Review of D-Frag!

So I started watching D-Frag! simply looking at my recommendations because the premise seemed interesting. I was looking for something a bit slice of life and absurd, and having been disappointed by some other recent shows in the genre, wasn't really expecting all that much. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed D-Frag! This was a series that I found myself sitting down to watch an episode and I would end up watching 3 or 4 at a time because I was just enjoying myself too much. What ends up making the show is the visuals and the characters. The sheer absurdityof the scenes and the protagonist's consistently over the top response to the lunacy going on around him just has a way of working. The show does a good job of mixing art styles together in ways that make for hilarious tone shifts and reactions that a consistent presentation style wouldn't allow for.

What you end up with is a show that's generally very high energy and a little crazy, but never completely out of control in ways that are confusing. Each show becomes a fun ride with a few good laughs and amusement along the way.

I think that this show is a pretty solid example of a slice of life comedy with a twist done well. There are quite a bit of your modern tropes thrown in, sometimes hilariously lampooned, such as video game tropes, a bit of the high school slice of life cliche shows up as well. It never takes itself all that seriously, tongue is fully in cheek here.

There is some light fan service and a little bit of light romance undertones, although it never quite spills into harem which is a trap that too many of these shows find themselves in for no good reason. None of these romance/fan service elements feels over the top, and much of it exists as part of the comedy so it actually serves a purpose in the plot. There's room for argument here, but I'd say that this is a good example of how to do these elements in a way that doesn't pander too much.

This show isn't going to appeal to everyone, but if you enjoy a bit of surreal comedy in a slice of life setting, and especially if you enjoy gaming, you would probably find some enjoyment here.