Anime name: The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (also known as Saiki Kusuo no Sai-nan) At the point of writing this there was only one full season.
Genre(s): gag comedy, science fiction
Lauren’s Like Rating: 10/10 (This series was an instant favorite! It is lovably absurd, and the characters are very endearing. It is absolutely hilarious! I think the longer you’ve been out of high school the funnier it is. I’m now watching it for a fourth time and I am so excited about the upcoming season 2! There’s a live action movie, too, so I plan on seeing that sometime as well. I literally cannot say enough how amazing this series is and how much I love it! UPDATE: I have now seen season 2 and the short season 3 in Japanese and I love them, too! So I love the whole series in both English and Japanese. I’m unsure if more than season 1 has been dubbed yet as of 3/6/19.)
Character (s): Kusuo Saiki, Riki Nendo, Shun Kaido, Kuniharu and Kurumi Saiki, Aren Kuboyasu, Kumagoro Saiki
Kusuo Saiki is a high school student with a big secret: he has psychic powers. Some of them he can control, while others just happen automatically and he can’t stop it, such as telepathy. He once drew attention to himself as a child and decided he wants to be left alone, so he carefully hides his powers from others and tries to avoid standing out. Although he tries to b indifferent and avoid being close to anyone, oddball people are drawn to him and he can’t help but help people out when they really need it, though they usually don’t find out he did anything. His favorite thing is coffee jelly, and in general he loves sweets.
Riki Nendo is a classmate of Kusuo who decided on his own that the two are “best buddies.” He is the only person Kusuo’s telepathy doesn’t work on, as he doesn’t think. He lives in the moment and gets very excited and happy about the small things in life, such as a wall looking cleaner than he remembered it being for a long time. He loves ramen.
Shun Kaido is a classmate of Kusuo who has convinced himself that he has magical powers. Calling himself The Jet-Black Wings, his mission is to defeat the shadow organization, Dark Reunion. He believes Kusuo has powers, too, but doesn’t know about Kusuo’s real powers. He is brave and quick to act when it comes to protecting others, but cowardly and meek when facing something for himself. He is also very shy, but tries to act cool.
Kuniharu and Kurumi Saiki are the parents of Kusuo and Kusuke. As a couple, they are very lovey-dovey, much to the disgust of Kusuo. Kurumi is usually very air-headed and naive, but she can be downright scary when her family is in trouble, and she also encourages Kusuo to be a good person. Kuniharu is also somewhat of an air-head (and accident-prone,) but he works hard to provide of his family (even if he is lazy at home.) His work has involved so much sucking up to bosses that he has developed a taste for licking shoes.
Aren Kuboyasu is a transfer student and former delinquent. His parents were delinquents and he was already successful with following in their footsteps by the third grade. However, now that he has transferred he wants to turn over a new leaf and become a “goody-goody” while keeping his past a secret. This proves difficult, however, as his rough side has never been restrained before and he has little knowledge of how “normal” people act.
Kumagoro Saiki is Kusuo’s grandfather. He is a tsundere, he finds it very difficult to express affection and positive emotions despite feeling them strongly. He desperately wants to spend time with and get to know Kusuo better, but often gets too flustered to succeed.
