First Episode Impression: "Gakuen Basara"

Synopsis

This is a battle comedy parody that brings a high school reimagining of the Warring States Era warriors of CAPCOM’s action game franchise. Featured in this tale of rival students are Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura as they battle to replace Toyotomi Hideyoshi as the next student council president.

The Good

It’s so full of testosterone madness that it somehow works. From how the characters yell at each other to how the defying of physics, it’s a pure shounen comedy and that’s what makes it stand out so much. You would think that there was no way this would work without some twist somewhere, and yet the episode brought in not only a surprisingly concrete idea of a plot but also gave a solid introduction to multiple characters. The episode basically embodies the saying of “there is a method to this madness.” It’s only the first episode and already the viewer got an unexpected ride.

The Bad

Being as chaotic as it is, it felt like a lot was dumped in for a first episode and went by too fast. Sure, we get to see a peek into a whole bunch of interesting characters but the way the episode went about it was rather rushed and feels like the viewer wasn’t given enough time to process what’s going on. Other than this, there is the female character Sayaka and her introduction. On one hand, she’s clearly a strong female character that has respect. On the other, she’s clearly meant to be the counterbalance of the other characters and might end up being a figure of slight fanservice in the future.

Conclusion

It’s everything shounen mixed with a chunk of comedy and a semblance of a plot. Basically, it’s a wild ride of an episode that pokes at everything prominent about the shounen genre and somehow, it hooks you in and before you know it, you’re sucked into the chaos of the plot and characters. There was a bit of info dump and the episode was rather rushed but it certainly left an impact.

Rating: 7/10