Leaving little to the imagination, Baka to Test to Shokanju features precisely what the title specifies. The first three episodes are a grab bag of different influences that run the gamut from the quick fire rowdiness of Excel Saga to the fantasy-high school blend of Maburaho, successfully mixing them all into a comedy that hits more than it misses. It may have a tendency to grind some of its more lukewarm jokes into the ground, and many elements of the paper-thin plot are obvious to all those paying attention, however it elevates itself above these faults with diversity and a pleasing cheerfulness befitting its presentation.
On the day of Fumizuki Academy's placement test, Akihisa isn't doing well; one of the other students, Mizuki, however is struck down with a fever and despite his protestations, she is awarded a zero for the test. Dropped into the worst graded class of the school, she joins Akihisa and fellow underachievers Minami, an aggressive tomboy who recently returned from Germany; Yuuji, one of Akihisa's childhood friends and surprisingly charismatic given his placement in class F; Hideyoshi, an beautiful male student constantly mistaken for a girl; and Kota, a serial pervert who repeatedly tries to photograph under girls' skirts. Together they try to elevate class F using the school's unique system of competition by battling diminuitive avatars whose strength is determined by their summoner's test scores.
The opening trio of episodes have a heroic share of laugh out loud moments and set ups, most of the time however hangs on the precipice of humour, running the line between amusement and tedium. Many similarly pitched series attempt to tip this balance with a sustained cacophony of smaller jokes or obscure chatter. Though still present, so far the series skirts this by stitching together a multitude of different styles that includes sight gags, parodies and running jokes; the latter of which shows the most inspiration with the androgynous Hideyoshi who seems only mildly perturbed at his constant depiction in starkly female clothing. Bolted on to this piecemeal comedy vehicle is a romantic subplot between the pink haired Mizuki, whose voice actor channels ef's Natsumi Yanase, and the titular idiot Akihisa whose propensity for dimwittedness keeps the entire affair tolerable if not predictable.
On first blush the art style and delivery is reminiscent of SHAFT's less recent works; not surprising then that the director, Shin Oonuma, is a stalwart of the studio and has partnered with series composer Katsuhiko Takayama who worked with him on the usually misattributed ef duo of series. The result is a distinctive aesthetic style that makes use of strong colours - Mizuki's gradated pink hair is the most obvious example - and a mezzotint background effect. Not as flagrant as SHAFT's best, but studio SILVER LINK refrain from corner cutting and keep the kinetic slapstick looking clean and never less than passable.
Baka to Test to Shokanju is a routinely funny, surprisingly competent series judging from its first three episodes; its variety glosses over the jokes which fall flat or are otherwise overused leaving enough quality material to believe that the rest of the series will follow suit. The nagging worry remains that it will peak too early and instead of maintaining the furious, devil-may-care pace, it will favour more sedate, straight-faced portrayal of characters like Mizuki and Akihisa. Or, like the previously mentioned Maburaho, it becomes so head-scratchingly bizarre that any humour is irrecoverably doused. So far, the series shows none of these proclivities and it remains a thoroughly enjoyable escapade that is self-knowing enough at one quarter through to allay fears for its future.
