Based on a high school battle manga that turns into a romance, Medaka Box is Gainax’s big new project. It follows several students with mental disorders as they beat each other up and fall in love. There are two main characters are Zenkichi, a young boy who is constantly acting tsundere and feeling inferior. The other is Medaka herself, who is quite clearly a high-functioning autistic who is brilliant and skilled, but does not understand people.
The story of Medaka Box
The show starts out as slice of life with some fighting thrown in. It keeps slice of life elements throughout, if they stay with the manga. In literal terms, it is about the student council and what they are doing to improve the school by using the box they have for suggestions. Along the way they deal with super-powered students who can smash you to the ground with a word, control weapons and even erase reality. If it stays true to the manga, then the series gets progressively crazier and better.
The signature Gainax art
As usual, Gainax brings their over-the-top art style to everything. There are luminescent scenes, scenes in space out of nowhere. You know, things you would expect from Gainax. In some ways, they didn’t go as crazy with the art as they usually do. But then the original source material has plenty of crazy scenes itself.
Fanservice central
As with any anime of this type, fanservice is a big part of it. Medaka is really into cosplay and has massive breasts. And there are several other characters later who appeal to these sensibilities.
Status: Still watching
I basically am going to watch this to see how Gainax manages to ruin a great series. From Gurren Lagann to the original Evangelion, Gainax makes it a point to ruin the ending. So I will be watching all the way through to see how badly they mess it up this time. If they do not, then maybe they are getting better.
