

And besides being set in the same virtual reality shooting game as the third arc in the original series and the occasional passing mention of some events, Gun Gale Online’s tone couldn’t be more different. Regardless of how you felt about its parent, the massively popular but also wildly divisive Sword Art Online, this spin-off is a beast of its own that deserves to be judged on its own merit. Karen Kohiruimaki is a college student with a complex about her tall height, which she tries to escape from by fully immersing herself into a game where she can play as a cute, short avatar. Series composition, script: Yousuke Kuroda Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online (A recurring incident regarding the mystery of someone’s gender stands out in particular.) Moments like this represent a just fraction of the series, and for all of its hilarious, irreverent moments, not knowing where to draw the line puts Asobi Asobase at the bottom of the best shows this year.ģ6.

Asobi Asobase isn’t for everyone - it’s loud and obnoxious, intentionally so - but even if this kind of comedy resonates with you, a few scattered gags are outright inexcusable. It’d be slightly irresponsible to leave a recommendation for this show with no disclaimers. For such a seemingly random series of absurd events, the gags are well constructed, and the ludicrous art (namely, the over-expressive reactions) that it inherited from the original comic is a good fit for its madness. The series follows three girls - the lively yet vapid Hanako, mischievous pretend-foreign student Olivia, and the more stoic, but still eccentric Kasumi - who form the Pastimers Club, where they kill time after school in increasingly more outrageous ways, escalating to ridiculous levels in no time. It certainly properly conveys how nasty teens can be - although it comes with a lack of restraint that provide its own share of headaches. Character designer, Chief animation director: Keiko KurosawaĪsobi Asobase successfully debunks the idea that anime comedies set in high school are overly sanitized.
