Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Interesting.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 13, 2018

Usually in an Anime story, or in any story for that matter, there's some central action, some rallying cry plot point to drive the characters and give purpose to the actions that carry them to a new place, be that a new physical place or a new emotional place. Yet for all the different ways of getting there, there's not much variety in the essential structure of storytelling anymore, but Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless aims to change that. Here's a tale in which the protagonist would rather sleep than do anything else. And he's the story's main focus. He's not roused awake by some great power, he doesn't fight his fatigue, or himself, in order to accomplish a task. He's content in his inaction. His entire world, and the show's entire focus, revolves around his lethargy. And it's wonderful. A delightful take on a unique character who is largely a mystery beyond his never-ending desire to rest, the show is often the opposite of its namesake, finding agreeable rhythm and purpose where little, if any, seems to exist.

Another listless day...

Tanaka-Kun isn’t necessarily lazy, he’s just tired all the time. But perhaps he’s tired all the time because he’s lazy. Who knows. He’s a high school boy who isn’t exactly high on life. His goal in life is to relax, to listen to his body’s unrelenting demands for slumber and give in to the dream to sleep anywhere, anytime. He doesn’t fight it. He’s a go-with-the-flow sort of guy, and his best, and really only, friend, Ohta, ever really only encourages Tanaka in his quest for slumber, helping him out or leaving him alone if he seems to be in the perfect relaxation zone. Listlessness has its hazards on the body, putting him in awkward poses in strange places where the body cannot cope with the opportunities given to it to rest, whether in his desk in class, during gym, or anywhere else he may happen to be. He’s living the good life one snooze at a time, but things take a strange turn when a young and very petite girl, Miyano, begs Tanaka-Kun to teach her in the ways of listlessness. Meanwhile, Shiraishi develops a crush on Tanaka, but will he be aware enough to notice?

Tanaka is a fascinating character. He’s at once kind of sad, unintentionally funny, quite strange, and very unique. For a character as lethargic and generally motionless as he, he and the world around him prove substantially interesting and endlessly engaging, even if he is anything but. Much of the show is about his relationship with Ohta, a boy who is himself not exactly a bundle of energy or always in some state of frenzied motion. Perhaps Tanaka’s ways have rubbed off on him, but even as he carries -- literally and figuratively -- his friend through life’s fatigues, there’s a distinct lack of verve, generally, in Ohta’s daily operations with Tanaka. The world around Tanaka tends to settle into a slow motion ebb and flow, and it’s fascinating to watch the story come together with hardly any forward momentum, with no wind in its sails.

Tanaka’s goal is relaxation, to give in to his body’s basic, and singular, want for rest. This is a slow-paced, deliberate program, which compliments the protagonist but also offers a welcome reprieve from the usual frenetic output of today’s entertainment. It’s concerned with inward reflection and deep character study, not frivolous noise and momentum. It thrives on external simplicity which in turn, over time as characters are slowly introduced and Tanaka and the world around him are developed, yields a much more satisfying dramatic arc than more recycled productions based on visual and aural excess rather than real character contemplation and development. The character necessarily forces the show to slow down, and the audience to absorb it one piece, one idea, one character, almost, at a time. It’s comparatively quiet and still next to most other entertainment options, but the show’s intrigue often comes from its careful depiction of what’s happening in Tanaka’s head rather than what his physical response to those thoughts may be. This is a beautiful show.

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless features a beautiful and refined 1080p image. There are some bold colors, but the image is largely made of gentle pastels that compliment the character's fatigue and general lack of verve very well. These colors are nicely defined, usually against a fairly light background, but no matter the intensity of any given shade they're plenty accurate and pleasing within the show's context. The artwork is clean and clear. Lines are sharp and well defined, character traits are revealing, and environments are seemingly as complex as the digital artists have made them. There are some occasional bursts of background banding, but the image is otherwise pleasing to the eye with no other major artifacts of note. Another job well done by Sentai.

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless features a pair of DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtracks, one each in the native Japanese and dubbed English. Both excel. The show begins with some pleasing, relaxing natural ambience, including some chirping birds and light blowing winds and rustling leaves, all of which play with cheerful, natural clarity and stage-filling front side width. Music follows suit. It's well defined, spacious, and offers good instrument clarity and distinction, even some weight and depth in the absence of a subwoofer track. Vocals naturally position in the front-center, so effortlessly and precisely it's almost a surprise there's not a dedicated center speaker in play. There's a nice sense of place in the school gymnasium early in the season with voices mildly reverting about the open location, and various other environments are sonically complimentary, too. The track, by design, lacks any real sound effect dynamism, but what it has on offer presents very, very well.

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless contains the usual suspect Sentai extras on disc two, as well as a couple of other bonuses.

• Clean Opening Animation (1080p, 1:51): A textless intro video, beyond the title card.
• Clean Closing Animation (1080p, 1:23): A textless outro video.
• Japanese Promo Videos (1080p, 3:00): A few brief ads for the show.
• Bonus Anime Shorts (1080p): Additional scenes and moments from the Tanaka-Kun universe. Included are Tanaka vs. Ohta, Battles Without Honor and Humanity (4:06), Being Small Is a Good Thing? (5:02), Ohta-Kun's Recipe for Happiness (4:30), Shiraishi, Palm Reader of Love (4:05), Echizen and a Fateful Showdown (4:10), Saionji and the Incomprehensible Customers (4:30), and The Ohta Family Cooking Lecture (5:24).
• Also Available from Sentai Filmworks (1080p): Trailers for My Love Story!!, Angelic Layer, Azumanga Daioh, and Flying Witch.

Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In a world of high energy and fast action Anime that so often favors vivid color, visual spice, and rapid-fire collision course storytelling (think Food Wars!) over honest, slow-build, inwardly gazing characterization, Tanaka-Kun Is Always Listless' title character, and the entire show, really, is a breath of fresh air. The show's pacing is excellent even if its title character's life is not. There's plenty of in-depth characterization, even if the lead's life is fairly linear and inactive. The show scores points for narrative boldness and character creativity, but it's also well executed, emotionally engaging, and dramatically satisfying. Sentai's Blu-ray delivers high end video and audio as well as a few extras. Very highly recommended.