End of Season Reviews - Summer 2011

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Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts


Yes, yes, I'm well aware that Baka and Test did not first surface in Summer 2011, but this does not nullify the fact that its second season most certainly found itself within that time frame. Having seen everything up until this point, I feel it only fitting to review the series thus far as a whole, but I'll focus more so on the second season since there's been far more discussion in regards to the first around here already.

To avoid leaving first-timers in the dark, Baka and Test is primarily a comedy series, with its main setting being Fumizuki Academy. This high school is unique in the regard that after their first year students take a placement test, and according to the results of that test, the students are divided into their classes. Class A is well rewarded for their efforts, scoring the likes of personal laptops, a snack bar to use at their leisure, and free fountain drinks. Class F on the other hand is met with the cruel fate of cushionless cushions, drafty windows, and short tables that are constantly prone to breaking, never mind the teacher that doesn't give a damn. The students are not doomed to their fate, however, as the school is equipped with one more very important aspect - the Summoner Test War. If an approving teacher is present, classes can duke it out with others using Avatars, miniature version of the students themselves who's overall power depends on the students' scores in the subject at hand. If a lower-ranked class manages to best a high-ranked class, they reserve the right to exchange facilities if they so wish. I can safely say I'd have put more effort into my studies if it meant I could potentially loaf around in luxury. Naturally, the focus of the story lies on the idiots of Class F and their many antics.

Our token Baka, Akihisa Yoshii, is at the center of most events, and you have not seen stupid until you've seen this guy. In fact, he has received the title of Probationary Student for his repeated trouble-making and lack of effort. This dooms him to a life of remedial classes and helping teachers with odd jobs, but it does come with the perk of an Avatar that can interact with physical objects. Akihisa is typically the butt of most jokes and is in and of himself a parody of the many dense male leads that have historically been in anime and manga.

Yuuji Sakamoto is one of Akihisa's closest friends in school despite their love-hate relationship. As a kid, he was labeled a genius, but here he's out to prove that there's more to life than the grades you earn in school. Yuuji is a rather hot-blooded individual and capable of inspiring and manipulating those around him with ease, so it's only natural that he's also class representative.

The ill-tempered Minami Shimada grew up in Germany and has constantly been struggling with Kanji ever since she moved to Japan. She has a complex about her lack of cleavage and a certain affinity for Akihisa, as he was her first friend in Japan. Minami has no problem expressing her frustrations with Akihisa in the form of painful wrestling moves. She specializes in mathematics for obvious reasons.

Mizuki Himeji landed in Class F by freak accident; illness on the day of the placement test forced her to leave the testing room and take a score of zero. Despite seeming like a total ditz, she's actually a very intelligent person, easily besting the number two student in the school. Of course, she's also the object of Akihisa's affections. Little does he know the feeling is mutual since he always figures she could do better than himself. Mizuki's figure somewhat torments Minami on a regular basis.

As a trap of epic proportions, Hideyoshi Kinoshita cannot sway the opinions of those around him into believing he is, in fact, a guy. Hell, even the entirety of Japan doesn't seem to believe it. There's a separate room at the bath house for the Hideyoshi gender. While not well-versed in academics, Hideyoshi is well-mannered and a brilliant actor, the polar opposite of his twin sister. He also speaks like a samurai, though this doesn't carry over well in the dub.

Lastly, we have Kouta "Muttsulini" Tsuchiya, an introverted shutterbug. He's easily one of the best assets to the class, possessing insane scores in Health and Physical Education and a certain resourcefulness. That is to say, his photos are often weapons for war, be they for blackmail or raising funds. Muttsulini constantly suffers from nosebleeds. After all, he's a pervert and peeping tom. This is another instance of parody; it's not uncommon to see male characters in anime and manga nosebleed along with their dirty thoughts, but the gang treats it as a legitimate medical condition. It just might be considering the extremes to which the gag is taken.

There are plenty of other characters in the cast, but if I went in-depth on all of them, we'd be here all day. Instead, I'll summarize the events of season two without getting too heavy on the spoilers.

We open on a beach episode. Wait, what? Yes, I know you must be thinking a great many things. For starters, Class F is in a cool down period in which they cannot declare a Summoner Test War, and it's also summer break. Despite beach episodes typically being the bane of anime, this one is played in a very clever fashion, leading to laughs aplenty. In addition, it serves as a sort of rolling call for the cast, but this is only relevant for those picking up the series right then and there.

Another couple episodes are burned building on character relationships before the group finds themselves in school once more. They're quickly sent off to a training camp of sorts, an effort by the school to improve the grades and motivation of the lower-ranked classes, not that it works. Here, Akihisa and co. lead an operation to peep on the girl's bath. Yes, of course they have a reason. Akihisa himself is being blackmailed, threatened by the prospect of an embarrassing photo being circulated if he gets any closer to his female companions, whilst Yuuji is unsurprisingly pinned down by the prospect of a forced marriage. Everyone else? Just along for the ride. It takes several action-packed attempts, but they eventually find their culprit... and get all the sophomore boys suspended in the process. I honestly thought this arc was drawn out more than necessary, and it didn't help that I saw everything coming a mile away, but hey, can't win them all.

Incredibly well-done drama follows, with director Shin Ohnuma calling on his previous experience with Ef. The guy created some really tear-jerking moments for an otherwise lighthearted show.

The season comes to a close with a halloween theme, pitting the second years against the third years in a test of courage. A couple particular third years are out for revenge on Akihisa and Yuuji due to their previous run-in, but the guys show that they are once again not to be underestimated when it comes time to act. The door is left open for more events to follow, and why not? The light novel from which the anime is drawn is still going strong.

I'm a large fan of the romance and comedy genres, but I honestly don't believe I'm making more out of Baka and Test than I should be. It's made me laugh, it's made me cry, it's made me hate, it's made me love, it's made me remember my good ol' days, and it's gotten me incredibly pumped and ready to take on anything should I set my mind to it. Where Toradora! is a romantic masterpiece, Baka and Test is the ultimate in comedy. I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a good time that doesn't force completely two-dimensional characters on the viewer.

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Ok so Hanasaku Iroha, the story of...um, a girl going to work perhaps? I never saw any clearly defined message, THIS BODES WELL. Its a Slice of Life.

Short story: Its shit.

Long Story: Ohana's slut mom forces her to move with her Grandma at an Inn in which she starts working, filled with all sorts of characters.
Pity, they're all terrible.
Ohana's amazing character trait is charging into other peoples business, usually amounts to her shouting "LETS FES IT UP" and the situation moderately solves itself. Moving on.
Next we have stupid bitch. Also known as Minko. Minko is a bitch. She has no redeeming traits. And her voice is annoying. No really, I can't think of a single thing this character did other than be a bitch and cause some needless DRAWMA. Look guys, if you're going to make a character you want everyone to hate, make them a villain so you can cheer when the hero beats them, such an insufferable character has no place in Slice of Life.
And then Nako, Nako is supper supper shy. What, you expected anything else from her? Nope.
There are a ton more but frankly this'll go on forever if I keep listing them, they're all varing degrees of flat along with a few hateful ones too, not to Minko's level though.

See guys, this is a problem, your show has no plot, this means the characters carry it, these characters couldn't carry shit. I don't CARE about Ohana's silly relationship with a guy, I don't CARE that that one bloke wants in the annoying as all hell womans pants, I don't CARE that Minko wants in this guys pants, I don't CARE that the Inn, the entire thing keeping them together is going under.
Since caring about all this is...uhh...the entire point of the show, that kinda says alot.

And now lets nitpick at the episode count. 26. 26 is MORE than enough time to develop characters spectacularly, so what the hell was it doing that they are so flat even with all this time? Wasting it on worthless filler that didn't do a damn thing to pad the characters and wasn't funny or anything.
At least it looks nice, real nicely animated and drawn.

It almooooooost looked like it would be good at episode 1. Don't trust something by its first episode kids.


tl;dr DID SOMEBODY ORDER A SNOOZECRUISE?

Author Note: My Opinion > Your Opinion.

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Hanasaku Iroha

Hanasaku knows what it wants to be and tries its best to meet those expectations. The issue with that is it tries to be too much at once. It’s a Slice of Life that tries to incorporate drama, romance, and comedy and struggles to maintain a strong front for all of these. The melodrama was on and off, the romance was just not there and felt thrown in just to fuel drama, and I’m not sure what the writers were thinking for certain "comedy" episodes.

However, even if there are problems with the pacing, mood and more importantly, the characters, Hanasaku manages to alleviate some of them over time. While it’s not completely ignorable, it still didn’t hinder the overall experience for me too much. Of course, this depends on how you watch it and if you go in with a negative mindset and refuse to accept the characters, then you are not going to like this series, period. Over time, I found that even the more annoying characters have their strong points shown and aren’t a complete nuisance to the overall cast.

The melodrama in this series varied from mediocre cheese to well-timed coincidences. It’s nothing compared to a real drama like AnoHana (Fun fact : Written by the same writer in the same season), but it still manages to shine at certain points. The first few episodes lured us into a false sense of security, thinking this would be a good drama series before it went to SoL shenanigans, but it went back to the drama after some (admittedly weak) character development and I thought the cliffhangers and buildup near the final “arc” paid off in the end.

Speaking of filler, can you really call a non-plot related episode in a SoL filler? It’s mostly forgettable content, as I only watched it a few months ago and can’t recall most of what happened in the middle of this series, but I don’t remember it ever being painful to watch. The cycle of “filler” arcs and plot relevant ones created a weird balance, and it gave this SoL a unique flavour, one where it can end up sweet or bitter for the fan.

Now onto the plot. This “Slice of Life” shows us that life isn’t always perfect and handed to us on a silver platter. I actually like the "coming of age" theme of trying to find your dream or being lost in the stream, not knowing where you belong or what you want to do. I know, it’s pretty generic and found everywhere, but it's one of the few things that Hanasaku manages to pull off pretty well. I also liked how the three generations of this family were portrayed to be different and it wasn’t just the case of, “you inherit this and are forced along the same path”.

One last thing I want to mention is the visual eyecandy that PA Works managed to put out on the table here. The background shots are breathtaking, and each of those building scenery shots look like they have a good mix of CG and traditional. Scenery porn is the best way I can think of describing it. There also aren’t any noticeable QUALITY issues with characters throughout. Correct me if I’m wrong, but PA Works is a pretty new studio compared to others but all their works I’ve seen are beautifully animated and I’m waiting to see what else they can bring out in the future.

So in the end, Hanasaku Iroha is not about its drama, comedy or god forbids, romance, but just another SoL coming of age story. It had a good start but failed to continue on that momentum and when it does pick back up, it’s too little too late. What’s left is a beautifully animated series that just tried a little too hard to bloom.

Plot : 6/10, Generic but it worked out.
Animation : 9/10, Scenery porn with no signs of faltering.
Characters : 6/10, Extremely difficult to like at times, but there’s a certain dynamic between them at some point.
Enjoyment : 8/10, I don’t regret watching it, it can be relaxing at times, with serious moments to give it some spice.

Overall : 7/10