Common Name: Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro
Alternative Names: Chio's School Road
Score: 6/10, 3/5
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life, School Life, Ecchi
Summary: Like many high schoolers, Miyamo Chio has something of an overactive imagination and a reckless streak you only see in kids who think they're invincible. This is, of course, not helped by her obsession with American video games that she feels she can emulate and be the cool kid people don't see her as. Unlike most high schoolers, though, Chio does have the physical prowess to make wall-climbing, roof-to-roof parkour, and various "killing techniques" look easy, much to the chagrin of her infinitely more reasonable classmate and best friend, Nonomura Manana, who gets dragged into Chio's antics. Together, these two get into all kinds of trouble. Whether it's saving Chio from a fight with a gang of bikers or getting Manana to back down from her latest "get cool quick" schemes, their walk to school is never a dull one.
Review: Before I go into the review proper for this show, allow me to be blunt. I hate this show. There may be some good points to it that I'll go into during my review, but my overall feelings toward it go beyond simple dislike. I hate this show. It's crude. It's offensive. It's exploitative. It is fetishistic trash with a twisted sense of comedy that, more often than not, looks at the line of demarcation between tolerable comedy and the nebulous realm of "going too far" and proceeds to shit on that line before jumping into the black hole on the other side. When I learned that this show was originally made by a doujinshi artist renowned for making the most absurd, crass, and outright offensive smut he could imagine I was not surprised in the least because that same disregard for rationality and decency is on full display with this show. Now, I know that I am deliberately limiting myself when I hold shows to either society's or my own ideals on what is "rational" or "decent." I know I'm letting my more prudish nature take hold and shun my general desire to be more objective in these reviews and avoid personal bias. Yet my hatred for this show is something that I cannot and will not avoid, for fear of it sneaking into my review without my noticing. So, I'm making it known, here and now, in the interest of getting it off my chest here and now and informing you of the bias that will likely still worm its way into the review: I fucking hate this show. Now, to be clear, that hatred does not extend to people who like this twisted and crass kind of comedy. You're more than allowed to like what you like without worry that I might judge you for it. So, since I'm well aware that my tastes aren't universal, I'm going to try my best to be as neutral with this show as I can reasonably be going forward.
If you think for one minute that I won't call out this show's gross shit, though, you're dead wrong.
Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro is a show predominantly focus on the life of its titular main character, Miyamo Chio as she finds and does increasingly weird, dangerous, and stressful distractions to occupy her morning walk to school. The vast majority of these distractions are situations she has created herself either through either a desire to emulate the ridiculous actions seen in her nightly gaming sessions or through her steadily influencing the lives of more and more people, thus creating paired comedy situations with her and any number of the show's regular cast members. On her own, though, the comedy that Chio adds to the show herself is relatively tame, in comparison to the paired and group gags the show normally relies on, thanks to her outward nature. Chio is, generally speaking, a mild-mannered and socially awkward nerd who is quick to fluster but has a wit to her that comes in handy during any one of her self-induced crises. When firmly grounded in reality, she cares a great deal about how other people see her and tries to be aware of how her actions might affect her future. But reality's just not as cool as the world of gaming she regularly revels in, at the cost of her studies. Throughout the show, she has a tendency of getting so absorbed in the digital universes she frequents that she believes she might be able to do the same things her American action heroes can in the real world. So, like every child that has ever done the Naruto ninja run or practiced their katas, Chio gets so self-absorbed in her own cool fantasies that she never even notices she's embarrassing herself until she's reached the point of no return.
In other words, she's a pretty standard "good kid" who is too dumb for her own good.
Sharing the stage with our intrepid idiot, there are roughly four to five other characters that typically interact with Chio on a regular basis, for better and worse. The most prominent of these tag-alongs is Chio's childhood friend, Nonomura Manana, a high school girl who is so determined to become cool and popular that she never be either. For the most part, she serves the purposes of being Chio's one and only friend in the world and the only person she can trust to inject some reality into her overactive imagination. This, of course, rarely ever happens though. Like most weird friends, Manana is both Chio's best friend and worst influence. She is both the devil and the angel on her shoulder. The only thing that determines which role she'll be in any given moment is whether or not she thinks she'll gain something from it. With Manana, there's always a balancing of scales between being a good friend and ditching this weirdo who is, in all honesty, not helping her chances of being popular. So, while they understand one another, sympathize with each other's plight, and generally understand that they'd be lonely without each other, a lot of the show's drama stems from Manana debating whether or not she should throw Chio under a bus for her own gain. When such opportunities aren't available, though, their dynamic just switches to a couple friends being weird together and hyping each other up until they've landed in a situation neither can get out of without sacrificing the other. They are the best of friends and the worst of enemies and half of why I both enjoy and hate this show.
The fact that its hard to believe these two are friends only strengthens
the understanding that they really are best friends.
The other half of that contention is, unsurprisingly, born from the various portrayals and messages that come from the remaining cast members. While a couple of them come across as generally good and funny people, the vast majority of Chio-chan's side characters are just way too oddball or outright offensive for the show's good. Let's take, for example, the leader of a local biker gang, Andou Mayuta, since he ends up falling into both camps of the side character problem. As he is introduced, Andou is little more than a walking, talking personification of what people expect a gang leader acts like. He's gruff. He's tough. He's mean and bad to the bone. What he also is, though, is stupid. Within seconds of meeting Chio, who has fallen into one of her "point of no return scenarios," Andou gets knocked out and tricked into believing that the high schooler standing before him is some kind of undercover assassin that is way out of his league--an idea that is just as nonsensical as it sounds. Yet, being the idiot he is, Andou buys Chio's act hook, line, and sinker, promising that he'll give up the gang life out of respect for her. As the show goes on, the truth does eventually come to light, yet Andou remains determined to live the life of a proper citizen in spite of that partly because he'd lose face with his crew for being tricked and partly because he's got a crush on Chio--a fact that is equal parts adorable and creepy since he's a ~26-year-old man crushing on a high school girl. While Andou is both effective and hilarious for the most part, particularly since his situation becomes a commentary on how hard it is fit in in society, his romance with Chio straddles that line I mentioned previously at various points. In his attempts to woo the oblivious Chio, Andou does everything from stalking her to acting like he's in a relationship with a dude (a scheme born of the belief that Chio is a fujoshi, thus meaning she likes guys who like guys) just to get her attention. This is, as you might expect, more than a little problematic. In comparison with the rest of the show's characters and their gimmicks, though, this insensitivity and general creep factor are about as offensive and harmful as a pebble in a goddamn avalanche.
Granted, it helps that these two are pretty cute in their own hyper-awkward kind of way.
In all honesty, I have no idea where to even begin with the rest of the cast. I mean, what is there to say about the show forcing Chio and Manana to interact with a homeless man who states himself that he is an unrepentant sexual predator? How am I supposed to laugh at a sexually aggressive girl assaulting Chio, Manana, and a couple others against their will because she just really likes to feel up young girls? Where's the humor in an old man getting fit just so he can have a chance with his "running buddy," a high school girl who, as time goes on, reveals herself to be an exhibitionist who loves having people look at her in her tracksuit? These kinds of rapey, fetishistic scenarios and characters dot the entirety of this series and detract from what little good this show does have going for it. With Chio and Manana, in particular, this show has a lot going for it in its representation of youth and the problems these nerdy nobodies are likely to run into. While I personally avoided people like Manana, who have a penchant for backstabbing friends for self-gain, there's no denying that the pursuit of popularity and recognition will drive kids to do terrible things. On a similar note, I myself found a lot in common with Chio's obsession with games and the way her imagination broke down the barriers between game and reality. Just like her, I wanted to be just like the heroes I saw on the screen and often emulated them in my daily play as a kid. So, whenever Chio's imaginative play threw her into embarrassing or potentially dangerous situations, I couldn't help feeling it along with her--remembering my own moments of embarrassment and injury.
Yeah, this just about sums up what being an idiot teenager is like.
No matter how down-to-earth and relatable some of these show's situations are, their purpose and meaning are lost in the aftermath of all this show's Looney Toons-logic smut. Sure, these characters and scenarios I take issue with might speak to some grander idea that the sexualization and threat of assault of these dumb, idiot kids is ever present in our modern society. If that thought I just pulled out of my ass is true, though, then its poorly expressed. At no point did I feel like these aspects to the show were meant to serve any purpose other than giving the audience that gross, twisted titillation this show's author is known for. Call me jaded and pessimistic but there are just far too many panty shots and lewd stills that come out of nowhere and do nothing for the show's comedy for me to think otherwise. Of course, as I've stated already, I'm already not all that willing to give this show a chance to prove me wrong. So, as much as I like some of this show's cast and the few bits of gold that can be found in this mess, I'm generally not of the opinion that people should watch this show. I won't make any grand statements toward the objective quality of this show, but I recognize that I am not the audience this show was meant for. So, if you like perverted, twisted, and socially questionable comedies, give this show a shot. Otherwise, it might be better to avoid it like the plague.