I've never been a great anime connoisseur but i remember that a few years ago when i was a little kid i would laugh a lot from watching nonsense, outright stupid humoristic attempts such as, i don't know, Shin Chan? Guess i haven't grown at all from that because i still don't get enough of this type of humour nowadays. I think there's not much into it, if you, like me, are into this kind of humour, you will definitely love both Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu's seasons. It is goofy, it has its own memes, it is entertaining.
Story: 7
Honestly, i never cared too much
...
about the story itself, specially in the first season where it isn't that much of a concern. I wouldn't say there's no character development though, but it is quite likely that you will only get a good grasp of those things in season 2, where entire episodes are dedicated to background story and such.
On this parameter, one thing that really made this anime shine for me is its setting. High school settings never get old, and when you add class stratification disputed through summoning battles on top of that, you've given yourself an excellent context for the upcoming humour.
Art: 9
The art style is an extremely important component of the overall package as well. I could easily imagine a different artistic style screwing up the series for me. You will welcome the colorful screen that this anime brings you to, along with its constant use of special effects and well designed characters, who are quite pleasant to the eye.
Sound: 9
The soundtrack displayed throughout the series was quite memorable for me. I particularly like the themes that play during the summoning battles, some of them remind me of pokemon battles and are quite dynamic. You may shake your head while listening to some of them. I did.
Character: 9
One might say that Yoshii is the main character just by a small margin. Truth be told, a good point of these series is that the main 7 or so characters combined feel like a main character. I guess that's natural for an high school setting but it seems particularly well executed here.
There's no denying that you will still find tropes here (i don't see that as much of a problem though).
Akihisa Yoshii is your typical oblivious high school student, bad at school, bad at understanding that two girls obviously like him, living alone with few money and resorting to eat food on the floor from time to time. He is the complete baka;
Yuuji Sakamoto is the cool guy who comes up with most of the plans and manages the class, using his friendship with Yoshii as a pretext to put him under all kind of chaotic situations.
Mizuki Himeji, Minami Shimada and Shouko Kirishima are your typical love interests, respectively a dandere (kind of) whose woman features are largely defined (and whose voice gets annoying really quick i must say), a tsundere with a stereotypical flat chest, made fun of by Yoshii, and a yandere;
Hideyoshi Kinoshita is your average Totsuka from Oregairu, a.k.a. an indefined genre. Actually, he is a guy but is always perceived as a girl (or as having its own genre);
Kouta Tsuchiya is the character whose real name you'll hear the least. He is known as "Ninja Pervert" on the subbed versions (haven't watched the dubbed ones) or something like "Muttsurini" in japanese. Yeah, with that nickname you know what to expect pretty much.
All in all, the clash of these characters proves to be really enjoyable. The thing about different tropes is that they somehow work because they are, well, different and even though they on their own are funny as hell, their interactions are even more win than that.
Enjoyment: 10
Like i said in the beginning, it is up to you whether you will like the type of silly humour the series has to offer or not.
There are memes everywhere: Ninja Pervert and Yoshii's nosebleeds, Yuuji's epic chats with Yoshii, Hideyoshi's genre, Himeji's poisoned food, i could go on and on. Don't expect anything serious or even resolutions because the anime won't give you any of that (i've heard the LN/manga do that). Although most episodes form some kind of continuation from the ones before, it is the randomness of this anime that i enjoyed the most.
Overall: 9
If you enjoy romcoms you will probably enjoy this show and if the comedy weighs more on that equation, you're in for a treat.
At the end of the day, watching Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu is all about turning off your brain, sitting back and enjoying it. It's a no-brainer. In another of my boring summers, i had a hella good time with it.
Jul 8, 2015
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
(Anime)
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I've never been a great anime connoisseur but i remember that a few years ago when i was a little kid i would laugh a lot from watching nonsense, outright stupid humoristic attempts such as, i don't know, Shin Chan? Guess i haven't grown at all from that because i still don't get enough of this type of humour nowadays. I think there's not much into it, if you, like me, are into this kind of humour, you will definitely love both Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu's seasons. It is goofy, it has its own memes, it is entertaining.
Story: 7 Honestly, i never cared too much ... |
