04
Mar
10

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu – Episode 09

Last week on Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Yoshii had to save the day by infiltrating the school’s server room amidst a maelström of Evangelion references.  This week, his sister comes home from the States to check up on him and decide if he can still live on his own.  Big Sister is watching you, Yoshii.

And she totally wants you.

Yoshii’s sister, Akira, shows up in a bathrobe, which she says she changed into on the train.  While she appears smarter than her brother does, she lacks even more in the common sense department at times.  She has come home to grade him on his living conditions, which starts a rolling counter that changes throughout the episode.  She forbids him from hanging out with girls, but… guys are okay.  Of course, this gets him in trouble, first at school when everyone thinks he’s hiding a girlfriend.  Then they all follow him home and that doesn’t settle well with big sis.  He devotes himself to his studies so his sister will get off his back and leave him alone.  Yoshii almost pulls it off too, except that he put the answers in the wrong boxes.  Oh well, there’s always the next exam.

Seriously, if Yoshii is questioning your decision, you done screwed up!

Wait, what... HOW can you maintain elegance when you strip on a TRAIN!?

Good job, you just got denied by your own ruleset!

No matter what you do, if Shouko is involved, you're hosed from the start.

Himeji's womanly instincts are kicking in to overdrive.

Geez... talk about mood swings.

I'm not sure whether that comment should flatter or insult Hideyoshi.

And the award for this season's most obvious punchline goes to...

You just cannot catch a break, can you?

Honestly, I found it difficult to write about this episode.  After last week’s excellent showing, I had hopes that this series could get back on track.  Unfortunately, all it does is retread the fanservicegasm of Episode 6, except with yaoi and incest references included.  On that note, I am tired of some character’s sister magically showing up to try to throw a wrench in the workings of a show.  It works well sometimes, but in this case, it feels like some shiny distraction to keep us from noticing the lack of comedic substance.  Maybe if Yoshii had talked about his sister in the past it would be different, but not even the cast knew he had siblings.  On the positive side, it did show that Yoshii’s fits of brilliance aren’t just a coincidence.  He can perform well if he just puts himself to task.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling the writers will immediately shunt that revelation off to the side like so much in this series.  This week wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible; it was just decent.

And while she's creepy, at least your sister cares about you.

Editor’s note: To clarify, I’m not mad because of the lack of plot, I’m mad because they played the “sister card” cop-out completely straight.  I felt the same way about Hanamaru Kindergarten when Tsuchi’s sister showed up, except Hanamaru handled it better.


5 Responses to “Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu – Episode 09”


  1. March 5, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    I have to disagree, this episode was extremely funny. I really don’t think there is a plot to the show. It is more like a slice of life/comedy than anything else.

    • March 5, 2010 at 5:56 pm

      I gave up any real semblance of a plot about 5 episode ago and accepted it as a comedy/parody series. I recognized where all the jokes hit in this episode, I just didn’t find them funny because they felt like material this series has already done.

  2. March 5, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    I also didn’t think this episode was anywhere near as good as the last one, but it wasn’t that bad.

  3. March 7, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    The first time I saw the little sister card was with Kanako in Love Hina. 11 volumes/25 episodes in, and all of a sudden, Keitaro has a little sister who has the hots for him, one he never thought to mention to anyone.

    Still my favorite of them.

    • March 7, 2010 at 9:11 pm

      That’s actually the first time I saw it as well, in the Love Hina anime. And every time I see it it just strikes me as, “Well, we needed something to do this week.” I know it can be done quite well, but it requires the sister to be part of the plot before the card is played.

      And yeah, Love Hina probably did it best. It did a lot of things best for that genre.


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