Method to Madness Podcast – Baka and Test
Episode 42: “Dumb and Summoner”
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
Run Time: 56min 52sec
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Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (or Baka and Test – Summon the Beasts) teaches a higher form of education; putting into practice that the spoils of victory are heavy motivators for self-improvement. Students enter into gladiator battles armed only with their test scores in order to claim or defend a social status adorned in privilege. Make the grade and you shall crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
This could be a great show (or an awesome video game), but it quickly buckles under the growing infection of moé. Before you know it, you’re watching another romantic comedy drama. This show has its genuinely funny moments, but you’re probably better off watching a show like Tora Dora! or Tenjho Tenge.
This is how Sean envisions moé.
Tear up that dance floor, Mahoney!
In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Conan quote => Awesome!
Sounds sad that the only really cool thing about this show was the battling system was only part of it. The premise of that system is something ive thought about if i wanted to make a game about my job.
I mean, school would have been better if this was a system that was in the schools when i went.
As for Kevin rant on women, it seems girls go for the Johnny Bravo stereotype. They say and want the guy who is sensitive and can understand them (lets be honest, men will NEVER figure out women), but go for someone who is the total opposite of that who is nothing but a parasite on this planet. And the next girl i do ask out, i will say “I have money” and see what happens.
Great show!!!!
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The Grey Ghost Reply:
July 27th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
There is a gnosis to understanding women and relationships… There are many men have figured it out, and I’ll go out on a limb to say I’ve gained a decent comprehension. Again, these are the things I want to address in my upcoming column.
Though for a good start, I suggest you rent the movie Hitch and take notes. It helps that it has Will Smith and Kevin James; two men I find brilliant.
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ZeonicFreak Reply:
July 27th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Yea, that is a movie I would need to see sometime in the future.
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July 28th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
About what you said of light novels about being intended for tweens. I don’t know about that. What I do know is that Most light novels are made with the intent to get adapted into anime. & that it has illustrations in it.
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The Grey Ghost Reply:
July 28th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
So it’s kinda like most comic books made in the early 1990s…? Or Kick Ass, now.
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July 28th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Light novels to me seem to be well written fanfiction off an anime series.
Gundam has like a huge amount of light novels and novels to add, and the only ones that get some recognition is if there is a toy or gunpla made from that novel.
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August 4th, 2010 at 1:16 am
Well, most light novels are their own thing. They are not spin-offs or anime or manga. Just like “Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu”. It was a light novel first. Then became Manga & anime.
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The Grey Ghost Reply:
August 12th, 2010 at 12:03 am
They are the root of the evils that spring into other mediums…
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August 7th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Wow, it really sounds like this anime is all over the place. Fighting! Tests! Moe! Perverts! Transvestites?
The transvestite thing is pretty weird; as far as I can tell this show is marketed towards guys, but then when I looked up pictures, it really looks like he’s marketed as eye candy… so that either means they’re trying to market the transvestite to girls (um, not working) or there’s a new fetish for transvestites. That’s like chocolate milk on your lucky charms!
KEVIN NO USE BOOK. We love you just the way you are! I agree many women are attracted to stupid idiots. It’s a mystery even to me. Although I think often attractive men lower their IQ over the course of their lives because they know they can get away from it. I’d like to encourage ladies to fight whatever powerful stupid-pro-genetic power and find someone who’s at least on your IQ level.
The only true slice-of-life show I’ll accept is Azumanga Daioh. It’s literally a slice as they came from 4-panel (koma) manga, and nothing happens. Yet it still manages to be entertaining by the merit of the characters.
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The Grey Ghost Reply:
August 12th, 2010 at 12:05 am
I don’t think that women are directly attracted to dumb guys… Often they’re attracted to “bad boys” because they’re more exciting and just happen to also be dumb. Or the girls that fall for those idiots just have incredibly low self-esteem.
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ZeonicFreak Reply:
August 12th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Jeff Foxworthy kinda pointed out that women like the “Dangerous man” who are like Golgo 13 (he didnt say that name) or James bond. But he added the reality of a dangerous man is that woman being in an episode of COPS in a tube top yelling out of her trailer “LOCK HIS ASS UP!”
So Sean, if you may, what do girls with low self esteem look like? Are they the over attractive barbie girls what want the attention of other men, or the “Book worm” girls? I wanna say the first description is the right one, but i just wanna be sure.
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The Grey Ghost Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 2:56 am
So Sean, if you may, what do girls with low self esteem look like? Are they the over attractive barbie girls what want the attention of other men, or the “Book worm” girls? I wanna say the first description is the right one, but i just wanna be sure.
The answer to this question is a resounding “yes”. They are all the correct answer.
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ZeonicFreak Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 9:45 am
YAY, I win!
I kinda like women who have the strong independent persona about them and have a great personality with beautiful looks to boot.
But it seems those women are few and far between and somewhat of a rare species.
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The Grey Ghost Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Just remember that people can be pretty complicated with many layers.
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