After School Dice Club (Houkago Saikoro Club) is a slice of life “cute girls + activity” series mainly centering around three high school girls playing modern board games together. As someone who is just as into tabletop gaming as I am anime and manga, this series feels like something that is tailor made for my tastes. Under normal circumstances, I rarely score things before I finish them, and especially not when I’ve consumed less than 15% of what has been released. However, this series strikes a very specific chord with me so I wanted to review it anyway. So be aware that this review iscurrently only based on the first 2 volumes (18 chapters) which have English fan translations right now, out of the 14+ volumes worth of content that is out in Japan.

With that in mind, let’s get into the category breakouts:

-----Story - 8 out of 10-----
Despite it not having the “Slice of Life” genre tag on MAL at the time of me writing this review, After School Dice Club definitely has a slice of life story structure. We follow the daily activities of three girls and a few recurring side characters as they go to school and play a variety of modern board games. There aren’t any major plot lines and many of the chapters almost play out like tutorials on how to play different board games. That said, things flow pretty nicely with fun little bits of banter and character development sprinkled into each game session to keep things interesting. I never find myself getting bored as I read this series, but I could imagine those who aren’t into board games might not feel the same way.

-----Art - 8 out of 10-----
I find the art style of the series to be very clean and attractive. The characters are all expressive and it’s always easy to tell them apart from each other. The artist also does a good job of displaying each board game in ways that make sense and reproduces the real board games used very well so that they’re easily recognizable for board game fans even if they’re not used to seeing the titles in Japanese.

-----Characters - 9 out of 10-----
Characters are usually the backbone of a slice of life series, especially when comedy isn’t a major focus. I think the characters in this series are great. The core cast of three girls make for a great dynamic between the outgoing Aya, the shy Miki, and the proper Midori. They always play off of each other well and it’s nice to see them become closer friends as the series progresses. The supporting cast also works well, such as the macho ex-military game store owner, the guys that have crushes on the girls, and Aya’s older sister and her yankee-like friend.

-----Enjoyment - 9 out of 10-----
Honestly, this is probably an extremely niche series. It might be too “moe” for board game fans who aren’t into this kind of anime/manga, but may not be moe enough and focus too much on board games to appeal to “cute girls doing cute things” slice of life fans who aren’t into tabletop gaming. However, if you happen to be someone who is into both modern board games and slice of life content like this, then there is a lot to love about this series. I find it to be absolutely delightful and can’t wait for each new chapter to get translated. It puts a big smile on my face and I’m growing very attached to the characters. It’s even introducing me to some new board games that I want to check out now!

-----Overall - 9 out of 10 (Conclusion)-----
In the end, I think After School Dice Club is a very solid entry in the “cute girls + activity” slice of life genre with a very unique “activity” focus. The creator has an obvious passion for board games which is explicitly evident in the bonus chapter at the end of volume 2 in which he talks directly to the reader about the hobby and even gives a Top 5 List of games he’s been playing recently. In a way, this series can be seen as a board game YouTube channel in anime/manga form and I think it all just works splendidly. I would buy a US release of this in a heartbeat, but will go ahead and pick up the original Japanese volumes if an English version doesn’t get announced soon. It definitely isn’t going to be for everyone, but if this sounds at all interesting or even if you’re just curious about modern board games, then you should give this a shot!