What I Like About:
Baka & Test
I’m not sure if I will have the intro be “What I Like About You” played by The Romantics for its sound quality or by Lillix because it is the most memorable.
I also do not know what the exact format of this type of FOF Project will be, since it really isn’t that different from any other type of review that you see on any other page…I don’t know, I like shooting from the hip.
One of my Unofficial Top 10 Comedy anime is “Baka & Test: Summon the Beasts!” and since I just did a Character Analysis of one of the characters in it, so it would be foolish to not do a proper overview of the series.
DISCLAIMER: I WILL ONLY BE DISCUSSING THE ANIME AND THE OVAS SINCE I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE MANGA, BUT I WIL MENTION OTHER MERCH LIKE THE VIDEO-GAME AND ANYTHING ELSE I COULD FIND IN PASSING
DISCLAIMER: I MAY SPOIL
I found this anime back when I was in 8th grade, on the good-old Funimation Channel that was on cable, and being a young boy in the middle of his weeb phase (that has yet to end) I latched onto it. Once I finally got settled down since I was in a position where I wasn’t exactly in school, the one friend I did have (Creshendeath) and I watched it and talked about it non-stop; for some reason I end up watching it every year. I started that joke since I would often play it in the background when I’m doing homework to find some semblance of joy. Anyways, I’ll break down the specs instead of rambling now.
Plot:
Fumizuki Academy is a prestigious school that ranks its students from the illustrious, high-performing students of Class A to the bottom-feeding lowlives of Class F. There’s just two twists to the system; first is that Class A is awarded state-of-the-art equipment and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle as a result of their high test scores, but the quality of life drops from Class B to C all the way down to Class F where their students don’t even having working desks or chairs to sit in during school. Second is the Summoner Test War; each student has an Avatar, a miniature effigy that has a Power Level determined by their test scores, and each Class has the opportunity to “declare war” on another Class, if the lower-Class succeeds, then they have the opportunity to switch equipment with the class they defeated.
Probationary Student and loveable idiot Akihisa Yoshi and his Class-F cohorts navigate the system of Fumizuki Academy to defeat Class A, with all of the hilarity and hijinks (I can’t believe I just used that phrase) that come with the territory.
Characters:
Akihisa Yoshi- A genuine dumbass, the story primarily revolves around him and his quest to merely survive Fumizuki Academy and impress his crush, Mizuki Himeji.
-He is my favorite character because his voice actor Josh Grelle is the king of slapstick comedy voices, from Akihisa to Kenichi, he cracks me up.
Mizuki Himeji- Although she is the highest-ranking student at Fumizuki, she is placed in Class F because she could not complete the Placement Test. She has a crush on Akihisa, but is too shy and nervous to actually say or do anything about it.
-Way back when I liked Himeji as a character, but after a while her voice started to annoy the hell outta me.
Minami Shimada- A German transfer student and the embodiment of a Tsundere. She is placed in Class F because she isn’t the most familiar with the Japanese language. She has feelings for Akihisa, but the only way she can show it is by hitting him with every Pro-Wrestling move possible.
-The definition of a Tsundere. Her trope got old after a while in my opinion, but she does get her own episode in Season 2 and I thought it was well-done.
Yuji Sakamoto- Leader of Class F. Although he is academically talented, he willingly fails in order to lull people into a false sense of security before he leverages his skill and the skills of others to pull off unexpected victories in the Summoner Test Wars.
-I did a Character Analysis on him even though he isn’t my favorite character. He’s a great foil to Akihisa and these two as a duo are the reason for most of my laughs in the series.
Kouta Tsuchiya- The pervy kid with the camera who specializes in Health and Physical Education. That’s pretty much his whole character, and the gags do get old after a while.
-Second to Akihisa, he is my favorite character, despite the dumb perv gags. In my opinion, he has the best Avatar and his summon animation with the hand seals always gets me.
Merch:
(Pulled off of Wikipedia)
Light Novel:
Written by Kenji Inoue
Illustrated by Yui Haga
Published by Enterbrain
Volumes: 18
Run: January 2007-March 2015
Manga:
Written by Kenji Inoue
Illustrated by Mosuke Mattaku Yumeuta
Published by Kadokawa Shoten
English Publisher: Yen Press
Volumes: 15
Fun: June 2009-September 2016
Anime:
2 Seasons of 13 episodes + 2 OVA Episodes
Directed by Shin Onuma
Written by Katsuhiko Takayama
Music by Nijine
Studio: Silver Link
Run: January 2010-September 2011
Video-Game:
“Baka to Test to Shoukanju Portable” (PSP)
Developer: Kadokawa games
Released: Dec 2012
Breakdown
Aside from the nostalgia kick that I get from this anime, I like to sing its praises in these aspects:
Comedy Voice Acting (1)“Baka & Test” is one of those anime that if you’re a Western anime fan, I highly suggest you watch it Dubbed. Granted there is a lot of humor and gags that are kinda repulsive and seem to get old, but I believe it is heavily mitigated by the voice acting. This is why I can (sorta) listen to this in the background. Each actor really does their individual character justice and even in the lines that are not direct translations from the Japanese script, they hit very well. Often times it is not what they say, but how they say it that really delivers the punchline.
Before I watched this anime I watched “School Rumble,” which is another romantic comedy anime, but it has slightly less slapstick gags and is generally more heavy on the drama between characters. When watching anime of this genre, I find it important to understand that there is a cultural difference in humor that could be mitigated by good voice acting, and “Baka & Test” is a great example of how this anime can be adapted for a Western audience in a way that amplifies its comedic value. I HAVE to give a highlight (for whatever it is worth or not worth) to Josh Grelle as Akihisa Yoshi because he absolutely kills every line he delivers. His performance really makes you relate to and even vote for Akihisa Yoshi, even though he’s a total slacker and a goof, you can’t help but like him because he’s funny.
Characters and Tropes (2)
I tried to limit the characters I described to 5 because I don’t want my fingers to fall off, and I would like to narrow the list of important characters to 5 in order to capture a variety of aspects of the show that are important. My three favorite characters (in order) would have to be Akihisa, Kouta, and Shimada.
In order to shed some more light, I even took to an online index of character tropes to scope for some more.
Akihisa Yoshi is a loveable idiot and a class clown. Although the anime does have a narrator (who is played for comedic effect), having Akihisa explain himself and every stupid action he takes or situation he is in is funny. But as a protagonist, he has a heart of gold and is one of the few characters whose core motivation revolves around a relatively noble purpose. He wants to win Himeji’s affection and survive Fumizuki Academy and have fun while doing it, and many of the core conflicts where you see him put any effort come as a result of someone either disrespecting Himeji or Class F.
Kouta Tsuchiya is the pervy ninja character who’s constantly getting nosebleeds, reminiscent of Jiraya from Naruto, but more creepy. While that type of comedy gets old really fast, his delivery of lines are good and I do like the appearance of his Avatar. The ninja outfit that he and his Avatar have are pretty cool, and he has some of the most dynamic animations of the series.
Every character has a Summoning Pose, a sort of mini-transformation sequence, and Kouta performing a set of hand seals before shouting “Summon” is an animation that is just really good. SPOILER, there is a scene in episode 10 of season 1 near the end of the battle where the camera slides into a scene of Kouta jumping through a window before performing his summon and ending the battle…it all happens so quickly, and it is just fun to watch for someone who likes the finer details.
Minami Shimada is the running definition of a Tsundere. Many of her scenes involve her brutalizing Akihisa, and even though it does get old, there are some of them that are genuinely funny. Even if they aren’t funny, the gags always have good art and animation, maybe because it’s a highlight of her character.
Mizuki Himeji is a character characterized by being shy and having a high-pitched shrill voice. That aspect of her character seems to balance out the chaos and break up the monotony, which does work because the episodes and the gags are visually dynamic and have very loud sound cues. If you’re a person who gets worn out by all of that cartoonish movement, then you may like Himeji. Aside from that, there is a running gag where she can’t cook well, which does have its funny moments, and she does have some cool animations exclusive to her.
Yuji Sakamoto, I already did a Character Analysis of him…I won’t break down every character and every trope, but the tropes are played very well, and that’s what makes the comedy hit so hard.
Character Deisgn, Art & Animation (3)
Although this is the third point, I think it is the point that should be emphasized the most…the art and animation of the anime is S-tier. I honestly believe that Season 1 and Season 2 of this anime has better art and animation than most of the anime you see from the recent past and even the present.
First, I’ll talk about Character Design. Not only do the various outfits looks great from a color standpoint, but each character has a signature look. Usually it is a combination of a hair color, a hair style, and an object that make each character stand out, and there are several visual cues to this throughout the anime. The most prominent ones are Himeji’s hair clip and Shimada’s ponytail, but even in the opening of season 2 and on certain frames there are draws to it. Kouta’s camera, Yuji’s spiky punk haircut, Shouko’s nail bat, and Hitoyoshi’s androgynous headshot are a few.
This also carries into the Avatars, which are always cool to see. A fun detail that I like is that Avatars of a higher Power Level actually have more armor and better weaponry than that of lower classes. For example, Akihisa’s has only a trench-coat and a wooden sword while Himeji’s has armor from head to toe and a giant steel sword.
In terms of art and animation, the anime is stellar to say the least. Bright and vibrant pastel colors paint masterpieces of almost every single frame, even when there is action or a comedic gag, you can see that the patterns and color schemes were not wasted. Look at the season 1 opening “Perfect Area Complete.”
The way the OP looks is how the anime looks almost 100% of the time. No cap.
No frame or technique is spared with the animation, either. For an anime of this genre, there has to be a lot of dynamic movement, and it has it in droves. It can convey comedy through subtlety as well, my favorite being the gag wherever Yuji puts his hand on Akihisa’s shoulder and the entire art and animation style change to look like it is drawn on plain white paper.
Music (4)
This one is kind of hard to talk about since I haven’t done a deep dive into the OST, I can only talk about the openings and endings and some of the sound bytes that you hear.
My favorite OST from this anime is the season 1 opening “Perfect Area Complete.” I love electric music, and hearing the array of instruments that has roller-coaster like tempo is an awesome way to start every episode. I’ll be honest, I actually pace my sprints off of this song sometimes—but nobody really needed to know that.
(If this was a song on Touhou Sky Arena Matsuri Climax—that would be sick)
Even without a full song, there are lots of sound effects and background music behind action scenes and other scenes that help create a pseudo sci-fi aesthetic that is just appealing to watch.
Miscellaneous: Aesthetic (5)
I kinda spoiled it by saying it earlier in the music, but one thing that “Baka & Test” has going for it is its aesthetic. The color scheme and the music help set up a very subtle sci-fi aesthetic that I haven’t seen replicated well in other anime.
Even when I think of sci-fi video-games or TV shows I can hardly think of other games that build an aesthetic that can complement both the romantic comedy and the sci-fi action.
For example, the show Code Lyoko has one specific art style for the Kadic setting and it takes both a full transformation sequence and a chance to a CGI art style for the Lyoko world.
The movie Tron: Legacy has a majority setting inside of the computer and submerges you in the neon color and dark black combination to set up the sci-fi setting.
The anime Megaman NT Warrior (which I still need to finish) has a distinct art style for the “Real World” where Lan and co are separated by their distinct color schemes, and an entirely different art style for the “Cyberworld” and a different background color scheme for the world and color scheme for the navis.
The anime IGPX has an art style distinction between the characters and the mechs.
My point is that it’s hard to have an art style that perfectly blends both the sci-fi action and the romantic comedy aspects of the same show, but “Baka & Test” does that so well by combining fast-paced electric music and a very wide array of colors that are present in both the characters and the cyber world.
Conclusion
This is my first “What I Like About” FOF Project. I still have yet to come up with a specific format for it, but I like taking a bite at the apple at least. I have considered doing one for other anime or something, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Epilogue: What Sucks
I think it’s fair to also list off the things about this anime that I don’t like just to keep it fair.
Gratuitous Slapstick Comedy (1)
Slapstick comedy is a 20/80 for me; most of them I don’t like, but with few exceptions that are likely cemented in my “acceptable” category out of nostalgia.
A lot of the jokes are repeated over and over and over again, and it loses its luster after a while.
Also the content of the jokes can make you grimace sometimes. Incest, gender identity, cross-dressing, and crude sexual humor is abound and after I’ve seen the series at least once or twice, it does feel like I’m watching a low-tier comedy that’s poorly written. The vocal execution of the dialogue is funny, but the content is just crude at a point.
Maybe I’m just turning into an old man who likes to pick at everything and point out every form of questionable or crude content in an anime, but I feel that that has formed as a result of the oversaturation of crude humor and poorly written comedy…But that’s another FOF for another time.
Anachronistic Episodes(2)
There are a few very specific episodes that I would suggest for people to watch if I wanted to really sell the anime to them.
Highlight Episodes
(A)Season 1 episode 2
(B)Season 1 episode 3
(C)Season 1 episode 7
(D)Season 1 episode 10
(E)Season 1 episode 12
(F)Season 2 episode 9
(G)Season 2 episode 10
(H)Season 2 episode 11
While that is quite a few episodes, there are two concepts that these episodes capitalize on. The Action is wrapped up in A, B, and E.he rest of the episodes capitalize on The Characters. Also the content in the Season 2 Highlight Episodes deal with the past rather than the present. It was very weird that the third-to-last episode of the entire series (before the OVA) was used to talk about two character’s backstory that explained the context for stuff that happened all the way back in Episode 7 of Season 1.
Granted, since the narrative and character dynamics are overstated, it’s of little consequence, it’s not like the continuity is broken and there’s stuff you won’t understand by watching it in order, but if you’re the type of person (like my buddy) who would like to have the story readily in front of you without having to scan through the episodes, there are some that would throw you off.
-END
