Medaka Box Abnormal

After the defeat of Myouri Unzen at the hands of Medaka Kurokami and her Student Council, peace has returned to Hakoniwa Academy—at least, for a short while. Soon, Medaka, Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, Kouki Akune, and Mogana Kikaijima find themselves wrapped up in another sinister scheme, known as the "Flask Plan," led by the school's principal himself.

However, the council's first problem is to deal with a whole new group of superhuman students calling themselves the "Thirteen Party," led by the egotistical but powerful Oudo Miyakonojou. With the mysterious Flask Plan, Oudo's tyranny, and the resurfacing of an old enemy, the state of Hakoniwa Academy is far from tranquil, and Medaka and her companions have their hands full as things only get a lot more abnormal.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Medaka Box
Prequel:	Medaka Box

Park, Romi
Japanese

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Staff

Beniya, Yoshikazu

Producer

Saeki, Shouji

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition

Watanabe, Jun

Sound Director

Ibata, Shouta

Episode Director, Storyboard, 2nd Key Animation, Animation Director, Character Design

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Opening Theme

	1: "BELIEVE" by Minami Kuribayashi (eps 1-11)
	2: "Want to be winner!" by Megumi Ogata (eps 12)

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Ending Theme

"Shugoshin PARADOX (守護心PARADOX)" by Aki Misato

Reviews

Mar 22, 2021

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: A second season that’s different enough from the first season that it feels kind of strange but is still good, even if it is pretty standard battle shounen.

This season is very different from the first season in such a way that it feels kind of bizarre. The first season was basically just the titular character Medaka being overpowered in a bunch of random situations leading to people changing their ways and being better people. This season actually has a proper plot centered around a series of fights but where Medaka really isn’t all that overpowered. Because of that it feels kind of weird. The ... whole mechanic of having a character seem ridiculously overpowered and then just kind of reversing that I’ve always found kind of lame. It feels like it redoes and redefines a lot beyond that as well.

Still, I felt that that was worth it because what it leads into is pretty great. It’s pretty standard battle shounen where the main cast proceeds through a series of one on one match ups where they fight using clearly defined and titled moves. However, I thought it was really good battle shounen. There is an interesting variety to the moves and they’re all pretty interesting. They’re mostly all kind of meta which results in them all being kind of broken and the plot just writing around that, but that also makes them cool and amusing to watch. Character wise Medaka was awesome before this season and seems even more awesome after she got fleshed out through more background and the opportunity to show more aspects of her character. The rest of the main cast finally got fleshed out and given more development and are pretty strong characters too now. The protagonist, Zenkichi, I was especially fond of as the whole shtick of being normal and thus not really in the same league as Medaka but pushing forward in order to stay by her side anyway was pretty cool both in concept and implementation. The various side characters didn’t get fleshed out that much, but were all reasonably interesting as well.

The ending was kind of strange though, in that it ends on a cliffhanger in episode 11 at what feels like a transition from one arc to the next, and then episode 12 is pretty much a completely different anime focusing on a new character with the plot having absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the rest of the anime. This episode is pretty interesting as the character being focused on is immensely interesting, but it’s still a really bizarre shift.

The art and animation are decent enough. The character designs at this point I’ll say are really solid. The OP was decent enough in terms of visuals and audio. The ED was decent enough in terms of visuals, but I will note I really liked the song. The soundtrack wasn’t particularly memorable.

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Dec 16, 2021

CorLeonis-_-

Mixed Feelings

{WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FROM MEDAKA BOX/MADAKA BOX ABNORMAL}.

Where do I even begin with Medaka Box? This being my first review, I decided to combine Medaka Box and Medaka Box Abnormal into one comprehensive review, rather than write two separate reviews (even though such a thing seems entirely relevant, given the fact that season 1 and 2 felt like completely different shows). With this small disclaimer out of the way, I would love to get right into my thoughts on the tragedy that is Medaka Box.

I want to start with my first issue with the anime, as I mentioned it in the ... paragraph from above. My issue is the nearly unexplained and very poorly transitioned shift from a bizarre slice of life-esque high school comedy/drama, to a stale battle shounen completely devoid of sensical motivations and weak plot holes and plot armor galore. What the hell was the thought process behind this confusing shift? The first 10 episodes or so of the first season involve the daily lives of the students at Sandbox Academy, where student council president and first year Medaka Kurokami enlists the help of Zenkichi, Akune, and Kikaijima (in that order) to assist all students at the school through the use of a suggestion box aptly named the "Medaka Box." The strange and loosely explained shift to a full-on battle shounen begins with the introduction of the chairman of the glorified army/school security force Myouri Unzen. His introduction leads directly into him...slaughtering a classroom full of students for being loud? It is then explained that the safety force is authorized by the academy to use force/violence to keep the peace at the school..what the hell kind of half-assed explanation is that?

The entirety of the charming first season goes completely downhill from there on. Upon Medaka's ass whooping of Unzen, using WAR GOD MODE, WHICH IS NEVER EXPLAINED BY ANYTHING OR ANYONE, viewers are thrust into Medaka Box Abnormal, where they face the "13 Party," a group of "abnormals" like Medaka who possess strange powers which are seemingly unexplained. The unexplained part is pretty funny to me, as I have reached the conclusion of the series and still have no idea how any of these powers have come to be. Is it some kind of science that created these abilities? Is it straight up magic? The mechanism of these powers not being explained really hinders my ability to appreciate the strengths and weakness of the character's abnormalities, as I have no idea what is causing these abilities in the first place. Maybe abnormalities are explained thoroughly later on in the manga (I hope to god they are) but I am currently an anime-only with this series, and truthfully, going an entire 24 episodes without once explaining abnormalities or how they came to be (aside from some half-assed explanations by characters that are pushed to the side) is pretty frustrating and severely limits how interested you could really be in the power system. Then again, the fact that there even is a power system after the initial episodes is so confusing in the first place.

The characters were pretty hit or miss for me in this series. I really liked Zenkichi's character, as he was a really well-balanced and levelheaded support character for not just Medaka, but all characters throughout the show. I really liked that the anime kept him a Normal throughout (even though there was a hint that he may actually be abnormal) and focused on showcasing his strength as a normal human being who is fighting for his friends, mainly Medaka. It may be a little bit cheesy of a motivation, but not as bad as other characters, and at least he has some kind of motivation. The main character, Medaka, was not necessarily a bad character, but that does not make her a good character either. She got super stale and annoying after a while with her "save everyone, help everyone, love everyone" shtick, but hey, she had the power and influence to do so, so good for her. The reveal of her abnormality and what it did was pretty cool, although one particular aspect of her power was left totally obscure at the end. She was clearly the worst offender of fan service in the show, and while that does not particularly take anything away from a show for me, it got a little annoying at times when it was so in your face. Aside from one other character who I will speak about later, the rest of the cast was meh. Akune and Kikaijima were pretty one dimensional, although they at least got some backstory as to why they acted the way they did. Their main motivation ended up following Zenkichi's which was a little boring, but overall they fought well and contributed enough to the group as to not be completely forgettable. Some characters such as Nabeshima were cool, but no one became all that memorable. Medaka's brother Maguro, for example, was really only there to give exposition dumps and weirdly obsess over his two sisters. Naze was nearly interesting, but her "I hate happiness" routine got boring after a while. Again, no characters were noticeably bad, they were just fairly forgettable.

The biggest travesty of the entire series, for me, was the twelfth episode, titled "Good Loser Kumagawa." The episode focuses on Kumugawa Misogi, an extremely twisted and yet simultaneously compelling villain who shows up very briefly within the main story. Kumugawa has a sick view of the world, and is surrounded by a great deal of intrigue and mystery regarding his motivations and his purpose. I now that the manga continues his story, but the teasing of this character throughout the entire show, talking about some insane showdown with Medaka, name dropping him from time to time, and the very eerie episode 12 disclaimer that tells the viewer to "keep your future bright, and remove yourself from reality" when watching him creates an absurd amount of hype for a character that is never touched again. This is less of a gripe with the show itself, as I am sure the creators planned on adapting his arc and thus giving him more screen time, but it is HEAVILY disappointing to bring this horrifying enigma of a character into the story to never see him fleshed out in the end. I just feel as though a season with Kumugawa at the helm would have greatly raised my enjoyment of the series as a whole, and it almost makes me wish I never watched the series at all now that I know I will never see his anime arc reach the light of day.

The art style of the show is meh, the animation is decent enough during the non-stop fight scenes of season two but it also leaves a little to be desired. The style is decent, and the character designs are pretty good across the board (even though I do not like the one piece of hair that everyone in the series has sticking up for some unknown reason). The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, the first opening theme is better than the second imo, and the second ending trumps the first. They are all decent tracks, but again, nothing that really jumps out at me.

Finally, down to my enjoyment level. I give this anime a pretty generous 7 for enjoyment, because I gotta say I really enjoyed some of the character interactions and a few of the hype moments that occurred in season two. That enjoyment is severely limited, however, by the existence of several plot holes (which also include the chairman's true objective, which I did not mention earlier, as well as who the hell Shiranui is). I know that these questions may be answered in the manga, but that is not why I watch an anime. The story of the anime itself should still be able to hold up strong, regardless of how much it is adapted from the source material. For me, Medaka and company did not do enough to fulfill my request: mission failed. Thus, I leave another suggestion within the suggestion box for the lovely creators of this half-baked series: Give me more anime Kumugawa, and we may be able to talk about a higher rating :) Overall: 6.2/10.

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Oct 4, 2021

Resting_Bonfire

Not Recommended

Medaka Box - Abnormal

Everything that Medaka Box had in season 1 has been completely thrown overboard here. Yes, the series still has a far below average entertainment value as a shounen. However, this season consists of non-stop fights, with disastrously boring cliché opponents. There is almost no trace of "humor and satire" here anyway.

The entire flow of this season consists of introducing the new enemies and fighting them all the time between episodes 3-12. And since "plot armor" is practically the protagonist's power, of course, they win. With Medaka, it's less surprising than with the others.

This problem also existed with the manga, though the ...

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Medaka Box Abnormal

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Kurokami, Medaka

Hitoyoshi, Zenkichi

Kikaijima, Mogana

Kurokami, Maguro

Akune, Kouki

Kumagawa, Misogi

Ajimu, Najimi

Shiranui, Hansode

Naze, Youka

Unzen, Myouri

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Medaka Box Abnormal

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