By most measures the first season of Baka & Test was a pretty average anime comedy, fueled by the usual nosebleeds, boob jokes, and assorted personalities ending in “-dere” we’ve seen plenty of times before. But there’s a certain charm to the show’s ensemble cast of lovable losers, and when you combine that with its bizarre academics based battle system and creative art direction, it managed to save itself from irrelevancy.

After a one year break the show returned with a two part OVA and eventually a second season. Does the latest iteration of Baka & Test get more than just passing marks, or is Class F doomed to repeat a grade? To the review!

Baka & Test OVA Special Collection

Studio: Silverlink
Publisher: Funimation
Release Date: February 19th, 2013
MSRP: $34.98

Baka & Test Season 2 Complete Set

Studio: Silverlink
Publisher: Funimation
Release Date: January 15th, 2013
MSRP: $69.98

Main Feature(s)

Baka & Test tells the story of Class F, a group of academically challenged students who happen to attend a very unique school. At Fumizuki Academy, your test scores not only determine your class placement, they also determine the strength of your summoned avatar used to fight for a better class standing. The top classes get the best classrooms and equipment, while Class F finds themselves literally using cardboard boxes for desks. In the first season (which you have presumably watched before reading this) Class F manages to use their “special” brand of logic to outwit their scholastically superior opponents. There’s even a little romance thrown in for good measure.

Chronologically speaking the OVA special picks up shortly after the first season ends, covering the exploits of Class F during the school festival. Season 2 continues the school year from there, but honestly not much has changed from season 1. All of the old jokes and aforementioned anime clichés return with a vengeance, beaten to death until they’re not funny and then beaten some more until they loop back around to being funny again. If you enjoy intentionally dumb humor it’s still quite entertaining, despite the repetition.

What was more irksome to me was the romance elements of the story, which play a slightly bigger role in Baka & Test’s second season. The first season’s inconclusive ending left me somewhat unsatisfied, but stretching the matter out for another fifteen episodes brings the frustration to a whole new level. Without giving anything away I will say things do wrap up on a sweet note, but I still found myself wanting more.

At its best though, Baka & Test has a fun, charming vibe I can’t help but get swept up in, especially when Class F goes on the offensive for a Summon Battle. These unique campaigns with their strange rules and the dubious ways our idiot heroes work around them are by far the best part of the series. It helps that these losers really are lovable too, with some rather pretty and surprisingly straight faced flashbacks reminding us these are good people. It makes you root for these crazy kids to make it, even through all the repetitive nosebleeds and boob jokes.

Technical Quality

One of the first things you notice about Baka & Test is the incredibly bold and colorful art direction. The animation and character designs themselves are somewhat pedestrian, but the world they live in is packed tight with bright pastels, halftone patterns and flashy typography. Director Shin Onuma orchestrates the madness with quick cuts, well timed stills, and odd color choices that give Baka & Test a very unique look. It can be a little overwhelming once the action really gets going, but a big plus for the series overall.

For these releases the script was entirely re-written for the English dub, giving it a very natural, free-flowing feel to go along with the generally superb voice acting. Given the fast past of the series this is almost a necessity, although some people may not like the inclusion of American slang phrases and a few alterations to the dialogue. Fortunately for those folks the subtitles are based on a more accurate translation, so both sub and dub fans alike should be pleased.

Bonus Features

The OVA Special Collection contains a few promo videos and the clean opening and ending songs, as well as a few brief alternate endings. That doesn’t sound like much but that’s really all a low price two-episode collection needs. The Season 2 collection is a different story. For starters, the set comes packed in a lovely hard cover case, with the individual case covers lining up to form a somewhat salacious picture of Hideyoshi. Going one step further, the disc cases even have reversible covers so you can choose your favorite characters to display.

Packed in with episodes are several bonus shorts, available both on DVD and Bluray like the rest of the series. These shorts are ultimately inconsequential, but are amusing little vignettes worth giving a glance. There are also commentary tracks from the English production staff available for two episodes, which give some behind the scenes insight on the adaptation process. Add those to more promo videos and clean title songs and you’ve got a pretty sizable set of extras to go along with the main feature.

Overall Value

I hope it’s not too much of a cop out to say “If you liked the first season you’ll like this” but that really is the case with the Baka & Test OVA and Season 2 collections. It delivers more of the same humor, style and romance you either loved or hated in the first 13 episodes. If you do find yourself craving more Class F antics though, don’t hesitate to pick these up. Not only will you be getting a silly and sweet anime comedy, you’ll be getting a high quality release to add to your shelf.