Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Originally a light novel series written by Kenji Inoue with illustrations done by Yui Haga, “Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu” has now gotten an anime adaptation of which the first episode recently aired.

Although it is created by Silver Link, “Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu” definitely shows some of the visual style elements and flair often seen in series created by Shaft, which is most likely due to the fact the series is directed by Shin Oonuma who also directed “Ef – A Tale Of Memories” and “Pani Poni Dash!” at Shaft.

This first episode featured crisp animation, alternating lively characters with colorful scenery to the drab background that represents the decrepit classroom of class F.

It also showed refreshing visuals without actually pushing any boundaries to what would be unfit for such a school comedy. Say, akin to Shaft’s work in “Maria†Holic” and “Pani Poni Dash!” but slightly more benign and closely fitting the series atmosphere.

Wasn’t too sure at first what to think of the ‘summoned beasts’ battle system as I feared it would feel rather “Yu-Gi-Oh!” or “Pokemon” like but luckily looks like it will be used purely for plot driven and comedy means.

Do very much appreciate this series for using its premise to surreptitiously at times and quite explicitly open at other times make bold statements about society. How people are far too often divided into classes (pun intended) based upon wealth, intelligence, social status, which were originally measured in a doubtful manner which will determine their future path.

Although the comedy element is more explicitly present, those underlying themes are brought forth in several scenes and are quite interesting to see stated in a series where it would else be rather unexpected. Definitely a big bonus and I hope “Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu” keeps that up.

Next to terrific visuals, “Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu” was rife with excellent humor and jokes. Even if the characters still look somewhat generic at this point, does feel like they might prove to become quite interesting and each character’s role was played out perfectly making their characterization humor spot on.

One of the jokes that is no doubt to be recurring is how most students treat their male classmate Hideyoshi as a girl due to his feminine looks, when summoning his beast he is even treated to a magical girl transformation scene.
Of course to make matters worse for Hideyoshi, he has a twin sister. Future episodes may yield great trap scene potential.

Surprisingly, both Hideyoshi and his twin sister Yuuko are voiced by Katou Emiri who also did Kagami in “Lucky Star” or Sakuya in “Candy☆Boy”.
The series also features voice work by Taketatsu Ayana as Miharu, who voiced Azusa in “K-ON!”.

This first episode was able to intrigue me and bring quite a bit of laughs, in terms of comedy and entertainment more my style and preference than “Chu-Bra!!”. Definitely a series I’ll be following.