Along with this realization, I think I solved a question I’ve been pondering for years now – namely how can one best differentiate between a kid and an adult. The answer is that a kid thinks time does not go fast enough and an adult thinks time goes too fast. I fall into the latter category; I’m appalled that I haven’t posted anything in slightly over 2 months but it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been 2 months. Where does the time go???

For those that are interested in why it’s been so long since I last wrote something, I’ll get to later down the page. First, let’s do some anime blogging and we might as well start with my thoughts on the new shows that made up the Winter 2010 season.

Sora No Woto

Status – Finished
Final Score –  8/12 B+
In Short – A-1 deserves praise for attempting a show of the caliber but it really needed to be a 24 episode series. It wasn’t, though, and as a result the pacing is too hurky-jerky, the story-telling is too compressed, and the characters are too flat for the viewer to really enjoy Sora no Woto as much as it should have been. Which is a shame because the world that A-1 created was a really interesting one that truly begged to be investigated more.

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Chuu Bra!!

Status – Dropped after 4 episodes
Interim Score –  2/12 F
In Short – I knew I shouldn’t have bothered with this show but there was so few shows this season I figured what was the harm in watching a couple of episodes. Mistake, I could live with a merely poorly constructed fan-service show but I was not ready for this show. It was a poorly constructed fan-service show with a quasi-realistic portrayal of young teenage girls as they grapple with self-image issues. Each episode left me feeling unclean and wondering who exactly thought animating this show was a good idea. Thankfully, I could legitimately drop Chuu Bra after 4 episodes when it became apparent that the show, even without accounting for the creep factor, was a lousy show.

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Katanagatari

Status – Waiting for the next episode
Interim Score –  8/12 B+
In Short – The first 3 episodes of Katanagatari aired this season and while it started off very shaky – each subsequent episode has shown a marked improvement over the previous. I think the key to liking this show is to not create the wrong expectations. This is a NisiOisiN story so even though it’s about sword fighters and medieval Japan – the emphasis is on the characters and their conversations and not on the blood/ gore/ action scenes that one might assume a show like this would focus on.

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Seikon no Qwaser

Status – 12 episodes watched and still reluctantly watching
Interim Score –  3/12 D
In Short – For a show that tries to push the envelope in terms of fan-service, you’d think the animators could come up with something that wasn’t so boring. Scenes that should shock or titillate more-often-then-not leave me yawning, wishing that I could bean some sense into the manga/anime creators that think T&A is all that’s needed to carry a show. Sometimes I think they forget that the internet exists. The sole saving grace to Seikon no Qwaser is that one character is being voiced by Aya Hirano (aka Haruhi) and she’s absolutely awesome – truly one of her best efforts to date. It’s not enough to make this show a worthwhile watch to the vast majority of anime watchers but it is something.

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Omamori Himari

Status – Dropped after 7 episodes
Interim Score –  5/12 C+
In Short – I continue to be weak against anime shows that feature the supernatural/Japanese religious elements so when a show like Omamori Himari comes along with it’s generic blandness and it happens to have a supernatural element to it – I end up watching it longer then it deserves and having a higher opinion of it then it deserves. It wasn’t a horrible show and I’d probably have finished watching it except that I decided one day that I was sick of the all the not-really-horrible but not-really-good shows I was watching and dropped it along with a few others.

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Ladies versus Butlers!

Status – Finished
Final Score –  4/12 C
In Short – And yet somehow I finished this show,  though in my defense this show did have some potential and I found the opening song catchy. If they had skipped the harem of girls with one-dimensional personalities and focused on the triangle of the main guy and the two girls – drill hair and childhood friend it might even had been a good show but this is Xebec were talking about so that was just wishful thinking. This was probably the least painful fan-service show to watch of the season so if you absolutely needed your fix this was your bet.

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Durarara!!

Status – 13 episodes watched and impatient for more
Interim Score –  10.5/12 Strong A
In Short – One of the best new shows of the season. For those that wanted Durarara to be Baccano 2, this first half of the show was probably a big disappointment. The very minimal body count and focus on character/story development was just two ways Durarara felt unBaccano-like. I’ll admit that this desire clouded my feelings for a while but I eventually got over it when I realized that Durarara was going to be 24 episodes long and it had the time to develop it’s characters in ways that Baccano didn’t and because the animators started to reveal parts of the larger plot of Durarara and it became interesting in it’s own way. I totally psyched for the second half.

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Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Status – Dropped after 7 episodes
Interim Score –  6/12 B-
In Short – Another casualty along with Omamori Himari; I thought it started strong but it began to bog down in the middle and I wasn’t in the mood that day to put up with a show that could obviously being doing much better. Since then I’ve kinda felt bad about dropping it but I’ve yet to feel the urge to pick up where I left off so I guess it’s just best to let sleeping dogs lie.

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Dance In The Vampire Bund

Status – 9 episodes watched and a desire to finish
Interim Score –  6/12 B-
In Short – I really had high hopes for this and I thought the first episode was brilliant but my disappointment grew as I kept waiting for the show to settle down and start telling a story.  since I like the Shaft/Shinbou combo I didn’t want to give up on it so after the sixth episode I decided to put it aside till I had all the episodes and had the ability to watch them together. Some shows, I’ve realized, work better when marathoned and just the other day I watched episodes 7-9 together and I liked it more than I was expecting. I hope this bodes well for the rest of the series.

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Ookami Kakushi

Status – Dropped after 7 episodes
Interim Score –  6/12 B-
In Short – Another not-really-bad but not-really-good show that I decided to drop. In it’s favor was the fact that a competent animation studio was animating this and not Studio Deen who had done the previous Ryuukishi07 shows (Higurashi, Umineko no Naku Koro ni). This positive is negated by the larger problem of the source material recycling so much of the show’s content from those previous Ryuukishi07 shows. Also, I’ve gotten tired of how all these shows are placed 25+ years ago – I’m starting to think Ryuukishi either lacks the will to figure out how to do a mystery/horror series where the characters have access to cell phones, GPS devices, and the internet or lacks the intelligence to write a new story that doesn’t rip off his/her/its one other story idea.

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Hanamaru Youchien

Status – Finished and Wishing for Season 2
Final Score –  12/12 Perfect
In Short – Saved the best for last. I can still remember how utterly stupefied I was when it was announced that Gainax’s next series was going to be Hanamaru Youchien. This series had J.C. Staff written all over it, why was Gainax doing this? I checked the manga out and was decidedly underwhelmed after reading the first 10 chapters. With absolutely no confidence that Hanamaru Youchien was going to be good, imagine my surprise when Gainax cranked this out of the stadium. Who knew the studio known for it’s hot-blooded action series could do such a warm, relaxing, cute, funny series. I think Gainax just became my preferred studio to do the anime for Yotsuba if/when the creator ever allows one to get made. Gainax also deserves tons of praise for having a different ending song/animation for each episode; I loved all the different songs and subjects. (Now if only KyoAni could do the same thing with K-On.)

—

I really should add one final show – Hidemari Sketch x ☆☆☆ (aka season 3) – since it aired this season as well but I’ve just seen the first couple of episodes and so I don’t have a firm opinion on it yet. After purging all the bad – mediocre shows of this season, I needed something to fill the space and decided it was time to catch myself up on this series and started with the first series. I plan on making a post about all the series I’ve been watching instead of the current crop of shows so look for my thoughts on this Shaft/Shinbou series soon.

And maybe I’ll even get around to doing my top shows of 2009 already and talking about the new spring 2010 shows as well. Now onto where I was for 2 months.

If it was just up to me, I’d probably just pretend nothing happened and keep blogging but I’m pretty sure there are at least a few people who were wondering what happened to me and so I’ll give a condensed version of the various reasons and we can go from there.

A normal February is a pretty depressing month already but this one was a bit harder to get through than most. The weather was truly atrocious; it wasn’t so much the almost unending amount of snow we got (about 45 inches) but the complete lack of sunlight we had. I checked online and for the entire month of February we had 7 hours of clear skies. It didn’t break down how much of those 7 hours occurred during daylight or at night but even in all 7 hours happened during daylight hours and I happened to be awake – it still essentially meant I went a month without seeing the sun.

Also weighing on my mind was that this February was the one year anniversary of my grandma passing. I’ll get myself wound up in anger if I think about it too much so I’ll just say that I consider my 3 aunts the reason why my grandma isn’t living today. Also, it’s very important for everyone to decide how much or how little medical care they want and get it in writing because you can’t rely on your family to have your best interests at heart – you could get admitted to the hospital for a serious but not life threatening reason and in the course of treatment your family could decide to remove your feeding tube and let you starve to death over the course of 3 weeks.

Factor in a really weak anime season and I just didn’t feel like talking about anime or do much of anything. March rolled around and almost like a switch the weather turned gorgeous. Temperatures shot up into the 60’s and 70’s and it was wall-to-wall sunny. I spent as much time as I could outside and the sight of the first flowers of the season  – crocuses – went a long way to improve my mood. I started to feel the urge to write again but I kept getting blocked.

I volunteered to be the Dungeon Master in a 6 part campaign for my sister, brother-in-law, and friends in Dungeons & Dragons. We were going to use a printed campaign but we were not satisfied with the quality of writing so I further volunteered to write one myself and it takes an amazingly large amount of time to create a halfway decent adventure. I also picked up a temporary job working for the census and it’s been leaving me really tuckered out when I get home at night. And of course to blog about anime I first need to watch anime. And I’ve also been slowly working on my top anime of 2009 posts because I’d like all the parts to be done or almost done when I start posting them. And once it got to be a long time between posts I felt reluctant to explain why it’s been a long time because I started a blog talk about anime and a little SF, not to be a personal blog.

As a result, even though I’ve been meaning to start writing again it’s been almost a month before I had the chance to sit down and write something I could publish. I guess at this point I should just listen to the wise words from Manabi Straight and say, “Forward, Go!!” and get back to blogging.

Filed under: anime, anime rants/views, meta/office keeping, series review

Pixiv Sauce Love her smile~<3 Here is the second and final part of my Supah Review for Winter anime I've watched and tried. And again, these reviews aren't super in anyway whatsoever! SO RA NO WO TO Military K-ON!? I’m there! lol This was nothing like a militarized K-ON!, but because of its similar animation style and character designs, [...]

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Classes F and A fought for supremacy.  In the end, Yuuko administered the finishing blow amidst the distracting destruction of the school.  Class F has scraped all the way through the bottom of the barrel, but one character just won’t stand for that ending.  Thus, the 13^th and final episode of BakaTest season one begins.

Class F gets downgraded from crates to simple art boards for their study materials.  Again, Yoshii hates the state of the classroom and wants Himeji to have better.  Upon returning home, his sister assures him he did the best he could, and now he must set his sights on further goals.  He decides to come to the principal with a rematch proposal, and with Shouko and Yuuko’s consent, she approves.  Yoshii and Shouko face off in a series of sudden death questions, where the first wrong answer loses.  She ends up throwing the competition on question 32, the same question she missed in episode 2.  In return for victory, he asks that Himeji have another chance at the placement exam.  She takes it and gets every question right, but decides to erase her name to fail the exam.  Yoshii storms into the principal’s office and berates her for allowing the exam to fail.  Everyone appears to reinforce that despite everything, he just doesn’t understand things and he’s still an idiot.

As this episode makes blatant, the overarching premise of this series, and the battle system, is the importance of teamwork.  One person alone might not amount too much, but a group working together can accomplish so much more.  This first becomes evident in episode 7, where everyone works together to push Yuuji and Shouko together.  They then apply it to the school setting with episode 8, and push it into the battle strategies of episodes 11 and 12.  The battle doesn’t rely so much on brute force as it does the overall strategy.  A well-orchestrated team effort can trump a seemingly overwhelming opposition.  Of course, teammates look out for each other, as Yoshii does by constantly pushing for Himeji’s acceptance into class A.  The mark of a genuinely kind person is one who puts others ahead of himself.  On the other hand, success means nothing if you cannot share it with anyone.  When faced with the opportunity to make it into the class where she “belongs”, she decides her friends are more important and that they should succeed together.

Overall, I thought BakaTest was a decent entry in the winter season.  I’m not a massive fan of it like many viewers are, but enjoyed much of the ride.  I think my biggest problem is the lack of clear direction for about half the series.  It felt like the premise ping-ponged around too much.  It had high and low points in the comedy department, though in many ways this is as much about my personal preference for humor as it is the constant recycling of jokes that chip away at the series.  In the end though, it pulled together, went back to its roots, and delivered a conclusion that makes way for a second season.  I also liked how it pulled the chief aspect of the previous episodes together to form the finale.  I give it a 7/10 and remain cautiously optimistic about season two.

Enj⑨y~

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu things finally became serious, relatively speaking.  Class F started their campaign with the goal of taking down Class A.  With all the other classes taken down, the latest episode focuses on an all-out war against the elites.  I wonder, who will prevail?

The episode starts with some training on the roof, which eventually ends with a joke at Yoshii’s expense.  The next morning he wakes up to his sister trying to make advances on him again.  Putting that craziness aside, he goes to school, where Hideyoshi has retrieved his sisters “textbooks.”  Yuuji sends the idiot out in the hall with one to declare war on Class A.  He meets with predictable results, and Yuuko comes to berate the class.  The battle actually begins when Kyouji strikes at the pride of Class A.  The rest of the school follows, wearing down the high-level forces.  Class F uses a variety of misdirection and traps to thin the ranks, with Yoshii playing point in most of the plan.  The main Class F and A forces meet on the roof and begin to fight.  The lower class’s practice has paid off, they’ve developed the ability to dodge in the battle system.  When the enemy cavalry arrives, Yoshii blocks them off with the school’s bell.  Unfortunately, his bracelet dies and the bell almost kills everyone.  Ironman actually saves the day, but Yuuko kills Yuuji’s avatar, winning the battle for Class A.

I enjoyed this episode all the way up to the end.  I thought Yuuji using the other classes to force Class A into a war of attrition was brilliant, and it had the bonus of exasperating Yuuko.  Yoshii finally got to put his avatar to use as well, and it must be humiliating to get taken down by a wall of desks, and then by a bell.  I also liked the strategy to try to win the fight with scratch damage, considering my propensity to do the same thing in video games.  The relationship level up both the couple’s got added in that D’aww factor that appears in every episode.  The only aspect I really take issue with is the ending.  Maybe it’s because I like to root for the underdog, and this is the same kind of ending that I have seen so many times in the past.  I felt like I had just watched a Trix commercial or an episode of Roadrunner vs. Coyote.  Except in this case, Class F actually had a good, solid plan for victory.  I know seeing the moment stolen from them was a joke, but to me, it just felt like a weak copout to keep them from finally winning.  It does leave me wondering what they have planned for the final episode.  They had just better not use it to tie into a second season of the same thing.

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Yoshii and Yuuji rediscovered their motivation to take on the other classes in the school.  This week begins the campaign, with Class F targeting Class D and then leapfrogging straight to Class B.  Will they succeed in exacting revenge on Kyouji for what he did in the last episode?  Read on to find out.

The episode starts out lighthearted as usual.  Yoshii loses a game of rock-paper-scissors and getting beat up when he declares war on Class D.  They quickly shift gears to the tactics of the battle, and Yuuji plans for a Blitzkrieg.  He sends out Yoshii first to be pummeled, but he returns with vital information.  Class D’s front lines are weak in mathematics.  The class rep sends Minami to lead the charge.  They reach the midpoint on the battlefield when D’s goons kidnap the math teacher and replace it with a literature battlefield.  Fortunately, Yuuji’s team brings in a second teacher to fill the field with their subject of choice.  Himeji goes to confront the enemy rep when D ambushes Yuuji.  Unfortunately for them, he had resumed studying and slaughters his enemies while Himeji ends the fight.

They decide to keep the momentum going and target Class B to exact vengeance.  Kyouji won’t settle for that though, as he discusses strategy with Class C’s rep and then trashes the F facilities.  All his plan does is make them even more resolved to emerge victorious.  Yuuji uses the FFF to his advantage by revealing his intel on the enemy leader and his girlfriend.  They suicide bomb the lines and clear a path for the main fighting force.  Kyouji still isn’t done yet, and he uses Himeji’s love letter to prevent her from fighting.  Yoshii sees the exchange though, and it fills him with rage.  He breaks down the wall to the B classroom.  While distracted, Voyeur swings in with a health teacher and assassinates Kyouji.  Himeji destroys the note so it can’t be used against her again.  Meanwhile, Yuuji and Shouko decide not to pull any punches in the upcoming battle.

As you can see, a lot happens in this episode.  Events move far too quickly, and I wish they had stretched this out to two episodes to maintain a more even pace.  It’s interesting how the shape of the battlefield drastically alters the strategy used.  In the very first battle against Class E, the two classrooms sat directly next to each other.  Thus, they could only fight a war of attrition and hope that they could hold out until the other died.  Once the entire school becomes a battlefield, you can set traps and maneuver around a bit more.  This means not only must you have an overarching strategy for the battle, but you also have to predict the individual tactics of the enemy and have counter-measures in place for any surprises.  While this episode lacked in the humor department, it keeps you engaged with the action.  I am pleased with the outcome, but only two episodes remain in the season.  I suppose I’ll just have to make the best of it.

Yes! MOAR classroom battles~ This is what I wanted out of Baka Test! The previous episodes where quite enjoyable and really worth the watch, but I find the battles part more interesting as they mow down class after class, [just two in this ep but hey, it's still fun to watch!]. Can’t wait for next [...]

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Yoshii’s sister showed up and started a wave of shenanigans.  She’s here to stay, but the episode doesn’t focus on her.  Instead, it spotlights the cast as they all come together to advance this thing we call a plot.  After seven episodes of treading water in various pursuits, the series tries to return to its roots.  Let’s get this show on the road.

The episode starts with Himeji trying to confess her love to Yoshii one day, and failing.  The next day Yoshii wakes up to his sister trying to kiss him again.  She prepares “food” for him, which is really a bunch of “nutritious” drinks.  Yoshii goes to school and finds Voyeur making a profile of all the girls’ breast sizes.  Typical.  Hideyoshi’s sister comes in and berates the class for acting like idiots and never trying to improve themselves.  Ironman finds Yoshii and makes him carry the next exam papers down to the safe.  Unfortunately, he mixes up everyone’s possessions with the tests as well.  The class joins forces to try to break into the safe.  Hideyoshi’s plan fails miserably, but then Kyouji Nemoto shows up to help them.  Of course, he just wants the papers to cheat.  He berates the class for being too stupid to take advantage of their break-in, but Himeji counters with a passionate speech.  Yoshii and Yuuji talk about the state of their class, and realize that almost 3 months have passed.  They resolve to declare another ESB, but first, they break into the vault again and leak the exam to invalidate Kyouji’s stolen papers.

As I expected, Yoshii’s sister hasn’t added much to the series.  That said, I don’t think any of the characters lacks enough common sense to think drinking a liter of liquid for breakfast is healthy, and I enjoyed that little exchange.  What comes out of left field in this episode is the return of the plot, and I mean all of it.  We’ve got Himeji trying to confess her love, the return of the goon that messed up the computer room in episode 8, and a resolution to declare war on the school.  Also, the series again points out the value of the class working together as a team.  The comedy takes a bit of a backseat in this episode for the sake of plot, but I don’t think that’s a terrible thing.  The jokes have gotten stale.  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Minami bashing Yoshii, but you can only watch Voyeur snap so many photos or Shouko tase Yuuji so many times before it’s boring.  They really needed to generate new material.  Do you remember when they had funny battles at the start of the series?  I’m really hoping for those in the final episodes.

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Yoshii had to save the day by infiltrating the school’s server room amidst a maelström of Evangelion references.  This week, his sister comes home from the States to check up on him and decide if he can still live on his own.  Big Sister is watching you, Yoshii.

Yoshii’s sister, Akira, shows up in a bathrobe, which she says she changed into on the train.  While she appears smarter than her brother does, she lacks even more in the common sense department at times.  She has come home to grade him on his living conditions, which starts a rolling counter that changes throughout the episode.  She forbids him from hanging out with girls, but… guys are okay.  Of course, this gets him in trouble, first at school when everyone thinks he’s hiding a girlfriend.  Then they all follow him home and that doesn’t settle well with big sis.  He devotes himself to his studies so his sister will get off his back and leave him alone.  Yoshii almost pulls it off too, except that he put the answers in the wrong boxes.  Oh well, there’s always the next exam.

Honestly, I found it difficult to write about this episode.  After last week’s excellent showing, I had hopes that this series could get back on track.  Unfortunately, all it does is retread the fanservicegasm of Episode 6, except with yaoi and incest references included.  On that note, I am tired of some character’s sister magically showing up to try to throw a wrench in the workings of a show.  It works well sometimes, but in this case, it feels like some shiny distraction to keep us from noticing the lack of comedic substance.  Maybe if Yoshii had talked about his sister in the past it would be different, but not even the cast knew he had siblings.  On the positive side, it did show that Yoshii’s fits of brilliance aren’t just a coincidence.  He can perform well if he just puts himself to task.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling the writers will immediately shunt that revelation off to the side like so much in this series.  This week wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible; it was just decent.

Editor’s note: To clarify, I’m not mad because of the lack of plot, I’m mad because they played the “sister card” cop-out completely straight.  I felt the same way about Hanamaru Kindergarten when Tsuchi’s sister showed up, except Hanamaru handled it better.

Hahaha~ this episode was awesome! After the first few episodes, the summoned beasts kinda disappeared…they were around in about every episode so far, but I missed their fighting and going head to head against each other. We haven’t seen much of that. :( There was so much hilarity and summoned battles that it made up [...]

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Yuuji and Shouko spent a day at the amusement park defining their relationship.  This week, the battle aspect of the series finally returns in force as the ESB system goes haywire.  Hope you still have the NERV to watch this series.

Some delinquent tries to hack into the school’s computer system, and when it catches him, he trips a power line in the server room.  This causes an ESB field across the campus, and makes everyone’s summons go crazy.  First, they show idealized versions of the characters as adults, and much fanservice ensues.  Then they go stark raving mad.  Yoshii is the only one unaffected, since he has direct control over his chibi.  Thus, the school has to depend on him to save the day.  The other Class F students and the principal assist from the sidelines while Yoshii has to overcome everyone else’s avatars and reconnect the power line.  He finally succeeds, but at the expense of everyone having to attend remedial lessons since they all died.

As you can see from some of the screenshots, and probably every other blog post about this episode, BakaTest gives a massive salute to Evangelion in this episode.  I hope you’ve watched it, or most of these jokes will be lost on you.  You’re also going to get hit with several classic Nintendo references.  BakaTest should have made this kind of episode all season long.  It has a wealth of good parody, the battle system commands the center stage, and the characters are *gasp* useful!  While the students lack the individual brightness of the A class members, they can still achieve greatness when they put their minds together.  Yoshii most embodies this when his quick, off-the-wall thinking manages to save the day.  The principal herself appreciates this quality, and it’s why she depended on them to solve the problem.  While this episode was promising, the series only has four episodes remaining and the next episode will likely focus on the love triangle.  Oh well, the ESB was nice while it lasted.

Awww~ how cute~<3 And we know very well Yuuji loves the abuse! XD

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, we had the obligatory swimsuit and bath episode.  This week we finally put those tickets earned from the school orientation event to good use.  Today’s episode focuses solely on Yuuji and Shouko, their relationship, and the efforts of Class F to ship them as hard as humanly possible.

The episode starts in Yuuji’s bedroom.  It turns out Yoshii gave the tickets they won to Shouko so the two of them could go to the amusement park together.  Yuuji initially protests, but he quickly consigns himself to his fate.  After all, the girl simply won’t take no for an answer.  Class F somehow took over the park for the day, and put them through a photo session, haunted house, and mock wedding to get them together.  Like last week, I’m going to go with images and captions for the episode, so let the cavalcade of pictures commence!

Bottom line, the mock wedding fell through due to two jerky characters, and Yuuji dished out their punishment shortly afterwards.  He then went to try to console Shouko a bit.  They’ve known each other since grade school, and all of this is the result of a promise he made seven years ago.  He did it because he felt a sense of responsibility to her, but now, he wanted her to go her own way.  It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon.  I’m curious about that event from the past, but I have a feeling that it will stay buried there in the anime.  Perhaps there’s some expansion in the manga or light novels.  In any case, the next episode has to do with a rampage and a maze.  I’m not really sure what that means, but this was yet another enjoyable and humorous episode, so I have high hopes.

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, the students went through an orientation challenge to retrieve prize tickets from around the school.  In the end, Yuuji claimed some amusement park tickets, while Yoshii found the cell phone charms.  This week the show gives us the obligatory swimsuit episode.  While it’s funny, it also means nothing of note will happen.

The show’s excuse for the swimsuit episode comes from Yoshii and Yuuji.  The former is so tight on his funds that he had the gas turned off to his house.  The latter takes a terribly cold shower, naturally becoming quite angry.  The two have a food fight to settle their differences, but again, the house doesn’t have any hot water.  They go to the school for a shower.  Mr. Nishimura finds them and sentences them to cleaning the pool that weekend.  They invite the rest of the gang along for the ride, and there you have it, a swimsuit episode.  I’ll just let the images and captions speak for themselves in this episode.

I enjoyed the comedy much more than episode 5, even if it was all ecchi in nature.  Unfortunately, anime has treaded this ground so heavily in the past that you can see a path worn in the concrete.  You knew a lot of the jokes the episode would make before watching a minute of it.  Maybe anime studios shouldn’t try so hard to fit this type of episode into their series.  Or, perhaps they should try to keep the plot going even in the midst of extreme fanservice.  With that said, I think BakaTest performed far better than most series in this area.  I think that’s thanks to the mix of character personalities.  They do allow for a little bit of originality in the joke department, such as Shouko trying to drown Yuuji, or a competition to avoid death by food.  Next episode, Yuuji will put those tickets he found to use, so prepare for a trip to the amusement park!

Today, I am going to spotlight a newer couple to the anime scene.  One is an exceptional imbecile, while the other is a trademark tsundere.  We’re going to talk for a few minutes about Yoshii and Minami from Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu.

On the one side of this relationship sits Yoshii, perhaps the dumbest kid in the school.  His position is so low that he has the title “Punishment Inspector,” which really exists just to raise morale as he performs chores around the school.  He also has an amazingly vapid level of common sense.  He does have a method to his madness, but the logic he uses isn’t evident to the outside world.  He tries, but trying just isn’t enough to pull him out of his slump.

Minami is the other half of the pair, and while she’s no bright bulb, she still has a bit more going for her in school.  She has difficulty reading, but scores far above her class level in mathematics.  Minami occasionally plays the voice of reason for the group, especially when Yoshii makes a foolish remark.  Of course, at times, she takes things a bit too far, and she is not above inflicting bodily pain to make her point.  Voyeur has no problem with taking advantage of her rampages.

The couple has a standard tsundere relationship.  Yoshii will make a comment about her, whether a remark about her intelligence (pot kettle black) or her looks.  Minami then responds swiftly and with excessive force.  With just this, it might be hard to find the relationship in there, but Minami definitely has feelings for the guy.  She suggests the date that Himeji tags along for, and spends and entire episode building up the courage to just offer Yoshii a boxed lunch.  In the latter case, Yoshii approaches it in a round-about way, showing that he occasionally does know how to read a situation, and we get a little heartwarming moment out of the exchange.

I suppose I cannot get out of this without making a few remarks on Himeji.  She is a stunningly attractive girl who has incredible intellect.  Watching the two opposites attract each other is cute, especially when they are both so flustered most of the time.  The problem I have with this pairing is that the pair lack any play in their relationship.  It comes off as a stale crush.  Perhaps my personal preferences play a role, but excessive prettiness is not a requirement and it’s simply not enough to be nice.  You also need to be fun, and Minami has that in spades.

Of course, the plot will likely dictate the Yoshii/Himeji pairing as canon, so none of this writing really matters.  But, a man can dream, can’t he?  A man can dream…