Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Comedy is subjective. Some people prefer witty satire and others prefer blunt brainless nonesense. Well, Baka to Test is the latter of the two. Just like its namesake, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (Idiots and Tests and Summoning Beings) is one hell of an idiotic show. But it serves its purpose of providing nonsensical entertainment, and I'm afraid if you are expecting otherwise then Baka to Test is not for you.

To many, the story is – to put it plainly – outright stupid. Students are split into classes from A-F based on their academic skills; A being full of smartarses and F being crammed ... with quote/unquote “the mentally retarded”. Incidentally, what class you are in correlates to the facilities they have, much like an academic ‘caste system’.

So we have the idiots and tests out of the way, so what about the Summoning Beings? Evidently, there are ways to acquire these prestigious facilities – the obvious one being to score high on the mid-terms...and the other, Exam Summoning Battles. Such battles consist of the student’s being, which is a chibi version of themselves fighting other student’s beings. Much like video games, they have points (which can be considered as health bars) that are knocked off through physical contact. There is little to no “exam”, or any such academic skills tested in these battles, but what the heck – anything goes in anime, more so in this one. The show is already incoherent enough to be questioned at this point.

Akihisa and the rest of F-class duel in these ESB’s to get the hotel-suite like facilities and prove to everyone that grades aren’t everything! Along with that there are love triangles, moé, traps, incest, lolicons, cross-dressing, yaoi, yuri and every anime cliché under-the-sun.

And I for one love it for that.

Brainless comedy is brainless. Filled to the brim with slapstick humour and overacting such as the infamous anime nosebleed and much, much shouting to the point it is classed as screeching; dirty jokes and overall randomness Baka to Test helps the reviewer just sit back, relax and take it in all the over the top nature of the show.

Not only does it spoof anime traits but it also parodies anime shows, the most recognizable ones being that from Gurren Lagann and Code Geass but they are quite subtly played. Knowledge of these shows aren't required to enjoy the show as they are only for minimal comedy relief.

Another wonderfully played cliché are the stereotypical characters:

Akihisa, the idiotic male lead completely oblivious to all the girls lusting over him;
Himeji, the big breasted intelligent yet timid beauty – and the most obvious love interest;
Yuuji, strong willed and often in a comedic duo with Akihisa;
Minami, tomboyish though is actually quite the girl to heart;
Kouta, the class’ pervert;
And Hideyoshi, the ‘trap’ – often mistaken as a girl due to his appearances.

These walking stereotypes were all so superb at keeping the viewers laughing with their antics and traits. But as most stereotypes are – they are restricted. As progress throughout the show went on there was no doubt, a formula in the comedy. There were many spontaneous comedic moments as well, but most of it was rather repetitive. However, I wouldn’t say it hindered the show greatly as it does not insult the viewer’s sense of humour. It knows that we know this or that punch line or act yet it is delivered in such a way that it still stays fresh and funny. Much like a signature catchphrase, each character is assigned a certain quirk, habit or joke which we all come to know and love.

Silver Link’s animation was impressive for an almost unknown company. The only other anime they have actually produced (Tayutama ~Kiss on my Deity~) is not very well known and since then their animation has improved. Although the art and animation is fairly average and similar to most other shows, it has subtle add-ins that would make it recognizable even amongst a hundred different anime, such as the colourful shadows each character has – all different colours, no less and the “spotty” inking in backgrounds and objects. Baka has no trouble integrating different styles of art for either comedic purposes or otherwise – using blindingly bright colours when needed and eerily dark when called for. Music is, just like the art, average. The OP and ED are very skippable and the background music is forgettable.

Baka to Test does the job of using some very well known seiyuus as well as some not so very well known. All display a charismatic quality in their characters and bring out the character that they are. Akihisa is the loud idiot. Yuuji is the sometimes-calm-sometimes-not idiot. Himeji is naively sweet. Minami is an awkward idiot. Hideyoshi...does not sound like an idiot per se, but comes across as amusingly girly. And Kouta is perverted through and through. Just hearing the voicing alone could tell you this.

The ‘ending’ of the show is much left to be desired for, in other words it was quite a letdown. Fortunately it has the opportunity to redeem itself with the second season announced to be aired soon.

Baka to Test isn’t anything that hasn’t been seen before. And honestly the excuse of a story isn’t even well thought out or developed. But sometimes you will have to sit there, laugh it all off and say “That’s just stupid!”

There are tons of comedic styles to play on in anime, and Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu takes to it some of the more popular ones - and suceeds with it. Be it Kouta's excited peeping (and failing by nosebleeds), Minami's tomboyish behaviour and acts of violence against Akihisa, Shouko's yandere-esque violent obsession with Yuuji or the sheer over-the-top fighting with the Summoned Beasts. Or the rather subtle and rare allusions to various shows; Baka to Test has it in itself to bring out laughter from everyone and nobody.

Baka to Test is the kind of comedy where the characters themselves, and not necessarily the situation ... around them, is what makes you laugh. The various character's personalities all have some sort of specific trait which an experienced anime watcher may recognize, to an extent. The totally kawaii moe girl; the tsundere; the yandere; the peeping tom. WHile they're all too apparent, they really do work; in the hands of skilled enough writers, overused character type can be fun to watch over and over again. And it does throw a few interesting turns at you; like the FFF (christ, I'm still laughing over them) - a cult like the KKK; only that they go after those who have girlfriends (or guys who receive obentou from girls, for that sake).

And the two male leads, who are actually refreshingly deep - for comedy male leads, that is. Akihisa is rather wimpy, and a total idiot, and has tons of quirks which one may or may not recognize oneself in (they're all over-the-top, though). All his quirks are a constant fuel for humour; seeing one's own problems made fun out of is something most people can recognize.

The other male lead, Yuuji, is totally hilarious to watch. He is in no way a sidekick character, like Kouta; instead, he takes on more of a 'group leader' role; being class rep and the one in charge of planning for the summoning battles. Truly, when he is at his peak, he is like Kamina (TTGL) in attitude; over-the-top spirited and spouting loads and loads of bull concealed as meaningful and supportive words (who can forget Kamina's "believe in you, who believes in yourself"?). Even those who don't recognize the Kamina-esque personality will probably find his adamant personaltiy hilarious to watch.

As far as settings go, you don't experience anything new. School humour show is school humour show, meaning pool days, theme park trips and that stuff are obligatory. Not to mention the school hallways; which are used as the base for the ESBs. The school does, however, have a few pleasant surprises (like the ESB server room, and the exam paper vault). And of course, the school's roof, where the more serious moments typically take place.

The show doesn't stand out much on its other fields; while above middling quality it's not much more. Backgrounds are tormented by an annoying, dotted style, which I see no apparent reason for having in the show. Character designs are average enough, but the hand-drawn effects which appear at the 'heroic goodbye' talks between Yuuji and are hilarious; likewise is their increased face complexity featured when they are shocked or have any similar reaction.

The soundtrack is standard-fare humour; themes fit the humour setting, the few 'dramatic' moments, and that is about it; there's no memorable theme or likewise to set your mind on. The opening theme is standard upbeat crazy j-pop style, and unfortunately lacks any interesting animation. Same can be said about the ending theme; though it's more j-rock than j-pop.

SUmmarized, Baka to Test is your everyday absurd humour show with a few quirks thrown in to make it refreshing enough to be truly enjoyable, and anyone who's looking for an easy no-brains laugh may find it pleasing.

If you want to see Anime all bundled up into one in the most stereotypical setting with the most cliche characters and unoriginal title and all the hilariously idiotic romance you could ask for, this is for you-- I love it!

I had the experience of watching Baka no Test as one of my first Shojo anime and I could hardly contain my outbursts of laughter and confusion. Then, I watched it after watching a lot of anime, and I still laughed because it brought back so many memories.

You have the cute, perfect, sexual magnet, (who can't cook) innocent girl that the hero seems to have ... a thing for- there's the pretty, flat-chested, violent, smart common sense-wise, tomboy who gets made fun of way too much and has a thing for the hero and people seem to dump pity on her-there's the pervert who has a nosebleed about everything and can't seem to put down his camera- the main character's hot, smart, tsundere friend who's relationship can be mistaken as gay with the main character- there's the quiet, dangerous, mysterious, extraordinary girl who hunts down the main character's best friend- the gay, smart one who just can't keep a cool head around his crush- the crazy, stalker chick that can't stay away from one of the heroines- the one that's made fun of for being both sexualities at once...
AND THE MAIN CHARACTER WHO'S INSANELY OBLIVIOUS AND STUPID. A perfect insert character for anyone.

These are the Archetypal characters of anime and whenever you revisit them, you can't help but laugh your head off.
This anime makes fun of any anime with any of these characters, this plot of starting from the bottom and getting to the top, summoning beasts, high school, and every genre in between.

Given that you don't need an insanely deep plot and you're looking for something light-hearted to watch: this is the anime that I recommend you watch!

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, the show with one of the least creative names ever seen. Just calling it Idiots and Tests and Summoned Beings... can you imagine if they called Avatar Blue guys and Forest and Environmentalism, nobody would be able to take the movie seriously (well... you can't really take it seriously anyways...). Anyways, silly titles aside, Baka to etc, is a simple show that illustrates how funny anime can be. A juvenile sense of humor with lots of slapstick gags, that delivers in every way you expected it to, just like it should. With that said, lets look at Baka to blooby ... bloo.

The plot of this anime, is a deep and intriguing one if you look at it symbolically, and barely visible if you don't. A down trodden class of good for nothings is thrown to the bottom of the social ladder like yesterdays dinner, and its only after a young charismatic leader whips them into shape that they realise they must enter an spectacular struggle to climb up the food chain and defeat the high and elite who are squandering their power.

Ok well, bad literary synopsizes aside, the show doesn't really pull off anything spectacular in that fashion; as you would expect its a comedy. The plot (as with most comedies), is their to provide somewhat of a driving point for the story, but mostly just to help string along more humor. And it does it well, it seems like every "summon battle" they have something extreme and wacky happens. Really every episode is enjoyable and you'll get a good laugh. I think the main reason for this (aside from a great sense of humor) is that they like to mix up the episodes quite a bit in presentation. For example one episode is aimed like a RTS video game, viewed from above mostly where you watch the battle unfold. Another is set where you follow the protagonists friend Yuuji, while not exactly knowing what the rest of the gang is up to. So in summary, the plot is simple, but does exactly what it needs to to keep this show rolling.

The characters are... well pretty token for a comedy of this sort. They all are pretty one dimensional, usually only having one trait to go upon, but again it works in this kind of situation. And despite there being some cliche in most of the characters, you can't help but feel that theirs something special about each and every one of them. For example, Yoshii, the protagonist. He's weak, dumb, useless, clumsy, poor, and has 2 beautiful women chasing after him (ummm and a guy, but don't think about that too much). Yawn you might think, that's been done a million times before, but what I like about Yoshii is that he isn't a wimp. Most leads of this sort, are pathetic not because they are terrible at everything, but because they are pansies who bend to every whim and have no mind of their own. Yoshii on the other hand, seems to accept that he's completely useless and strives instead to just enjoy life as much as he can. All in all, the characters are rather interesting for a comedy troupe, and I don't think I really hated any of them (something that most shows can't say). There are a tonne to pick from so you are bound to find at least a few that you find hilarious.

Finally, the art and sound are actually really fantastic. Looking and sounding good isn't such an achievement nowadays, as computers have streamlined everything... but you really have to enjoy the artistic style of this anime. It always feels like there's a weird fluffy feeling to it I find, not really sure how to describe it. Needless to say, it gently massaged my eyeballs with quite nice art work.

So, to sum it all up as quickly as possible, Baka to *omg this title pisses me off* to Shoukanjuu, is a fun little experience, that I definitely recommend to anybody who needs a few good laughs. Might not be for you if your a sad lonely critic who can only watch anime if it stimulates some part of your brain, but hey give it a try at least.

Baka to Test began as a series of light novels written by Inoue Kenji, of whom I could find no information. The anime adaptations currently consist of two seasons and an OVA, but The light novels are still going so there could be more of them in the future. For now, I'm just going to look at the first season.

The story is about a school where students are separated into different groups based on their grades with the dumbest students getting the worst room and equipment. The students can challenge each other to battles using summoned creatures with power based on their test scores ... and lower ranked group can use this to take the room and equipment of a higher ranked group should they win. A young girl named Himeji ends up in the lowest ranked group due to having been sick during the test and the other students decide to challenge the other groups to get a better room, mainly so that she can have a better environment to recover. The premise is pretty stupid and the execution is extremely shoddy. The over-arcing plot is full of holes and the writer constantly forgets or ignores how the created world was set up which means that the rules for summons change several times for no apparent reason. But it's primarily a comedy, so the lousy story doesn't matter as much as the humour. Unfortunately, the humour fails on every conceivable level. There are three joke types that are frequently repeated throughout the series. 1. Gay jokes, which aren't funny. 2. Jokes about abusive relationships, which also aren't funny. 3. Jokes about how the characters are all morons, which are only funny once or twice. Aside from those you get a lot of repeated jokes, most of which aren't funny the first time but even those that are cease being funny almost immediately through being repeated over and over and over again. It's like a twisted experiment to see how long you can tell the same bloody joke before it becomes/stops being funny. Incidentally, the answers are it will never be funny/with jokes like these, once.

The characters are incredibly flat. Most of them have a couple reoccurring jokes they're involved in and their characters revolve around those jokes. A few of the major characters get more than a couple jokes but they're still less compelling than wet cardboard. Another character issue is that every single character is an idiot, even the ones that the audience is told are intelligent. The only sign you get of intelligence is that they get a higher number for their summon. They don't act or say anything intelligent, ever. It's almost like the writer has no idea how to write intelligent characters, or even how intelligence works. Even characters of average intelligence don't exist in this. They're all absolute morons.

The art is decent, for the most part, but there's this odd tendency to change the artistic method completely at random times. It's like the anime was drawn by someone who really needed a dose of Ritalin.

The voice acting is atrocious. None of the characters show any depth or range of emotions. They all have one ridiculously exaggerated voice and either yell or whisper to illustrate "emotional range." Which doesn't work that way, I might add. If I wasn't familiar with Harada Hitmoi, Kato Emiri, Mizuhashi Kaori, Miyata Kouki, and several others from other anime I would think that they just got people with the most obnoxious voices possible. But it's just that the direction is terrible. The music is also really annoying.

The yuri factor is a 4/10. There's an openly lesbian character who has a one-sided crush on one of the major characters. Of course, she's just used for highly problematic gay jokes and nothing ever comes of her feelings. So it just ends up being infuriating.

Baka to Test is an unpleasant, unfunny, uninspired and unintelligent series. I feel ashamed of myself, and less intelligent, for having watched it. It was painful to sit through. The humour is either problematic or lackluster, the characters are insipid and the sound is an assault on the ears. My final rating for Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu is a 1/10. The only aspect of it that any effort went into was the art, and even that isn't good.

Stupidity, one of the main concepts of comedy. Sometimes it can be annoying, other times it can be hilarious. For this anime, it's the latter.

Story: 8/10

Not a lot of things goes on in this anime, but sometimes that doesn't matter for some anime such as this. In the anime, a lot of things happen randomly and that can make it funny, such as unexpected situations and unpredictable responses from each character. The comedy overpowers the romance genre in this anime. Whenever there are ecchi scenes, 90% there would be Kouta having nosebleeds. The ecchi genre also adds more to the comedy, and not a lot ... of scenes that are indecent. The main point of this anime is mostly randomness, and I like it.

Art: 9/10

The art for this anime is detailed and the animation is smooth. The colours in the anime is vibrant and attracts the eye easily.

Sound: 9/10

Each soundtrack fits its role, but the main thing I would like to point out is the OP. The OP perfectly fits the theme of the anime, having a happy, cheerful and catchy tune. The ED fits its the theme for how stupid the main character is.

Character: 8/10

Akihisa Yoshii, I would dub "The King of Idiots". A very dense protagonist, which you would think would be annoying but that adds more comedy. A pervert but is very friendly.

Himeji Mizuki, a bad cook who forces everyone to eat her cooking. You would think that she is good at cooking, but you are very wrong. Also has that aura of a "yandere".

Shimada Minami, the flat-chested tsundere, the very violent type but can easily show her feelings to Yoshii. A good cook that would fit best to be a housewife. She also understands English and German.

Sakamoto Yuuji, a delinquent-type character who used to be really smart, but never cared about anyone but himself. Shows very little hints of him liking Shouko.

Kirishima Shouko, a girl that would do anything to be with Yuuji, such as electrocuting him or tying him up, to make sure he is with her. If you haven't realised, she's a massive yandere.

Tsuchiya Kouta, a massive pervert who rarely gets caught for taking pictures. Very knowledgable in Health and PE and also knowledgable at cameras.

Kinoshita Hideyoshi, the 'trap'. Still questioning if 'he' is actually are scenes where his chest area is censored. You can easily mistake 'him' as a girl.

Enjoyment: 10/10

Very funny, to the point where at 5 minute intervals I would laugh. There's 2 seasons of anime but I wished there was more.

Overall: 9/10

If you're looking for a romance+comedy x100, then this anime is for you.

We have baka protagonist. We have moe. We have tsundere. We have yandere. We have lolicon. We have both yuri and yaoi. We have pervert with infinite nose-bleed. We have overly sized breast and also the flat chest. We even have a lily trap. We even have incest sister. Anime clichés are all up in F graded class, and combines with digimon. That’s what this anime is about.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu is full of anime stereotypes and otaku appeals, yet managed to become a fantastic random comedy series. It is quite unbelievable that cliche tainted anime can be this enjoyable. However, you should know ... that there are no such animes that exclusively collected every single of clichés we can imagine ‘intentionally’. Making anime unique by bringing all the commons, it’s the key of this anime’s success.

From what I know, this anime is an adaption of one of the most successful light novel ever made, with same title. I haven’t read it, so fuck it.

Story of this anime… um, story? Was there a story?... No way. Like most of other slice of life style comedy shows, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (aka. Baka to Test. I don’t want to type this long title over and over again) has no plot. You need to enjoy things as what it is. Blah, if you wanted to watch something ‘DEEPPU’ and ‘COMPLEXUED PLOT’ or whatever, go watch End of Evangelion and enjoy mind twisters. Even the comedy itself is extremely shallow; most of the time, they use the same gags over and over again. We can call it ‘gag spam’. But thank goodness, the timings are just amazing. Those humours never get bored but get even better as it goes. It continues until the half of this series and after that, it starts to focus on uniqueness of comical elements again. Aside of those gag spams, most of humour is random and placed in much unexpected points. You cannot possibly imagine which colour of mammoth will be waiting to burst your stomach off. Sometimes, things that we missed are reminded in the next episodes, so we can say there is at least some kind of plot… well random plot. There are lots of fan-services, but blah. We always like it; service means free snack.

Another point of this show is that it has ridiculous supernatural aspect of summoning chibi-beasts with attack point of their grade. This is – as I mentioned – ridiculous. This makes absolutely no sense, and creates RPG appearance overall; that’s most of people will guess. Too bad that it is so well executed in Baka to Test. It could have become really lame, but in this anime, like those repeated humours, shoukanjuu summoning is so well place with its circumstances. Everything we call ‘absurdity’ in other animes, becomes ‘clever’ in here.

Even with those random humours, Baka to Test keeps itself on the boundary of ‘slice of life’ genre. Some brilliant moments that actually makes you think in this ridiculous anime. I can say this kind of element also comes randomly at the time it fits. Climax of the episode is also in random position due to the double twists of twist always happening right before the episode ends. Mood and tone also swings like typhoon, yet manage to be great.

The only problem I can say is consistency. Some episode is just brilliant; others are somewhat boring and pointless. Even some was only consist of the used humours and fan-services in the past and fills up the time. Repeated gags are ‘not always’ in the best timing, sometimes it is not funny any more.

One thing I’m really surprised at is art. ‘Silver Link’ where produced this anime was pretty un-known studio for me. Starting to watch it, I had same atmosphere in art directions I had when watching Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. It actually had correlation: Silver Link works with SHAFT. Not only having tons of typesets, but there are also some abstracts and brilliant-looking art elements. Most of them are really clever and intelligent. I can’t do much comment on character design; it is quite cute and generic, but their uses of direction on those designs are fabulous. (*insert rainbow here*)

Sound elements are pretty much same; a lot of effects and random audios. It enhances the overall atmosphere pretty well. OSTs are brilliant and sometimes extremely funny. Opening and ending theme is one of my favourites this winter season, mainly due to the animation on those themes. OP is cheerful, cute and bright. ED is manly and shouts ‘BAKA GO HOME!!’. 2nd ending is girly and animation is basically the reflection of previous ending, except the gender of characters. (Please exclude Hideyoshi, since he has a third gender. ) Overall, generic but effective songs. I would say the animation was better than song itself.

As I said, characters are tainted by clichés. They are in anywhere. They are biased. They are nothing special whatsoever. However, the circumstance and techniques used in this anime makes everything goes upside down. It’s like, ‘breaking our stereotypes on anime stereotypes’.

Let’s go with Yoshii Akihisa. We mostly know his name as an imaginary dinosaur with long tongue ridden by fat guy with red hat and cool moustache. In here, he’s just an idiot. There are tons of idiots around the anime universe anyway and the classic example is our extremely well-known Naruto. Only thing that makes him different from this shonen mascot is that there are tons of other ‘BAKA’s around him. So, he becomes ‘THE BAKA AMONG BAKAZZ’, king of all idiots. That… actually makes differences, surprisingly. He is a major laugh material around this anime, by exposing his idiocity in smart ways.

Oh, and another, we have this harem atmosphere towards Yoshii. Actually, there are three. First, classic moe voiced pink-haired big-breasted Himeji-san, and classic tsundere red haired flat-breasted Shimada-san; extremely clichéd as usual. Another lover of him is actually a guy, blah. The major reason that we can enjoy this clichéd triangular relationship, (or square) is due to the fact that Yoshii does not even notice that obvious atmosphere of love, due to his stupidity that no-human being can explain. This is why Yoshii is becoming the best character of the entire cast, even with being a classical idiot of all time. That’s a brilliant way of ‘breaking cliché with cliché’. When Japan is suffering from creativity crisis, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu recycles the elements that is overused for the past few years, and create whole new universe that is more creative that is any other anime’s we’ve seen. Really, amazingly clever thing.

Let’s discuss more on characters. F class rep Yuuji, the classic ‘cool guy’ character, is the second best character in Baka to Test, and the only one who is ‘not that clichéd’ than others. He is energetic, cool and does some awesome speeches filled with GARness. Yet, he’s intelligence is around the same level of Yoshii. He is sometimes overly serious on things and gets punished by various characters, especially by Yoshii or Yandere. He’s the major source of manliness among these unmanly characters, which makes him very special.

We have a trap, Hideyoshi. Well… he’s a guy who looks like a girl. He is a good character still, but imo, he was the worst of all the others in this anime. I’m not saying he was bad. However, he didn’t really stand out from limitation of lily stereotype, like Yoshii and Yuuji did. Same goes with Yandere, ninja pervert and yuri. Saying that, random humours from those characters are actually intelligent. For example, Hideyoshi unexpectedly appears with trap outfit, ninja pervert randomly do-the-nozu-bleed, yuri appears from nowhere to get Shimada. Baka to Test actually managed to make us laugh from that. Amazing?...

What I really liked about this anime are the voice actors. Seriously, they were all extremely good; portraying the characters really well. Yoshii’s voice is my favourite of all; reflecting his stupidity in effective way. The best part is the narrator. It’s more likely that it’s just me, but that dry and monotone sound was just hilarious, every single time hearing it. ‘Excuse me; subtitles are taking my screen time.’

Overall I overly enjoyed this anime. (*loldoubleover) Jokes are fun; endings of each episode were remarkably done, and heart-warming. Characters are funny as hell, even with the clichéd elements. I felt like happiness filling all through my body all the time, watching this anime. If you want something that is highly entertaining and ridiculously funny random comedy show filled with intelligence, here, baka’s are waiting.

“F CLASS IS NOT GARBAGE!!”

It may be that I relate to a near exact match with the protagonist, but all the same this anime takes what critics describe as the "generic foundation" of anime, and turns it into something amazing. It's mature enough for an older audience to enjoy with fan service that's only dirty if you want it to be. While at the same time it can easily keep the attention of a younger audience without giving them the wrong idea. Creative concept, and plenty of content with well developed characters.

The plot is a real fantasy that most schoolkids could die for. Highly recommend to anyone who ... enjoys a hearty laugh and still has a taste for some interesting action.

Not to mention the animation is splendid, with a touch of pop-art. Also, the artists are able to show their true talent when drawing the characters' faces in different styles depending on their mood/situation.

Baka and Test has to be one of my all time favorite animes, and definitely one of the best recent ones I've seen.

Ah, Baka Test...probably up there in the list of most random comedy series ever. When this was shown in the first screening of the year at the anime club at my university, everyone agreed that this was the best anime of the season. Yes it is idiotic and over-the-top, but it is one hell of a funny anime.

Story-wise it's quite...unique. Set in a school dominated by a hierarchical structure of classes (A to F), it pretty much follows the school idiot Akihisa and the rest of Class-F (full of the dumbest kids in school) as they try to rise up ... the ranks and prove that academic smarts are not everything. They do this through a system of "Summoned Being Wars" where two classes fight it out using avatars with attack strength equal to their score in their last test. At least, for the most part, the show follows this story. The rest of it is filled with random events, running jokes and poking fun at every anime cliche in the book. All of this combines to create absolute hilarity. I almost fell off my seat laughing in the first episode.

The art is very good to say the least. It's simple and light-hearted, and fits the style of the show perfectly. The base style is very bright and colourful but it switches styles dramatically to suit various scenes (and jokes). The use of 2-D CG for the character drawings and also for the Summoned Being Wars adds an extra level of depth to the art. Sure its a bit sugar-coated at times, but if anything this just enhances the comedy of the show.

In contrast, the sound is not that special. The voice actors do a good job, but none of them really stand out. The soundtrack typical of this style of comedy anime, although i did enjoy the ED "Baka Go Home".

Characters are this show's main strength. A baka, moe, tsundere, yandere, lolicon, pervert and even an incestuously inclined older sister. Combine this with traps, references to yuri, yaoi, varying breast sizes and even Digimon and Gundam and you pretty much get Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. With such a variety of characters and personalities, each with their own running jokes attributed to them and their relationships with the other characters, Baka Test plays to its strengths very well. Overall, the characters are incredibly entertaining and this anime is worth watching for that alone.

The overall enjoyment level is very high. Even the running jokes that are repeated episode after episode seem hilarious every time and cliches are abused left, right and centre. Watch this one with a mindset to enjoy it as much as possible and you cant go wrong. And if you like it, stay tuned for season 2! Overall score: 8.0/10

This show serves one purpose: comedy, and in that regard it does very well. If you're looking for a laugh, this is the show for you. Each individual aspect shines (or doesn't) in its own way. Note that (per my username) when I speak of voice acting talent I'm referring to the English voice actors (this won't have much of an effect on the review, but it's worth mentioning)

Story: 3

Alright, let's face it, this section doesn't even need much explanation. The show has barely any overarching plotline, the romantic plotline takes a backseat for most of the show and is instead ... twisted as humor, and most of the episodes form their own little arc. There's not much to say, the story wasn't really there. Individual episodes also didn't explore particularly interesting plotlines, so from a perspective focused only on the actual interest the bare plotline has, the show doesn't do well. Of course, that's not the purpose of the show, anyway.

Art: 9

The art is very refreshing. Though the regular animation and character design are pretty standard (still good, however), the art choices in the show earn it a 9. Backgrounds and shading are done with the help of color-coded dots. As if the show wasn't fun and colorful already, the dots supplement the environment of the show. These dots are a very distinctive art choice and were only jarring initially, afterwards you get used to them. Characters have their shadows color coded when standing, and backgrounds are as colorful as can be. All these bright colors just add to the fun atmosphere of the show.

Other than that, Baka and Test uses animation and art style in a great way. Animation changes from hand drawn, to chibi, to normal when appropriate and adds variety to the different ways to set the mood of the scene. There is a perfect blend of all the different animation/art styles that are used, and they never really feel out of place. Although the animation isn't stunningly fluid or impressive in a classic sense, the use of animation by the art director is consistently helpful to the mood of the scene or the way dialogue is being presented. Great decisions all around and makes for a better experience.

Sound: 7

Nothing special here. The theme song is pretty catchy, and the ending theme is nice, but there's nothing to fawn over. Of course, the soundtrack isn't detrimental to the series. The background music and sound effects fit to the scene well, but it's not anything worth writing home about.

I'll mention voice acting here instead of in the next section. The voice actors do a phenomenal job, I can't think of one voice that I didn't think matched the character. All the voice actors do a great job and there was no lack of emotion in any of them. The voice acting pulls the show's sound up from a 5 to an 8. If you're planning on watching the English dub, you're in for a treat because it's truly one of the better ones out there. Leah Clark has a voice that was practically crafted for tsunderes, Greg Ayres is always wonderful, Brina Palencia nails the androgynous voice of Hideyoshi almost too well, and Terry Doti is superb as your typical bad boy leader.

The sound of this show gets an 10 for the voice acting, but the background music and sound effects get a measly 6,with an average of 8. Take from that what you will. If you don't plan on watching the English dub, none of this is applicable, and I can't comment on the Japanese voice acting, so you'll have to see how it is for yourself.



Character: 9

Characters fit into classic tropes, and a lot of them are represented. There's no point in listing all the tropes that are fulfilled but for the most part the characters are lovable and quirky. Though they may have a cliche personality, the characters are written very well, and regardless of if their main personality is a common anime character trope, it doesn't matter. Stereotypical characters aren't a bad thing, poorly written stereotypical character are, and Baka and Test does stereotypes in a comical/satirical way, bringing each character over the top and beyond with their personalities.

Character interaction is where this show shines. The banter forms most of the comedy, the personalities clash and mix in hilarious ways, and the relationships between different characters is funny to watch. Some minor characters (and Hideyoshi) have unique characteristics that are almost always exploited for a joke. One character gets his own gender, a group of characters punish boys who get into relationships (or get romantic attention from girls) with death, and another is a psychopathic girl who will do anything in her power to get married with her love interest.

Needless to say, the characters are quirky and over the top, but they're hilarious.

Enjoyment: 10

I can't remember many moments during the show when I wasn't smiling. It's just constantly happy and funny all the way through. I came into the show expecting a comedy and nothing else, and got exactly what I wanted. If you come into the show with that mindset, you will leave thoroughly satisfied. If you're looking for an endearing love story, well, you're not going to enjoy it as much. It's jokes 24/7 and I love it for that.

Overall: 9

It's a funny show, and I like to laugh. Overall, there was some repetitiveness and some of the jokes lost their luster over time, but the overall hilarity of the show trumps that and puts this comedic goldmine at a solid 9/10. I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys silly humor. It's in no way sophisticated, and I love it for that. If you have a generally open sense of humor, you'll love this show, but if you have a very specific sense of humor, you may end up thinking that most of the jokes are just plain stupid or not funny at all.

Baka to Test is about a baka class in a very strange school. In this special school, all students are given some sort of miniaturized version of themselves (think avatars) whose "fighting powers" are relative to how well a student performs academically. Furthermore, the top class (A) is treated like royalty (think of accommodations like in Special A) where as our class F has cardboard boxes for desks. However, classes can engage in "battles" with their avatars (powered up by extra exams) to try to steal each other's class rooms. Obviously class F has no chance, but wait, an overly cheerful pink-haired girl (who is ... class A quality but happened to not do well on the entrance exam) joins the class and suddenly they apparently have a fighting chance.

While this produces a very unique twist to the slice-of-life school series, it's overly light-hearted for my taste, with too much focus on trivial comedy, trading off character development and plot line progression. With the mini-battles, it almost feels like a strange incarnation of Pokemon in a school, you even get squeaky voices with the avatars.

If you're looking for yet another light series with low-level comedy and a lot of random ecchi scenes or a series about underdogs trying to work their way up, this is your series.

Animation:
This show is fairly average in terms of drawing style. You get lots of vivid colors and quite a bit of CG. You also get a lot of battle scenes where each mini-character has a hit point counter (think Pokemon, the games not the show), and a lot of Who Wants to be a Millionaire as there is a lot of trivia. The actual characters are fairly average, if a bit simplistic. The backgrounds are also not as vivid as I'd like but I guess it fits the light-hearted mood of the series. Be warned that this is ecchi, one of the class males is always armed with a camera, trying to sneak pictures at certain "angles".

Sound:
The OP is a bit technoish, which fits with the "electronic" battles, and is light, which fits in with the tone of the series. It isn't particularly good though (contrast with ED of Ladies vs Butlers). ED is a guy song, which means insta-avoid for me. The VAs are very vibrant in this series, especially the male leads in the class, and they are pretty much all that keeps the series moving along through antics and over-dramatizing circumstances.

Story:
Well I pretty much summed it up in the intro. A flunking class tries to out-play less-flunking classes through using a very smart pink-haired girl (who also happens to cook death). The plot is pretty linear but doesn't draw too much drama (focusing on light-heartedness) so even when the climax is reached the viewer is just like meh. There are some comedic moments but the majority are actually from Akihisa being taken advantage of (due to his unbelievable stupidity).

Character:
The point of the series is really that guts and willpower can be an equal match for just pure brain power. Behind this premise, you have a really dim-witted main character who happens to have the hearts of two girls in the class. Unfortunately, due to the light-hearted nature of the series, they don't really make use of this tension, instead forcing the girls into "accidental" ecchi situations resulting typically with Akihisa getting beaten up.

Value:
Overall, Baka to Test brings along one or two good chuckles and showing the spirit of an underdog. Perhaps this is enough for people as they're working on a second series. If you can't yet tell from this review, that is one series that I will not be reporting on, as one season was already one too many. The ratio of ecchi + pointless comedy to plot progression and character development was just too unbalanced.

As we know school romantic comedies are not a new concept in anime, neither are kids with “superpowers”, but recycling these dull ideas is what makes this anime unique. The easiest way to describe it, is to imagine a medley of cliched genres, characters, and plots thrown into one single anime. But the author somehow takes these overused ideas, and turns it into one of the greatest rom-coms ever.

The anime itself is quite a mess of ideas honestly, it's a pretty weird concept. It takes place in a school called Fumizuki Academy, a school where grades dictate which classes you are put in. The ... classes are lettered A through F, A meaning you’re a genius, and F meaning you’re not he brightest crayon in the box. The lower the lettering of your class, the more inferior your classroom equipment is. For example if you’re in class A, you would have comfy padded recliners, and in class F you'd be sitting on broken stools. You get the idea. Thus the premise of the entire anime is pretty much for the class F troupe, which the story is mainly focused on, to try to reach the top of the ladder by taking over classroom A.

And how would they do this you might ask? The answer is right in the ever so creative title, they of course, summon the beasts. Now don't confuse this with animes like Pokemon, or Yugioh, the beasts we’re talking about are actually created by holograms of some sort. The “beasts” are pretty much tiny chibi avatars of the students who control them. And they are integrated into the “ranking system” of the school. So similar to the classrooms, the abilities of the beasts are also limited by the grades of the summoner.

Now as boring, and as difficult to understand as that seems, if you put those elements all together with a complete imbecile as the main character, you get some top quality entertainment.

Our protagonist, Akihisa Yoshii, is nicknamed the ultimate idiot, and guides us through his misadventure of slapstick comedy, in which he helps guide his class through the struggles it to get to the top, complete with all his girl problems, and “lucky” endeavors he incurs upon everyday.

As a wise fellow once said, “no rom-com is complete without a charming cast of characters”, this anime definitely is no exception. In fact it's arguable that the strongest point in the anime. Despite it’s large cast of main characters, Its not hard to distinguish the characters from each other since they all have unique skills and personalities. But these characters at the same times display little to no character development, which isn't really surprising because if you watch this type of comedy there usually isn't much.

Overall, I enjoyed the anime quite a lot and regardless of its flaws it still made me laugh a ton. It's aimed at more of a lighthearted feel, so don't go in expecting some deep, and intricate plot. And as far as the romance goes, there really wasn't much development, I think it included romance more for comedy than a subplot. And with only 13 episodes the anime leaves off with quite the cliffhanger but is quickly redeemed by its sequel, Baka to Test Ni. It's honestly a pretty dumb story but as far as entertainment goes, this is probably one of the best.

If you're looking for a cheap laugh and a good theme song, look no further. Otherwise, best look elsewhere.

If the key to success in a comedy anime is the comedy, you could say that this is a great success. But I don't, unfortunately. While it was, at points, hysterically funny, I don't feel that this is the above-average anime that everyone says it is. The characters are bland and get little to no development, the plot is inconsistent and ranges from flawed to utterly nonsensical, and many of the jokes can be very problematic.

First, let's look at the characters. There are only two that I ... actually like as a character: Yuuji (and the show seems to really disagree with me on this, considering the abuse it puts him through) and Toshimitsu (who gets very little screen time). The rest are either bland stereotypes, horrible people or both. Himeji is your average Moe archetype, with nothing to make her actually interesting. Minami is the same, but with the Tsundere archetype. Hideyoshi is essentially a one-off joke (and a slightly homophobic one at that) that stops being funny after the first 20 times. Akihisa is a general creep and doesn't really have anything special about him other than that. Kouta you might as well tick 'All of the above' being a general creep, a bland stereotype and a one-off joke. But by far the worst character is Shouko, who to make a long story short, is a horrible abusive, cruel and manipulative arse that the show somehow expects me to like and feel sympathy for her. It doesn't help that she constantly abuses one of the only sympathetic characters in the show in a realistically abusive relationship. It also annoys me that everyone wants her to be with Yuuji despite all this.

The plot is a mess. Being a slice-of-life anime, there's no unifying plot and most of the episodes exist separately from each other, but even then, they're pretty bad. The main plot is about Class F trying to get up the class ranks in a nonsensical battling system at a school. There's already some problems here: first, why would the school implement the battling system in the first place? Yes, it rewards good test results, but there's no reason why being beaten should take test results away. There's also no reason why it uses whole classes instead of individual people: A worse class with one good person (See: Class F) could be carried all the way to the top without most of them earning it. There's also no reason why Akihisa's avatar should be special in any way. It's completely unexplained as well.
Individual plots are bad as well. By far the worst is episode 7, where the whole of the main cast decide it's a good idea to give Yuuji and Shouko (who they know is abusive and horrible, and literally tries to kill Yuuji in the episode before, which is also a mess) a romantic Wedding experience. There is no reason why everyone would want that. Akihisa, Hideyoshi and Himeji all know well how horrible Shouko is. Muttsulini and Minami have a slight semblance of a motivation, but it still makes no sense how much effort they put into it. Then at the end of the episode, a random audience member insults Shouko's obsession with Yuuji, and then Shouko runs off crying. And we're meant to sympathise with her despite all the torture she's given Yuuji because of her obsession. The worst part is that it becomes apparent that Yuuji actually likes her, which is unforgivable.

Another problem is that the jokes can be very problematic at times, as well as just being bad. I can't count the amount of jokes that are repeated over and over again: Hideyoshi looks like a girl, Muttsulini's a creep, Akihisa's an idiot, Shouko abuses Yuuji, Minami beats people up, Himeji's cooking is terrible, and that's only some of them. If you had a drinking game based on those jokes alone, you would die by the 5th episode. There's also the problematic jokes. First off, they turn the abuse of Yuuji into a joke. Which is not cool. Second, they portray lesbians as insane, creepy stalkers, and constantly assert that heterosexuality is 'Normal'. Again, not cool. As well as that, the show as a KKK expy. I shouldn't need to explain how not cool that is. This is just to name a few. This show has a problem with political correctness, it seems, and it kills it for me.

The main good features of this show are the theme song, which is really catchy and amazing, the art, which is nice to look at, and some of the jokes, but they really don't give this show substance. The plot and characters are bad and it's extremely offensive. I would avoid this show unless you really don't care about anything other than the jokes, and even then I'd say it's not for everyone.

I enjoyed Baka & Test when I started watching the show. It looks cute, has a fun and colorful cast of characters, and I still really like the first ending song. But, by the fourth episode I was tired of it all. The story wasn't going anywhere and the same old jokes were coming up leaving me more irritated than amused.

Baka & Test is primarity a comedy, and most of the time their jokes contain dark humor and or hyperbole. For example, one girls cooking is so bad it kills people, and when a particularly pervy boy catches a glimpse of a girls underwear ... the resulting noseblead is so massive he is left lying in a pool of his own blood.

There really isn't much to Baka & Test besides it's humor. It's kind of like a sitcom. A school segregates their students by inteligence and has this virtural system where students battle each other using avatars who gain power from their test scores. Everything following the set up is more or less a string of jokes. I would have enjoyed Baka & Test a lot more if the characters were more likeable and if the show contained better jokes or at least ones that were less repetitive. But, because the show is what it is I was irritated by a majority of the show and find it to be below average in quality.

From a show that literally has the word “idiot” in its title, Bakatest doesn’t shy from flaunting its idiocy. From ten-cent slapstick gags to an utterly absurd premise, Bakatest is a silly comedic romp blown into a full-fledged series. While the recipe for disaster seems to be complete, Bakatest is strangely charming — and while the show basically makes no sense whatsoever, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. All and all, Bakatest is a playful, harmless gagfest that’s occasionally wildly entertaining, even sweet at times, and unbearably cheesy some other times.

Light novels adapations are not foreign ground for director Oonuma Shin, more notable for ... his work with ef: a tale of memories. In Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, test results mean everything. Students are assigned into classrooms based on how well they score on the placement exam, with state of the art, luxury classrooms for the A class and a disheveled, dusty room with broken tables for the F class, our heroes in this show. Furthermore, classes can challenge each other over their facilities using a magical combat fighting tool called the Examinations Battle System (ESB), which draws power from test scores. The premise is cool, a little confusing, and results in extremely over-dramatic and absolutely inane fight sequences involving academic trivia. The combination of studying and RPG-style combat undoubtedly appeals to the show’s Japanese demographic, though I’m pretty sure it’s quite silly no matter where you’re from. If you suspend reason and simplify the plot to an extent, most of the show is actually really fun. The action is decently slick but awkwardly predictable, causing the show’s attempts at high tension drama fell a bit flat on more than one occasion for me.

Of all the idiots in a show titled about idiots, male lead Yoshii Akihisa (cv. Shimono Hiro) is by far the dumbest of them all. Absolutely helpless when it comes to school, and (even by anime male lead standards) totally clueless to signs of affection dealing with the opposite gender, Yoshii can get on your nerves fast, but his good-natured, peppy attitude manages to endear viewers. The two female leads, Himeji Mizuki (cv. Harada Hitomi) and Shimizu Miharu (cv. Taketatsu Ayana), foil each other nicely while Kinoshita Hideyoshi (Katou Emiri) doesn’t do much of anything except bringing out our inner homosexual. The two female leads are relatively weak, lacking a bit of substance outside of being pretty, making the show very irritating with cliches on occasion.

The show’s breakout character is Class F president Sakamoto Yuuji (cv. Suzuki Tatsuhisa), who is cool, clever, and well-written. His strong, supportive, demeanor lends confidence to Yoshii and all of class F. Teeming with street smarts, he’s one of the most relatable characters in the show. His osananajimi relationship with childhood friend Kirishima Shouko (cv. Isomura Tomomi) is one of the bright spots in the series — fodder for violent physical slapstick gags while also being rather sentimental. Episode 7, which focuses on those two and fleshes them out as characters, is probably the best episode of the show.

The show performs well in a technical viewpoint. The animation is very good, and the voice acting cast gets the job done. The colors and very clear and the lines are nice and clean, and the aesthetic of the show complement the mood well. Some visual elements are reminiscent of director Oonuma’s earlier contributions Hidamari Sketch and Pani Poni Dash, where he worked closely with Akuyuki Shinbou.

Asou Natsuko’s OP performance, Perfect-Area Complete!, is a fun bubbly anime song that has been rather well received. I find the second ending theme, Hare Tokidoki Egao really nice on the ears in that sweet, sentimental kind of way. Debuting after my favorite episode 7 (and capturing the moment perfectly), the song and ED animation mesh well together.

The bottom line, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu is a pretty decent show that probably could have been much better. It’s original, calmly liberal on the fan-service (more probably could have done well), and ambitiously attempts to mix incorrigible silliness with heartwarming romance. The show keeps it light, but weighs on us with laborious dialogue and plot situations. Everyone knows about the androgynous Hideyoshi, who has achieved a kind of cult status, but I wish we got to learn more about him in the context of the show. The characters are decently likable, but not enough character is there to go around. There’s a great show in Bakatest, trust me, you just have to dig though some other stuff to get there.

So yes it is time for another review, I don't do many reviews, but when I do them I try to make them fun to read and from my point of view. Now let me get something straight with you (the readers), this is from my point of view, if you have a different point of view just click the disagree button and move on, or better yet create you're own review. I don't want any feedback from you, specially negative, that I can do without. Now that we have gotten that straight ( I hope, please oh please, I hope), on to the best ... part the actual review.

Story- Baka is a school story with a twist which is the summoned beasts, well they are not beast more like a mini me of the summoner. The show is so hilarious though, that I can not stop laughing every time I watch an episode. The awkward moments between characters make it all the better. Every once in a while there will be a scene that will confuse you, but all you have to do is rewind and watch again and you should get it. The fights can get hilarious. See you have class A-F (F being most of the main characters), they have tests to determine which class they are in, but also tests to rack up life points for their summoning character to fight with. There are various shounen-ai and shoujo-ai references but they are so minimal to the point where it does not even need to be on the list of genres.

Art- Eh there is not much you can say about the art, does anyone ever talk about the art? Really you do? *Sigh* ok I will try and come up with something. The art is average, nothing wrong with it, but nothing special if you get what I am talking about. I do like how sometimes it goes into a black and white, ads to the dramatic effect of the scene.

Sound- Well the opening is good, the ending is good. The sound effects are good. Overall I love the sound for this anime. The opening being my favorite of course.

Character- Oh gawd, what can you not say about this funny bunch of idiots. You know when you get a group of Bakas and stick them into a room together there is going to be trouble. And there is just that a lot of downright hilarious situations of trouble. From romance troubles, to fight backfires, just about anything you can think of these, bunch have or will get into. You have a genius that has health issues and confidence issues whose cooking kills (not in a good way), you have a complete idiot that has to do work for the teachers, a guy with a perverted fetish, a guy who everyone thinks is a girl because he acts and looks like it, a girl who is obsessed about breast sizes (mainly ones bigger than her) and really likes the complete idiot, then you have the gang of idiots who where the weird outfits (yeah I know what they look like but I really don't want to say it), and then the leader of them all who is sort of a mystery, it is like he gets things wrong on purpose, but at the same time he gets himself in lots of idiotic situations, he is afraid of his girlfriend (sort of she basically owns him, and come to think of it If I was him I would be afraid of her too). Roll them all together and you have a recipe for disaster every time, but it never stops to entertain you.

Enjoyment- Seriously if you have not already gotten it, you should go back and read the whole thing again. Of course it is enjoyable. If you are looking for a good comedy, or just need a laugh, this anime is definitely for you. You will LYAO throughout the whole entire show, guaranteed.

Overall- I give it a 10, you may not agree but eh that is the way things go sometimes, not everyone can agree you know. This is a great anime, it is short but sweet. The only I don't like is that it is now licensed by funimation and is hard to find, plus funimation changed the name of it. Don't get me wrong FUNI is not a bad company, it is just a stingy one. It ends soon so get to watchin, lol

So after reading this and you want to check it out, there are still a few sites that are streaming it, including FUNI's. If you don't agree and don't want to watch it that is ok too.

Baka to Test is without a doubt (well, after my bride is a mermaid ) one of the funniest animes you will see.

the anime is set in Fumizuki Academy, a school were you are placed also dictates what equipment you will receive. class F having wobbly tables and the worst cushions ever made. it is set around a idiot or Baka, hench the title, named Akihisa, who is placed in class F with other characters, who range from a boy who is confused for a girl, a complete pervert who should have died from bloodloss, and a genius who somehow fainted in the middle of ... the placement test, which means she was automaticly placed in class F.

we'll start with the good. this anime is funny. everyone who sees it will know this much. it is also cliché as digimon. clichés are not bad, but just creat a feeling of similarities between other such animes. basicly a parodie. and, like I mentioned GOD DAMMIT its funny! every episode you will laugh, and be smiling the whole way through. and the voice acting wasn't like Death note (English dub, I mean). so its pretty good.

as for the bad. the story... its not so great, since this anime is supposed to make you laugh instead of being stuck to the screen all day.

I have to cut it short. all in all, it was preety good, so I give it what ever I give it this review was my first and shortest no trolling...

At first glance, you may think Baka Test is just another harem comedy anime and may wonder why you should watch this as oppose to harem anime number 233. You have only so much time to spare. The main point that makes this series stand out a head above others of its genre is its quirky, strong and consistent characters.

The story is nothing ground-breaking.
The artwork is good but not particularly distinctive either, thought animation is very good.
Most soundtracks suit the situation, though they're not really great. The ED is awesome though!

However, when it comes to the character department, Baka Test truly shines. ... Baka Test boasts a large, colourful cast, each with their own distinctive personalities and most of its humour stems from the interaction of these individuals. Their personalities are by no means original, but you can always rely on them to never act out of their character, thus providing consistent, situational fun. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the characters are what make this show great and worthy of your time. Be warned that actual character development is minimal though!

Overall, Baka Test was a very enjoyable start to the year and it kept me coming back for seconds. I’d gladly recommend this series to people who enjoy harem, slap-stick humour and light viewing and oh of course, Hideyoshi. Do not bother with this if you cannot withstand weak plots, lack of major changes in characters, nonsense or fun in general ;)

This is a really stupid show, and with that, I freaken love it! It’s pretty much a slapstick comedy with meaning behind it. I consider it like Hetalia, so stupid that it’s funny and with a bit of heart put into it. Some of the jokes seem not to translate well unfortunately but when watching the English dub, they do add different things into it to make it a bit more helpful. As I watched the show, I had prier knowledge from the Five Point Podcast and they had rated it a bit low but I actually think that it’s better then they made it ... sound. They talked about how the characters were rather stupid and made it sound more like Puni Puni Poemy but the characters actually do sound smart at times; weather they are or not, I will leave that up to you.

By the second episode, they hooked me and I already have my favorite quote from that episode! It’s the one that Himeji and Yoshii are talking and she says ‘They also are pretty sure that you’re the doughnut to his banana.’ I couldn’t help but start laughing and right then, I figured I would watch the whole thing. There are a lot of sexual tones with this and it dives both into yuri and yaoi as well as a lot of odd ideas. There is a hint of incest but nothing makes this show seem like it should be a Hentai or even creepy. It’s just how characters are shown. All the characters are pretty much the extremes of school stereotypes and yet there are actually only a few that people care for and the rest become no name characters like a tower strategy game.

Now as we talk about the characters, we should start with the main characters… and who better then the main idiot, Akihisa Yoshii. Yoshii is well, they call him beyond retarted but I actually think he is at least a little smart. He lives alone and would probably die if he didn’t know how to do basics of life. Now some of the time though, I wonder just what goes through his head. For instance, he figured that if he cut a thing of raman in half over and over again, he would be able to feast forever. What he lacks in brains though, he seems to have it in heart. Almost everyone seems to fall in love with him and when I say everyone, I mean men and women alike. I consider him the Italy of the show if we want to compare this to Hetalia. A fun thing about his character is that he is a probationary student but what I would like to know is how the heck they were able to have his avatar pick something up. It just doesn’t seem right.

Next, I think I should talk about the transgender character character, Hideyoshi. When I call him transgender, it’s not because he is one specifically. It’s more because he is somewhat girly. He has to remind almost everyone time and time again that he is a guy and it doesn’t help that his sister looks exactly like him. He is a actor, and always seems to get dressed up in woman’s clothing all the time leaving a lot of room for fan fiction about him and Yoshii it seems.

Mizuki is the next character and she is the stereotypical girl next door. Pure, sweet, innocent… and sometimes gets on my nerves because of this. On top of that, she is pretty much a Mary Sue character. She’s good with academics and almost anything she can get her hands on. What she isn’t good at, she is very Moe about. All these thing would make me cringe but somehow, probably because she is surrounded by so many other interesting characters, she isn’t that bad.

Minami is supposed to be from Germany, although she never seems to speak German or have any signs that she is from a different country except for the fact she can’t read kanji. It makes me wonder just how she got into the school in the first place but that is kind of beyond me. She’s pretty much a bitch with a bad temper and almost the opposite of Mizuki. (You can tell that the character descriptions get smaller the less they have an impact on me.) She has a female suitor from another class which brings the yuri thing out that I was talking about.

I think the last one I really should talk about is Yuji although it’s hard to actually talk about him. Little is known about him and he seems to be only a close friend to Yoshii and some think a little two close. He has some sort of intention but it’s not clear at all what it is.

The Avatars are really cute and look a lot like ones from the game Maple Story. They are little chibi versions of the characters themselves and sadly, the only ones you really see are the avatars for the actual main characters and some supporting characters but the others are all generic with letters painted on their faces. I wish they had more designs and I actually want to see a Avatar creator sometime with these characters. Sadly, it seems like you don’t get much of the avatar characters, mostly its gags and strange slapstick. Sometimes they even add a battle sequence that really isn’t even part of the battle. This show is pretty much just random for a lot of it.

The animation is stunning, bright and beautiful. The colors are almost brightened as a pastel most of the time. There is a lot of fan service with hetero, yaoi, and yuri stuff. I noticed that a lot of girl’s breasts bounce a lot. It’s really really annoying. I’m normally fine with fan service but it was all the time and pretty noticeable. Now this goes for the most part at least. There are small parts that change really strangely. The artwork is not fully consistent but it isn’t bad. It just adds to the strangeness of the show.

The opening is really interesting and reminds me of Hetalia’s ending, how crazy it is. It’s bright, colorful, with rainbows and it actually made me feel that it was more about yaoi romance then a hetero romance but it’s pretty cute.

Surprisingly, I didn’t want to kill any of the characters because of their voices. Most seemed to fit rather well and I can’t believe I’m saying this but only person I didn’t really like was the first teacher who turned into a narrator. His voice just seemed really dull then everyone else’s. I really loved Akihisa’s voice where he did sound stupid but not in a way that was bothersome.

SHITTY REVIEWS
-shamefully presents-
Baka and Test (season 1&2 along with the OVA)(sub)
**SPOILER FREE**

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe-Albert Einstein

I was rewatching this stupid thing called Baka and Test yesterday for thinking why had this idiotic anime where characters do idiotic things in idiotic situations that made me laugh like an Idiot is in my fav anime list on top?
this review will try to answer that question.

... Story(10/10)-Do not listen to any one else it has action,drama,romance.
Baka and Test has random situations and has just one real arc and that is peeking arc(do not judge it by name plz).Baka and Test has every thing you can want in a story yup even tactics but mixed thoroughly with Stupidity

Art(10/10)-Baka and Test has nice art it is cute.the use chibhi version of main character is awesome.the polka dots use is also cute.

Sound(10/10)-Top Notch voice acting.okay I will show why.before this I might have two or three sub anime.but I immediately recognized Keima's voice from TWGOK(which I watched sometimes after this) was the same that of Akhisa Yoshi.see It left that deep impression on me.the voice just increased the stupidity fun of Baka and Test.
The soundtrack is very noticeable and is very nice to ears.

Characters(10/10)-All Main characters are idiots.
they do stupid things like
peeking
asking a girl to show her ass
playing rock,paper and scissors for deciding the who will eat the deadly food.
etc.
Okay even though being idiots all characters shine in useless ways.

Enjoyment-Let Me put it like this you might have heard that many anime watcher has this stress killer anime some people have gintama for it while some have SoL like Mushishi,Aria etc.
This anime is my stress killer.It tells me being Baka is okay,stupidity is a manly quality,grades are not everything, and last but not the least stupidity is genius(secret behind my user name is finally revealed to you all)

Overall-want to really watch something that at least will make you smile.Loved Gintama then definitely watch this.want to really watch something for enjoyment watch this