Tonari no Seki-kun Episode 5
What They Say:
Class is in session at a certain high school. While the teacher isn’t looking, a boy named Seki-kun is playing games by himself on his desk, while the girl who sits next to him, Yokoi-san, observes (or interferes or participates). Each time, Seki-kun’s games reach unimaginable levels… And this time the game is…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Seki’s imagination took a bit of a more unusual turn in the previous episode with him using the go pieces in order to make a fight between two animals come alive. Something that Yokoi naturally got hugely into as it progressed. Being able to change up what he does is pretty important since it’s the reactive side that definitely makes it interesting, but changing the setting can also up the ante a bit.With this episode, the two are in a different classroom where they have to sit across from each other unlike their normal classroom where they’re side by side.
And Seki has pulled out his eraser and stamp pad to just have fun with what he has there, coming up with a stamp for his name. The other big difference here is that there are four students to a table in the science lab and Seki has Uzawa sitting next to him, who is pretty oblivious but still has Seki being even more secretive than usual. This just has events going in all directions, especially with Uzawa in the mix as Seki spends his time messing with his eraser and creating a stamp that becomes a seal, but in the end becomes part of a hugely epic moment of comedy because of Uzawa’s getting involved in it. The beauty is that it’s painted as this huge thing that Yokoi watches and even Seki reacts, but Uzawa treats it all as just a pebble on the road.
In Summary:
With the first few episodes essentially giving us scenarios where Seki always “wins’ in a way, this episode changes things up a good deal and is definitely amusing because of it. While it could work well enough with the usual formula, and a lot of it is still here, expanding it a bit but still keeping it small works beautifully as we get a new classroom for a moment and a different dynamic because of how it unfolds. Very cute and definitely fun to see how Yokoi is once again screwing herself over by her inability to look away.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.