Daily Lives of High School Boys

""Daily Lives of High School Boys" was lazily brought to you by these sponsors. Don't say lazy!"



It's... Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

Daily Lives of High School Boys (also known as Danshi Koukousei No Nichijou, literally means "Daily Lives of All-boys' High School Students") is a slice-of-life comedy web-published manga from Yasunobu Yamauchi. It follows Yoshitake, Hidenori and Tadakuni, three perfectly normal (boys') high school students and their not-so-normal (read: side-splittingly hilarious) daily routines, and frequently applies several lampshade hangings and parodies of anime tropes.

The Sunrise-adopted anime version premiered in January 2012 and has been licensed by NIS America.

""Virgin Power!""
 * Against the Setting Sun: Parodied. Instead of celebrating Motoharu's feat of successfully riding a bike, aren't they supposed to do something else?
 * All Just a Dream:
 * Interestingly enough this has generated a fair bit of discussion, as the punchline to the skit as presented in the anime (incredibly similar to the start of a skit way back in episode 4) makes it seem that 9 of the 12 episodes of the anime never happened, invalidating all of the characters introduced since then.
 * In the un-animated skit High School Girls are Funky -- Tolerance,
 * All Love Is Unrequited: In order to maintain the No Hugging, No Kissing environment of the series, the creator actively sinks any possible hints of romance pairings—so Hidenori thinks Literature Girl is a weirdo, the Convex Mirror Girl is an illusion, Emi is Hidenori's counsin, and Karasawa is Habara-phobic. This does not prevent others to ship, though.
 * All Men Are Perverts: The three main guys and Hideonri's brother Yuusuke have stolen Mei's (Tadakuni's younger sister) lingerie at some point.
 * Artificial Riverbank: Justifibly the backdrop for many skits, mainly the Literature Girl skits.
 * Battle Aura: Played for Laughs during the lost girl skit.
 * Battle Aura: Played for Laughs during the lost girl skit.

""Daily Lives of High School Boys was lazily brought to you by these sponsors..." "Daily Lives of High School Boys was intermittently brought to you by these sponsors..." "Daily Lives of High School Boys should have been brought to you by these sponsors...""
 * Big No: Part of Hidenori's Internal Monologue in Episode 5 at the sight of the Literature Girl once again behind him.
 * Biting the Hand Humor

""The last episode of Daily Lives of High School Boys is brought to you lazily by these sponsors...""
 * And at the end...

""This might seem annoying, but please eat mochi slowly by carefully chewing small portions.""
 * Bland-Name Product
 * Wc Donalds, as usual.
 * GanGan, Square Enix's manga anthology, is now GaniGani.
 * Pepsi, together with its logo, was replaced with that of Sunrise's.
 * Hidenori's cell phone is a Zperia from Zany Ericsson.
 * Blatant Lies
 * In Episode 1's High School Boys and Scary Stories (1), Tadakuni tells a story about drinking at a friend's house. Not alcohol, of course.
 * In Episode 2's High School Boys and Traditional Events, the three guys and Karasawa go to the principal and discuss the school's "70-hour fast" tradition. The latter, having only been on his position for three years but unwilling to leave them in the open, makes up a story about how, back in 1984, the principal saved the school from complete shutdown due to low attendance by pleading with prefectural authorities for 70 straight hours. Then Karasawa reveals that Sanada North High was only founded in 1989.
 * In Episode 9's High School Boys and Wiring, Central High's Student Council President made up a story about how the Vice-President follows her. The Vice-President was clearly nonplussed but have to comply.
 * Blue with Shock: The first reaction Hidenori and Yoshitake have to Tadakuni's horror story.
 * Book Ends:
 * Boy Meets Girl
 * In general, this trope (specifically, Meet Cute) is invoked by the (Literature) girl, and recognized by this name by the boy (Hidenori).
 * In Episode 9's High School Boy and Drop-kicks, Emi wondered if the sudden closeness between Hidenori and Kiyohiko was "Boy Meets Boy".
 * Brain Bleach: Motoharu's reaction to seeing an upskirt of Ringo. He's so traumatized he skipped school for three days.
 * Brick Joke
 * Episode 10's High School Boys and Winter involves Hidenori asking Literature Girl to return him the blazer he put on her 3 episodes before (aee Comforting Comforter), leading to Chase Scene as described in its entry.
 * The faux High Schools are Funky -- The Movie trailer at the end of Episode 12 is basically a continuation of a joke Yanagin made in Episode 6's Funky—the made-up band of theirs (playing with brooms, mops and trash bins), if going on this way, will never drive up the sales of cleaning tools nor can they go London. The "trailer" continue the joke about K-On--The Movie.
 * In the third manga chapter High School Boys and Horror Stories (1), Yoshitake told a story about having shaved off his nipple as he tried to remove nipple hair. In the unanimated Chapter 97 High School Boys and Secrets, he admitted.
 * Call Back
 * When Yoshitake explained how much of a Jerkass is his older sister in High School Boys and the Holy Night, he just used a single example: she was the reason why Motoharu was shaved in High School Boys and Seniority.
 * When the sisters of the main trio complained to Yuusuke about the main trio's Man Child tendencies in High School Boys and Older Brother, both their lingerie stealing in High School Boys and The Power of Friendship and their contempt on Yoshitake's sister's Berserk Button in High School Boys and the Holy Night.
 * Takahiro reminded the Literature Girl of what happened in High School Boys and Run in High School Boys and Assertiveness, so as to show how hypocritical her statement about open courting was.
 * High School Girls are Funky -- Women who Left a Scar starts when Yanagin tried to apologize to Karasawa of her abuses in High School Girls are Funky -- Resentment.
 * Chase Scene: Episode 10's High School Boys and Running—the Literature Girl is shocked out of her wits upon running into Hidenori before getting pissed and chasing him all over downtown in one of the most hilarious scenes in the series—just to yell at him that the guy she was walking with when she ran into him—Takahiro—wasn't her boyfriend.
 * Chekhov's Gag: In Episode 2, Tadakuni made up a story on how he saw what was under Karasawa's cap, remarking that it was hilarious. Hidenori also mentioned Karasawa has tons of experiences on horror stories. Then came Episode 5.
 * Club Stub: A mini-arc in the manga showed a few examples in Sanada North: the Chemistry and Movie Research Clubs.
 * Color Failure
 * The boys' reaction when Mei finds Tadakuni using her skirt (plus a few other items) in High School Boys and Skirts.
 * Again in Episode 2 when Tadakuni and Yasunori discover Nago can look pretty in a convex mirror.
 * Yanagin discovered in High School Girls are Funky -- Ramen that NAGO didn't even knew it was her who was making a duel.
 * Comforting Comforter: Hidenori shrouds his overcoat on the Literature Girl after he accidentally headbutts her to unconsciousness as a merciful end of the sorts to her incredibly humiliating day.
 * Comic Book Time: Episode 7's intro downright declares Second Year Protagonists would always be Second Year Protagonists!
 * Comically Missing the Point
 * Content Warnings:
 * In High School Boys and Mochi Soup, each time when one of the main trio choked on mochi, there is an on-screen advisory, and when Tadakuni became the last of the trio to get chocked on mochi, the on-screen advisory gets annoyed:

""Good boys and girls mustn't do this.""
 * In High School Boys and UFO Catchers, the main trio try to shake a UFO Catcher machine to get a teddy bear plush which narrowly missed the hole, while the following advisory appears below:

"Yanagin's Sempai: "Pretending to be an idiot who doesn't even know common knowledge is what makes high school girls cute! Listen up, their brains and eyes are directed right here...""
 * Continuity Nod: In High School Boys and Seniority, Mino's classmates came to her and Motoharu's house for a sleepover and, among others, were quite interested to have him shaved. The following Eyecatch features them trying to forcibly shave him... and in High School Boys and the Savior, he is seen shaved and with a few bandages on his chin.
 * Happens constantly, but more subtle, in the manga; covers from a given chapter might portray the result or any aftermath from a event that happened in the previous chapter.
 * Credits Running Sequence: The opening.
 * Crossover: GanGan Online promoted this series and It's Not My Fault I'm Not Popular!, two of their best school setting hits, by making flyers and posters with Yoshitake and Tomoko riding a train on way to their schools.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: "Rubber Shooter", the masked Bully Hunter who saved Hidenori eight years ago,.
 * Custom Uniform: Technically speaking, Sanada North's students needs to tuck their shirts in their pants, button their collars and wear a striped necktip. Don't count on their students doing all these. Nobody tucks their shirts in nor button up their collars, and of all the characters that studies there, only Tadakuni, Hidenori and Karasawa wear them on a more regular basis.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Nago and Karasawa.
 * Death Glare: Parodied with Kiyotaka's sister, though mostly due to poor eyesight and missing contact lenses.
 * Delicious Distraction: Episode 4's High School Girls are Funky -- Humor, the girls discuss why boys are boring to watch and wonder how they even got an anime. Then Yanagi and Ikushima got the idea of asking (read: screaming at) Karasawa, who lives next door to Habara (where the girls meet). Then Karasawa throws them sweets, and the two girls stop screaming at him and gorged at the food like there's no tomorrow. This was eventually Subverted in the next skit Resentment, when it turned out those snacks were expired—and the girls proceeded to beat Karasawa up.
 * Distaff Counterpart: High School Girls are Funky, a series of post-credits skits, features Habara, Yanagin and Ikushima, three girls who look, act and talk remarkably like their male counterparts Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake. As bonus, Mei has her own counterpart in the form of Habara's older brother.
 * The Ditz: Episode 7's High School Girls are Funky -- High School Girl Power parodies the frequent use of this trope as a charm point—Yanagin gets her sempai to teach them how to be cuter, and the correct answer is...

"Hidenori: "Shikashi, ore mo ENTERTAINER...""
 * Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male): Played with. Most of the show follows it straight, but when it comes to.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Female): Subverted; in High School Girls are Funky -- the Past, Yanagin threatened Ikushima about "being ****ed with a stick" when the latter complained about the former's not fitting the personality archetype usually associated with glasses-wearing girls. Yanagin just beat Ikushima up with a wrench instead.
 * Dramatic Wind: Invoked in the Literature Girl skits, because the protagonist in her novels (whom she has a crush on and is eager to re-enact in real life) can control wind.
 * Dude, Not Funny: Subverted In-Universe. While Habara literally invoked that line in response to Yanagin's "Just Joking" Justification in High School Girls are Funky -- Archdemon, that was because she was also a party of the story Yanagin told . The real audience, Ikushima and Takahiro, were not offended at all.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Downplayed—Yoshitake's older sister was one of the girls bullying Motoharu in the previous episode before her debut.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone calls Mei "Little Sister" ("Imouto").
 * The Faceless: Mei, Mino and Yoshitake's older sister. Habara's older brother is also faceless.
 * Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Episode 5, if one pauses at the beginning of two related skits where the main characters of each skit are walking down a busy metropolitan street, the group and pairs of Ringo and the Student Council, Hidenori and Yoshitake, and Tadakuni and Nago can be seen walking obliviously by one another in different areas of the street. Anime watchers may not recognize why Tadakuni and Nago were there, but High School Boys and Counseling—animated in Episode 4, when Tadakuni and Nago did leave the pizzeria together—was punlished one chapter before High School Boys and the Saviour in the manga.
 * Frothy Mugs of Water/Suspiciously Specific Denial: In the first scary stories skit, Tadakuni mentioned he and some other buddies went to another person's home to drink... while the manga he made it clear it was alcohol, in the anime he denied it was alcohol (so as the on-screen note). But that kind of drink is also one would make people vomit...
 * On the other hand, completely averted by Yoshitake's sister, who was shown drinking from a can clearly labeled "beer" despite being underage. This was edited in the anime to look like a can of soda, although she still talks in a drunken slur.
 * Fun with Acronyms: In High School Boys and Lies, Motoharu asked Yoshitake what does KY—which actually stands for Kuuki Yomenai, or "cannot read the atmosphere"—stands for, and Yoshitake made up an answer about Kankyou Yougo Kigaku—Environmental Protection Convention—and explained what that is.
 * Gag Series: The entire point being making boring High School Boys' lives actually funny.
 * Golf Clubbing: In High School Boys and Fathers, Hidenori's father used a golf club to play a game of baseball with Hidenori, and then uses it to break the window of the Tabata household—all the three guys in the household forgot their keys.
 * Gratuitous English:
 * Hidenori in Episode 5's High School Boys and the Literature Girl (3):

"Yanagin, to Habara: "Furatto Chesuto!""
 * Yanagin in Episode 6's High School Girls ae Funky: the Past:

"Motoharu: "We've done something that can never be undone!""
 * Heel Realization
 * This is the entire point of High School Boys and Panties—peeping at a girl's panties does not make a guy feel good, but guilty and depressed... especially when a ditz like Ringo got tricked into unwittingly flaunting hers. Motoharu slipped into a Heroic BSOD so hard he skipped school for three days.

"Tadakuni: Hey, this is bad! The potato chips at that convenience store are half-off! Let's get going! *Punched out by Literature Girl*"
 * On a bit more serious note,.
 * Hidden Eyes
 * Anyone (mostly female) except the main male population of Sanada North High, as well as a few recurring females, such as the Literature Girl, Nago, Ringo, Habara, Yanagin, Ikushima, Emi and Episode 11's Mitsuo-lookalike.
 * Zig-zagged with Kiyotaka's younger sister when it zooms in to reveal her unintentional Death Glare.
 * Hypocritical Humour
 * The intro to Episode 1 showed a Late for School scene for the main trio—Tadakuni, Yoshitake and Hidenori. Tadakuni was eating toast per this trope's tradition, and then he saw Yoshitake eating curry, and then Hidenori opined Yoshitake should have eaten toast—despite eating noodles himself.
 * In High School Boys and the Power of Friendship, Hidenori denied stealing Mei's lingerie while wearing her bra.
 * In High School Boys and Culture Festival (3), Ikushima put on the air about boys liking to put on the air. Her Distaff Counterpart Yoshitake is Genre Savvy enough to keep himself slient.
 * In High School Boys and Assertiveness, the Literature Girl commented it's shameless for a girl to flirt a guy in the open. Takahiro reminded that by the time everybody knew she chased down Hidenori (who studies in another school) to the next town, in High School Boys and Run.
 * In High School Boys and Loneliness, Tadakuni, Yoshitake and Motoharu all told Hidenori they were occupied during Christmas. When Hidenori decided to go into a manga cafe to kill time, he found all three of them were cooped up in the same manga cafe.
 * Identical Stranger: In High School Boys and the Literary Girl (2), Motoharu wanted to find his sister Mino on the Artificial Riverbank... and mistook a similarly long-haired, Sailor Fuku-wearing girl as her. She's actually the Literature Girl.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: "High School Boys and (subject)"
 * I'm Standing Right Here: In High School Boys and Mitsuo-kun, Mitsuo walks his classroom in which his friends are telling embarrassing stories about him. They notice his arrival, pause for a second, and then continue laughing at him as if he isn't there.
 * Japanese Delinquents: Motoharu is called as and looks like one, but is otherwise a pretty sane guy. The same goes for the Student Council of which he is a member... whose members, seemingly delinquents all, are actually sensible and well-mannered, save for the Student Council President, a Bishonen (complete with being voiced by Akira Ishida).
 * Jerkass: Most girls in the show (especially if they're the main characters' sisters), with a few exceptions, such as the Literature Girl, Emi, Ringo and Habara.
 * Lampshade Hanging
 * As early as the intro before the opening in Episode 1 there are already two: Hidenori calls out Yoshitake for not eating toast when they're Late for School despite he not doing the same, either, then denies the possibility of mecha and/or RPG elements being incorporated into their show despite it being a collaborative work between Square Enix and Sunrise.
 * In the prologue of Episode 3: The trio recognized that the anime aired in winter, and that by starting the story in summer instead of spring (the start of the Japanese school year), it misses many High School anime tropes—but this is a Slice of Life, either way. Later, while in the hot springs, the boys all comment on the unusual amount of steam on the baths.
 * In the prologue to Episode 6, the boys ask: Why are there Magical Girls but not Magical Boys? Then they think that Harry Potter may be a Magical High School Boy. Also, the first half of High School Boys and New School Term was basically about Nintendo Hard, using the third Sherlock Holmes game (on NES) as example. Legend of Kage was also referred to.
 * The prologue to Episode 7 assures viewers that Comic Book Time would be in full force in this show like Sazae-san, so the Second Year Protagonists would always be Second Year Protagonists.
 * In Episode 8's High School Boys and Manga, Hidenori recognized that while in any other manga boys of his age would be doing something else, the guys here are doing nothing. The written message of the sponsor section also recognized that Tadakuni doesn't have a family name.
 * Late for School
 * The prologue of Episode 1 parodied that; with the trio progressively eating foods improbable in such a scenario: Tadakuni has the traditional toast, Yoshitake had curry, and Hidenori had ramen—and he had the gall to call out Yoshitake for not having toast.
 * The last episode showed a more ridiculous variation, where
 * At the end of High School Boys and Consequences Mitsuo missed a chance to Crash Into Hello a girl under this trope.
 * Long Title: Defied through Executive Veto. Word of God mentioned his original title of the series was Stories of the Boring Daily Lives of High School Boys.
 * Lost in Translation: The title. "Danshi Koukousei" is not only "High School Boys" but "Students of All-boys High School.
 * Love Letter Lunacy
 * Parodied in High School Boys and Love Letters by Motoharu giving a faked love letter to Yoshitake.
 * Loving Bully: Deconstructed. was a feared Bully known as "Archdemon" who terrorized every boy in her neighborhood, but especially Toshiyuki Karasawa, her next door neighbor, eventually giving him several large scars that would never go away. Fast forward eight years, and it becomes clear that she harbors a small crush on Karasawa, who, unfortunately for her, is traumatized by her bullying to the point where he can barely interact with her normally.
 * Mistaken for Gay
 * High School Boys and Horoscopes: Motoharu saw Hidenori "kissing" Yoshitake. The former was only trying to squish a hornet perched on the latter's nose. When they run into Karasawa, he whips out a can of pesticide and sprays it onto their faces.
 * High School Boys and Drop-Kicks: The sudden physical closeness between Hidenori (on a visit to his maternal grandparents' hometown) and Kiyohiko was seen by Emi as "Boy Meets Boy".
 * Moment Killer: Invoked by Tadakuni in High School Boys and the Literature Girl when Hidenori requested him to break the unwanted sexual tension between Hidenori and the Literature Girl. He came to the scene with:
 * Moment Killer: Invoked by Tadakuni in High School Boys and the Literature Girl when Hidenori requested him to break the unwanted sexual tension between Hidenori and the Literature Girl. He came to the scene with:

""The main characters are almost never there, the female characters don't even get faces and love flags get destroyed all over the place... so why is this so popular?!""
 * In the beginning Hidenori thought Tadakuni was too Genre Blind to say this, but eventually realized he said that because he's Genre Savvy enough to invoke this trope.
 * Nausea Fuel: The story Tadakuni made up about Kugihiko vomiting out a centipede is a literal In-Universe example; Hidenori, Yoshitake and Mei all purged themselves upon hearing the story.
 * No Hugging, No Kissing: According to Word of God, the show isn't so much about romance than teenage boys (and some girls) doing things. In fact, the closest things to romance the series have are the Literature Girl and Emi's crushes towards Hidenori, and even then they are one-sided (and in the latter's case, it was even grounded by Surprise Incest).

"It may be Valentine's Day, but don't send the characters chocolate or anything. If you're sending it anyway, please send it to the studio, not the TV station."
 * No Name Given: The "Literature Girl", Yoshitake's older sister, and a female Mitsuo-lookalike in Episode 11.
 * "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: This was used in High School Boys and Horror Stories (2) when Yoshitake mentioned inadvertently causing a nosebleed when he washed his face.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Oh, the things the Literature Girl will do to tell Hidenori that the boy who walked next to her wasn't her boyfriend (it's just her classmate Takahiro)... and it's not like Hidenori was dating her.
 * Oh Crap
 * When Mino said she's inviting her classmates for a sleepover, Motoharu's heartbreak ensues.
 * In High School Girls are Funky -- Conflict, Yanagin and Ikushima stare in horror as Habara innocuously asks why they need rules when fighting.
 * One-Gender School: Sanada North (all-boys) and Sanada East (all-girls) Prefectural High Schools.
 * Overtook the Manga: The anime got this treatment due to two factors: (1) the manga's Sketch Comedy format means a whole volume of manga can only produce 3 episodes of anime without padding, and (2) Sunrise did not pad. The anime practically ran out of original material at the last episode; in which they asked the mangaka to draw two skits for the anime (High School Boys and Assertiveness and High School Boys and Getting Hit On) and made two original skits (High School Boys and ... and the faux High School Girls are Funky--The Movie trailer). Of course, being a Slice of Life anime without much of a plot, they simply ended the season by using Book Ends.
 * Periphery Demographic: The ending credits message for Episode 6, aired on the midnight before Valentine's Day, lampshaded the series' sizable female readership despite being written for the Seinen Demographic: [invoked]

"Episode 1: "Daily Lives of High School Boys is lazily brought to you by the following sponsors." Episode 2: "...may or may not be brought to you by the following sponsors." Episode 3: "...is brought to you by the following sponsors." "It's normal." "Yeah, normal." Episode 4: "...is brought to you by the following sponsors." (By two lookalikes of Hidenori and Yoshitake) Tadakuni: "Who the heck are you?!" Episode 5: "...is brought to you with a bang by these sponsors." Hidenori: Hm, 3/10! Episode 8: "...should have been brought to you by these sponsors.""
 * Placeholder Titles: Episode 1's ending, which used lines from one of the skits in the episode instead due to a last-minute change of the ending theme. Like anything in this show, it was lampshaded.
 * Potty Emergency
 * In Episode 10's High School Boys and Limits, Mitsuo has apparently been hogging a one-stop store's toilet, forcing Hidenori to search elsewhere. He finds one in the public park... only to be forced to go elsewhere upon sighting the Literature Girl.
 * In the un-animated High School Boys and Elevators, this is the reason for.
 * Potty Failure: Yoshitake seemed to have it when he was younger. It was, as a matter of course, misattributed to Mitsuo.
 * Print Bonus: High School Girls are Funky are omake of the manga volumes—hence those skits were made into Stingers in the anime.
 * Quivering Eyes: In High School and Cakes, Tadakuni had one after being grossed out by Hidenori's answer to Yoshitake's question of what he wanted to do for the day: piss in his pants.
 * Rescue Romance: Parodied in High School Boys and the Savior in which a bystander sees three delinquents harassing Ringo and steps in to beat them up... except the "delinquents"—Motoharu, Karasawa and the Student Council Vice-President—were just asking her a favor, and allow themselves to get beaten up to spare him the embarrassment of having misunderstood the situation, as well as to invoke this trope.
 * Running Gag: The sponsor sections are always in line with the tone of the skit immediately preceding it.

- Tadakuni: It is! It actually is!

""Who do you admire the most?" Hidenori, before: Rubber (Band) Shooter Hidenori, after: Hideyo Noguchi."
 * Another example is that Mei's lingerie kept being stolen.
 * Satellite Character: Those Two Guys those are only called "brown-haired" and "glasses" only appears with Yoshitake and Motoharu in the 2-A classroom.
 * Say My Name: "LITTLE SISTER!/IMOUTO!"
 * School Uniforms Are the New Black: Zigzagged. The main trio wear their uniforms even during summer break or Christmas—but there were a few scenes in High School Boys and Summer Memories when they wore causal clothes. This trope was also invoked in High School Boys and Summer Plans when Hidenori asked Karasawa to wear school uniforms to join a meeting on vacation planning in which the other participants are already wearing school uniforms in Tadakuni's house.
 * Second Year Protagonist: Most of the cast.
 * Serious Business: Such as love simulations in High School Boys and After School or killing centipedes in High School Boys and 100. Although these are also used to build up Shaggy Dog Stories.
 * Shaggy Dog Story: Daily Lives of High School Boys might as well be Daily Lives of Shaggy Dogs.
 * High School Boys and After School: The boys spent most of the skit practicing a campus "Meet Cute" scenario for Tadakuni... only ending with the latter on a Pose of Supplication, saying it is completely useless in the boys' school they're studying.
 * High School Boys and Scary Stories (1 and 2): Tadakuni told extremely horrifying stories invoking extreme actions to Hidenori, Yoshitake and (the eavesdropping) Mei. They were also made up.
 * High School Boys and the Accompanying Girl: After seeing Tadakuni walking with a random girl, his Class 2-A classmates decided to put a halt to his "date"... only to find out that she was just asking for directions.
 * High School Boys and The Power of Friendship: Mei asked the trio to find out who had been stealing her lingerie (it turned out to be Tadakuni and Hidenori). Yoshitake took the heat, but when she started beating him, he ratted out the two.
 * High School Boys and Traditional Events: (See Blatant Lies)
 * High School Boys and the Literature Girl (2): Motoharu went on making wind-related quotes to the Literature Girl. It turned out he spoke to the wrong person—he intended to speak to his sister Mino.
 * High School Boys and the Train to School: Hidenori spent the whole skit engaging in an Internal Monologue about whether or not he should tell a schoolgirl he sees daily on the trains that she has a hair on a mole on her neck, trying to figure out the consequences, and, eventually, why that was never noticed. After he decided to do so (and still feared a backlash), her response was a bright smile and a "Thank you!"
 * The first and last skits of Episode 4 were about Tadakuni trying to get close to Yoshitake and Hidenori, spending most of the skit eavesdropping (High School Boys and Eavesdropping) or asking Nago for advice (High School Boys and Complaining to Each Other), only to find that the two guys he thought were Yoshitake and Hidenori just happened to be lookalikes.
 * High School Boys and the Cultural Festival (2): Sanada North's Student Council President dared Ringo and her companions to pass through their haunted house without yelling. Ringo coasted through without making so much as a noise... only to finally let out a scream of horror at the sight of a naked Student Council President at the exit.
 * High School Boys and the Cultural Festival (4): After Ringo defeated Sanada North's Student Council President, Karasawa (as an announcer) treated the fighting as but part of a scheduled program.
 * High School Boys and the Biography of a Hero: Hidenori has long idolized "Rubber (Band) Shooter", a masked Bully Hunter who saved him eight years ago. So when he returns to the shrine where he first met him upon hearing the same "Pachelbels Canon" he played back then, Hidenori ran up the steps only to see... shooting rubber bands. Hidenori dashed off the stairs.

"Emi: And so, my summer ended without me able to do anything."
 * High School Boys and Holy Night: Hidenori tried his best to avoid being beaten up by Yoshitake's older sister, after he inadvertently pointed out she's always alone during Christmas. Hidenori, being the series' Chick Magnet, went as far as trying to date her. She still beat him up.
 * High School Boys and the New Semester: The boys spent the whole skit discussing the winter break while waiting for the first class of the spring term. Their class teacher came in... and announced that due to a typographical error, school should have started the day after.
 * High School Boy and Ringo's Troubles: Ringo came into North's Student Council to ask whether she is actually too short. After deciding the other members were too nice to be honest, she decided to ask the Student Council President in the next room instead. The Student Council, fearing that the President was going to say something stupid again, tried to prevent her from leaving the Council room. While their tactics didn't work, the President's answer wasn't stupid either... and Ringo still beat him up.
 * High School Boys and Older Brother: Mei and Yoshitake's older sister asked Yusuke to give the boys a lesson so that they could be "less childish"... only to find he was Not So Different from the main trio.
 * High School Boys and Convenience Stores: Hidenori was given the wrong charge by a trainee employee. After another round of Inner Monologue, he decided to try to get the older employee to straighten up the error... That older employee turned out to be a trainee as well.
 * High School Boys and 100: Motoharu spent the whole skit killing centipedes. Then Mino opened the windows facing the forest and let the centipedes in.
 * High School Girls are Funky -- Ramen: Yanagin wanted to break her Always Second Best status towards NAGO and dared the latter to compete with her with karate and then ramen eating. Not only Yanagin lost decisively in both, but in the end NAGO didn't even know who is competing with her.
 * High School Boys and Older Brothers and Sisters: Yoshitake's older sister was clearly having a Sanity Slippage for her lack of a boyfriend. Yoshitake and Hidenori at last got Yuusuke to call one of the latter's college buddies (despite all of them being perverts) to date her. While that guy was interested in dating a Joshikousei... what does she look like? Not even Yoshitake knows!
 * High School Boys and the End of Summer: Emi, a girl who lives in Hidenori's maternal hometown, has a crush on Hidenori, who came to visit, and planned to confess to him on the night before he left. The entire episode was about her trying to confess... and right before she's going to say that, Hidenori made a most surprising Reveal: they are cousins.


 * High School Boys and Limits: (See Potty Emergency)
 * High School Boys and Kick the Can: Hidenori, Yoshitake, Motoharu and Mitsuo engage in a... rather physical game of kick-the-can—with the latter's Zaku model as the "can", ending with Hidenori kicking the model to oblivion. Turns out the three were planning to give Mitsuo a birthday present in the form of a replacement model... only for Mitsuo to realize that they bought him a ripoff. Come the next Eyecatch he dumps it off a waste bin.
 * Subverted in High School Boys and Frankfurter; while Yoshitake, Motoharu and the gang failed to prevent Mitsuo's half-eaten sausage from falling to the ground... but Mitsuo eats it anyway.
 * In the unanimated skit High School Boys and Studying,.
 * In the unanimated skit High School Girls are Funky: Frog,
 * Shiritori: The boys had one in Episode 3. Tadakuni happened to have done some of them completely by accident.
 * Shout-Out
 * High School Boys and Skirts: Yoshitake transmutes a pair of panties. He even mentions Equivalent Exchange.
 * The Daily Life of a Lady: The titular Lady Yukana looks pretty much like Louise de la Valliere with the lifestyle of Nagi Sanzen'in, and is served by three men who look like Chili, Cilan, and Cress.
 * Yonpiece appeared to be Tadakuni's favorite manga.
 * High School Girls are Funky -- Resentment: Yanagin noted that the little band of theirs is not good enough to go to London.
 * High School Boys and Indoor Adventure: This is basically a Real Life Dragon Quest Role Play. One role Hidenori played is "Depp".
 * High School Boys and Dropkicks: Hidenori gets a drop kick from Emi while screaming "Tiro Finale!"—a nod to her voice actress's role as Mami Tomoe, who originally uttered the line.
 * High School Girls are Funky -- Women Who Left a Scar: Karasawa asked Yanagin to allow herself to get a dose of his Kinniku Buster as payback for beating him up back in Resentment.
 * The figure Hidenori wanted to get in High School Boys and Store Employees looks suspiciously like Madoka Kaname in her Magical Girl form.
 * The same skit featured Ponyo Ponyo playing in the background
 * The "trailer" at the end of episode 12 is a jab at K-On! again, calling back what happened in Resentment.
 * Sketch Comedy: A rare Anime example of this format, due to the format of the original manga (at 6-10 pages a week, almost half the length of a normal manga chapter). The anime makes one skit per chapter; while a longer story arc is split into several self-contained chapters, the anime would still be making as many skits as there are chapters. High School Boys and Cultural Festival used four separate skits in one episode.
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender: Poor Literature Girl in High School Boys and the Way You Are...
 * Slice of Life
 * The Stinger: Omake skits, like the High School Girls are Funky series and Episode 2's Daily Life of a Lady, were made into stingers.
 * Surprise Incest: Poor Emi. Just when she thought she found love in the form of Hidenori, the latter tells her that they are cousins.
 * Take That: In the web previews' closing song and Episode 3's High Schools Girls are Funky, characters note that high school girls can do whatever they want and still be popular: rock band, jazz band, karate, kendo and/or mahjong. Meanwhile, boys don't get much attention because they suck at everything that isn't sports or fighting.
 * The entire show is also considered to be a Take That about female archetypes in anime in the previous decade.
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
 * The "Literature Girl" (bonus points, too, for being voiced by Youko Hikasa).
 * Also NAGO and Yanagin's Sempai.
 * Tempting Fate: In High School Boys and Panties, the Student Council Vice-President told Motoharu that he got a full view of a girl's panties... and felt depressed out of Heel Realization. Motoharu didn't believe it, and the Vice-President dared Motoharu to try that by calling Ringo-chan in and tricked her into flaunting her panties in front of them... Motoharu's reaction (See Heel Realization) was even more extreme than the Vice-President's.
 * Those Two Guys: The two lookalikes of Hidenori and Yoshitake in Episode 4.
 * Tadakuni, Hidenori and Yoshitake and their Distaff Counterparts Habara, Yanagin and Ikushima have a similar dynamic, but since they're the main characters, it's Subverted.
 * Takahiro and his classmate in Sanada West
 * The two nameless guys who always chat with Yoshitake and Motoharu.
 * Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: An un-animated skit, High School Boys and Lifts, is basically one of this between.
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: When NAGO defeats Yanagin in karate, and when Karasawa has a Heroic BSOD.
 * Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In the first scary stories skit. Thankfully, it's just transparent blue and looks like water...until you see the centipede wriggling around in it.
 * Widget Series
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl:
 * High School Boys and the Cultural Festival (4): Sanada North's Student Council President says this near the end of his fight with Ringo... after she puts him into a headlock.
 * High School Girls are Funky -- Resentment: Karasawa did nothing but block Yanagin and Ikushima's attacks. The closest offensive maneuver he did is to turn around so Yanagin instead ends up kicking Ikushima's ass. The entire thing was, instead, ended by him showing . Cue Yanagin and Ikushima teary-eyed in remorse.
 * Karasawa does it again in High School Girls are Funky -- the Girls with Scars—while he did a Kinniku Buster on Yanagin as a payback for what she did in Resentment, he made a dorsal touchdown himself and acted as Yanagin's landing pad... end ended up far more injured than Yanagin was.
 * High School Boys and Seniority: Motoharu didn't hit Mino's classmates, who were bullying him... not because they're girls, but because they're senior to him.
 * X Meets Y: Cromartie High School meets Gintama. It also helps that the latter and this show are both directed by Shinji Takamatsu, and starring Tomokazu Sugita, Kenichi Suzumura, Yuu Kobayashi and Akira Ishida.
 * High School Boys and Seniority: Motoharu didn't hit Mino's classmates, who were bullying him... not because they're girls, but because they're senior to him.
 * X Meets Y: Cromartie High School meets Gintama. It also helps that the latter and this show are both directed by Shinji Takamatsu, and starring Tomokazu Sugita, Kenichi Suzumura, Yuu Kobayashi and Akira Ishida.