Credits to Omnia_Manitas of MAL.
Ok, tuck the kids into bed, because it's fucking story time.
Please note your opinion doesn't matter two shits until you've read at least until the end of the Minus arc.
Medaka is a BATTLE SHOUNEN. No, not fucking hurr durr king of the ninjas, not a fucking rip off of Yu Yu Hakusho called Bleach (It's named that because when I watch it, I feel the need to drink Bleach), it's a real BATTLE SHOUNEN.
Medaka Box is constantly examining the tropes of Battle Shounen manga, and making fun of them. It's asking these questions.
Can a character truly be perfect?
What are the implications?
How will real people react to this?
An example of this is Medaka herself. Here's a pro tip, you're not supposed to like her one bit. She's not just a Mary Sue, she's the god damned literal definition of Jesus. She lives for humanity sake, she loves everybody, especially her enemies, and she constantly fights to reform them into good guys.
Also she's invincible. Later on, an antagonist refuses to fight her because "If this was a weekly Shounen Jump, she would be the main character, and the villain never wins against the main character."
Medaka is special. By the age of 3 she could solve any problem on Earth. She can beat up the bad guys, she's always right, and she's got the biggest rack in the show. At one point, she wins a tug of war contest, while the entire opposing team consists of the rest of her school.
Now after processing all this information I could have condensed better if I wasn't so lazy, you either hate her or like her. If you like her, that's fine too. But if you hate her, you're missing the point. You won't ever like her. Once you realize you aren't supposed to, maybe you'll be able to enjoy the series.
Have you ever read a story in which you hated the villain? Or despised the little sniveling coward who always tried to cling to the main character's coat-tails? There's a difference between a badly written character and an intentionally unlikable character. And ironically, that's what Medaka is as the main character. The best side supporting character ever made.
Zenkichi is the one you are supposed to like, him and a bunch of other supporting characters, and then Kumawaga steps in and you hate how much you love him. Or maybe you love how much you hate him? Shiranui is incredibly mischievous and cute, while Kouki and Maguro are both bros respectively. All these people, who are weaker than Medaka, make the show what it is.
Now, if you took this plot serious, Niso trolled the living shit out of you. You should feel ashamed for being such a stupid fuck. Example, at one point 6 villains are introduced that are supposed to be super strong, but then they all get their asses kicked in one page by a newcomer to the set-piece. Forget the plot, that's not what matters in the least, and that's exactly why I didn't open up this review with the story section. It's all about the theme. Which is the whole, is there such a thing as perfection, and if so, what does this imply? Does always winning make you perfect? Does being beaten down, but constantly standing back up to fight make you perfect? Are you born with it? Can it be obtained? That's where the categories of normality, specials, abnormalities, minuses, and not equals come into play. Niso is playing a literary masterpiece on the grand scales, he's cranking the volume to a double forte, he's putting one foot on the gas, and one in the grave.
And then there's Kumagawa. YES. He is just the greatest character. Here's a little bit of his dialog.
"Even though I'm not cool, or strong, or just, or beautiful, or cute, or pretty, I want to beat the cool, strong, just, beautiful, cute, and pretty people.
Even though I wasn't blessed with talent, even though I'm stupid and have a bad personality, have bad grades, am misguided and am a good for nothing, I want to beat the talented, smart, likeable, overachieving people.
I want to beat those with friends when I can't have friends.
I want to beat the people who work hard when I can't work hard.
I want to beat the victorious people when I can't win.
I want to beat the happy people when I'm miserable.
Even if I'm hated, even if I'm despised, even if I'm useless, I want to prove that I'm better than the main characters!"
Even though this is a Shounen, each page is more text than fight. This isn't because of the normal, making a speech in the middle of a battle, cliché. This is because words get the theme across better than action.
Take it. Take my money and animate this glorious work Gainax. But please know that this show doesn't start until the Flask Plan Arc, which is probably going to be after the first 12 episodes or so. This first part isn't bad; it's just setting the characters up for something better.
