Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!

Updated up to the Final Episode!

Baka to Test to Shokanjuu Ni! where to start... Haha. After I saw the first season when it came out I was left wanting more. What with the unique battle system they have in the series and the amazingly hilarious cast of characters, I totally wanted another season, and here my prayers were answered with another season of Baka!

Story:
Not really sure how to describe the story, there is a story behind it all, its just overshadowed by the fact that the anime is hilarious at every turn. Its not the main drive for the anime, the characters interactions and hilarity ... drive the show. This season actually did have more story elements in it than the last though, and it was pretty well written, becoming quite emotional at some points as we learn about how Minami falls for Aki and how Shouko fell for Yuuji.

Art:
I love the character designs in Baka, especially since they are able to make a wonderful mix of amazingly cute chibis to MEGA SERIOUS FACE transitions superbly. The chibis are used during discussions between the characters at some points and of course during summon battles where their summons are actually the characters themselves chibi-fied and armored. This season also threw in one last artistic win with the final two episodes changing the summons into a Halloween-esc theme, with the summons ranging from headless to vampires to brick walls!

Sound:
I didn't really like the Opening and Ending for this one. Compared to Season 1 and the OVA Opening and Endings this was subpar at best. They aren't catchy or memorable like the others and you can't really say, "Oh my god, another musical ear worm from Baka!". Though as the season went on the OP and ED did become an earworm to be honest. I guess it was the kind of music you had to listen over and over to to become addicted, not sure if its a good or bad thing. The soundtracks in the background were also fantastic, especially in the episode about Minami's past.

Character:
I love the characters. They have a little bit of everything in this anime! Aki is the idiot that all animes need (He might just be a little to idiotic sometimes). But when push comes to shove he always come through like a true anime idiot does! Yuuji is the total badarse of the anime, with the epic character design and attitude to go with him. Mutsurini... I love Mutsurini, he is an idol to all men everywhere, he's a ninja, photographer and somehow he's a pervert that girls don't hate. I want him to teach me his ways. Hideyoshi the trap... He never gets old, right from the get go they still won't let him be a boy, and honestly, it never gets old. Then the girls themselves are amazing as well. Minami is amazing with her tough attitude and abuse of Aki. Himeji is the shy girl that turns into an evil demon when things go wrong (evidence = end of episode one). Shoko.... She terrifies me with how she abuses Yuuji, honestly, I think she could kill us all. I love it.

Enjoyment:
Well if it isn't obvious yet I love Baka to Test to Shokanjuu Ni!. The second season is everything I wanted it to be, with its hilarity, serious moments, cross dressing, and idiocy! What more could I ask for? (Maybe some moar Mutsurini awesomeness... The show might implode if we get too much though. I thought it was going to implode, freaking assassination's he pulled this season were epic!)

Overall, I'm sittin' here waiting for more episodes because honestly, nothing will stop me from watching this amazingly hilarious anime that is Baka to Test!

Baka to test to shoukanjuu 2 was a worse scam than when I sell ice lollies made of my own frozen piss to children on my street for 5 dollars as “lemon flavour”

no fuck that, it was like when I sell my patented “cancerbegone” drug to terminally ill patients for their life savings. It was that bad, I mean the first series of Baka to test to shoukanjuu was no work of art but it had its good moments, it could be funny and clever with some interesting ideas like the whole battling thing and the division of classes based on test scores, there was ... room for some potential there.

But this sequel just threw all that out the window in favour of a story-less, plot-less, one dimensional, boring Harem with nothing more than episode after episode of unoriginal rom-com stuff that we've seen a million times before, you know what I mean, with misunderstandings between the main character and the girls and more shots of female characters bodies than you'd find in a playboy magazine, in fact one of the best ways to describe this series would be as a fucking Hentai without the sex.


When I looked closely I discovered that this series is a good example of so many romance comedy sequels out there that I felt sick, where after the first series is successful because of its good ideas or good characters etc they for some reason abandon all that in the sequel in favour of whats called the “safe route”.

The safe route basically means taking no risks by insuring the sequel will make money from DVD sales and toys by appealing to the Otaku types. Those who spend tons of money on shit like this with ridiculous amounts of fan service to appease theses dumb idiots that think that a series is good as long as it has cute girls in it. Other good examples of this is Nisemonogatari and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 2 both of these sequels to relatively good and okay animes were total scams where no thought at all was put into them, (see my Nisemonogatari review for more details) they are just there as manufactured scams to make money by tricking people into thinking that what they're watching is a sequel when really its just a colourful mishmash of crap.

Now maybe you think im being to harsh, you say, “its not supposed to have a deep story”, or “some people just like to watch cute girls do cute things and don't want anything more from an anime.” To that I say “that's fine,” I also didn't expect a moving story from this anime or deep characters and some fan service is nice, its good to be able to shut off my brain from time to time and just watch a dumb love comedy with summoned beings in it.

But this just went too far with the complete lack of any kind of story or character development and throwing all the stuff that made the first series good out the window, right next to my stock of piss flavou... I mean lemon flavoured ice lollies. If you would like one please email me at www.thisisdefiantlynotascam.co.fuckyousucker

to make matters worse they continually repeat the same jokes over and over again.. example...

guy and girl A are doing something, accidentally get in a provocative position, girl B walks in, sees this and gets angry, chaos ensues. lather, rinse, repeat.

Guy says something, girl misunderstands, gets angry. Lather, rinse, repeat,

“don't worry the audience wont notice if we use the same jokes again and again, just throw in a shot of some girl breasts and they'll forget all about, it doesn't matter about originality as long as the girls say something cute or we see their panties then it all good. Don't worry i`ve made tons of this shit, we can slap the story together in an afternoon, throw in some scenes of a girl blushing and we`ll make millions, who gives a fuck about art, as long as we can sell lots of crappy merchandise and I can buy myself a new boat then alls right with the world.”

Now its not all bad there were still some good elements in this series, despite the overuse of some jokes there was still some funny moments here and there and we do learn some things about the past of some of these characters, and if you like cute anime girls doing cute but pointless things then this series may appeal to you. There some okay music and some nice art here and there but nothing really to right home about.

Overall I would only recommend this series to die hard fans of the original or to people that really just want to see big breasted girls say cute things and flat chested girls do violent things, if your looking for a good romance comedy with a good story or good comedy then look else where.

If you click this review was helpful I promise to send you one of my new chocolate flavoured ice lollies (chocolate not guaranteed) in the mail or my new “cancerbegone” spray tan, for people who want to look good while they die. (warning “cancerbegone” may cause cancer)

I'm going to go ahead and say it. Baka and Test is DEFINITELY my favorite anime. Tons of colorful characters, comedy, and story.

Season 2 was mostly about character development rather than keeping up with the story, but that's not a bad thing. Some shows don't do character development without terrible terrible filler. Some don't at all!

Story: 10
Season 2 focused more on developing the characters through individual stories than one full story throughout the season, BUT they did it right. Baka and Test Shokanjuu Ni incorporates excellent use of story arcs within it's episodes to keep the audience from that "filler" feeling. From crazy ... beach days, to Minami's backstory, to peeking into girls' bathing rooms, this season took it around and back.

Art: 10
Once again the animation is amazing. It retains that manga feel to it with it's "pop-art" look. The movement of the characters is smooth, and the detailed and whacky expressions of the characters in "extreme" times for them really show us what the animators can do.

Sound: 10
The voice acting in this season (I'm referring to the Japanese voice acting) is greatly improved from the first. It's much more believable and adds a whole lot to the humor. As for the English Dub, it's not set to release until early 2013, but fingers crossed for it to be just as good or better than the fantastic first season. To go along with great voice acting, season 2 adds a whole new soundtrack of music to play through the series, ranging from epic battle themes to soft romantic jingles.

Character: 10
You gotta love it when writers dedicate time to letting the audience know about a show's characters, without giving you a filler feeling. In the first season you got a feel of who the characters were and a general understanding. In this season you get a full on background check on several characters, and their motives to do what they do. As always we have a wonderful variety of characters in personality and looks, always a pleasure to watch.

Enjoyment: 10
YES. If I wasn't entitled to write more for the sake of potential viewers that's all I'd write. Simply yes, I enjoyed it. Take time to understand the systems in the show and what's going on and who the characters are, I admit it can be random, but once you get a feel for who is who and what is what, you'll love the show to no end. (To be honest its really not that hard, but I've known people who don't even try). There's also so many characters in this show, you're bound to relate to one of them and say "Hey that's me!" and put yourself in their world if only for a minute.

Overall 10:
WATCH IT. Watch it, enjoy it, and don't read online reviews from critics that don't enjoy a show for what it is, and instead pick it apart by flaws that don't matter in the long run. (Just look at Pokemon -__-)

I don't recommend it if you don't like to laugh. (Ha)

It's a nice blend of action, highschool life, just the right amount of fan-service (nothing over the top), comedy, and more all in its own unique way!

Here's hoping for a 3rd season and more, just get it marketed damn it! :D