What’s it about ?
Darned if I know. The story focuses on a school where quarrels between classes are solved through massive martial art battles – this episode’s campaign between classes S and F involves more than 500 combatants on each side. But somehow, despite this episode being an extended fight scene, it looks like we’re heading for a harem setup. Sigh.
Characters
The cast is absolutely massive : discounting the red shirts, there’s at least 10 apparently important characters on each side. Very few of them get any depth, obviously.
Yamato, our de-facto protagonist, is the tactical coordinator for class F. He’s quite good at it (with assistance from the geek squad), but completely crap in an actual fight. He’s been harbouring for years a love for…
Momoyo, whom supplementary material assure me is NOT his sister, despite him addressing her as such throughout. But they’ve been childhood friends for so long that she simply cannot see him that way. She’s a superb martial artist, one of the “Great Four” (whatever that means), and decided to side with class S just because. Frankly, they do need her.
Hideo is the leader of class S, and as such the main target. He’s an arrogant moron, and you won’t be surprised when he’s defeated because of terrible tactical choices made through overconfidence. (There’s a limit to how much his underlings can cover for).
Class F’s top fighters include a set of four elite female champions who all seem to pine for Yamato ; as well as Hideo’s sister, for some reason. Their “leader” is a completely inept girl who needs permanent care.
Class S also has a set of sub-commanders who do all the work… and an entire squad of girls dressed as maids, for some reason.
There are two weird women (one of them covered in bandages) hovering on the sides of the fight and apparently looking for Momoyo. They’re our only clue of a wider plot being around.
Production Values
Mostly okay. I’ve never been been fond of the “still shot after a martial art move” cost-cutting device, but it’s not used too much as to be grating.
This is surprisingly low on fanservice, despite most females wearing bloomers and some clothing damage being implied half-way through. Indeed, the only character who spends most of the episode half-naked is Hideo.
What did I think of it ?
What. The. Heck ?
I’m really not sure what to make of this. The school battles are decently executed, but don’t feel like they can sustain a whole series (cf. also BakaTest). The sheer number of named characters makes it hard to care about most of them. The romance stuff makes me roll my eyes. And I have no clue what the deal with the two women is.
I’m tentatively giving it one more episode to see whether a coherent direction emerges, but this seems like a mess.
