I Am That Stoopid Baka (to Test to Shoukanjuu)
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After the incredible disappointment presented by the second episode of Dance in the Vampire Bund I thought I would turn on something light to ease the aching in my stomach cheap ampicilllin (because what they did to Mina Tepes is something I can’t digest). To my delight the thoughts of plot murderers and character killers immediately left my mind when I watched the second episode of Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. I must say I might have misjudged this show when I called it stupid. This show is downright idiotic!
The best part of Baka to Test Shoukanjuu though is it embraces that stupidity and that in turn is what makes it great. Though most of the humor comes about through the brilliant execution I have to say that some of it is really smart. For instance the reason it can crack you over the head with a joke when they reveal Sakamoto’s score to be a 53 at the end relies heavily on your expectations as a viewer. If that doesn’t convince you then you should also take into consideration our hero. He appears to be an idiot, but that isn’t rare for Shonen heroes. order discount pharm What’s rare is that he has almost no redeemable qualities. He’s an idiot and his continued failures after long speeches are just great. He doesn’t discover some mysterious power; he doesn’t work hard and suddenly become smart; he just deals with his small little world. In other words this is a pretty darn effective parody of the Shonen genre. Whether or not it will actually end up being a true Shonen show is doubtful. It depends on whether or not they introduce a necessity for Class F to move up in the ranks and take the show in a serious direction. I for one hope that they don’t because right now it’s joined an elite class of shows that have actually made me LoL. This is actually quite the rarity, I’ll sometimes smile but I’m hardly ever reduced to the laughing/coughing fit episode 2 left me in.
The sad part is that this show doesn’t have a lot of replay value. Most of the jokes are based off of surprising you and smashing the expectations they built, so knowing what is going cheap doxycycline to happen ahead of time kind of ruins it. I for one was going to add a bunch of screenshots to this post, but I stopped after realizing I had pretty much captured every line. This show is funny; you should just go watch the real thing.
You’ll also be surprised to know that Baka to Test has also done the best job with characterization of any of the shows premiering this winter so far. Let me explain as I’m sure there will be some skeptical people: For one thing you have to give the creator a big thumbs up (and possibly a Yin no Piano badge) for thrusting us into a world where relationships have already completely formed. The relationships don’t seem unnatural and are even odd and hilarious. I commented before on how quickly they set up the dynamic in episode one. Many shows make the mistake of focusing on that childhood friend relationship for the entire first episode flaying out all the feelings. Baka to Test developed the entire personality within four to five lines (with an added heavy reliance on the “show don’t tell” philosophy).
Question: How did they pull it off?
Answer: The effective use of expectations for stock characters.
Don’t worry this picture is ok because it’s a guy!
We don’t need to rehash the same old arch type a million times. They didn’t spend time on it because they didn’t need to. It’s possible they’ll flesh out the relationship more in later episodes, but for now the gimmicks (her being a pro wrestler) are really the only things that make these arch type characters different in the first place so what does Baka to Test do: They focus on the gimmicks. It’s the same thing with almost every other character too. We’ve seen characters like them and their apparent one mindedness makes them easy to figure out so we can get straight to the humor. Sakamoto and the Valedictorian have to be my favorite characters so far though. I love how I place Sakamoto in the arch type of Lelouch or Light with the way he explains the complexity of his brilliant plan only to floor us when we find out he’s just yanking our chain. The Valedictorian is great because of the last scene *spoiler* She came in knocked Sakamoto out and dragged him off on a date */end spoiler*.
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They also purchase cheap tabs keep the premise simple. The battle monsters are just cute personifications of what kids do anyway (compare test scores). There’s really no point to them being chibi-people, that’s just an added element of ROFL. Not to mention the pervert’s is a ninja and our hero’s chibi looks as stupid as him.
I’m surprised to say that this show is probably going to be one of my favorites in this new season. It’s much better than I expected and Katou Emiri voicing two characters is a Yum fest.
The OP and ED are probably my favorite of the new season as well. I haven’t seen the new Railgun one yet though so who knows. It’s going to be hard to top Perfect-Area Complete though. It’s such a good representation of knowing your audience. The ED is also just perfect for this show. I loved how they changed the style to match that of the delinquent school boy all while blasting punk j-pop. Shouting lyrics badly is also ok with me!
(I must admit that I really like the Durarara OP as well though… It’s kind of hard, there are some good OP’s this season).
Here are the OP and ED though it probably won’t last on Youtube long and there are no subs (and the video is reversed XP)
Alright, so you can tell I’ve fallen in love with this show a little bit. I couldn’t help it… It’s so good!
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14 Comments
Thanks for recommending this! I recently picked it up and I have to say, I enjoyed it! This is one of the few obvious comedy series which succeeded in making me LOL (Lately, I’ve been laughing more in shows which do not project an image of being a comedy genre type e.g. SoraWoto). I guess whenever a show advertises itself as comedy, I have a bad habit of unconsciously expecting it to be funny, only to end up feeling unsatisfied due to that expectation. However for Baka to Test, its strength lies in ambush when it comes to humor. The comedy doesn’t feel forcefully done, although I do wonder how much longer can they keep this up without it feeling contrived.
I also appreciate the fact that they established the personalities and relationships of the characters as early as Episode 1. I guess I find that approach more fresh when most stories nowadays travel the conventional route of developing those two aspects. I suppose there is room for them in Baka to Test as well, since it’s evident the dynamics have changed a bit by Episode 2.
On the whole, I didn’t think of picking up this series at first but now that I have and I like it, I might just keep it around for the time being since it’s been amusing so far.
No Problem on the recommendation. I was incredibly surprised by how funny it was too. Nothing against Hayate, but it rarely makes me laugh even though it’s supposed to be a comedy. Most comedies base their humor on parodies, but parodying isn’t direct referencing in my book. These guys know how to parody. They created their own Shonen world (which proves how easy it is) and then proceed to make fun of themselves and the audience for 20 minutes.
I agree with your statement that most of my laughs aren’t normally from comedies. Now a days that just seems to be the case. Especially when you have Kuroko’s. We’re drawn to interesting characters not necessarily over the top plots. Although over the top plots can be used to pretty hilarious affect.
I didn’t really recognize any of the voice actors/actresses besides Katou Emiri, but you probably do. I’m glad this is now kind of edged its way onto your watch list even without your normal requirements.
I always raid your blog to find mountains of information :).
Just thought I’d let you know you’ve made convert #2 out of me. After getting suicidally depressed watching Ladies vs Butlers 01, this show came like a divine healing light ^^
Lol! It’s great isn’t it. The first episode was ok, but when I watched the second episode what they did in the first episode became all the more impressive. I couldn’t believe that we were already getting the awesome jokes we were getting without more set up. I really admire this show for that.
Lol, Ladies vs. Butlers is the only show I’ve officially dropped at this point. I didn’t even bother watching ep. 2.
surprisingly, despite poor reception upon its announcement, this show was beginning to attract attention after ep 1 and its popularity raised after the disappointments in ladies vs butlers and vampire bund and the censorship of qwaser.
if anything, this may be one of the best comedy picks this season… if not, the only good comedy anime that is available. :)
It’s hard to judge comedy series on announcement. The premise is horribly dumb, but that’s pretty much the point. The show makes fun of itself almost as much as we do and that makes it all the better. Plus they do a good job with timing and the “ambushing” as Keiri put it. This is probably one of the best comedies I’ve seen in a long time, and honestly a welcome relief. Other shows failing might have something to do with it too.
I also have to consider that it’s really good episodically but it might be terrible marathoned. I can only imagine that the joking would get old after watching 5 hours straight. Oh well, good thing I’m watching it episodically. Hope it can keep it up.
“I also have to consider that it’s really good episodically but it might be terrible marathoned”
quite true. comedy anime lose its luster if you watch the series straight. it won’t be long before you notice their pattern behind the quirky remarks and antics. for instance, it’s been two episodes and they still make viewers believe that the main protagonist is actually worth GAR but have been acting like sh!t all throughout :lol:
truth be told, i decided to watch this anime because of its resemblance with yugioh gx but even jaden yuki is more competent than akihisa… though, the latter bags the laughs :mrgreen:
I haven’t watched Yugioh for some reason. Probably something to do with cheap pride brought on by playing Magic the Gathering in high school (all the people who played Yugioh were like 8 year old kids).
“cheap pride brought on by playing Magic the Gathering in high school”
lol! i played that too and thought the same way but when i got my hands on yugioh tag force series in psp my opinions changed (mostly because every card that i need is already in the game) magic is quite expensive in the long run XD
Don’t tell me. I stopped playing years ago because of the cost. I was good at it and I knew what I needed for my deck, but $15 per card was ridiculous.
“but $15 per card was ridiculous”
damn right T_T
buying the parts you need never hurts like this!
@ Dustin
“Nothing against Hayate, but it rarely makes me laugh even though it’s supposed to be a comedy. Most comedies base their humor on parodies, but parodying isn’t direct referencing in my book”
Parodies which referenced and made fun of other works never really sat well with me. Those kind of jokes are getting old, I guess. Hayate is funny in other ways though and perhaps it’s based on how they’ve built and developed their characters. For instance, I remember LOLing once when Gilbert assumed Hinagiku was the weakest member of Hayate’s team when he picked her as his challenger while the rest wore evil smirks behind their faces.
“I’m glad this is now kind of edged its way onto your watch list even without your normal requirements”
It’s always good to read informative reviews like this. My method of picking up shows usually depends on the shallow criteria of the cast and brief story summary from sources like ANN because I’m not the type of viewer who decides to watch everything and select which shows are good to invest in. By doing that, I tend to miss out on series which are actually good and worth my time, like Baka to Test.
“I always raid your blog to find mountains of information”
Mountains of information? Hardly! My blog is more like a landfill of garbage and nonsense if anything. XD
Lol, ok you got me there. I guess it’s kind of like Azumanga Daioh where they set up some of the funny elements early so they could use them to great affect later. Like the teachers horrid driving and how chibi-chan was scarred for life. I don’t remember the names of the characters if you’re wondering. That’s why I’m using horrible descriptions.
Now who’s being modest :grin: . Your blog is great, I love reading your Railgun episode reviews.
gooodddddddddddd.!!!!