Baka & Test

Things are just as off the wall in the world of Baka and Test as they were the last time we visited the series, maybe more. With the girls and guys of class F falling in and out of love with one another while they try and climb through the ranks at school things get messy. Too many teenage hormones can’t be good for the class with the lowest test scores.

While I enjoyed most of the first series I have to admit that I got tired of the school battles. The first few times were interesting as it played as an introduction to the process, and when the battles switched up and brought in an interesting deviation from the anime style it was fresh. Then it just went on and on. The dramatics of teenage life and love being the precursor for battle set ups.

This time around we start off the show with the crew on vacation and getting all pervy in the usual anime fashion. Busty bikini bods, nosebleeds, with an innocent twists somewhere in the mix. Really, nothing that hasn’t been seen a million times over. It seems to work though. It’s a break from the monotony of battle after battle and drama ensuing because so and so likes so and so and so on.

Fortunately this season does a good deal of hashing out back stories, which gives us a fresh area to explore to get away from the usual stuff. We get the scoop on a few new character attributes of our main protagonist, an interesting twist on his sister’s feelings for him, and of course a seemingly extra heavy dose of love gone mad between the class as boy and girl once again fall in and out love with one another, causing further battles to ensue between class F and the upper classes as well as within the class itself.

PICTURE QUALITY:
Like the previous season there is a mish mash of anime styles that come into play within the series which, some of them, interfere with the solidity of the picture. You’re going to have some soft looking spots due to an intentional effect within the picture but the overall picture still is rather sharp and extremely vibrant. It really is a beautiful looking job on an anime that pushes the boundaries on style.

BONUS FEATURES:
~Commentary for episodes 3 and 13
~Featurettes
~Promo Videos
~Commercials
~U.S. Trailer
~Textless Opening and Closing Songs
~Trailers