'After School Dice Club' Is an Amiable Anime About Analog Gaming

When we think of “gaming”, what immediately comes to mind is usually video games – the digital side of gaming.  Rarely do we ever consider analog gaming.  Well, to be fair, video games are more popular than card games and board games nowadays.  I myself haven’t played much multiplayer tabletop games. I’ve only encountered the basics – Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly, UNO, and the like.  Nonetheless, I’ve been aware that, despite its relative obscurity, tabletop gaming is a hobby that can generate great excitement.  So I’ve held some fascination for it.

That’s why I became immediately excited when I learned that a new anime like Houkago Saikoro Club a.k.a. After School Dice Club was coming out last fall 2019.  The subject matters that anime has explored have been impressively diverse and extensive, and thus, anime has been able to constantly serve as a means for me to become more informed and interested on certain topics – from sports to professions to subcultures to activities to life skills to whatever.  Thus, I found After School Dice Club to be a perfect way to learn more of analog gaming, specifically the real-life games that originated from Germany (apparently, the most famous ones came from this country).

The anime follows a group of high school girl friends who play board, dice, and card games after school (hence, the title of the show).  They are: the timid introvert Miki Takekasa, who initially has no idea what friendship and fun are; the bubbly but clumsy Aya Takayashiki, who has just moved into the area; and the class rep Midori Ono, who has been a board game aficionado since she was little and the one who introduced the other two to tabletop gaming.  Later, the tight-knit trio would be joined by the easygoing and analytical Emilia, a transferee from Germany.

The concept of a hobby or activity bringing people together isn’t anything revolutionary.  It’s actually been done-to-death in fiction.  Nevertheless, it remains an endearing aspect for After School Dice Club because the execution is heartfelt.

But, with the kind of show that it is, its most important objective should be, of course, to showcase the featured games in an investing manner.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t always succeed in this.  On such an instance, it’s either the game itself isn’t really that great or it just fails to hype it up.  But in the times it does succeed, especially when it manages to connect the games’ elements with the theme of the episode’s storyline, it’s quite emotionally satisfying.

In addition, the production value is quite good, so the visual presentation is pretty and solid no matter what.  Thus, even in the episodes where the games don’t impress or stir, watching it never gets tiresome.

In the end, After School Dice Club isn’t necessarily a remarkable anime.  But I still found it a heartwarming, pleasing watch overall.  For even though I didn’t have any preexisting fondness for the games it focused on, I could still relate with the ideas of gaming, nerdery, fandom, and passion, which the show amiably depicts to be inherent in those games.