Baka to Tesuto to Shokanjuu

Baka to Tesuto to Shokanjuu:  C+

This series rounds out what is, in my mind now, a trio of series that I've reviewed that, in my mind are all a little too similar for me to be entirely comfortable with: Baka to Tesuto to Shokanjuu (which translates loosely to "Idiots, Tests and Summoned Monsters," but is conveniently abbreviated "Bakatest"), Infinite Stratos and Kore wa Zombie desu ka.

Bakatest revolves around a school with a unique method of teaching: students are classed according to their academic ability from A to F, with correspondingly good (or poor) facilities.  Our hero is, naturally, in the F class, the bottom of the barrel, the idiots of the idiots, who in this particular instance are joined by one girl who fainted during the Entrance Exam.  Naturally, our hero stands up for the girl against the brutality of the system, and even more so when it turns out that she's an A-class level genius, so the school's other unique attribute: a video-game-esque 'battle system' based on the students grades in which they can defeat other classes in 'battles' between their summoned creatures in order to conquer the superior facilities.  Naturally, the series is also contains a love triangle between our fainting genius, the hero and his violently Tsundere childhood friend.  Overall, it manages to be clever, funny and occasionally heartwarming.

But.  BUT.

It's formulaic to the point of cut-and-pasting, an accusation I should have leveled more harshly at the other two series I mentioned.  I'm going to start referring to the genre of 'High School Fantasy' derogatorialy for a minute, because it's becoming painfully prevalent and really could stand to sharpen up.  A proper High School Fantasy establishes something interesting about the setting (Say, the school's got summoned monsters), gives us a male protagonist and maybe his posse, and then throws women at him which he, for whatever reason, is hesitant to get involved with (in this case because he is an intergalactic moron), and completely ignores all the interesting social, philosophical and psychological questions that the interesting nature of the setting brings up in favor of swimsuits, jiggling and schadenfreude.

SOME people would say that cute girls and people suffering humorously is enough.  And they're not entirely wrong, these series do not tend to be bad.  They do tend to be predictable and shallow, wasting potential on cookie-cutter plots rather than challenging us to ask questions, empathize or even care.

Bakatest is a fun little romp with some lovable idiots.  If you want to visit their strange high school with its strange rules and stranger students, you'll laugh and have a good time.  But, it's a truly textbook High School Fantasy, with all the baggage that entails.