Review: Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan
Being one of Weekly Shone Jumps relatively popular titles (18 volumes as of writing) it was surprising that it has taken this long for Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan to get an anime adaptation. Having read a bit of the source material I knew what to expect but has this series dashed those expectations or shone brightly?
Saiki is a teenage student who developed incredible
psychic powers at a very young age. We follow him as he attempts to lead an
innocuous normal life as he tries not to let his powers become known or affect
him. That is it and sets up the show and Saiki for all sorts of shenanigans and
unintended hijinks that greets him. It works well initially giving you a brief
look at his powers and continually expands on them as well as giving you plenty
of thought as to how they’d scupper his attempts at a normal school life.
Saiki himself comes across in all manner of ways. At times he seems detestable in stopping his friends from having fun just so he can relax and take it easy, at other times he can be helpful but again only to help himself and make his life less inconvenient. He is selfish that is for sure but with his powers since a young age can you blame him for only wanting a peaceful life? These powers have caused him no end of trouble so in a way you can see why he does it. It’s also nice that we see little bits of his life such as him liking coffee and doing anything for coffee based edibles which does make him much more likeable and human.
Saiki himself comes across in all manner of ways. At times he seems detestable in stopping his friends from having fun just so he can relax and take it easy, at other times he can be helpful but again only to help himself and make his life less inconvenient. He is selfish that is for sure but with his powers since a young age can you blame him for only wanting a peaceful life? These powers have caused him no end of trouble so in a way you can see why he does it. It’s also nice that we see little bits of his life such as him liking coffee and doing anything for coffee based edibles which does make him much more likeable and human.
The most recurring characters in the series are Nendou, a bit of an air head who inadvertently becomes Saikis ‘friend’, Hairo a very competitive guy who always strives for the best and becomes acquainted with Saiki, Teruhashi the most beautiful and self-proclaimed perfect girl in the school who loves seeing guys fawn over her and Kaidou who is a chuuni who calls himself The Jet-Black Wings believing he has some sort of mystic powers and thinks Saiki is the same. Each bring something vastly different to the table and seeing Saiki try to interact and avoid these characters in his pursuit of his normal life is where the fun is.
This is based on a gag manga so it makes sense that the
anime is a short series, the jokes and humour comes thick and fast, it never
dwells on anything and is rather inventive in what it comes up with. You have
your physical comedy, subtle jokes, very unsubtle jokes, cameos from fellow
Jump series, poking fun at Jump and just all round entertaining scenarios. Be
it Saiki avoiding a girl who takes pleasure in everyone loving her, a chunni
guy trying to draw Saiki into his world, trying to ignore his air headed friend
Nendou and much, much more. Whilst there are the odd few weak jokes almost all muster
at least a smile or a chuckle.
It never feels stale which is so crucial for a comedy.
All characters are given their time to shine and find new ways to irritate
Saiki. They also get an appropriate focus, Saikis closest ‘friends’ get more
screen time but none of the cast are left behind. Even seemingly introduced
throwaway characters such as a failing magician keep appearing and its fun to
see how they progress. It helps that the other characters have something about
them such as weird and wonderful quirks.
If this were a normal series then it perhaps would become
stale but that is where Saikis powers come into play. Seeing him read minds,
teleport, become invisible and so much more just to escape these everyday
scenarios is really entertaining and adds that extra spice to make the series
more worthwhile. Whilst the bulk of his powers are introduced early on there is
a stream of new powers added later on to bring even funnier scenarios. That
they manage to keep them fresh is a huge positive, they aren’t rehashing his
powers but adding inventive and humorous ones to keep it from getting stale.
Some of the funniest moments for me was Saiki being duped
into buying a coffee machine, accidentally mind reading spoilers for a new
film, his powers going out of control, his arguments with a cat, meeting
Nendous family and so, so much more. Because the jokes are funnier first time
around I won’t go into too much more detail on these as it’s worth watching
yourself.
Most episodes are, well, episodic. Whilst characters are
recurring and past events are brought up on occasion each episode is
standalone. You can pick any, watch and enjoy without having to know much
background at all and that is one of the series strong points. There are the
occasional multi part episodes such as an amusing Sports Day mini arc, Festival
arc and School Trip arc and they bring a bit of freshness to proceedings as
well as allowing us to see Saiki out of his comfort zone even more.
My biggest, and really only, complaint with this series
is the talking; this may sound odd but hear me out. Most of the chatter between
the characters is fine, always at a brisk pace as expected for a gag series but
a lot of the time this leads to characters talking over each other. This leads,
on many occasions to issues following what is happening. Talking over each
other would be bad enough in English but in Japanese with subtitles this
becomes a real pain. It is hard to follow and you miss out on some funny one
liners as well as key parts of the conversation.
This doesn’t happen in the manga because you read at your
own pace but here in the anime where it is constantly in motion it detracts
from the experience. I have lost count of the number of times I have had to
rewind a few seconds or pause to get the full gist of what has been said and
read the 3 or sometimes 4 lines of subtitles. Thankfully this issue did not
rear its head enough to really dampen my enjoyment but it was still noticeable.
The animation is nothing special. It’s animated
relatively smoothly but being the type of series it is there isn’t that much
that needs animating. Thankfully the art more than makes up for it;
characters are a varied bunch and it has a bright, vivid colour palette. Be
it the school, the uniform or the hair colours, it is nice and vibrant which is
pleasant on the eye.
The OP is really catchy if brief (about 10-15 seconds)
and I cannot get it out of my head and am eagerly awaiting the single release.
The remainder of the soundtrack is not that memorable but passable and does its
job in setting the right mood for the events that transpire.
For a comedy short series Saiki rarely misses a beat,
sure there is the odd weak joke but comedy is about the most divisive genre
there is. Given the length of the episodes I have to recommend it, it’s a joy
to watch and you’ll find yourself laughing more often than not. I hope this is
not the last we see of Saiki in animated form.
Studio: J.C.Staff and EGG FIRM
Aired: Summer 2016
Streaming: Funimation
Episodes:120
9/10
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