English Dub Review: Chio’s School Road “Because The School Is There” / “Chio-chan and Hosokawa-san”

This is so …wait, is that a Jojo reference?

Overview (Spoilers below)

Chio is going to school. Or at least she tries to. After spending all her sleeping hours playing Definitively Not Assassin Creed, at least during the first half of the episode. And possibly during the second one as well. That’s my girl!

From construction road work to teeth brushing half-naked bald men and douchebag salarymen, Chio’s journey to be on time and avoid being made a laughingstock in front of her peers.

Our take

Comedy is one of the most subjective genres, which can be translated into serious difficulties when trying to appraise it with impartiality. I can’t do it well, especially because I don’t like comedy for this exact reason. Chio’s School Road is, at least, mildly entertaining and managed to make me laugh once or twice. That same, its comedy is nothing to write home about. Chio herself has a geeky-nerdy personality coupled with social anxiety and bound inner snark that tends to fell at the side of cynicism. Personally, I liked the character, but I don’t think that there is anything special about it. We have seemed this formula pulled off better with a better application for max comedy relief.

I would like to highlight the dub’s voice acting. I liked Chio’s voice actress (not listed on episode landing page for Funimation) job on this show. She managed to nail the swirling emotions on Chio’s head while at the same time it could b felt how much fun she was having while doing so. The comedy itself was average. Nothing new, barring some clever moments, and the tone felt flat most of the time. Something I did not like at all was the fanservice. Why? Why apply boob physics and panty shots to a minor? It is not funny, it’s creepy and unsettling.

The artwork was cartoonish most of the time, which became hyper-detailed and polished on key moments, but it can be argued that the less than stellar drawing composition reflected the less than the serious rhythm of the series.  The music score, on the other hand, was a big ‘meh’.