncomfortable; were the case I don't think I could have stomached it. While it might seem like I'm overkilling this point, prior to watching it myself I was under the impression its content was raunchy and likely offensive; for me, at least, this turned out to not be the case. ANIMATION 7 / 10 For those familiar with the more well known Minami-ke, Kyou no Go no Ni is easily recognizable as its predecessor if for nothing more than the similarities in animation. Though neither particularly flashy or detailed, the simplicity works positively, as it provides for a nice backdrop for the slice-of-life comedy. Though there are occasional ecchi shots (much moreso in the first two episodes) I found myself putting a hand on my forehead, shaking my head, and laughing instead of being put off by them. Keep in mind that in general I make a point never to touch any fanservice oriented shows (and especially OVAs since that's all they tend to have period), so when I downplay the panty shots as being vastly abundant or even important to the OVA on any serious level, take it to heart. SOUND 7 / 10 Now, given my vast experience with the audible murder most children voice actors flaunt, let me say up front that every single kid in Kyou no Go no Ni is voiced splendidly; there's no whining, grating, or anything else that reminisces the grinding of nails on a chalkboard. The music also fits the OVA nicely, as the tracks were constantly being mixed up shifted due to the non-stop change of story content. As with just about every slice-of-life comedy, there's really nothing else remarkable to say - the musical score is effective at what it does and nothing more. CHARACTERS 8 / 10 First and foremost, I hate kids. Period. Absolutamente. No questions asked. Thus, when I say I liked Kyou no Go no Ni's characters it should not be taken lightly. Though I can't quite put my finger on what exactly charmed me so much about them, come the end of the fourth episode I was a little disappointed to see them go. Perhaps it was the fact that the OVA merely snapshots brief scenes that take place throughout their everyday lives, but all of the children are instantly likeable. As with real life, each of the kids has his or her own little quirks that define the classroom, and this prevents the need for the characters to be stereotypical and bland; from a girl hitting puberty before the others to the boys competing in a three-legged race to prove their masculinity, their antics are all surprisingly nostalgic. Again, too, despite there being a fair amount of sexual humor the kids all happen to be completely oblivious even to the prospect of sex. They're all almost uncannily innocent in their approach to the world; perhaps that's what ultimately made them so appealing. OVERALL 8 / 10 For fans of random, simple humor or slice-of-life series, Kyou no Go no Ni is worth consideration. Though not for everyone, I think its "questionable" subject material can be easily overlooked if approached in the proper context. Overall it actually exceeded my expectations; I think all the negative feedback I acquainted myself with prior to watching had lowered my quality bar substantially. In fact, had I not got so annoyed by this title somehow popping up every time I tried to use the AniRec, I likely never would have given it a chance.

As a 4 episode OVA, Kyou no Go no Ni, or Today in Class 5-2, provides large doses of adult humor from child characters in a fashion that will have most people rolling on the floor. Although it lacks much of a story, the high point of this series lies in it's flavor of comedy. Story: 6 The story is told in an interesting way that mimics a school day, dividing an episode into five periods, each containing a short story in different classes or times. Similar to a standard day at school, not much happens, and the same can be said of theplot of this series. Rather, as each episode encompasses a single day in school, by the end of the 4 eps, it gives a little story, and a lot of humor. This series is almost episodic (can watch in any order), since so little happens between each episode. The reason that Kyou no Go no Ni gets a decent score of 6 for story is that this anime is not meant to have much of a story; rather, as a 4 episode OVA, it focuses on the humor that takes place in the interactions between the students, and it delivers well in this area. Nearly everyone will find something to laugh at during each period. The humor lies in the young 5th graders finding themselves in more adult-themed situations, and the way in which they handle them (a prime example of this is Episode 1, Period 2, "Collarbones"). The only fault I found to this series was the massive amount of ecchi that is present. While some of it contributes to the humor of a situation (Episode 1, Period 3, "Undefeated") or adds a bit to the little character development (Episode 1, Period 1, "Wiggle, Wiggle"), most times it is rather unnecessary and somewhat inappropriate (such as Episode 2, Period 2, "Changing Clothes"), considering that these are only 5th graders. Art: 8 The art is pretty standard as anime comes, nothing too flashy or impressive, but certainly not sub-par. Besides their standard childish look, everyone has super deformed (occasionally chibi) and a few have adult forms, for use in comical situations; whenever an adult topic comes up, Ryouta and most of the girls' faces become startlingly mature. One particular feature that I approved of was the inclusion of the characters wearing a new outfit everyday (each episode), which would be realistic (considering that their school doesn't have uniforms). Sound: 8 The opening song isn't too bad, the combination of the music, lyrics, and video all together fit very well and was representative of the little story that you get by the end of the series. It's not so much the music itself, but the lyrics that the ED provides that makes it also fit well to the series, but overall, it was not as likable as the opening theme. The numerous sound effects scattered throughout the series are childish and very cartoon-y, and while some may find them annoying, they are nevertheless fitting. The voice acting of the OVA is simply great. The cute voices provided to the characters are integral for providing the humor of children delivering adult jokes. The way in which the cute voices provide a wide spectrum of emotions is well done, and is one of the shining points of this anime. Character: 4 Although most of the characters have their own personalities and look, they lack any development, and it doesn't feel as if you really know anything about them at all. While some characters do have their redeeming qualities (such as the odd quirks of Kazumi), pretty much everyone else is your standard, overused anime character. The characters do interact rather well together, however, and as such, provide the source of the majority of the comedy. Enjoyment: 8 While this OVA is definitely full of laughs and entertainment, the large amount of ecchi somewhat detracts from the overall enjoyment of the series (unless you really are into those sorts of things). Overall: 6 This is one of the funniest anime series I've seen; it had me laughing all throughout the show, and I usually don't find myself laughing too often at most "comedy" genre anime. If you are a fan of, or don't mind excessive ecchi, then I would definitely recommend checking this OVA out for a quick laugh, as it definitely packs quite a punch. Score: 34/50; D+ (68%)

This anime hasn´t really a story except of a love story that pops up from time to time. And in my opinion it is a bit too ecchi, the characters are only 11years old... But it is an anime you can have lot fun with, so if you need just a bit humor and funny situations, Kyou no Go no Gi will perfectly fit that.

Synopsis: Today in Class 5-2 is about a 5th grader, Sato Ryouta on elementary school. An active and playful young lad who gets into ecchi-based situations with he fellow classmates. Story: The story is pretty much told already, namely in my synopsis, there are a total of 20 different (dull) story's where the above happens. There isn't a real story in this OVA. It's just fun, games, library visits, classes and lunchbreaks, daily things elementary kids do 'are' the story, while the girls want to find out things what don't really matter. Characters: De main character, is probably, the only character that I like.. a bit. It's justthis normal shounen boy, the standard. And all the other characters are those "standards" too, you got the stupid girls wondering about cupsizes and love, while the other guys really dont matter and are only used to fill up some space. None of them are intresting, no one really had any "depth", etc. Art & Animation: I really like the art, but.. it's just regular good art, nothing special, but it doesn't suck either. But once the situations change into; either serious or ecchi one's, the art style changes. When it's the turn to Ecchi, it's this beautiful, highlighted, "blank" style, but when it gets serious, the style suddenly changes to really mature shounen/seinen style, which is rather hilarious.. but not in this OVA. One thing that bugged me about the normal style here, is the fact that their ears look like shit. Don't got much to say about the animation, it's really the mediocre type of animation. Sound & Extra’s: Great voices, this is probably the best thing of this OVA series. I really don't got any complaints about this, every voice matched their character. The opening and ending were ... fair enough. Both are good, but it's not something you want to hear every episode, the clips they made for the opening en endings are good, but too cliché. Nothing to say about the background music, since it's nothing special. Enjoyment & Score: Enjoyment? Hmm, maybe I missed it. But I didn't enjoy this OVA at all. There was just 1 scene, where there was 1 expression which I had to laugh about, but it made me feel in different ways, I didn't know if I should've felt happy, sad, distinguished or what.. But, that was maybe 20 seconds, in total the 4 episodes took about 2 hours.. 20 second/20 hours, hmm, doesn't look like I enjoyed it, huh? Story: 20 different dull story's without an actual story? - 3/10 (Poor) Art/Animation: Fair art, using different style's? - 7/10 (Good) Extra’s/Sound: Nothing to complain, good voices, nice BGM - 8/10 (Very Good) Characters: Unintresting, too cliché - 4/10 (Decent) Enjoyment: What enjoyment? - 2/10 (Dreadful) Overall: 3.9/10 (Decent) Which makes it a - 4/10 (Decent) Kyou no Go no Ni Overall: For people who enjoy Ecchi and lousy Slice of Life series, this is it! But all-in-all, it's not that intresting, good voices, decent animation, nice stijl, cliché characters, no story, boring events...