Ranked #841

Medaka Box Abnormal

(Please Note: may contain light spoilers)
I personally have been looking forward to this season since the day it was announced. I’m sure I can’t say the same for those of you who poorly rated or just plain dropped this anime during its first season for reasons that include but are not limited to:
1) the Art
2) The gags that aren’t funny
4) The stereotypes
5) The setting
6) Your hatred of the main character

These are all fairly reasonable things that would turn off any hardcore anime lover who has watched such a series. However, for those of you who think that this season will be just as much a waste of time as the first season, let me just say this:

THIS IS WHERE SHIT GETS REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Story:
The story takes place at Hakoniwa Academy right after Medaka beat the ever-living shit out of Unzen of the disciplinary committee because of a freaking dress violation. Of course she gets called to the principal’s office not to get scolded for destroying half the school, but rather to take Unzens place in a little project known as the Flask Plan. Now what is the Flask Plan you may ask? It’s an experiment were the goal is to produce a potion that will turn anyone who drinks it into a genius.

In order to accomplish this goal, the principle has gathered 13 students who (aside from being fucking trolls) are overpowered super geniuses and is using them as the foundation of the plan. They are called the 13th Party. One problem though, once a formula is actually made, the students at the Academy will be used as test subjects and most likely won’t survive. Realizing this, Medaka takes it upon herself and the student council to investigate the plan and find out what is REALLY going on behind the scenes of their school.

This season is equivalent to the Water 7 arc in One Piece and the Mukuro arc in Hitman Reborn. It’s were the pace of the story picks up, suspense builds, tension rises, shocking truths are revealed and some of the most interesting battles take place.

Yes you read that last part right, this is where your cheesey, tasteless, annoying little school life story turns into what it truly was meant to be: One of the most engaging and original Shounen Battle series to be created.


Charaters:
One of the main problems with season 1 is that it only covered a small section of the manga. We were given the premise of the series but specific details regarding the characters and events of the past were only mention briefly in the last few episodes. This time, however, more details are given us regarding the main cast:
Medaka- We find out more about her family and abilities
Zenkichi- We discover how hard he’s worked in order to stay near Medaka since they were 2
Akune- We find out about how he was in middle school and why he’s so infatuated with Medaka
Mogana- We find out about what Medaka means to her as a friend

You could call the 13th Party the villains of this arc but as time goes on that line will just get more and more blurred because their back stories and past are revealed to us. Whether or not these students were born lucky or cursed is rather hard to say. They can do the seemingly impossible easily and it’s as though no matter what they do, they will succeed regardless of luck or skill (they can, for example, roll a bunch of dice and defy the laws of physics). But whether or not they are happy with what they are is one of the big questions that will get addressed here. I’ll try to summarize a few of these “students”:
- A psychic super saiyen
- A masked midget
- A black guy, with a Japanese name who speaks French
- A mass murderer
- A chick with a knife in her head
- And a cyborg
(Note: I am not kidding about ANY of these things but maybe now you can see why GAINEX decided to animate this series)


Music and Art:
The artwork is the same as first season so if that was an issue before then too bad. The opening and ending themes, however, sound a bit darker than the previous seasons. Overall I find them better than the first seasons.
P.S. If you’ve read the manga then you’ll know how badly GAINEX is trolling us with the opening. For those of you who haven’t read the manga then just pay CLOSE attention to the characters that are shown (especially the last one).


Theme:
This plot actually brings us back to the idea of perfection that was shown to us in the form of Medaka. Season 1 was all about revealing the characters and enforcing the idea that Medaka is perfect by comparing her to normal people. The fact that we’re suppose to hate the main character shows that we would rather have someone who works hard but falls flat on their face, then a hypocritical, perfectionist who always wins like Medaka.

This season, however, is about understanding that Medaka isn’t the only broken character in the series and that she didn’t ask to be how she is. There are a lot of things that we can’t help: what kind of parents gave birth to you, what era you were born into etc. But what this season tells us is that sometimes we can’t choose whether or not were born with talent and, if we are, will that automatically make us any happier than anyone who wasn’t? Will having a body that can make you move instantly on reflex make you happy? Will having the power to read minds make you happy? Will having the ability to master anything and everything you see make you happy? Or will it just make you feared and viewed as something abnormal?

Enjoyment:
I for one, as a fan of the manga, find this season pretty enjoyable. At the very least if you’ve watched the first season and/or read the manga then watch this season if only to find out what this anime is REALLY about. read more

Medaka Box Abnormal is the sequel to Medaka Box, so if you haven’t watched that, don’t bother with this anime. As a proper sequel, it picks up where the first season ended, however the main genre is very different than the first season. It turns the first season into a sort of lengthy introduction and puts emphasis on battles and “abnormalities” (strange inhuman abilities based on nature aspects) of individuals compared to the first season that focused on humour and SOL. Nearly every mainstream shounen does this, but this anime does it on a completely different level, what makes many people dislike it. But it isn’t serious and it never tries to be so it shouldn’t be taken seriously or people will be very let down.

That “light” feel is taken into the story as well with it being a bit cliché, while it raises very interesting questions. Is it right to be strong without doing anything for it? To Medaka and Zenkichi, two of the main characters, it’s something people shouldn’t even think about because getting stronger and suffering go hand in hand. Of course, they are bound to meet people that think otherwise. This is the first moment where people turn away from the show with rolling eyes. It’s because of how it’s handled. Surely, with Medaka being able to do inhuman deeds simply because she was born with it, she isn’t the right person to tell others that they have to suffer to get strong.

However, if you don’t turn away so fast, you’ll see that there’s much more to Medaka Box Abnormal than just hypocrisy. Here comes Zenkichi, the other lead character, who is the exact opposite of her talent wise. He might be strong, both physically and mentally, however it is mentioned, not once, that he got there by hard work and was very weak during his childhood. Unfortunately, the rest of the main characters don’t do the themes justice as most of them are “specials”; very talented people or abnormals. Of course, most of the time, they can’t rival the abnormals that are villains.

One of the biggest problems I had with the story was how all themes were presented. Medaka Box Abnormal sure deals with very interesting issues but they are usually solved by main characters simply stating their opinion, even though villains keep asking better and better questions. The difference between the “good” guys and the “bad” guys is nothing but the way they answer them. That wouldn’t be such a problem if the show didn’t portray the main character’s opinion as the right one and everything else as wrong and it goes as far as Medaka deciding what’s right for the rest of the world (that doesn’t make her think about it even for a bit).

Art doesn’t really help its case. It might look really strange and it’s difficult to get used to it but once I did, I fell in love with it. Animation is fluent and very well done. There’s lots of fanservice but it doesn’t feel overdone or annoying because it’s usually played for laughs.

While it might look like a huge mess, and it somewhat is, most of it is done supposedly to create a comedic effect. However, not everything looks like it’s trying to parody itself. Character interactions and presentation is probably the best part of the anime. While characters themselves aren’t something to remember, their relationships and feelings are delivered perfectly. You can see how they feel about what they say or about what is happening or simply know their nature by their actions. I found this to be the best part of Medaka Box Abnormal because to me it felt more real than most of SOLs I’ve finished and it made the anime more enjoyable.

Medaka Box Abnormal is definitely not a perfect anime. It’s difficult to like because it tries to jam too many genres together and never truly focuses on one. And even when it does (for a while) it usually overdoes it for bigger effect. However, if you do find something enjoyable about it, stick until the very end because it won’t go away easily. I recommend this anime only if you’re bored or open minded. read more