DESCRIPTION

CAST

TV SHORT ComedySaiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan
MANGA ComedySaiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan
SPECIAL ComedySaiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan: Kanketsu-hen
ONA ComedySaiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan: Ψ-shidou-hen
ANIME ActionGintama

REVIEWS

• 

  AnishG555

  92/100
  A brilliant comedy show with better characters than most shows I've seen to date.

  Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan (Otherwise known as The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.) is a comedic gem, hidden from the eyes of many comedy anime fans. I'll focus this review on both S1 and S2, but TL;DR: Watch Saiki K.

  

  Story:

  It's difficult to rate the story for Saiki K as, well, it doesn't really have one. The main premise is that Kusuo Saiki is a high school kid with an absurd amount of superpowers who just wants to live normally and peacefully, but has so many annoying friends and family members that prevent him from doing so. The comedy throughout the series is fast paced, and always spot on. There wasn't a single scene which I didn't find funny in the whole two seasons I watched (twice).
  If we're trying to rate the story, I'll have to give it an 8/10 because, although it's simple, it's super effective and brilliant.

  Characters:

  This is where Saiki K shines. Every character is just a trope, but they're so well done and over the top that they're never boring to watch. You have Saiki - the stupidly overpowered main character, Nendou - the super dumb kid, Kaidou - the chuunibyo, Teruhashi - the "perfect girl", Mera - the glutton, Yumehara - the hopeless romantic, and so on.
  Not only that, the character progression is also brilliant. The development of Saiki's personality towards his "friends" is incredibly interesting. The more of Saiki K you watch, the better it gets.
  The characters also result in great humour, whether it be Saiki's trademark bored voice (also seen in Koyomi Araragi from Monogatari and Levi from Attack on Titan) or Teruhashi's attempts to make Saiki notice her. They're just so entertaining.
  My rating for characters is obviously going to be 10/10.

  Art and Animation:

  Fairly cheap, but bright and fitting. Not really much else to say about that. The anime doesn't really need good animation, but the art is honestly fine for this. Nothing bad enough to ruin the anime, nothing good enough to make it stand out. J.C. Staff did okay with this.
  I'll rate this 9/10 because there isn't really much to say.

  Music:

  Again, nothing about the music stood out. It was always fitting to the mood and sounded good. The opening and ending songs were also always fitting (especially OP and ED 4; they were both amazing).
  I'll rate this 9/10 as well because again, there isn't really much to say.

  Enjoyment:

  The enjoyment I had from watching this was off the charts. So many scenes had me in tears, and every time I watched one episode I didn't want to wait to watch the next. Not many other anime have made me as happy as I did watching Saiki K, and honestly I don't regret watching this one bit.
  My enjoyment will of course be 10/10.

  Overall:

  Saiki K will always be one of my favourite comedy anime. It was just so funny and amazing, and I don't know where I'll see something of that level again. Overall, it's 9.2/10, but the reasons it isn't 10/10 are so small that they don't really affect anything.
  And again, watch Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan.

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• 

  FancyMonkey

  95/100
  Why Saiki k is a must-watch show

  __Saiki K__ ___ Its an incredibly hilarious and silly comedy that is almost guaranteed to make you laugh. This " review " is just me talking about what I like in Saiki k so if that doesnt interest you , feel free to stop reading. If you haven't watched the show however , hopefully this gives you enough motivation to start it. ___ __Characters__ Saiki k is a show with an incredibly hilarious cast of characters , the foundation for a good comedy. Each character except Saiki is a troupe that is taken to their incredibly illogical extreme . Nendou is so dumb that saiki cannot read his mind. And Hairo is so passionate that he literally creates heat and fire. This makes for incredibly dramatic but never exaggerated character interaction. ( well they are exaggerated in a way but never forced ) This cast of characters , more so than being funny by themselves play off of each other in a really silly , witty and humourous way. You could take any 3-4 characters from the cast of this show , even without the mc , put them together and it would lead to a gut wrenching session of laughter. Kaido is probably my favourite out of the entire cast , followed by koboyasu , teruhashi and that magician dude. I love every single one of the characters in the cast. ( except teruhashis brother , that guy is weird ) And if you watch the show , you probably will as well. ___ __Humour__ Saiki k is a comedy that isn't even close to generic. Most of the jokes land for me , and there are no repetitive joke formulas. The repeating jokes are also done with a new set up each time , making them funnier each time you see it. Saiki k has some parody elements that are funny as well. The jokes come in at a very fast pace as well , never letting a joke overstay its welcome and constantly making me laugh. ( I literally laughed so much that I had to use my inhaler at times ) But the main allure of the comedy is that it is so over the top , silly , fun and lighthearted. And it always works with the incredible cast. Added to this , saiki plays it off in such a nonchalant way that it somehow becomes even funnier. Let me quote a line said by a magician in the show on why he became an illusionist - " As everything in my life dissapeared , I realised that making things disappear must be my talent. " And he went on to become a magician. It's not as funny out of context but if you found that even slightly funny , I highly recommend watching this amazing comedy. ____ __Presentation / Execution__ Saiki k's already great base is improved by the sound , a lot. The voice acting perfectly fits everything . The silliness of the show and characters are all represented by the voice acting. The music is also really fucking good in making jokes funnier. For example - for a stupidly funny sob story , an over the top , overly generic sad song track plays for a layer of satire , making the scene twice as funny. A lot of the tracks are really silly ( like the trumpet bike soundtrack ) , or really over the top and dramatic . Some of them are just normal ones that are supposed to set the mood. ( my fav is koboyasus theme ) The opening and ending are also basically memes by the end of the series. Overall , I can confidently say that the sound of this show is amazing. The artstyle , character designs and colours are incredibly charming but the animation is nothing special , quite cheap if anything. So solid presentation in the end. ___ __Other__ There is basically no plot in the show , its a comedy after all. Saikis' powers are very inconsistent. There are basically no themes tackled , and when the show tries to be serious it really doesn't work. But none of these take away from how funny this show is. The show is also incredibly rewatchable , so if you ever feel down then you can put on an episode of saiki k and it will be as funny as the first time. The dub is also really good, one of the best ive seen. ____ So why is it a must watch ? Because it is either a source of near endless enjoyment , or just 5 - 10 minutes of your time wasted. Due to this , I think everyone should at least try Saiki k. ___
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• 

  NarcReal

  93/100
  "Good grief, God. Maybe youth isn't that cruel after all."

  『やれやれ 』

  

  So, we begin to do it once more.

  Yep, after an all of a sudden sabbatical, I have returned to bring and post an anime review once more... after a very long time of course. Oh good grief, God.

  [Well, you know the drill, spoilers exist in any reviews]

  Firstly, as so you know, I wouldn't expect anything from any shows but I did for this one. Since it's a supernatural genre, I at least wanted to see some good plot developments here but in the end, yep, it turned out to be very disappointing but not in a very bad way of course. And for the big fans of Saiki K. who read this, don't get me wrong, I was joking. Well, kind of. As I haven't read the manga and decided to not think twice about watching the show instead, it's not that disappointing but it still is in a very good way. Although, I absolutely enjoy it as a comedy show but doesn't mean it's not lacking. I've seen so many times when the characters seemed to be justified by the fact that they were being helped by the main character... okay hold on till this part. And oh-fu, as a narrator I don't want to spoil this part so you'll have to wait for the (un)commercial break after this section.

  What's with this (un)commercial break again?

  Hm, just to keep in mind that since I've put a lot of efforts in writing this, as you may want to see this as a reference, it's not uncommon for me to add a song that got me the most in every show I've watched but since it's a rare occasion, I'm not quite sure if you'd accept it. But then, since I really like this opening theme, so here it is, the 1st Opening of Saiki Kusuo no Sai-Nan brought to you by Toritsu... I mean Natsuki Hanae, and no, I didn't say Toritsuka, really.

  Do you like the song? I see. And from here, you could've known the story about.

  Yes, I'm talking about the Cyborg Cider-man No. 2 eh, no I mean your basic loner psychic who doesn't want to live with anyone as he really thinks that his power is disastrous, Saiki Kusuo. I wouldn't talk about his power, it's useless at this point, since he really is a very or perhaps, too powerful as an anime character who has a very weird fetish towards any dishes especially a jelly coffee. Talking about his weakness wouldn't help to elaborate so I'll just insert his face:

  

  *Well, maybe not for this one but okay*

  Alright, before I explain the in-depth of each character, I'll explain the story first.
  Here's the dilemmatic cases of having supernatural abilities as a psychic:

  

  • You have to hide your power but you show it when no one sees you in action.
  • You don't have to help anyone but you somewhat have to when it's very urgent.
  • You don't want to rely on your power but you must as you don't want to get involved.

  Don't you understand it now? Being a psychic like Saiki doesn't sound as easy as it is. Something that, humorously, was being the theme of this show. I think this is what the show wanted to tell us all about, his daily life as a normal high school student who's trying to hide, in his opinion a disastrous, the fact that he is a psychic with an ability that is above average of normal humans. And you would understand this perspective if you were to be him. His introduction as a psychic while having this ability as one of the most responsible person that somewhat acts like Yato as a God an observant outsider who craves for the peace. And you would've seen his disastrous life on this series.

  The characters as a whole are very nice, and it looks like the mini-series format would help this show even more to develop their character one-by-one as fast as possible thus becomes very progressive and revolutionary throughout every scene. His dearest friend, or maybe not, Nendou Riki who looks scarily terrifying, often wastes his money to buy ramen, almost empty-headed and silly dummy as a character but is very nice and careless towards each other while you could see how much his dedication towards people who he loves, no matter their status. And next, here we go, your favourite Jet Black-Wings

  (Oh, good grief, God. Another commercial break, just don't open the spoiler section... Wait, you just did, didn't you?)

  a.k.a an acute level 100 chuunibyou or 2nd grade syndrome student who believes that he is against the dark reunion by hiding his identity as one of the most powerful characters of this show by literally beating Goku to death and then sealing his power. Simply short but concise, let's just call this guy Kaidou Shun. A character who almost did nothing if it wasn't due to his background, he was nothing sufficient to be added but that's just him, a very nice character who actually is serious and determinedly brave when it comes to obtaining things that he wanted to have in his life, including making friends with people like Saiki for example.

  

  Next, we have the (And no, I won't say "oh-fu" for this one) angelic goddess who has impressed a lot of people that she just met by being literally perfect throughout her hard works and skillful talents, including her strong intuition. Yes, uh, Kokomi Teruhashi I guess, let's just skip this real quick. Alright, joking. I mean, it's true that she is so double-faced with her appearance while being too ambitious, boastful, and proud of her perfection as a female figure. But for real, why does this kind of character exist as his both rival and closest person that has a potential to become his fiancee, just odd but here we have it I guess. Next, there we have Chiyo Yumehara, one a girl who was fully obsessed to Saiki by chasing after him, scarily stalking of his location, while thinking that she would've dated with him. Eh, that's 10 years too fast to do so. And due to the limited story section for this review, I could only introduce you to Hairo, a class captain that literally is always on-fire while doing any activities with that big rear-end as his spoiler. Other than that, we also have new students like Toritsuka, Aren, and Psycho. Aren probably isn't that important but somehow crucial for the overall development but we have to talk about Toritsuka. Eh, anyway never mind, Toritsuka isn't that important at all and I wouldn't recommend to watch his scenes after all so I'll just skip him. Perhaps, let's talk about Takahashi instead since he somewhat is a better character and possibly the best but all of there were just me joking about him. Actually, there also were some animals being shown including any multitude characters that probably has a minor development but somehow significant and relevant due to their involvement through the environment of this story.

  So, how's the show or wasn't it that bad at all?

  If I were to think about it, since this show isn't as appealing as the others when it comes to the popularity and I've had to wait for several months before finally watching and finishing all of the series excluding the special ones, thanks to my acute insomnia that hasn't been cured lately so I could've finished all of these episodes in 2 weeks. Overall, Saiki Kusuo no Sai-Nan not only gave the slice of life and comedy "feel" as a sole entertainment purpose, but we also have witnessed how many times he got into troubles and someone saved him as later payback for all of his deeds to them, something rare that I wouldn't have ever seen in any show. The concept of psychic here could've been different hadn't someone like Kaido Shun been the main character despite I know that everyone wanted him to have his own series, but perhaps, people were just being so unrealistic with this expectation. Saiki was, at his best, a very normal and regular character that is just odd due to his profound abilities as a psychic, given to the fact that he has a pessimistic tendency that leads him to believe that he suffers along his own power so he wasn't able to completely "enjoy" his life despite being around nice but very odd or if not oddest people you would have seen in any show ever probably. The very basic example that he showed was when he often got annoyed by getting spoiled by someone's "honesty" about books, movies, and any stuff that can be spoiled, which is why he enjoys watching TV, playing game, and doing jobs at home. Yes, a pretty much home person he was. And from what I've seen, this show also gave a lot of fresh outlooks about seeing the character's perspective so the spectators can't ever be bored by his "normal" attitude that is for him not surprising at all, maybe not for any normal people of course. Teamwork was mostly shown throughout the show, as you witnessed not only Saiki's life but also the others throughout Saiki's perspective as the one who is able to use telepathy and this probably is a very brilliant idea for whoever the author who wrote this story was, since this might be able to explore the in-depth side of any characters, which is a very good method that shouldn't be plagiarized but used as an inspiration when it comes to developing a lot of characters that probably have limited screen times simultaneously.

  

  J.C. Staff as the studio who crafted the other anime series that most of them become masterpiece seemed to not lost their touch in tinkering the animation. Nothing special but at least, this is a favourable standard for a person who has been watching Toaru Series, Sakurasou, and Date A Live then put those as his favourites. The art style is just fine, but still a little surprised to see that despite the animation isn't as smooth as I expected to be, the transition between scene to another is somewhat impeccable. Another thing that might be an eye-catching still is the yellow colours around Makoto and Kokomi with their Teruhashi clan name and how detailed the view of sceneries in many scenes. As for the plot development, at first, it might not seem to be a tad appealing but it eventually would grow after several episodes especially when the main character discovered each character in the 1st point of view. And this actually is the intriguing part of this show, see how many repeated scenes that possibly worked like Ctrl + C + V didn't seem to be boring due to how many variants that they've planned to bring in each episode, no matter how similar the situation or how many times he has encountered this situation before. The problem solving matter has always been the solution for every problem on this show, but it's not limited to it. The romance genre seemed to work well despite it's not being contained at all so as psychological and slice of life as its background and even science-fiction thanks for the whole supernatural as its independent genre so it could've brought a "flesh" of another genre without exactly including them all. The voice actors are much better than average, as all of them were very accentuated and vocal in their speech, some credits to Hirohi Kamiya who was willing to play a role as a serious person with dry humours and jokes. Hence then, I like the way how suffice the 4th wall breaks usage here, including when Toritsuka's friends said that he sounded like Natsuki Hanae. At last, overall, Saiki Kusuo no Sai-Nan gave a new perspective to see how life works but with a little ridicule towards some aspects that isn't exaggerated to create a soothing show that might be comfortable to watch and re-watch again and again during the spare time as you wouldn't ever get bored to see how hilarious the show was or just to reminisce some memorable scenes while bringing some foods and beverages to completely enjoy this entertainment at its best. Don't watch this if you have expected some intricate plots towards romance, action, drama, or perhaps some serious slice of life genre as you wouldn't get any all of there but do watch it if you wanted to watch a show that isn't so comedic by approach but provides a complete full-package when it comes to entertainments as its sole purpose and also, probably, if you ever have many unknown abilities as a psychic to hide it from anyone to save the word, this could be your choice. Alright, that's all. Thank you for reading this review.

  "Good grief, God. Maybe youth isn't that cruel after all."
  ~ Saiki Kusuo after reading this review, maybe.

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