watsica.lloyd - 2015-03-20 05:44:08

Your enjoyment of this anime will depend on your sense of humor (or love of traps). As for me I thought it was pretty funny. The romance in the show also felt very generic. The plot was lackluster at times as well. I would rate story, sound, animation and characters but all of that is average or below average. What makes you watch this anime is it's comedy and the most well known Trap ever. Hideyoshi is love Hideyoshi is life

emacejkovic - 2015-01-24 19:43:33

Very good anime that you should watch man, Because in this anime there is a ninja pervert that are amazing :D

daryl97 - 2015-01-11 12:08:13

Comedy anime at it's finest. This series will have you laughing our ass of from the beginning to end.

tlesch - 2014-12-02 15:39:02

So I'll keep this review short and sweet~

バカとテストと召喚獣,

Story-The story is a joke it's not suppose to be taken seriously.

Animation-This Anime is filled with colorful scenes and colorful and bubbly areas that is suppose to make you smile with joy.

Sound-The OST isn't that special or something to remember because the Anime Dub takes the cake for making up the sounds in this anime. I'm telling you these are one of the dubs you do not want to skip out on it will make you pee your pants.

Character-All the Character have there own special touch but the one that will ultimately catch your attention is Akihisa Yoshii the way he does thing will amaze you and he is an baka seriously but a funny one at that.

Enjoyment-This anime will always keep you guessing on what is going to happen next you will literally never predict what will happen next. 

Overall-Baka to test is an enjoyable anime that you shouldn't miss especially the dub if you ever having a bad day then watch this anime it is guarantee to cheer your spirits.

camren.predovic - 2014-06-30 01:30:49

Story-

So basically Baka & Test is about a school that is run by grades that you get on the placement exam. They summon characters and fight with them. The classes are to A to F. A, being the most intelligent. While F, being the more unintelligent. While the classes are run in this category, the supplies they get match the category too. For example, Class A has their own couches and high tech electronics and Class F has unstuffed cushions and the tables that keep breaking. 

Characters-

The main protagonist Akihisa, who is the "Baka" in Baka & Test. His character plays the "go with the flow" type of character. He always get dragged into his friends plans. This sets him as very funny because he doesn't really know what he's getting into at that. The secondary characters more or so act like him but have their differences. Each character has their own gags, as they portray their role in the series. For example, Mussolini (Kouta) is always peeking on the girls in which he portrays the perverted favorite in the series. Hideyoshi, the Trap who every girl is jealous for, has his gender bender gag. 

Sound-

When you hear the opening of the series, you may think your playing Dance Dance Revolution on basic level. But no, that's just the music. Baka and Test has a good soundtrack as it can sometimes go awry, like the opening. The OST has no problems with it. You may not notice because the comedy overturns the music.

Animation-

The animation of the series is very colorful and hyped, but not as No Game, No Life (anime). The animation of all the summons is very funny and touching. Each animation makes the jokes even funnier as it adds depth to the show.

Overall-

The series is very awesome as a twist in slice of life. Each character plays their own stereotype in typical japanese anime. The show is very enjoying as they make even the most simplest games into jokes and comedy segment. 

freida.harber - 2014-06-25 22:46:44

review is short and spoiler free

Story;
8/10
Your basic school slice of life, but wait? why is it SO basic, it feels like every other show - oh....
Absolutely hilarious show. The basic sci-fi elements thrown in are pretty much just left alone from the get go (yah holograms! lets go watch tv...). The simplistic and recurring plot quickly redeems itself through comedy, as even the main plot itself is quickly "downgraded" to a running joke.

Animation;
8/10
Nothing special, nothing to dislike about it.

Sound;
9/10
The various themes are easily recognizable and help set the mood for the show.

Character;
10/10
The characters go through next to nill development outside of relationships, and the meeting in first episode(s)/flashbacks. But thats fine since they all come pre-packaged as their own archetypes. One of the main gags is the lack of distinct character development.

Enjoyment;
10/10
Great laughs all around, will not disappoint.

Overall;
10/10

marquardt.lyda - 2014-06-20 06:31:55

A show about idiots?!

Wait, that sounds stupid enough to work. And it does.

Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts is a show that lives and dies by its stupidity. Sometimes its dies, but mostly it lives.

At Fumizuki Academy, students with the highest test scores are placed in the air-conditioned, recliner seated room of Class A. Too bad for Akihisa, his grades have scored him a worn out straw mat seat in Class F. But, thanks to the Summoner Test Wars, students can summon their avatars—chibi versions of themselves—and challenge other classes avatar VS avatar. A lower class (F) can exchange their equipment with a higher class (E) if the former wins. Or a lower class (C) can have their equipment downgraded if they lose to a higher class (A).

Fed up with their decrepit wooden tables, Class F—Akihisa, Yuji, Mizuki, Minami, Hideyoshi, and Kouta—decide to partake in the Summoner Test Wars in hopes of improving their time at Fumizuki Academy. Except for the fact the strength of their avatars is based on their test scores, meaning a lower class shouldn’t be able to beat a higher class. And since avatar strength is based on test scores, the Summoner Test Wars are impractical compared to taking a normal test. And they live on their own, so they knew what they were signing up for when they decided to enroll at the school.

Already the Summoner Test Wars are roundabout and frivolous. It gets even dumber when the strength system played straight during one fight is subverted by tactics in another fight. The fights themselves can only happen at Fumizuki, as only a teacher can create the fighting field for the avatars. Capping the fights is a teacher nicknamed ‘Iron Man,’ who drags the owners of knocked out avatars to remedial classes. It doesn’t matter if their avatars are knocked out in the bathhouse or from a life-threatening emergency at Fumizuki, he WILL appear anywhere.

With pointless battles and the most adamant referees ever, the story cares nothing for following its own rules. Urgency? Continuity? Coherent battles? Fairness? None of that is a top priority when this show just doesn’t care. But there’s more to the show than the Summoner Test Wars, as they’re only one part of the story. It’s the wrapping for the cream of the crepe, the water that boils the noodles, or the clothes that sell Hideyoshi as a girl.

Unfortunately, I can’t describe Hideyoshi beyond being the guy who looks like a girl, nor do the other characters warrant much discourse. Akihisa is the title idiot, Yuji the cool best friend, Mizuki the cute genius, Minami the spunky hothead, and Kouta the perverted photographer. Some of them get a spotlight episode, but it’s usually just a more serious take on their already existing antics. Unfortunately, a few serious moments don’t mesh with an otherwise silly show. While this doesn’t ruin the characters, they stay wholly unremarkable.

But where the characters fall short by themselves, they stand out as a class, their antics showing in unflattering fashion. Hideyoshi is often the victim of his own appearance, by jokes from boys and girls alike, while Minami is the butt of gags noting her lack of femininity. The latter often vents her anger with wrestling moves on Akihisa. And every time Minami grapples Akihisa, her skirt rides up but she’s too angry to notice Kouta trying to peek at her panties. And Kouta apparently runs a service where he sells photos of cute girls. And Hideyoshi.

Adding to the antics is Mizuki, who’s actually a genius but in Class F by mistake. Her intellect is an ace for her class, but countless friends have also fallen victim to her poor cooking. Then there’s Yuji, the representative for Class F, whose high confidence mismatches his low test results. Yuji barely leads his class as is, and is instead handcuffed against his will by the disturbingly devoted Shouko from Class A. While not a standout either, a few scenes and dialog are hints for why Shouko’s so eccentric; she and Yuji are the only ones with any hint of background.

And just when the show couldn’t get dumber, it does. When one group of characters is trying to bring two other characters together, absolutely everything makes it worse for only one of the two. There are times when they conspire right in front of each other. There are times where ruses are plainly exposed only for the supposed geniuses not to notice. And there are times when the show becomes dramatic—dramatic, not serious—for the dumbest reasons. This show is impossible to take seriously, but stumbles when it’s SUPPOSED to be taken seriously.

The main issue with the show trying to be serious, is the mismatch in sincerity between a few scenes and episodes compared with the rest of the show. A serious moment where one character stops what she’s about to do, or another character expressing a surprising amount of insight, doesn’t mesh with how they behave otherwise. Maybe some viewers will find the emotional contrast to anchor the show for them, but for others, a show that appeals with stupidity loses its luster trying to haphazardly have a heart. A comedy especially needs to bring in ‘heart’ slowly, and this show doesn’t.

Thankfully, the show brings in strong aesthetics. In addition to colors brighter than geniuses and expressions livelier than the antics, the character designs are easy on the eyes. Mostly the girls. Mizuki’s long, pink, and fluffy hair is only matched by her three sizes. But size isn’t everything, as the slender and short haired Minami will prove during a few scenes. Playing opposite to them is Shouko, whose elegant form belies her sadism. And rounding off the cast of girls is Hideyoshi, whose appearance alone will fool people into thinking he’s a girl.

Hideyoshi’s feminine appearance is further pushed by his designs. Quite oddly, most of the skinservice is from him crossdressing, from nurse outfits to swimsuits. And speaking of swimsuits, the show’s skinservice episode about its girls doubles for a pool episode and bathhouse episode. So outside of the gender benderific antics, the show is devoid of fanservice in an overt sense. The girls often opt for stronger blushing than normal, suggestive words, or the scene itself to play up their appearance. It goes for something subtle instead of panty shots or what have you.

But what’s often not so subtle is the soundtrack. As expected for a show about idiots, the music is bombastic. Everyday scenes are with silly tracks, the fights scenes have playfully dramatic pieces, and the sappy scenes are filled with over the top, melodramatic ambience. I’d say the music is better if the opening and closing songs, ‘Perfect-Area Complete!’ and ‘Baka Go Home,’ were part of each episode during an opening or closing scene, but they’re not.

I say the music is ‘often not so subtle’ since there are scenes where it displays a strong grasp on the art of silence. Some scenes in the spotlight episodes especially do a fine job at wrenching a sense of rejection, uplifting the spirits through cheesy but heartwarming moments, and establishing a meaning behind a relationship. With the way these scenes sound, it’s like the show has deeper character progress.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t. The characters are standard fare throughout the show, and the story is brought down more than it should be. That doesn’t mean it’s bad though, because Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts mostly succeeds at being entertaining through sheer stupidity. It’s not the smartest show in the class, but I wasn’t expecting clever humor about idiots.

robb.walker - 2013-08-08 04:14:04

The problem with Baka to Test is people tend to take it way too seriously. Comedy series are hard to please everyone. Subjectively, I like my comedy simple. Slapstick/overblown comedy is my favorite because simplistic comedy connects with all kind of people. However most people come into comedies looking for witty characters and unique jokes, and when they see Baka to Test, they laugh it off as cliché and repetitive. And while it does seem like this, Baka To Test actually does all of this on purpose. Baka to Test plays heavily on its cliché character types to form one of the most brilliant parodies I’ve ever watched.

Animes essentially ruin themselves when they resort to clichés; school romance comedies always have some loser guy in love with a popular and perfect beauty, while harems have some dense and oblivious lead with girls all over him. There’s always a childhood friend somewhere, a tsundere who likes the main, a pervert in the class who has the nosebleeds. After seeing it over and over, we usually just close our eyes and shake our heads.

Likewise, the characters of Baka to Test are by far the most flat, one dimensional characters I’ve ever seen. They lack any sort of character development and their personalities revolves purely off their clichés. Yet through this, each of these characters are able to utilize his/her archetypes to lay out hilarious interactions and actions. The characters are one dimensional on purpose in order to make fun of themselves.

Every single character archetype you’ve come to love and hate over the years is taken and blended into a single anime. The yandere, the tsundere, the yaoi character, the yuri character, childhood friend, the pervert, the tease, the airhead, the perfect girl, twins, the trap, the leader, the idiot, the loli, the mature and older sister, the cross dresser, the jealous classmates, and so on. Even if you haven’t seen a lot of anime (Hell, Baka to Test is one of my first animes), the jokes are still understandable and witty.

Probably some of my more favorite scenes involve the dramatic nosebleed scenes by Kouta (who symbolizes the class pervert).

(watch the first 30 seconds of this clip to gain an idea)

Another prominent ongoing joke is watching the main character Yoshii (meant to represent the Idiot) put on trial by the FFF (a parody of the KKK and representing the jealous classmates) for getting a bento from a girl or other silly stuff.

These gags along with many, many more that Baka to Test execute are lighthearted and always feel fresh to me, which I really enjoy about the series.

Baka to Test’s plot is even a parody of itself. And yes believe it or not, it's not a cute girls doing cute things anime, but has an actual plot. The story takes place at Fumizuki Gakuen's Highschool, which arranges students based on grades. Students with the highest grades are placed in the A class, and are granted luxury equipment and treatment. On the flipside, those with the lowest grades are in F class, the most rundown and underprivileged class of the school. However, classes are able to swap classrooms through winning in a Summon Being Wars. Students are able to fight each other through the usage of their own personal Summoning Being. These creatures’ power levels correspond with their owner’s grades for each subject. The whole plot is meant to poke fun at the school romance comedies that always make a big deal out of class rankings and being the “top” student.

Technical wise, I like the art of Baka to Test. It’s very simple and plain, yet also very appealing to me. The characters look perfectly normal and the backgrounds have a very colorful and artsy feel. The animation also feels smooth, especially for an unknown company like Silver Link. I especially like watching the animated fights between the summon beings. The voice actors do a great job and I highly recommend the sub over the dub (Yoshii sounds horrible in the dub). As for music, it does its job, though it’s nothing memorable. The opening is originally what got me into the anime, and I find the song for it is catchy and suiting for a series like this. If you want, I’ll leave a link below so you can check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXW9KqRVa7E

That being said, if you despise slapstick or overblown comedy, you probably shouldn’t force yourself to watch this series. Baka to Test is a series where you can turn your brain off, lean back, and relax. The simplistic and light-hearted plot mixed in with its great cast of characters makes it one of my favorite go-to series for comedy alone or with my friends. Thanks for reading my review, and if you have comments, please post on my wall so I can improve my future reviews. Thanks!

dbruen - 2013-05-19 04:03:54

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: Idiot, how are you so lucky

This is a great anime for a laugh and it has surprisingly good character development throughout the whole story.

Story:

The story line feels very loose, the majority of it is battling between classes with their crappy (or surprisingly good) grades, and the occasional flashback to how they met with a bit of fan service thrown in here or there. Besides the lack of a solid plot other then "idiot has girls that like him and he doesn't know" this anime was great. It had me laughing constantly with the random funny antics of their class and the school itself (Chibi <3) The characters developed well and the humor was amazing. If you like high school with a unique twist and great comedy then this is perfect for you.

Animation:

The animation for this anime was great for what it needed to be, it fit the fun/humorous theme of the show and really gave it a comedic feel whenever it was necessary. 

Summary:

Looking for a funny high school story with a nice twist and a little bit of idiotic romance that can make you "aww" at the right times? Then go watch this anime this second, it has a great touch of the right kind of humor and fitting theme that will hook you til the end.

-Alf

raheem.herman - 2013-03-13 09:30:23

Comedic Genius.......

Ok that might have been to strong....

But they were the first words that came into my head the first time I watched this series. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu is One of the many Anime that brightens up my day =)

The story doesn't have a Direct plot.This isn't your kind of anime where there's this one direction and your just waiting for it to unfold. The show is spontaneous, completely random (most of the time) and completely Hilarious. Most of the time(Probably)You will be laughing out loud (LOL =D).

If you do need a plot(or a little background)to have a reason to watch this show then let me summarize it (w/out spoils of course ;D). It revolves around a boy, named Akihisa and to be exact he's an idiot. Failed the Entrance exam and got sent to the lowest class witch is "Class F". There he met a Beautiful(Opinionated =D) and intelligent girl, Himeji. Now how she got into class F your going to have to find out for yourself. Joining them are the tomboyish Minami, Student rep. Yuji, Voyour Kouta, and Hideyoshi. With all of them togehter, normal days became hurricanes.

 The Summary was vague right? But here's the thing, the reason you would want to watch this anime is to have a good laugh. Each character has their own charm and each setting of the story or each episode of the anime will make you laugh real hard. Not to mention the animation and music were also really great.The story makes you feel like your in your comfort zone doing stupidity with your friends and nobody cares but you having a really good time. Every time you watch this it really will brighten up your day =)

Again this anime is Purely Comedy. Really worth a lot of laugh's. If your a person who likes humor or just want to take a break from the seriousness around you(Or your anime), or really just want to brighten up your day I would highly suggest you watch this.

And i'm sorry if I wasted your time =)