Hiroko Oda

Japan: School of LOL isn’t your average slice-of-life flick—it’s a wild mashup of awkward adolescence, cringey moments, and the kind of humor that makes you laugh and want to disappear under your blanket at the same time. The story zeroes in on a handful of students stuck in that weird limbo between wanting to fit in and desperately craving some kind of individuality. They’re not exactly the cool kids, but they’re not total outcasts either. Just… weird enough to stand out when it counts. Hiroko Oda’s vision? Sharp as a tack. She takes all those awkward, embarrassing moments from high school—the ones everyone pretends didn’t happen—and puts them right under a microscope. There’s this messy, almost chaotic energy in the way the characters bounce off each other, like they’re all in on some inside joke that no one really gets. You’ll see friendships form in the most unexpected places, rivalries that are more about pride than actual beef, and teachers who clearly have no idea what’s going on half the time. The humor? Oh, it’s dry. Sometimes it hits you in the gut, sometimes it just slides right past, but you’ll definitely catch yourself grinning at the sheer absurdity of it all. And through all the jokes and slapstick, there’s this undercurrent of honesty—like, yeah, growing up is kind of ridiculous. The movie never takes itself too seriously, but it sneaks in these surprisingly real moments about figuring out who you are, even when you’re surrounded by chaos.