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Anime Recall: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu


Common Name: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Alternate Names: The Idiot, the Tests, and the Summoned Creatures; Baka & Test: Summon the Beasts; BakaTest

Score: 7/10, 4/5

Length: 2 seasons, 26 episodes

Genre: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Super-powered

Summary: In a school where your ability to get the most out of what your school has to offer depends on the students' abilities to summon fantasy avatars and then engage warfare using said summons, even the most biggest idiot can aim to the top. Inspired to give his fellow F class students the chance to enjoy the perks they rightfully deserve, Yoshii Akihisa makes plans to have the whole school marching to his tune.

Review: Idiotic with a lot of heart, this phrase sums up both the entirety of the show and it's main character, Akihisa, the titular "baka" of the series. While the plot doesn't really go anywhere in terms of the school warfare or Akihisa's love life, it is worth quite a few laughs that are actually fairly original. From him and his fellows being an idiots, to ongoing squabbles for Akihisa's love, to one of the characters being relatively androgynous, this show has a lot of gags that it uses regularly to elicit some easy laughs. Unfortunately, by the second season these few gags are run into the ground and ultimately define the characters as the show turns into something more akin to a series of sketch-based gags rather than a series of similar, typically ecchi, gags that peppered a solid story. While not wholly unwatchable, the second season does leave much to be desired. Even so, for a show that was already light, fluffy, and funny, it's not a bad watch.

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