Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts Anime Review

Baka & Test: Summon the Beasts
Baka to Tesuto to Shokanju
Funimation
Complete Collection
325 mins. - 13 episodes
5 discs - 3 DVD + 2 Blu-Ray
$54.98 (2011)
$69.98 (2011) Limited Edition
ISBN 704400013119
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Shin Onuma
Studio - Silver Link

Synopsis: Fumizuki Academy is a prestigious high school which segregates its classes based on test scores.  The  highest scoring students are placed in Class A and the lowest scoring students in Class F.  Class A receives the finest educational equipment and each successive class receives lower quality equipment until the lowest Class F gets crude wooden tables.  Fumizuki is even more unique as each class is able to potentially trade their school equipment with that of another class by beating that class in a 'summoning war' based on academic strength.  The school utilizes an advanced virtual system which allows students to summon avatars (digital representations of themselves) to battle for them in summoning wars.  The power and durability of the students' avatars are based on recent test scores in specific subjects.  The school subjects for summoning wars are determined by the teachers sponsoring (triggering) the virtual system (i.e. if the math teacher sponsors the war then avatar strength is determined by math test scores). Therefore a lower class can challenge a higher class and claim better equipment for themselves if victorious.

The Class F head group and their avatars - bottom row from left: Kota,
Hideyoshi, Akihisa, Mizuki, Minami, and Yuji.  Top row (avatars) from
 left: Hideyoshi, Yuji, Akihisa, Mizuki, Kota, and Minami

The second year Class F is filled with an interesting head group:

• Akihisa Yoshii - a true baka (translated = idiot) because of his low test scores which have earned him the status of probationary student.  He truly means well and often will put the feelings of others before his own, but doesn't take his academics seriously enough.  Due to his probationary student status his avatar is uniquely able to touch corporeal objects which is a punishment as the teachers make Akihisa use his avatar to do menial chores around the school.  He feels pain feedback from his avatar when it is damaged during battles or doing chores.  He squanders his money and thus is forced to subsist on a diet of ramen, sugar, salt and water.  His sister Akira comes to live with him and is incredibly hot.  She constantly comes onto him in order to get him to do stuff (like study).  
• Yuji Sakamoto - class representative and highly strategic despite his low test scores.  He wants to prove the school's class system is flawed by having Class F defeat Class A in a summoning war.  He is best friends with Akihisa and the love obsession of Class A representative Shoko Kirishima (who wants to marry him due to a childhood crush).
• Mizuki Himeji - actually the 2nd ranked student in the second year class, but suffered from a fever during the placement test and ended up in Class F.  Akihisa tried to help her that day and she has hidden feelings for him.  Shy and timid with an impressive bust size.  Her cooking is lethal.
• Minami Shimada - raised in Germany which led to her poor test scores and landed her in Class F.  She often lashes out violently at Akihisa, but has hidden feelings for him.  Has a small chest and is very jealous of Mizuki's bust size. 
• Hideyoshi Kinoshita - looks like a girl, but is really a guy and no one believes him.  He looks incredibly good in women's clothing and often wears them for his acting classes.  He's terrible at academics, but great at acting and drama.  Fraternal twin to Class A's Yuko Kinoshita and the two look practically identical which allows him to impersonate her at times.  
• Kota Tsuchiya - a true pervert and a lecherous photographer.  Sells the pictures to fellow students and his Hideyoshi shots are very popular.  After seeing something particularly sexy his nose will gush blood causing him to pass out.  He has compiled a tome recording the bust sizes of every girl in Fumizuki Academy.

Hideyoshi and Minami come to Kota's rescue during a
summoning war with Class E

Yuji has made it his personal mission to prove the school's class system is flawed and embarks Class F on a quest to defeat Class A!  First the group must defeat the other classes (B to E) on their journey to facing the top class.  Along the way the group from Class F encounter many obstacles and other students like: Miharu Shimizu from Class D who is in love with Minami despite them both being girls, Kyoji Nemoto the Class B representative who is an unrepentant cheater and uses dirty tactics, and Toshimitsu Kubo from Class A who has a crush on Akihisa despite them both being boys.  

Shoko squeezes Yuji's avatar while Akihisa's avatar
watches Minami and Mizuki get along

Can Class F really succeed in defeating Class A?  Will Yuji be forced to marry Class A representative Shoko?  Can anyone survive Mizuki's cooking?  Is Hideyoshi really a guy?  Will Akihisa's wallet be crushed under the weight of the attention from Minami and Mizuki?  All of these questions will be answered by the final battle!

Shoko prepares to administer the taser to keep Yuji from escaping her love

Pros: Great animation - highly stylized, but easily recognizable (the comic pop art circles on everything), catchy opening and ending theme songs, characters were funny and likable, running gags were pretty good, main theme was worthwhile as students labeled as 'losers' buck the system to prove they can succeed against the 'winners', lots of amusing fan-service, pretty good dub

Akihisa's sister Akira is hot!

Cons: Humor can be a bit repetitive, Akihisa's sister comes onto him repeatedly (i.e. incest), silly and juvenile storylines, overuses the 'guys see something sexy and gush blood from their noses' bit, too darn cute - especially the little avatars doing battle, English dub script is toned down from original Japanese

Kota suffers a hemorrhaging nosebleed after seeing something sexy

Mike Tells It Straight: Baka and Test is a wonderful example of mindless entertainment.  Part school life comedy drama and role-playing game (RPG) simulation, it's all fun and only mildly offensive.  The animation is very well done with a consistent visual style and seamless CGI (computer generated images) elements.  I found the characters to be charming and the comedy to be genuinely funny (although somewhat repetitive).  It's purposely over-the-top and had a nice message (although not for young children).  Lots of fan-service and sexual innuendo.

Mizuki has a bathing suit wardrobe malfunction at the beach

The official Japanese title is Baka to Test to Shokanju (translated Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Beasts) makes a little more sense than the official U.S. title.  The sexual innuendo (particularly from Akihisa's sister), gender bending, and same-sex love interests may be potentially offensive to some viewers, but overall a harmless bit of fun.  The comedy is intense and I couldn't watch more than one or two episodes at a time without getting overloaded.  Definitely not a deep series and recommended if you're looking for a bit of fluff. I'm planning to check out the second season to see where the story goes after the penultimate battle between Class F and Class A.  Root for the underdogs!

TO BUY and Recommendations:
 

Rescue Me: Mave-Chan Anime Review

Fighting Fairy Girl Rescue Me: Mave-Chan
Bandai Entertainment
Original Video Animation - 1 disc
25 mins. - 1 episode
$9.98 (2007)
ISBN 9781594097461
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Takeshi Mori
Studio - Studio Fantasia

Synopsis: Rei Sugiyama is a timid teenager who never takes chances in life and hides in the escapism offered by anime.  He took a small chance one day and entered into a contest from one of his favorite shows - Stratos 4.  Now it appears his luck has changed as he wins the contest and attends his first anime convention.

A wide-eyed Rei attends his first anime convention

The convention is a tumultuous gathering of odd, excited fans and Rei is a fish out of water in the crowds.  Taking a break in a convention center hallway he accidentally falls into another dimension where powerful girl cyborgs battle alien invaders.  The girls have powers, abilities, and names corresponding to fighter planes from two of Rei's favorite anime: Battle Fairy Yukikaze and Stratos 4.

Rei falls into a fictional dimension where he meets Mave - she
thinks he's an enemy and wants to stick him with pointy knives

Apparently the girls are fictional representations (i.e. mecha-musume) of the fans' enthusiasm for the respective anime shows.  Large gatherings of anime fans (like at conventions) energize the fictional embodiments and also weaken the barrier between the real world and imagination.  The girls are fighting the JAM who are led by an evil fictional representation of older mecha anime shows.  Once fans' interest in an anime show wanes then the fictional representations will lose power and eventually fade away.

Rei helps the girls battle "The Forgetter"

Now Rei must survive in an imaginary realm where reality is considerably bent and the clock is ticking for the world's demise.  Can the nervous teen find his inner strength to help Mave, Super Sylph, Sylphide, One-Chan and Two-Chan against "The Forgetter"?

Rei must choose - save himself and forever remain a coward -
or he can help Mave and Super Sylph stay corporeal

Pros: Small amount of ecchi/panty shots, had a few funny and slapsticky bits, decent animation


Cons: Too short, Forgetter was a corny villain with terrible character design, aimless harem show, doesn't stand on its own, Rei is a typical milktoast nerd

The lovely girls of Rescue Me: Mave-Chan (clock-
wise from bottom): Mave, Sylphide, One-Chan,
that loser Rei, Two-Chan, and Super Sylph 

Mike Tells It Straight: I randomly found this anime in a bargain bin at the mall and thought "what the heck, the price is right to take a chance".  Well, the price was exactly appropriate for the product - an incredibly short OVA parody of two other anime: Battle Fairy Yukikaze and Stratos 4.

The plot, main character (Rei Sugiyama - similar to Rei Fukai from Yukikaze), and villain were terrible.  This show serves as a random one-off mostly from Yukikaze, which was a fairly decent sci-fi anime released by Bandai in the US in 2007.

My guess is Bandai put this show out as a complement to Yukikaze, but it really serves no purpose and felt completely unrelated.  This show should never have had its own release - period.  Bandai should have added it as a special feature on the last disc of Yukikaze for a nice extra.

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Fooly Cooly (FLCL) Anime Review

Fooly Cooly (FLCL)
Furi Kuri
Funimation
Complete Collection - 1 disc
150 mins. - 6 episodes
$39.98 (2011)
$44.98 (2011) Blu-Ray
$69.95 (2007) Ultimate Edition
ISBN 704400052415
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Kazuya Tsurumaki
Studio - Gainax/Production I.G

Synopsis: Naota has always been in his older brother's shadow, but now his older brother has left to play baseball in America and Naota just feels lost.  He hangs out with Mamimi, his older brother's ex-girlfriend who smokes and constantly ditches school.  She got dumped, left behind, and is in worse shape than Naota.  They live in a depressing town with a huge factory shaped like a giant iron (like for ironing clothes) owned by Medical Mechanica.  Every day at the same time a huge cloud of steam is released from the factory covering the town in a hazy glow.

Beware crazy pink-haired girls riding Vespas!

The two are walking home one day when Naota is run over by a crazy pink-haired girl riding a Vespa scooter. She stops to hit him in the head with her electric guitar.  Miraculously he survives, but now has a big oddly-shaped lump sticking out of his head.  The crazy girl says her name is Haruko Haruhara and becomes the live-in housekeeper at Naota's house.  She is obsessed with the lump on his head and naturally his dad bunks her in Naota's room (on the top bunk).

Haruko brains poor unsuspecting Naota with her guitar

Weird things start to happen.  A full-on robot battle erupts from the lump on Naota's head and Haruko is there to finish it with a choice bash from her trusty guitar.  One of the robots moves in with Naota and becomes a servant doing chores for the family.  Naota's grandfather has the robot pick up nudie mags from the drug store for him.  It gets weirder.

Then she just shows up at his house eating dinner!

More robots and some Space Pirate King erupt from Naota's head.  The earth is in danger and Haruko (if that's her real name) seems to be in the center of it all.  A special agent from the Bureau for Interstellar Immigration is hellbent on stopping her.  Naota won't admit it, but he's got a major crush on her.  How's a teenager to cope alongside all the raging hormones?

Yep, that left a mark

Pros: Creative and fun, highly imaginative and off-beat humor, literally made me laugh out loud, energetic (almost spastic at times), doesn't take itself too seriously, great music and soundtrack, very good dub, unique coming-of-age story for both Naota and Mamimi, aged well after a decade

Grandpa, two school buddies, Dad, Canti, Haruko, Naota, Ninamori, Mamimi

Cons: Bit pricey for only six episodes, blu-ray version is not perfect due to original 4:3 aspect ratio of show, random over-the-top humor aspect of this show can turn some people off as can the animation style jumps

Hanging out with Haruko = get ready for more trouble!

Mike Tells It Straight: FLCL (aka Fooly Cooly, Furi Kuri [kinda love thang]) knocked me on the floor when I first watched it.  It was hilarious, had great action scenes, felt sexually deviant (like every teenager does when the topic of sex flashes across their minds), and contained some poignant moments.  Definitely not for the kiddies due to the sexual innuendo and a bit of mindless violence.

Canti can be pretty badass when he wants to be

It's a manic ride and filled with cultural/genre parody in-jokes.  May be hard to follow at times, but tied together by a simple coming-of-age story as Naota finally emerges from his brother's shadow.  The deep moments were rare and a bit out of place.  The animation style was varied with a little bit of everything thrown in and you can't beat this show for range of visual styles.

Now what is she really up to?

Gainax was responsible for Neon Genesis Evangelion which is an anime classic (it turned mecha on its ear).  I like the idea of them putting out a wacky show like FLCL to free themselves from the darkness of Evangelion.  Another Gainax nut-fest is Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi which I also enjoyed and thought was similar, but with 13 episodes the craziness made my head hurt.

Yeah, this just about sums it up

The original FLCL dvds were scarce/expensive until 2007 when they were re-released, but I was excited to see Funimation put out a new version in 2011 on one disc.  Little did I know the aspect ratio couldn't be changed (from 4:3 to widescreen 16:9 for current televisions) and the SD didn't translate as well to HD.  I don't recommend putting a premium on the blu-ray version - it's not remastered and lacks any improvements to the visuals.  Got the dvd set already?  Keep it, this new version doesn't really enhance the experience enough to justify a repurchase.

Naota gets to swing the bat

I consider FLCL to be another classic anime and well worth checking out.  If you can't take the wild tangents and jokes then it won't be for you.  Watching the show again after many years was great - I noticed a few more aspects of the plot and it made a bit more sense (plus the cool visual tricks Gainax pioneered which have shown up in shows since).  The humor was still there after all those years and it felt kinda uplifting (like after I watched Gurren Lagann).  Go for it!


TO BUY and Recommendations:

Puni Puni Poemy Anime Review

Puni Puni Poemy
Puni Puni Poemii

ADV Films

Complete Collection - 1 disc

60 mins. - 2 episodes

$29.98 (2004)
$19.98 (2007) w/Dragon Half
ISBN 702727072925

English/Japanese Audio - English Subtitles

Director - Shinichi Watanabe

Studio - J.C. Staff

Synopsis: Poemi Watanabe is a hyperactive 10-year-old with dreams to become a voice actress and a crush on the most popular boy in her grade.  Pretty normal, right?  You are @#$%-ing wrong!  She is thrust into a massive alien plot when her parents are killed by Alien #1, an extraterrestrial assassin. 

Poemi is just your average and rambunctious 10-year-old

Moving in with her best friend, Futaba Aasu, and her six sisters, Poemi discovers they are secretly a squad of magical superheroes with inane powers.  Can Peomi manage to become a magical girl to stop the alien invasion and avenge her parents!?

The Aasu sister (from left) - Shii, Itsue, Nanase (top), Hitomi (bottom),
Mitsuki, Mutsumi, and Futaba 

Pros: Wacky comedy, lots of fan-service - especially Shii, shounen-ai (look it up)

The sisters are captured by the same alien (with the freaky gonad) who
killed Poemy's parents!

Cons: The main characters are too young for fan-service (Poemi and Futaba), plot is too weird, some questionably poor taste at times, hard to follow

The sisters aren't doing too well against the aliens

Mike Tells It Straight: This is a magical girl show on crack!  It's got some mature themes - best friend Futaba is a hardcore 10-year-old lesbian trying to put the moves on Poemi and the alien assassin doesn't wear pants to cover his giant, hanging gonad.  WTF to the Nth degree and banned in New Zealand.  Spawned from Excel Saga (maybe even an unofficial sequel) with the exact same director, but far too manic for my taste.  Only watch it if you really need to go there and can handle the trip.

Poemi must become this kick-ass magical girl to save the sisters and
stop the alien invasion.  Oh yeah, revenge too!

TO BUY and Recommendations:
   

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi Anime Review

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Abenobashi Maho Shotengai
ADV Films
Complete Collection - 4 discs
325 mins. - 13 episodes
$39.98 (2012)
$49.98 (2009)
$59.98 (2007) Collector's Tin
$49.98 (2005)
$39.98 (2003) Vol. 1 w/Artbox
$29.98 (2003) Vol. 1-4/ea.
ISBN 702727174629
English/Japanese Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Hiroyuki Yamaga
Studio - Gainax/ Madhouse

Synopsis: The Abenobashi shopping arcade has been around a long time, but a new redevelopment project spells its doom as most shop owners have left for greener pastures.  Originally built by Mr. Abe the shopping arcade is protected by four mystical animal guardian statues.  Sasshi and Arumi grew up in the shopping arcade and have always wondered about the weird statues watching over the place.  When Arumi's grandfather suffers an accident trying to save one of the statues from breaking the pair is transported to another world. 

Arumi and Sasshi live in the Abenobashi shopping district,
but it's set to be demolished in a redevelopment project

Arriving in a strange world filled with dragons and sorcery the youth are shocked to find alternate versions of the shopping arcade denizens.  Defeating the level boss of the fantasy world they attempt to travel home and instead end up on a space colony.  Similarly populated with shopping arcade parodies they must once-again defeat the world boss (this time a gigantic robot) for another chance to go home.  World after crazy world await Sasshi and Arumi, but two new faces keep appearing in each new version.  Mune-Mune (literally translated as chest-chest) a large-breasted, flirtatious woman typically shows up as a foil and Eutus who claims to be a powerful sorcerer. 

The shopping arcade is said to have four mystical guardian spirits
with four corresponding statues.  Unfortunately a local cat sends one flying

The mystery of the shopping arcade and strange alternate realities is slowly uncovered, but Sasshi and Arumi must come to terms with true events that have already happened in the real world.  Sasshi discovers his origin and with it his birthright to strange mystical powers (they ain't all they're cracked up to be).  Sasshi is the first to realize the event which they are running from and he must decide whether to protect Arumi from the truth by subjecting her to more imaginary realms.  Does he allow her to be hurt by finding out what happened?    

The two kids travel to a multitude of zany parallel worlds with odd
versions of shopping arcade locals and the crazy Mune-Mune

Pros: Anime genre spoof worlds were really funny (like sci-fi, fantasy, dating sim worlds), surprisingly deep storyline to back up the comedy, super-catchy opening theme song, great booklet with details of each set of episodes (explains why the main characters talk with a Texas drawl), outtakes were hilarious, some mild fan-service

Did I mention Mune-Mune is crazy?

Cons: Some of the spoof worlds fell flat (war world, hard-boiled detective world, dinosaur/prehistoric world), animation quality fluctuates in some episodes (specifically the dinosaur world), felt too long at 13 episodes of non-stop craziness, ending theme song was weak, Osaka ;)

Sasshi and Arumi land in a prehistoric world with cavegirl Mune-Mune

Mike Tells It Straight: Created by Gainax after Fooly Cooly (FLCL) and capturing some of its wild energy, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (MSAA) is a fun comedy satire of different pop culture genres.  Whereas FLCL was relatively short at six episodes, MSAA comes in at a full 13 which feels like a stretch due to the non-stop parodies.  If you want to laugh at some zany hijinx then you're in the right place.  

Arumi and Sasshi in an intense street fighter version of the shopping arcade

Later in the series the reality backstory offers a nice contrast to the comedy and the show has a good ending.  I liked this series quite a bit despite some of the parallel worlds being a little too silly (like the crime noir one).   The story was good, animation was solid, opening theme song was super-catchy, and it's Gainax!

I mentioned Mune-Mune is crazy, right? 

TO BUY and Recommendations: