Today lets take a look into Medaka-chan’s box …bahahaha  … sorry for the bad pun XD

Medaka Box is a 12 episode long anime that was adapted from the manga written by Nisio Isin, who also was the original creator of the great Bakemonogatari, on first look you won’t notice his influence, but a few traits can be found. Medaka Box aired from April till June 2012.

This anime was produced by Gainax, when I think of that name I actually expect something awesome, in the past Gainax was known for creative and great anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL or Gurren Lagann. In the last few years they came around with in my opinion quite forgettable animes like Dantalian no Shoka or Panty & Stocking, ok the wild cursing and the power puff girls look was unique, but the story could have been better.

After the intro blubbering lets see how Medaka Box actually performed in these 12 episodes.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTcRxo0Laxc

Medaka Box appears as a rather simple school comedy show, the busty main heroine Kurokami, Medaka is the newly elected student council president of Hakoniwa Academy. She is a smart, energetic, cheerful, but also an eccentric and slightly crazy person. With her new job as student council president she helps the students in need 24/7 and 365 days in the year, who place a request in the so called “Medaka Box”. Among the students she is very popular and is considered as prodigy, she is pretty, has big boobs and excels in every aspect of school life and sport.

Medaka is also a real philanthropist who likes to help other people no matter if they are normal students or hopeless delinquents, nevertheless because of her attitude, image and skills, a small group within the school hates her with passion, at the beginning of the anime also her childhood friend Zenkichi has doubts about her, he actually thinks that she’s a self righteous person who likes to stay above other people. After watching her doing good things for other people and noticing her true intentions his opinion about her changes. He joins the student council shortly afterwards and helps Medaka with her work and silences the ones who are opposing her.

This first season can be considered as introduction for further seasons, in the first 9 episodes the show mainly shows centers around lighthearted school comedy where Medaka and Zenkichi are solving problems, dealing with delinquents or recruiting new members for the student council. Medaka Box doesn’t try to appear like an elaborate anime, even though there are amusing and lively dialogs between the characters, aside from that the comedy offers some good laughs.

Afterwards there occurs a little genre shift from happy go lucky school comedy to action.

The characters in Medaka Box are well done, next to the omnipresent Medaka, Zenkichi and the other two members of the student council, Kouki and Mogana are also likeable and interesting.

Zenkichi is a refreshingly tough male lead character, he doesn’t rely on the strength of Medaka and also shows no timidness to disagree with her opinions. Even though yo can’t deny that he seems to have a little crush on her.

Shiranui is no member of the student council, but a close friend of Zenkichi, she might look cute, but she isn’t cute and has a mischievous personality, but Zenkichi is on good terms with her.

After the Disciplinary Comitee’s and Medaka’s ideals collide after a small coincidence hell breaks loose, and the student council faces dangerous opponents, Medaka is forced to unleash her hidden powers to protect her important friends. Without negative judgement, much logic can’t be found in the final part, instead we see badass action, students with crazy powers and lunatic students. You might wonder where the teachers, police or the damn JSDF are in such situations.

technical aspects

Medaka Box has a decent animation quality, there is nothing especially bad about it. The art style is quite different from the usual anime, the backgrounds and the overall look is rather comic like and simple. The faces of the characters could have been a bit more detailed but they have an attractive adult look.

The voice actors are very well chosen; Toyosaki, Aki made a good job in voicing Medaka and Paku, Romi was great as insane villain. The OST was nothing special, as well. Ok, the opening “Happy Box” hurt my ears that I skipped it, but the ending song “Ohanabatake ni Tsuretette” was ok.

 Final Words 

Medaka Box is a solid shounen anime with entertaining comedy and some action near the end.
At first the random problem solving might appear boring, but when you get the flow of this anime, the characters with their funny antics and the last 4 episodes will make up for the slow start. When you are looking for a more complex and elaborate anime, Medaka Box is the wrong title for you, but in the category of unusual lighthearted comedy it has it’s entertainment value.

The anime adaption more or less captured the happenings till chapter 22, there are around 151 chapters of the Medaka Box manga. Another season might improve my first impression of this show, I’ve heard that there will happen some more things in the manga after chapter 22.

Lets see if Gainax will invest more into this franchise, I would like to see a 2nd season.