Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts - Reviews

Entertaining and pointless, this anime was well worth the watch.

For some reason, I put off this anime for two years. I constantly reminded myeslf to watch this, but never found the time or enthusiasm to bother with it. After I spent some time finishing just recently, I can guarantee it is worth your time.

The story is mainly about the dumbest class in a highschool and how they have to deal with peer pressure (and constant trolling) by other students and members of society. There is a plot and some flashbacks, but it is buried under the hilarious events that seem to impede on plot progression. therefore, if a person watches this with critical hope for an engaging, satisfying plot, they might feel betrayed by the exposition and expectations of the setting. I simply watched it for entertainment and enjoyed it, so I was not disturbed by the lack of any actual building plot. Those looking for plot should look somewhere else. The animation is fairly standard, but the character designs look great (especially Hideyoshi's) and the art style changes sometimes for comedic purposes. The opening sounds generic, though the ending pulls off a unique style. The characters are also what you'd expect them to sound, so nothing wrong there. Also to mention, the dub sounds exceptionally well (hater's gonna hate). The characters all fill into a certain archetype, but are excecuted with care. Small breasted tsundere, large-breast yandere, sexy she-male, bastard best friend... sound fimiliar? Still, what they do is extremely hilarious. Though some running gags are reused far too many times (flat joke, lesbo joke, gay joke), they are consistent enough to provide a few chuckles here and now. I definitely loved the characters despite there being no character development, which might be another turnoff for some people. Think of it, if Minami (flat tsundere) had developed large breasts, where's the fun in that? 

Claiming that this is one of the best animes I've seen in a while might be an overstatement, as I've maybe not seen any good ones (or seen too few animes) this past few months, or perhaps my excitement hasn't died down yet after finishing this recently. Whatever the reasons may be, I reccomend this to any anime lover who just had a depressing day or simply wants a good laugh or two. If plot and character proggresion is your main focus, I'd suggest you look somewhere else, though I doubt any person would really resent a comedy anime for not having them.   

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.

Idiots. The world is full of them.

Accepting this terrible reality is Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. In an elite academy that houses the best and worst students ever to exist, the idiots fight to get their dues. The nerds once had their revenge, didn't they? Now the dummies get their turn.

In the most glaring case of discrimination, Fumizuki Academy separates the students according to their academic proficiency. The geniuses get the best classroom, the best materials, and other fanciful luxuries most teenagers from common birth could never dream of having. The idiots get a cardboard box as a desk and don't even dare to ask about getting a chair to sit on. As elitist as it gets, there are stipulations-- the students CAN make their situation better. Just pass the tests. 

In an interesting development or perhaps more like the infamous "children's card game" type of situation, the students of Fumizuki do not have math olympiads or spelling bees to compete with one another. They outright battle with little avatars that digitally (or in the case of the head-dummy, Akihisa, physically) manifest and based on test scores, have certain amount of Attack, Defence and Hit Points. It's almost like Pokemon, but just imagine you had to make Ash take a Japanese History test to be able to tell Pikachu to attack. 

The story of Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu then follows the protagonist Akihisa, the "baka" king of kings as he leads his rebel band of buttheads against the geniuses of the school. They're stupid to ridiculous degrees, yes, but while their heads are empty, their hearts are full of justice, vigour and hope. In an interesting light, the show promotes a rather good message: even if being a genius is beyond your capabilities, being the best that YOU can be is not. Somewhat rather touching to learn, and it's a bunch of neanderthals that pass that lesson along.

As far as looks go, this anime has very nice backgrounds which stand out immediately. The colour palette is rather attractive; the series always looks bright and clean and makes use of cheerful colours. The character design at best can be called "cute". Liking it is clearly up to taste considering its genericness (a pink haired girl with shiny eyes and big breasts... I've never seen that before!). The battles make some rather interesting scenes even though all the avatars are chibi creatures and the animation does not really flex its muscle here at all.

Sound-wise, the best thing about this series is the voice-acting. Any good comedy series needs great comic actors. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu fortunately has a great cast that understands how to do their routines and deliver their lines effectively. Akihisa easily is the best character voice-wise going through a million emotions a minute and still packing a punch with whatever he says. The theme songs are decent albeit forgettable after time and the background music also passes though perhaps you wouldn't be rushing to save any of the tracks or buy the album.

What makes Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu a lot of fun are the "baka" in the title. The cast makes a terrific ensemble of simpletons having a broad archetype to base their personalities around. The shy, genius girl? Got it. Genki pettanko? She's there. Psycho stalker. Scarily present. The trap. Oh boy, does this series ever have that one. Honestly, up till the very last episode, it seems unclear as to whether Hideyoshi really is a boy or a girl. Other than their broad descriptions, the characters hone their attributes to give themselves more personalities. Their antics and interaction make the series a lot more fun than the actual story. What keeps you coming back are their jokes and... well, they have no witticisms since they're dumb as a box of salted crackers, but whatever passes for wit amongst them-- there's plenty of that. 

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu makes for entertaining viewing. It is utterly hilarious at points. It knows how to take something as tired as letting the idiots run amuck and makes it fresh. It covers a lot of things that generally appear in anime that turns them on their head to give a good, genuine laugh to the audience. The comedy might be about dumbness... but the comedy itself is not dumb. It is cleverly written, direct and very quick. If you're looking for a good laugh, then this series does not disappoint. 

Like I said before, the world is full of morons. But maybe that's not such a bad thing after all

I absolutely loved this show. It was hilarious and I really enjoyed every episode. I loved all the different colors and how everything was so brightly colored. The jokes they made were funny and I always looked forward to the next episode. 

-Story-

I found the story of Baka and Test to be both hilarious and entertaining at the same time. There were several moments that I was laughing quite hard about. The concept of the show was also interesting. The students take placement exams and based on those they are sent to different classrooms based on ability. The best classes get the best stuff, while the worst classes get the worse stuff. If students don't like their stuff, they can challenge another class to a "Summoner Test War" to get their stuff. I feel that this premise was presented well. Mixed in with this sort of sci-fi theme there is also a "slice of life" and "harem" aspect to the series as well, which I found complimented the premise quite well surprisingly. I also thought that the ending was very touching. However there were some parts that lead to that ending in which I thought were kind of cheap, and I felt that the introduction of some characters were unneccesary, but overall it was great.

-Animation-

The animation was pretty good throughout the series, and I like its style. The portrayal of the background characters is reminisant of Pani Poni Dash and School Rumble. The style is a bit cutesy, but it works well with this series.

-Characters-

Like many other series that are like Baka and Test, the characters are the most important part of this series. Aki is our protangonist, and he is a complete idiot with a heart of gold. Overall he makes a good protangonist, and I found him to be funny and interesting. Minami is one of the few good examples of a tsundere character. She has a good balance between her affection for Aki and her hatred for him. Plus when she beats on Aki it is funny, which is completely unlike most tsundere characters who just beat on the main protangonist because they are selfish stupid bitches. Himeji is another love interest for Aki, and she could be described as a bit moe, but that is not really a fitting description. She is likely the perfect girl type character. Hideyoshi is a  male character that looks like a girl and just about everyone confuses him for one too, and the other male characters are attracted to him a bit, but its hard to tell if its just a joke or not. Sakamoto is the class representative for Aki's class, and he makes a great leader, and is quite funny, especially in his overbearing love/hate relationship with Shoko. The last main character is Kouta, and he is the standard pervert, but his actions are still hilarious. Outside of the main cast, Baka and Test had a mostly great supporting cast, with my only gripe being Aki's sister who is introduced late in the show and only really serves to show lessons to Aki that he could have easily gotten from an already introduced cast member.

-Overall-

Baka and Test is a very entertaining show and I found it to be quite funny. I would recommend it to people who like their anime to be a tad quirky, but still able to tell an articulate story.