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Medaka Box continues to be the textbook example of how not to do an anime adaptation. I have read and enjoyed the Medaka Box manga. Which makes it all the more frustrating when the anime adaptation is so downright terrible. My … Continue reading →
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Poor Medaka Box. Its second season had the worst timing imaginable. Here’s the thing: for the past few years, me and Shounen Jump Adaptations didn’t have the best relationship. Sure, there was the occasional gem with Level E, but most series got on my nerves like no other by taking so many ages to actually [...]
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Considering the studio and the writer behind this series, this show should be awesome. So... Why isn't it?   Although the first season failed to impress, I still felt that there was something to Medaka Box... When it wasn't focusing on Medaka, that is. The perfect title character and her ease in getting out of every situation the show threw at her, no matter how crazy, made for a surprisingly boring watch. So when this season seemed to promise some actual challenge towards Medaka in the form of her just-as-powerful peers in the Flask Plan, I was excited.   And yet, it still couldn't completely break away from the problems of the first season. The show discusses what makes a person Normal, Special, or Abnormal this time around, and then attempts to turn the tables by having the Normals and the Specials take out the Abnormals. I say "attempt," because despite all the build-up about the classifications being arbitrary and just a result of how they're viewed in society, most problems are still resolved by Medaka's deus ex machina ability. Add this to bland, dragged-out fight sequences, and you have a show that has some good ideas, but is still too in love with its main character to explore them in an interesting way.   That said, there were still moments that I liked. The continued character development of Zenkichi, the Normal, easily has some of my favorite scenes during the show, especially the sentiment that hard work and determination will get you anywhere. The backstory focus was also nice, since the other student council members basically get thrown to the wayside (even though Akune had a backstory segment too). The reveal of Naze's past was interesting, if cliched, but her unique Abnormality makes up for it and her character arc takes an interesting turn towards the end.   However, while these moments raise this show up to an "okay" level for me, they are completely overshadowed by the end of the second-to-last episode and the final episode. Gainax shows off their trolling skills once again as they give us a brief taste of what Medaka Box is like when it's written well and has nothing to do with its title character. You've got fourth-wall breaking, excellent use of color, light and shadows, and a crazy group of characters who monologue about impossible or absurd things. Now I can believe that this series was made by the creator of Bakemonogatari. NisiOisiN, where have you been this whole time?! In conclusion, yes, there is something to Medaka Box. Unfortunately, this season doesn't cover it. If this were animated by any other studio then Gainax, I'd wonder why they'd undermine their entire show by putting something good in at the very end, but hey. That's what they do. If a third season gets made (and it probably will--they made this season, after all) and it's as good as that single episode was, I'm in. I'd like less Medaka in Medaka Box. Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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This is review number one hundred and twenty four. It’s part of the Fall 2012 lineup and the first review of the year. This is the second season of Medaka Box and its twelve episodes long. I enjoyed the first season a lot and I am so excited to see this new one. More Medaka [...]
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With its major story arc completed and the Flask Plan defeated, but with no time to move into its next major story, Medaka Box Abnormal doesn't so much break the fourth wall as smash it to pieces with an almighty hammer in the name of explaining what follows in its final episode - a side-story featuring the newly introduced Misogi Kumagawa before his transfer to Sandbox Academy. Thus, after that
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361/366 Medaka Box SCHOOL OF PAIN! I like these because they remind me of military uniforms honestly. Overall: I'd give em a whirl.No related posts. No related posts.
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Now that Medaka is back to normal (or as close to it as you could possibly go when it comes to defining her as "normal"),  it's time for the final basement showdown in the battle to destroy the Flask Plan. If Oudo Miyakonojou wasn't a tough enough final boss as it is, it appears that he's been hiding another technique almost literally up his sleeve - the ability to steal the techniques of others
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When Medaka Box’s first season aired, I ignored most of it before giving it a fair chance. It was nearing its end by then. Because I didn’t know much about it, I wasn’t expecting anything in particular. What kept me interested was the increasing divergence, in the story line, between what I was expecting and what it was. That [...]
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With the brainwashing of Medaka complete, what sort of monster has emerged as a result?  Certainly, this isn't the Kurokami that we've grown used to... Instead, this new revision of Medaka is far more embracing of her talents, and wants nothing more than to rejoin the Flask Plan and join their quest as the head of their attempts to create a perfect human being - a human being who would, of
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You can tell they're basically the same show just by looking.
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Medaka captured and in the process of being brainwashed; Hitoyoshi and Akane out for the count; it's well and truly Kikaijima's turn to step up to the plate for this week's Medaka Box Abnormal. Although her lung capacity is such that she has little trouble putting up with her opponent Yukuhashi's sleeping gas, her ease at being provoked threatens to be her downfall as he pushes her into making
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What an eventful and exciting episode of Medaka Box Abnormal, with our heroine getting duped out of her memories, and an all-out war getting started between the 13 Party and the student government. Frankly, it’s hard to care about the outcome; the story has gone off the rails, but in a very good way. It’s [...]
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If you're expecting a touching reunion between sisters in this week's Medaka Box, then expect away, because that ain't what you're getting. Even though Naze's lost memories of her role in the Kurokami family seem to have at least somewhat returned, she still has no interest in either her (now ailing) brother or her sister, while for Medaka's part she seems happy to regard Naze as both an enemy
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Following a series of solid action-focused episodes, this one proved to be rather ho-hum in comparison. Most of its time was filled with unfunny dialogue, with uninspired combat in what little action there was. I’m willing to give it some leeway for clearly being a transition episode, but considering this one had a shocking family [...]
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Although even Akune at his finest as a "destroyer" was having a struggle despatching Naze and her cyborg sidekick Koga, is the appearance of master analyst Maguro on the scene really going to make any difference to this particular battle? It certainly doesn't seem like it given his proclivities, and his obsession with Naze's underwear seems likely to be nothing but counter-productive as it turns
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