MY REVIEW TO SAIKI KUSUO NO PSI-NAN

Saiki Kusuo no Psi-nan is a comedy series that offers short stories in its own absurd world with equally absurd characters. The main character, Saiki Kusuo, is an introverted guy born with psychic powers. Saiki's powers are almost limitless, highly effective, and versatile. However, because he just wants to live a normal life, he hides these powers and doesn't show them to anyone. For example, due to his extremely strong telepathy, he always hears everyone's thoughts, or because of his powerful X-ray vision, he can literally see right through most people. Naturally, his desire for a normal life makes him avoid unwanted attention, but ironically, he ends up attracting the weirdest people in school.

For instance, Shun Kaido, a complete dreamer who is so childish that he convinced himself he’s fighting a secret organization. Riki Nendo, a literally brainless guy who loves eating ramen and considers himself "Saiki's best friend." Kokomi Teruhashi, an egotistical popular girl who gets attracted to Saiki simply because he ignores her. Reita Toritsuka, a spirit medium who does everything he can to get girls' attention, and many other characters, even a cat!

The characters' traits are pushed to their most absurd limits, which makes every single one of them incredibly stupid within their own boundaries. Saiki is the only sane person among these people. Just watching him complain about all of them while trying to get away is funny on its own. Yet, despite having all that power, Saiki has just one weakness: coffee jelly. For example, do you want Saiki to fix something for you? Then I suggest keeping some coffee jelly with you, it will work wonders.

The absurd characters and various psychic powers deeply diversify the comedy of Saiki K. and create a formula of its own. Saiki K. never lets its characters feel repetitive; instead, it manages to put them into incredible scenarios in fresh and new ways. It does this brilliantly by presenting the characters' tropes and personalities in an absurd way, making full use of their potential.

When our main character Saiki's calm personality kicks in, things get even funnier. Because when Saiki reacts to all this weirdness with a plain face and brushed-off comments like "Hmm, alright, fine" while acting completely normal, the comedy multiplies.

Instead of adding unnecessary and over-the-top reaction scenes or explaining the joke for minutes, moving forward this way really pulled me in. It allowed me to finish the anime in just two days without ever getting bored. The pacing never drops, keeping you attached to the screen, genuinely caring about the events and characters.

If you ask me, the fact that Saiki tries to be a normal person despite having so much power is equally tragicomic. I won't go into too many details to avoid spoilers, but his dream of truly becoming a normal person actually happens in one episode. I have to say, a trait we wish we didn't have is actually what makes us who we are, but we just don't realize it.

Other comedy anime usually push their luck with overly absurd reactions or contain cultural jokes that don't really fit my sense of humor. While watching Saiki K., I enjoyed almost every single joke because nothing feels forced, everything is just right. At the risk of repeating myself, the anime makes us love these absurd characters and just lets things flow, which entertains me to no end. To be honest, even just the funny arguments between Saiki's parents are enough to outshine many other "comedy" anime.

There is no complex concept here. It’s just about perhaps the most powerful person in the world trying to live a normal life while getting dragged into tons of nonsense every day. In my opinion, that is already Saiki's greatest power: the fact that someone who could literally change the world and set up his own order chooses to strive for an overly normal life.