First Impressions ; Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni 01

Not the smartest thing to say to the flat-chested Minami.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni immediately starts off with the hilarity that made its predecessor just as enjoyable. This looks like a promising sequel with just the right amount of light-hearted funny, combined with the typical parodying of other anime. If you liked the first, you’ll like the second.

Episode 1

Including yourself?

As a brief overview of what happened in the episode, Akihisa and his sister decide to take a trip to the beach, wherein he invites all of his friends. (Only, as those who have watched the first series may remember, his sister is not exactly okay with him being around girls. Not with her younger brother complex, anyways…) The comedy starts straight off in this scene with her threatening to murder Akihisa’s entire family if he should get involved “inappropriately with a girl.”

Which can only make you feel worse.

On the ride to the beach, we encounter the gang’s normal antics – Minami and Himeji are fretting over the state of their swimsuit figure, while Hideyoshi tries to discount their worries. This, of course, does not go over well, as they point out that he will eventually grow into a great figure. (Because even the girls don’t see Hideyoshi as a boy.) Then, as Akihisa discovers, his sister intends to wear her old school swimsuit at the beach. Needless to say, this gives Voyeur quite the nosebleed as he inwardly imagines it.

Yuuji getting pwned by Shouko again. This is my OTP.

After an unfriendly watermelon smashing competition, the girls leave to get some grub. When they return, the guys wonder what took them so long, to which they gleefully admit that they were being hit on. Although they fully expect some reaction from the guys, both Yuuji and Akihisa are completely nonchalant, as though they don’t even understand what the problem is with the girls being hit on. All three girls, including Shouko, sling the insult that the two boys couldn’t properly hit on a girl if they tried.

Yes, for lack of a better comparison, they decided to say porn star.

… Which leads into Yuuji and Akihisa’s hair-brained scheme to prove the girls wrong. And, as though it isn’t obvious enough, they thwart their own attempts with their idiocy. In the end, they see two girls at the beach and give one last ditch effort. Only, the two girls are Shouko and Voyeur… And Himeji and Minami seem to be in a pretty foul mood as they shout over the loudspeaker that Akihisa better “stay put.”

Thoughts –

It’s the same thing we saw last season: hilarious comedy and well-employed parodies that leave you cracking up. There isn’t really much more that you can ask for from Baka to Test. I enjoy that they play up the parody on Akihisa’s sister, whose complex resembles the typical sibling obsession from other shounen anime. Although they may hit into the extreme area, it’s all for the purpose of laughs, which it manages to elicit.

Hideyoshi’s unending grief in trying to prove himself as a man being once again thwarted was much to my joy. I’m glad the quirks of the last season have carried on well into this one – where Voyeur pricelessly spends most of the episode anemic from bloodloss after trying his best to hold out against a girl in a swimsuit.

Hopefully the rest of this season can continue to carry the easy-going comedy while achieving some manner of storyline – perhaps to a greater degree than the first. Although judging by this opening episode, I have my doubts about plot, but that’s not really what this anime is about, anyways.

And as an extra add in, I love the opening for this season. The tune is catchy.

-Lustri