Doki Doki School Hours Vol1

Azumanga Daioh seems to be everyone's top choice for High School comedy but I admit, I haven't seen it. *gasp* I don't need to either - because Doki Doki School Hours is my number one choice! Let's delve into Mika-sensei's classroom of hi-jinks mayhem with a whole bunch of strange school kids!

Age Rating: 13+
Company: Geneon
Genre: High School Comedy
Running Time: Approx 100 mins
Region: 1



After extracting the DVD from the quite cute and colourful artbox, I was presented with a mass of PINK. How could Geneon possibly make the cover any more camp? Well, they just did! It's as if they are marketing it especially for girls...how clever ;)
So what exactly is Doki Doki School Hours?
Originally named Sensei no Ojikan (That's Teacher's Time to you and me) is basically a school comedy about a 27 year old teacher who likes to be called Mika-sensei. It doesn't help that this teacher looks about 6 and stands under 5 foot tall even with her shoes on! And let's just add in all of her car-azy students who about as stereotyped as you can get! Funnily enough, it's based on the 4-panel manga that actually predates Azumanga Daioh (which everyone compares it to.) How ironic that the anime was made after!



Let's do a roll call!

Mika-sensei - With her 'kawaii' features and small stature, everyone mistakes her for a child. But in truth she's nearly hit the dreaded old age of 30!
Kobayashi - The kogal who'll do anything for designer good and labels! Is often seen working part-time despite her grades.
Seki - He loves himself the most and doesn't mind dressing in girls clothes. Actually, he approves of it!
Suetake - So dumb, he makes Seki look clever. He's only good at sports and is oblivious to Kudo's crush on him.
Kudo - The yaoi boy who would like nothing better than having Suetake for himself. Often gets nosebleeds.
Iincho - Classroom president and carries the bear of responsibilities until she sees her idol of Koro, then her responsibilities goes right out of the window!
Watabe - The resident Otaku who loves drawing manga. 2-D girls are more his forte.
Oldman - He acts just like an Oldman but at least everyone respects him.
Kitagawa - Loves girls, especially small cute girls like Mika-sensei. She's so gay it hurts!
Tomonaga - She states the cold hard truth. Likes horror films and probably stabbing people too!

The first episode start thick and fast, as we get introduced to Mika-sensei's class of pupils and her homelife. Then come the jokes. They re-use the same jokes in every episode apart from that it's a different situation - not that I mind! The rest of the episodes are just as good - my particular favourite being episode 3 for the OTT swimsuit session - lesbian CPR for the win! I always enjoy a good bit of Kitagawa and thankfully she shows more of her uber gay presence in episodes 3 and 4!



Geneon have done a good translation and their Candian dubbing was better than I thought it would be! It was a bit strange since I watched this series on fansub first, but I think perfer the dub now. I have my suspicions though. Mika-sensei sounds like someone out of the Sailor Moon dub.. all the better I say! The extras are the bog standard affair with a textless opening and some Geneon trailers. It's better than nothing I suppose!

Overall: 8/10

Here's a Kitagawa I scanned in earlier!



Kitagawa should be the Queen of Doki Doki School Hours - not Seki/Kudo! ;)