Chio is a normal, nerdy student who is below-average in her high school classes and given to late nights playing American video games online. She walks to school each day with her best friend Manana, usually arriving on time despite a ridiculous variety of encounters along the way. And that is the entire world of Chio’s School Road, which indeed never steps inside the school and uses every opportunity to lovingly satirize its own characters. Chio puts her video gaming fantasy life to good use, whether taking to the rooftops to avoid a roadblock or facing down a gangster with false bravado after knocking over his bike. Her friendship with Manana is a highlight, sincere but fractious, and incredibly real despite their outrageous situations. Based on manga by Tadataka Kawasaki, the series features some juvenile sexual content, from the plethora of upskirt shots, to a well-endowed grope-y lesbian upperclassman, to the cheap adult humor of Chio’s online handle that also doubles as her gangster sobriquet: "Bloody Butterfly." The animation is not particularly notable, but the voice actors ably bring the characters to sharp, hilarious life. Compiling all 12 episodes from 2018 in a dual-language Blu-ray edition, rated TV-14, this is recommended. (L. Martincik)
Chio’s School Road: The Complete Series
(2018) 2 discs. 300 min. Blu-ray: $64.99. Funimation (avail. from most distributors). Volume 34, Issue 5
Chio’s School Road: The Complete Series
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