Like fruit, Baka to Test to Shokanju ripens with age. The running gags taste increasingly better and the variety keeps each one appetising; then the final pair of episodes roll around focusing entirely of the series' namesake and without warning there is oatmeal where fruit once was. The cross-up from raucous shenanigans to a poignant David and Goliath type story had been brewing throughout, however it isn't where the series strength lies. Quick-fire jokes, parodies and taboo-shattering characters - whether it is the aggressively homosexual Miharu, the gender bending Hideyoshi or the domineering Shoko - all blend together to create a hot-pot of outrageous hilarity and one of the most potent comedies of recent memory, regardless of its conclusion.
a vibrant and riotously enthusiastic aesthetic that never falters in delivery and encourages absolute attention
Fumizuki Academy isn't like other schools: instead of teaching all students equally, they are segregated into classes based on their skill. At the entrance exam, Mizuki Himeji is taken ill and scores zero, relegating her to the bottom of the school: Class F. Stuck with decrepit equipment, the miscreants that dwell in F class have a plan to challenge those ahead of them to assume control of their more luxurious facilities. Unique to Fumizuki however is the system which allows students to summon avatars with abilities based upon their test scores - a teacher must oversee the battle and a subject must be chosen, other than that they are a free for all. Losing an early skirmish, class F must bide their time until they can challenge another class again, that doesn't stop them from enjoying their time at school though.
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.
the titular idiot Akihisa whose propensity for dimwittedness keeps the entire affair tolerable if not predictable
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.
