As a child, did you ever have to sit next to a classmate who would fool around during class? Or maybe you were the one who never paid attention to the teacher? "Tonari no Seki-kun - The Master of Killing Time" is a short-form anime series about exactly that. Personally, I don't look back fondly on those times: the awkwardness of getting in trouble for something that isn't your fault, misunderstanding your classmate or being misunderstood... childhood is an awkward time in general. Further, this series seems to take place in high school, rather than elementary school, if only based on the bust-size of the female lead; this type of trouble became less of an issue after elementary school when I was growing up. Maybe it's just me?It's rare for a "short-form" anime to get a release in North America at all, let alone with a full English dub (as provided by Sentai Filmworks). Most likely, it was simply easy enough for them to do without much cost. The 21 episodes are each only about 5 minutes long, plus an extra 5 for the repeated opening and ending themes (plus the stupid and slow English credits Sentai Filmworks tacks on at the end of every episode). In total, that's less than 2 hours of real content for a TV series. And the show would translate well to a one-man stage show. Or rather, a one-woman show: trouble-maker Seki doesn't really speak at all throughout the series, making his deskmate Rumi the real main character, and providing about 99% of the show's dialogue. Monica Rial provides the English voice for Rumi, and does a great job holding up the entire series on her own. Anyway, the show is about Rumi trying to pay attention is class, but constantly being distracted by Seki, her neighbor at the back of the room. Seki never seems to pay any mind to the teacher or the class subject, and instead tries all manner of ways to pass the time at his desk. Some episodes involve him setting up dominoes with his erasers, playing Shogi by himself, or knitting. But the show goes the extra mile for comedic effect: he doesn't just set up a line of dominoes to make fall over, he sets up a massive "Rube Goldberg machine" that takes up the entirety of his desk space. No wonder Rumi can't help but be distracted! Not only distracted, she typically becomes fully invested in whatever Seki-kun does in spite of herself. Often, Rumi is the one that gets in trouble, rather than Seki. Such is the plot of each episode. There isn't really a plot, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun watching each episode. It's mildly entertaining to see how far the animators go with each episode. The episodes aren't always as creative as they could be: "Shogi" is reused as the theme for three episodes. Strange, since the original manga and promotional art use a variety of scenarios that don't appear in the show. But like Rumi, I can't help but watch. As far as short anime go, this is actually pretty entertaining!
Production-wise, Shin-Ei Animation Studios might have a long history in the business, but the show is undeniably cheap and budget-concious in visual design and animation. Each short looks like they could easily have been made within a week each. Despite lacking in detail and movement, it's acceptable for the material, and the studio does take some inspired approaches in the opening and ending: the opening is of Seki creating the animated show at his desk, and varies slgihtly each episode, overlaid with a quick song of Rumi stammering for Seki to stop. The ending is of Seki performing a percussion performance to a fun jazz beat. "Tonari no Seki-Kun - The Master of Killing Time" is actually a pretty fun way to kill some time. With all the great anime that exist, finding something simply to "kill time" with might be aiming a little low. And if Sentai Filmworks had put some kind of "marathon" feature on their disc to automatically skip watching the themes over and over, this could be a bit more palpable. But like Seki, sometimes you just do what you can with what you have, and what you come up with can be impressive under those limitations.