I never thought playing board games could be this adorable.
"After School Dice Club" is an anime adaptation of the manga by the same name, which takes the name "Houkago Saikoro Club" in Japan. The anime adaptation aired in 2019, with the manga running from 2013 to 2021 up to 107 chapters and 19 volumes.
The "After School Dice Club" manga was written and drawn by Hiroo Nakamichi, who has also published a few other manga. Nakamichi has also worked on the character design and character design airing for all five Chou Futsuu Toshi Kashiwa Densetsu anime. They're short comedy-focused anime.
The studio behind the "After School Dice Club" anime is LIDENFILMS, who have also animated "Tokyo Revengers," "Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat's Mystery-Solving Files," and more. They've also helped produce the infamous 2016 version of "Berserk," but don't worry, 3D isn't used in "After School Dice Club."
Premise
"After School Dice Club" follows high school student Miki Takekasa, who has social anxiety and doesn't understand how to have fun. That is until she meets and befriends her local energetic classmate Aya Takayashiki.
They strike a friendship and while hanging out the same day, they see their class representative, Midori Oono, out after curfew. After stalking following best girl, they find she works at a non-electronic games shop. Board games, card games, etc..
The two girls decide to play a game with Midori's boss, and next thing they know, they're all friends. With board games, they'll play new games each episode, resolve conflicts, and potentially even wars... Okay, not wars, but they could!
Manga Differences
While the premise is the same as the manga, the lead-up to the premise is different. For example, the anime shows Aya talking to Midori in the beginning of episode one.
In the manga, Miki finds out Aya is a transfer student the next day since that's when she transferred. Aya's clothes get wet in both the anime and manga, so she changes into casual clothes, hence why Miki doesn't realize in the manga they're in the same school.
Additionally, Midori's job is uncovered the day after Aya and Miki become friends in the manga, after Midori shows Aya around the school since she's a new student. In the anime, Aya and Miki become friends and discover Midori's job the same day.
This also applies to later episodes, such as episode three which meshes the events of Chapter 6 & 7 and Chapter 13 & 14 together. Instead of two characters being introduced in separate chapters, they're introduced in the same episode.
I assume these changes were done to create a pace that would better fit a 20-minute episode format while reaching a certain destination for the final episode. I think this works to give each episode substance, but it unfortunately means anime-only viewers will miss things included in the manga.
The Girls
At first glance, the three main girls are standard archetypes. Miki is the shy but kind archetype, Aya is the cheerful if not the brightest archetype, and Midori is the smart character with glasses archetype.
There's also Emilia, a main character that joins later, being the Foreign Exchange Student trope. I won't be bringing Emilia up much since there isn't much for me to talk about, she doesn't have that much going for her.
These personalities aren't anything new, but they're still fun on their own. The dub nails these archetypes with the voice actors giving it their all. The best sounding being Midori and Emilia.
Midori has such a satisfying voice to listen to whenever she explains the rules of board games. If she made an ASMR channel for game explanations, I'd unironically watch it.
Emilia's dub voice actor has a German accent, which sounds amazing. You don't hear a German accent that often in anime.
However, these characters have their archetypes explored extremely well thanks to how they play into the games and their personal conflicts.
Consistent Strategy
The coolest thing about "After School Dice Club" is how every character's personality creates a consistency for the games. Every character's life experiences, backgrounds, and personalities create their believable strengths and weaknesses.
Midori excels at strategizing due to playing so many games, but she struggles with physical games like tag due to not being physically active. Aya is the opposite, who is terrible at strategizing and lying, but excels in physical games due to being physically active and full of energy.
[Credit: Funimation, Animation Studio: LIDENFILMS]
A nice touch is that Aya's physical activity is highlighted at the beginning and in the Opening since she rides a bike, making her the most active out of the four. It also means she probably gets a lot of "why did the bicycle fall down? Because it was two tired" jokes thrown at her.
Miki, due to perceiving and never talking to others, can read emotions. This makes her good at communicating with her partner in games and catching lies. However, she suffers from modesty and a lack of courage, never going for risky plays unless pushed.
Miki also seems to have a good memory. although this only comes into play once.
Finally, Emilia is a jack of all trades: good at everything, but an expert at none. Whether Emilia wins or not depends.
Even side-characters have consistent strategies, such as how Maki baits her opponents into playing poor moves by using psychological warfare. Well, it's just getting them riled up, but saying its psychological warfare sounds cooler.
Due to this, it rarely ever feels like characters win or lose for the sake of plot convenience or because of plot armour. They win because of their skills and ability, which makes the games extra fun to watch. Don't get me wrong, there are still plot conveniences and plot armour, but it's never obvious.
It keeps a good consistency throughout the anime while exploring the characters and showing how their life experiences have affected them. It makes the games an integral part of the anime instead of a gimmick. Without the games, "After School Dice Club" just wouldn't work as well.
Personal Conflicts
Another area where "After School Dice Club" shines are the personal conflicts characters go through which helps give depth to each character. For example, Miki beats herself up due to her low self-esteem and feeling she's weak.
Miki suffered from bullying and having no friends hard, and you feel that every time Miki is reminded of her past or suffers self-doubt. Sometimes I even felt anxiety when Miki had to confront her personal conflict at times, which makes it more satisfying when she does conquer an aspect of it.
Seriously, some of the conclusions to Miki's personal conflicts in some episodes puts a huge smile on my face.
The anime also doesn't shy away from the harsh reality of Miki's past. At one point, her personal conflict got so bad that it became hard to watch, but it was well-written.
Midori's personal conflict has her struggling to achieve her dream amongst the sea of realities she must face. Such as asking for help from others, jealously, pride, overworking herself, and more.
Which... As someone who is trying to achieve their own dream with this website by gaining experience, it feels so real to me that it hurts. I've gone through almost everything Midori has gone through and even struggle with some of those obstacles now.
It's no wonder I called her best girl, she's both adorable AND extremely relatable to me.
What also adds to Midori's and Miki's personal conflicts is that they never go away at once. Each episode is more like a careful step instead of a 10 metre dash.
Problems are resolved and never fully go away like they realistically would. Which adds more depth to the characters to make them feel like real people.
Aya and Emilia also have their own personal conflicts, but they're too specific to talk about without spoiling. I will say that Aya's is well handled while Emilia's needed more development.
The games also play into these personal conflicts, sometimes being used as metaphors to deliver the message of the episodes.
Each episode feels important because at least one character's personal struggle is tackled. Not a single episode feels like a waste.
Overall, the main three characters are perfect. It would've been so easy to make them bland archetypes, but the writer(s) expanded on them to make them relatable and loveable without feeling surface level. I just think Emilia is lacking due to being introduced later in the anime.
Side-Characters
Of course, no story is complete without side-characters. Multiple episodes introduce a new side-character the main characters play with.
[Credit: Funimation, Animation Studio: LIDENFILMS]
Side-characters are from an enormous range of personalities, creating conflicts both minor and major. Sometimes it's as simple as a side-character wanting to hang out with a crush, other times everything is ON THE LINE! Well, everything for a high school student at least.
Some side-characters are unlikeable, but that doesn't mean they're bad. It can even create some interesting parallels, such as with Midori and Student Council Vice-President Ren with the lessons they learn.
[Credit: Funimation, Animation Studio: LIDENFILMS]
Every character ends up being memorable, although most of them aren't anything special, but they do the job well. Their most recognizable aspect is their designs, with all of them having great designs.
Presentation, Comedy, and Board Game ASMR
"After School Dice Club" looks pleasing to the eye with the colourful visuals. I can't say it's anything special, but it does the job well.
[Credit: Funimation, Animation Studio: LIDENFILMS]
"After School Dice Club" goes for a more modern look in comparison to the manga which had an older fashion, at least that's the best way I can put it. I prefer the modernized look more, but I've only skimmed through the manga.
[Credit for first image: Amazon Japan, Artist: Hiroo Nakamichi; Credit second to fourth images: Funimation, Animation Studio: LIDENFILMS]
The animation is also good too. Nothing outstanding, but it works. The music also works to fit the vibe of multiple scenes, but I can't say it's anything memorable. I'd give it a closer listen, but it's not easily available.
The same applies to the Opening and Endings, where the Opening animation isn't anything special, but it does have a catchy song.
The Ending has a song that didn't strike a chord with me, but with a unique style in comparison to the rest of the anime that looks great.
The visuals do help to add to some of the comedy, which makes the characters look so cute that I die. Well, minus the dying part, because dying isn't tight.
The comedy itself is haphazard though. None of the jokes are outright painful or anything, but I rarely found myself laughing at them.
Usually, I'd see this as a major turn-off with an anime tagged comedy, but I don't believe it's the major focus. "After School Dice Club" focuses more on the slice-of-life and drama aspects.
Speaking of slice-of-life, the way the anime delves into board games overall is excellent. Each episode made me want to play a board game or card game like Cards Against-
"After School Dice Club" delves into both the playing and creation process of making games. Characters play a new game each episode, all with solid rules that are easy to follow thanks to Midori's concise explanations of each game.
The way the characters play takes me back to my high school days of playing UNO and Monopoly Deal. It's sort of chaotic, but that just means the game is doing its job in getting you invested.
However, they do address the difficulties of making games since the creation of games is an art. They also bring up how electronic games are far more popular in comparison to board games and card games in Japan.
I can't blame Japan, it's impossible to adapt masterpieces like "Bubsy 3D" to a board game or card game. Through Midori, the viewer sees the difficulties of making games and as mentioned before, the personal struggles one might meet.
"After School Dice Club" helps to not only get the viewer into the game-playing mood, but also gives them a newfound or greater appreciation for board games and card games.
Overall (A+)
I didn't expect much going into "After School Dice Club," but finished it blown away. The main characters are well-executed, you learn about games, the games are entertaining, the visuals & animation looks good, the dub cast is fantastic, and the drama is fantastic.
What holds it back from being perfect for me is Emilia being undeveloped due to entering so late and the comedy not being my thing. However, even then, I don't mind these too much since everything else is so great.
The score for "After School Dice Club" on MyAnimeList is around a 6/10, which I found odd at first. Although, looking at reviews, some people just couldn't get into it or found it boring due to multiple factors. Which is fair, this anime won't be a hit with everyone.
However, I highly recommend giving "After School Dice Club" a chance. If you find yourself liking it, you'll be in for a ride.
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