Sleep troubles suck. I’m mostly going to leave it at that since the more outre and sensational cases of insomnia become the sorts of things that you end up losing sleep over, but suffice to say that it’s seldom a pleasant condition.
This week’s subject, Insomniacs after school, is about a pair of kids with sleep issues, learning to appreciate the silver lining of the night and getting to know each other in the process. Unlike a certain other after hours show that will not be mentioned again this review, this one features no blood-sucking, but it should be engaging all the same.
We open with our male lead, Ganta Nakami, as he relates how his insomnia interferes with his life. Apparently, it also makes him a sourpuss who everyone in his class hates, as we see him argue with a girl telling ghost stories about the school’s old observatory, ending in him being sent there to retrieve some cardboard boxes.
In the haunter observatory, Ganta finds a pretty good place to rest. However, just as he’s ready to declare the place his secret base, he discovers that he might not be alone there.
Meet Isaki Magari. She’s also an insomniac, and created the rumors of the disused observatory being haunted so she could get some peace and quiet in the daylight hours. After learning (due to the difficulties of the two of them getting locked in) that Ganta is suffering from the same issue she is, Isaki decides to make nice, recruiting Ganta into a new “club”. This sees them hanging out in their town after dark, and forming a bond a little more meaningful than shared use of a secret napping spot during the day.
They’re soon found out by a teacher, but manage to get by as a new restored Astronomy Club, since the administration was concerned that letting an observatory go unused would reflect poorly on the school. Plus, they’d done a pretty good job turning the place from dingy dungeon to livable room and the teacher who found them was pretty sympathetic to their plight.
Thus, Isaki and Ganta’s night activities become official. They end up being put in contact with the last member of the former Astronomy club, an odd graduated senpai who teaches them the ways of photographing the starry sky and, to an extent, keeping the club running.
They go through some hardships, with Ganta struggling to learn the ins and outs of astrophotography. As summer approaches they make plans to go to the local festival (only to take pictures of the fireworks and not as a date, they say convincing no one), but first comes a school camping trip. Though the weather is set to be cloudy, and Ganta’s mood is ever lower (perhaps due to some unpleasant interactions with a classmate in the mild end of the delinquent/bully bracket), Isaki makes a promise to meet up with him under starry skies.
Sure enough, late one night at camp, the weather breaks, and Ganta takes his smuggled camera to the beach, where Isaki is (to his surprise) waiting for him. And after some previous events you might have a deep, sinking dread like they’re going to get caught and derailed but… no, it’s just sweet.
They have a little fun, get a couple pictures, and even manage some shut-eye cuddled up together. After this, we start to concern ourselves with three major events: that festival I mentioned earlier, a meteor shower viewing party arranged by the club and friends, and the idea of a club training camp.
The festival is a good time had by all, and in its wake we get Ganta and Isaki growing closer, including learning that Isaki’s trouble sleeping comes from a not terribly unreasonable fear of death, since evidently her understated sickly child background was for a very serious heart condition, even if she’s been pronounced basically healthy.
The viewing party, despite a lot of work setting it up and advertising it, gets rained out. This hits especially hard on Ganta, who essentially blames himself and runs off. Isaki finds him in the rain and one thing likes to another for a not-quite-confession and probably-almost-kiss before that club senpai, who has been a recurring character, finds them in the most compromising position for what they’ve been through.
On to the training camp. The ultimate goal is to visit quite a few sites, and take a picture good enough to enter an astrophotography contest and get their club some credit. Unfortunately, the student council is not inclined to provide any funds. Ganta gets a part time job working for senpai at her arcade, but when even that’s not enough for the full trip, Isaki manages to negotiate her grandmother’s house (now vacant) as a base camp in the right area, saving a bundle on travel and lodging. The only “problem” is that her elder sister will be along to chaperone.
That doesn’t last though, as said sister ditches to go on a trip with her boyfriend. This leaves the two kids alone, and though they are quite respectful and good at setting boundaries, Isaki does make her stance on their relationship somewhat more clear.
Her mother finds out just before the final stop, and insists that Isaki come home. The kids instead hatch a plan to go to the last photo shoot and cross the finish line of their summer vacation together. They manage, and we get our proper confession scene that pretty much wraps up our show. We learn after that Isaki got quite grounded after that stunt for the rest of summer, but that one of the club photos actually did win the national contest it was entered in, securing the future of the astronomy club. Some loving words between our leads play us out.
And that was Insomniacs After School.
This is, at its heart, a slow slice of life romance. As that… it’s pretty strong. You like the characters, know the characters, feel for their interactions, and aren’t bored when we’re taking thirteen episodes to do, in an objective sense, very little.
The most comparable show to this one that I’ve reviewed remotely recently would probably be Psuedo-Harem, and this is worlds stronger. It might be muted, in many senses, but the lack of melodrama is played to a strength, so that everyone feels like real people and the world like a world that would actually exist. That’s the shared strength, but Insomniacs takes it much farther, with more relatable leads and a solid supporting cast of friends and acquaintances.
The nocturnal aspect is somewhat downplayed. We don’t, for instance, spend a lot of nights with the kids having nights on the town. They don’t do that. They do club activities and perhaps try to help each other sleep, doing little “radio broadcasts” across their phones to listen to each others’ voices since they find the experience of knowing and being conceptually near the other person soothing enough to help tame the insomnia they suffer from. It is again, very small, but very earnest.
All in all, Insomniacs After School gets an A. This was a quick one, but that’s really all there is to it. You pretty much can’t ask for more out of a slice of life school romance.