Medaka Box

Update: Everything I said below still applies to this one-shot, but please do not go into the main series expecting a similar story of the council getting up to shenanigans while helping out other clubs. The main series quickly becomes a mediocre at best battle shounen that attempts to subvert itself with pseudo-intellectual ramblings in an attempt to cover up how completely generic the series actually is. Obviously, I was not a fan of the parent series, but your mileage may vary, depending on your affinity for the genre. I thought this was important enough to note.


Before diving into the main series, I wanted to give the one-shot a try so that I could write an informed review. As such, this review only concerns the one-shot, and intended for those who have not read the parent series.

Story, 6: This set the basis of what could be a fairly interesting story with nearly limitless potential: a student council president with a mostly unwilling sidekick helping out school clubs. This particular one-shot dealt with the judo club and had a rather unnecessary twist at the end, but it was nicely paced at least.

Art, 7: The art as a whole was pleasing with bold, dark lines, but the ecchi doesn't seem to add anything to the chapter.

Characters, 6: Given this one-shot's relatively short length, the characters felt fairly archetypal but still interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about Medaka's rather manipulative personality in getting Hiteyoshi to work with her, but maybe that will be discussed at length in the full series.

Enjoyment, 6: Despite my grumblings above, I still thought it was an enjoyable read. It piqued my interest in the full series as well.

Overall, 6: I would recommend to other readers who want to get a taste of what to expect in the full series (or so I assume), or are simply looking for an amusing, quick read.

Well, If you want to read this manga you have to know that is just fine because Kumagawa the rest of characters are "meh". If you want to really enjoy this manga you must only read the chapters that appears Kumagawa the rest of the story is filler.

The main character of this manga is medaka but she only wins because the "Main Character power", you prob are thinking what is this? (https://www.google.es/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=fairy%20tail).

The other character Zenkichi hasn't got any power and just fight with his physical strength. When the enemy get stronger, you can imagine it.

Well you should read the spin off of kumagawa is funniest .

i read a lot of wasted potentials and shit**y series, but this oh oh oh this is something else. i don't know how the hell the score of the series is 7,5 how? the whole series is about medaka a perfect girl.
a male lead is average (he is basically her dog)
medaka defeat anyone just for the plot to advance without any obstacles, power ups from nowhere. (even saitama power make much more sense comparing to the power system in this series).
art: below average
story: there is no story you are reading/watching the series just to see medaka win the battle there is no thrill in that cause after a while u will notice that her character is pointless she is just there hm for the plot to advance, without any sense?
characters: characters are dreadful boring no one is outstanding except for medaka but the whole point of her character is just meaningless. except for kumagawa who's character was just brilliant i loved his interactions in the series but sorry kumagawa u were created in the wrong series.
Enjoyment: i rate it 2 just because kumagawa was there if he were the protagonist not medaka and if they change the plot+the power system i would love the series
ah and this is ''satire'' i don't know really if the author know what satire is.
Overall: watch it if u like a series where a perfect guy/girl lives and defeat anyone without any obstacles and without any character development and without any PLOT because ''medaka box'' doesn't have a PLOT. if u are searching for good battle ''shounen'' manga and an interesting story and a good character development or just a good battle shounen stay away from this series trust me ignore the good reviews don't know how they even find a ''plot'' in the series to rate.

Medaka Box is a wonderful aversion to the "strong male protagonist"/"side female deuteragonist" trope in shonen manga. While the story starts off with Zenkichi, we see pretty quickly that it is his childhood friend Medaka who gets s**t done. Being the youngest high school student president in the history of the school, an accomplished master-of-all-trades, and essentially printing "professional badass" on all her future business cards, it's clear that Medaka is a shining exception in the world of shonen manga. While both the manga and she make her...assets...clear, her gender is rarely touched upon when it comes to her fighting ability or intelligence. She is a strong character and is interesting to see grow and develop in that regard.

While the story follows the typical shonen "story of the week" manga at first, it soon divulges into a plot with solid enemies and story flow. The character growth is phenomenal when it comes to the two protagonists Medaka and Zenkichi. But rest assured those who don't like romance in their action, action is definitely the key part of this story.

This manga is funny in all the right places, wonderful twists to keep you interested, and is not overly dramatic or over anything really. It's also surprisingly deep at times, but nothing that goes over or under the reader's head. There are parts where it even parodies its own genre! This manga definitely makes the classics list for me.

MEDAKA BOX! The first thing I want to say is to just clarify things, before starting: Medaka Box is NOT a typical shonen, it is a parody-style shonen, which means it wants to parody shonen, through a shonen itself. And what do we get? Perfection! The perfect symbiosis between the two styles and the two targets, the one to tell a "normal" shonen story, and the one to mock it.
And how does Medaka Box do it? Through simple exaggeration and stereotypization.
First off we have Medaka, the typical shonen protagonist: already powerful, but with a lot to learn and a lot of things to expect him (her in this specific case). Aaand,well, she's like this in the first few chapters/arcs, before she becomes an unhuman monster, so powerful to seem not normal even for a manga (if we didn't know THIS exaggeration is absolutely part of the plan).
Then we have the story arcs: as usual, story arcs are structured following the "defeat an enemy>a more powerful one will approach" type of arcs, but it's not just like that; the grade of difficulty of Medaka and her group's adventures becomes more and more "abnormal" as the story goes, passing from challenges from normal people, to special, to abnormals and so on, and Medaka (and her group) receive sometimes a few powerup that seem maybe TOO random and unexplained *coffcoff shonen-stereotype coffcoff*
Talking about stereotypes specifically:
-Medaka Kurokami, the protagonist, a perfect girl capable of everything;
-Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, Medaka's normal childhood friend ("normal"..."""normal""", OK)
-Akune Kouki, the playboy of the situation. He was first a thug, then he met the goddess Medaka...
...and the ones i loved the most:
-Shiranui Hansode...there we have to stop for a moment. Well, other then being the typical cold tsundere loli with no feeling, no friend, that eats all the day and so on we have to appoint that her figure is a clear antithesys of that of Medaka;
-Kumagawa Misogi, the coolest character ever existed in the whole history of mangas! Ok, he's out of the stereotypes i guess, and he's more of an unconventional (but still parody-born) character. Being another antithesys of Medaka, he's born to lose, he's weak and human...and daaamn, he's perv!

Then we have exaggeration, that is a persistent way of parody in this work. The percentage of votes Medaka receives during the election, the number of abilities Ajimu Najimi possesses (10 billion) and so on, leading to an inevitable humor and often playing down during high tense moments.

I analyzed the parodian side, while I'm like disregarding the shonen side that is the one that permits Medaka Box not to be just a simple and repetitive parody. Infact, other then a funny parody side, the story told in this manga is well organized, original and fascinating, with nothing less than a Dragon Ball or a Naruto. Furthermore there's a gigantic number of different characters, every-one with its own personality, attitude and characterization.

PS:Sorry for talking too much and being not so well organized and polite...

DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, One Piece, Fairy Tale, Naruto, Bleach.......

What do all these great stories have in common? One simple word SHOUNEN.

While all stories are different, they are at their base the same. Introducing vast words and intricate powers that fill every fan boy out there with envy while at the same time introducing the idea of hard work and friendship.

Yet in this day and age, say something like ONE Piece is amazing or Naruto is overrated, whether it be online or in real life, and you pretty much going to get assaulted verbally , emotionally physically or some combination of the three.

Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of shounen and while I might have some nitpicks her and there with the series I mentioned before, I'd be lying if I didn't think they were ALL good in some way shape or form.

With that said, you’d think it would be rather difficult to come up with an original battle manga due to the fact that......well......THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM THAT HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR YEARS.

That’s where this series comes in.

Medaka box is a shounen manga that had been licensed in weekly shounen jump for just under 4 years with 192 chapters

The stories setting develops on a rather simple premise: The Medaka Box. The Medaka Box is a suggestion box established by the main character, Medaka Kurokami, who is the student council president of sandbox academy . She and the rest of the student council take the suggestions from this completely ordinary box, and try to help others with their problems etc, etc. Seems simple and cliché I know but keep watching.

After taking a few chapters to introduce the characters, I began realizing one of the main reasons why this manga seemed so different. That reason being that Medaka is probably the most annoying character I've ever had the displeasure of reading about EVER.

Sure there are a variety of different pain in the ass main character in other popular series that annoyed the ever living piss out of me. And i can easily go on a small petty rant about them. But I won't, because I'm to mature for that.

The point I'm trying to get at here is that the fact that Medaka is an annoying character is actually done on purpose. This series is not your standard shounen series whose main goal is to sway you with feeling of adventure and friendship. Nor is it there to draw you in with dark and often times repetitive themes. Medaka box my friends is a satire.

That means the sole purpose of this manga is to take the main elements of other shounen series, turn the dial all the way to eleven and watch the fireworks. Everything you can consider right or wrong with the entire shounen genre gets introduced in this series but the author presents it in such an over the top way that you can't help but laugh a little bit inside when you realize what going on. Take Medaka for example, she's beautiful, smart, knows how to give an inspirational speech about hard work and victory. She's OP as hell, never loses, is always right and claims to live for others. She's like Jesus Christ with breasts. Everyone looks week and powerless compared to her and that’s kind of the point.

Sure you could say there is a plot in this series but I'm not even going to try and describe it because that would be like trying to translate the disassociated ramblings of the special Olympics spelling bee. I mean one minute it's DBZ level child abuse and the next it's DBZ getting owned by some demonic loli. If you try to read this series for its plot than you are going to rage. A LOT.

This becomes more prevalent during the later few arcs of the series were overall plot consistency seems to catch on fire and jump out the window with the author introducing a variety of plot twists that despite being enjoyable, left me with this urge to flip a table. I swear there was one time were the author took 3/4 of a chapter to explain the mechanics of some awesome finishing move, only for it to MISS.

I mean honestly, if I were to meet this author in real life, I wouldn't know whether I should shake his hand or punch him in the face. You really need to keep an open mind while reading this series because literally anything can happen.

This series also shouldn't be noted for its action because while there are some fight scenes in the series, they are few and far in-between. After all, this series was written by NISIO ISIN, the same person who wrote the monogatari series which isn't exactly know for its action (insert toothbrush image here).

Rather, like the monogatari series, this manga shines in its dialogue and character development. As the series goes on, it's cast seems to get larger and larger. Introducing a variety of characters who have their own quirks and personalities. Sure some characters get far more development than others but I can guarantee that you'll find at least one character to fall in love with (*Cough* Kumagawa *Cough*).

Overall this series, while not perfect, was an enjoyable ride. Reading it made me feel a variety of different emotions including happiness, anger, confusion, sadness, anxiety, more confusion and that typical feeling we all get when we know the creator is just trying to fuck us over.

I'm looking at YOU Haruhi and Evangelion.

Despite all this, I can honestly say that I was never once bored reading each and every chapter of this series and even though it isn't licensed in the US, I almost feel tempted to order the Japanese volumes from overseas despite not being able to read or speak the language.

However, Medaka box is not a series for everyone and is definably more of an acquired taste than one that everyone will enjoy. But if you're in the mood to read something different, or just wanna read a series that intentionally pisses on itself and the whole shounen genre in general than defiantly give this series a try.

Just a warning though, this manga seems to take a page right out of Hitman Reborn and starts off rather slow before actually getting interesting. Just bear with the first 17 chapters and I promise you you’ll find it’s not like anything you’ve ever read before if I haven’t already made that point clear. =P

I avoided this manga for so long because I thought it was gonna be a slice of life type manga. The description in the wiki completely misled me. Don't be confused, this is an action manga like One Piece or Fairy Tail. If I was to compare the fighting style to another manga i think I would choose "Get Backers" or "Yu Yu Hakusho" as a comparison. As the fighters use a complex strategy to beat each of their opponents.


Story: 8/10

They did well overall in this area. I like stories like Record of the Fallen Vampire or One Piece where you know there is a history there right from the start of the manga but the author only reveals parts of it. Medaka Box does that but the story doesn't seem to have too much depth so I am docking a point from story for that.

STORY -1 POINT FOR ABOVE REASON

For the first 15 chapters or so the story is about taking student suggestions in the "Medaka Box" and is about the comedy of watching this superhuman president solve each of the problems. Its quite entertaining too and well made. That's only the first 15 chapters though...

After that the story completely changes. I think the mangaka was bored with the idea himself and saw that he had a chance to change it to an action manga. From then on it becomes based on a group of super-humans called "abnormals" trying to use Medaka for their own purposes. In fact the Medaka Box which the manga is named for becomes a joke which is commonly referred to by the series villains "Why don't you leave a suggestion in the Medaka Box" they say.

STORY -1 FOR ABOVE REASON

Art: 9/10

Wasn't anything wrong with the art I just didn't think anything stood out as overly creative.

ART -1 FOR ABOVE REASON

Character: 9/10

I liked the characters, each of them have a backstory and each of them have their histories explored a little bit in each chapter. I like how they hint at each character having a history as well right from when they are introduced, but the author only tells you what you need to know.

The reason character lost a point though is that I don't really see how the characters are tied to the main story line. They did very well in that they gave each character an interesting back story, but these back-stories are each independent and don't seem to be related at all.

CHARACTER -1 FOR ABOVE REASON

Enjoyment: 10/10

I have enjoyed every moment of the manga. Nothing bugged me enough to really be worth mentioning. The occasional plot line I didn't like but that's just a matter of opinion.

Oh and theres some good fan service too. Medaka has no problems with walking around in her braw and panties and the girls clothing usually gets torn to shreds.

Overall: 9/10

You can tell its a Weekly Shounen Jump manga right from the start. Everything screams teenage boy. If you like one piece, bleach, Naruto, Get Backers, Fairy Tail, Psyren, Arago, Histories Strongest Disciple Kenichi, etc, etc. Then this is another one for that category. Try it, its pretty good.

NOTE: This is my first review so please keep in mind it may suck. (^_^)


Well, well, well, What do we have here?
A typical highschool ecchi and a plot that seems to go nowhere with the crappy theme of "Gotta save my F**** nakama every single chapter!" plus, the characters are pretty stupid.
But, when did I say that was a bad thing?

Introducing to you! Medaka Box! A manga about highschool and how every character has some type of problem that needs to be solved by the student council everyday. Now, you might ask, highschool ecchi? Helping my nakama? Stupid characters that are 2D and do not have any realism to them?
Mr. Reviewer, WHY THE ASDFHJFDKSLH WOULD I READ THIS SHIT!?!?!?!?!

Well lets first begin our review at once!

Story: 7

Typical MC and childhood friend arrives at their first year of highschool, childhood friend is amazing and good at everything from athletic to academics and blah blah blah blah. Of course childhood friend and MC are different genders, and they become part of the student council without going through much hardship since they are the main characters -_-

Oh, but wait, there is a catch,
They make a suggestion box for the student council which can handle any, ANY requests 24/7. Hmm.. ok Mr. Reviewer, so what? Who actually gives a crap about a suggestion box? No one puts stuff in those anyways!

Ya, but this is a manga so TOO BAD, and also the suggestion box is everything in the manga,
starting an arc? Lets put in a request! Can't find a solution to a problem? Put in a request!
The whole plot of the manga is the box, the box makes the plots, the problems and everything that has to do with the story!
Now that is something different and unique ehh? Don't see boxes creating plots in other manga do you?

Now onto the Art!

Art: 7
Meh, looks just meh nothing that gives me a "OMFG IT'S THE MONA LISA!" feeling. But it fits the characters, the flashy ones, the boring ones, and the ones that always lose *cough* Kumagawa *cough* . It's not good or bad, if it works and fits with the plot, fine with me.

(IDGAF about art cuz i usually don't notice it, not worth criticizing or praising, don't wanna talk shit about how one finger is a cm off the other)

Characters, OMG, they are so stupid that they work

Character: 10
Ok, this is where the meat and bacon comes,
Characters can be summarized into one word...............






















Just kidding they are so stupid that they cannot be summarized into a word, imagine a cardboard box that has a hole cut into it and TV is labelled on it, then imagine a kid walking up to it and staring at it, and then comes along 10 or 20 other kids that sit beside the same kid and start watching the box, before anyone knows, everyone starts to watch the box and finally someone's mom comes and asks, "What are you guys doing looking at a cardboard box?" and one kid replies, "Peer Pressure, I thought everyone here was an esper so they were actually watching TV!" Coincindentally, the kid beside that kid also thought that, and the kid beside that kid also thought that and on and on and on, till they realized the first kid was trying to keep the cardboard box company because she thought it was lonely.

Yep, characters in a nutshell, they follow a stupid person who does stupid stuff and then realize how stupid they were but they still follow her stupidly. Each character is stupid in their own way, stupidly normal, stupidly talented, stupidly weak, stupidly OP, and stupidly stupid.

But you know what, that's why it's so fun, the way they handle situations is unthinkable! Even people with no common cannot understand them (me T_T). Some characters consider themselves boss characters and there's even an arc where the objective is to make a character the main character, it's just so different and interesting to read, each character is refreshing and brings out the truth about mainstream battle manga even though it is one itself.

The characters are the steak, the steak that is mixed with ketchup, mustard, pepper, tartarsauce, applesauce and even more which brings out a really crap flavour, but it is also in a way refreshing because we have never tasted something like it before, it may not be to our liking, but it's unique and sometimes that's what matters!

Enjoyment:
Its awesome, i think wrote all my opinions already in the other sections so :P

Overall: 8
Ya, even though I gave it alot of praise, the beginning was pretty mediocre IMO so I had to lower the score for it but ya!

TL;DR: TOO BAD READ THE REVIEW YOU LAZY ASSES!


Anyways, thanks for reading my review and gimme some tips, I'm lazy so I probably won't write one for a while.

Bye guys! Hope You liked my review! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

História e prazer:
Bem, Medaka Box tem uma história boa que começa muito simples, mas depois vai se aprofundando mais e mais, com o autor incluindo vários elementos na história, mas ainda assim não se perdendo. Bem, creio que a melhor forma de falar sobre a história seja sobre cada arco separado.
1-Arco escolar: bem, esse de longe é o arco mais fraco, onde parece mais um slice of life sem graça de uma garota invencível fazendo tudo com facilidade, sem grande foco na história, apenas na apresentação de personagens.
2-Arco Unzen: esse fica mais empolgante e sendo contado de uma forma boa, porém ainda sem um grande aprofundamento pra história, praticamente um prólogo pra história.
3-Arco Anormais: o primeiro arco com foco na história. Esse arco é onde as coisas começam a ficar realmente boas. Mostra uma história, apesar de simples, realmente boa do começo ao fim, dando maior construção pros personagens e com bastante foco em lutas.
4-Arco Minus: esse já começa com uma grande reviravolta a partir do arco anterior. Tem um bom foco em batalhas e um bom roteiro. Os personagens daqui novamente recebem uma boa construção e é, de longe, o arco mais empolgante.
5-Arco Ajimu: esse arco foca mais na história do que em batalhas, e mesmo assim consegue te manter preso enquanto lê a obra.
6-Arco final: bem, esse arco mostra mais dos personagens e ainda lhe dá boas lutas, além de tensão durante as batalhas, além de um roteiro bem construído.
Resultado: a história do mangá de Medaka Box é muito boa, e focando bastante nos personagens e batalhas, mas ainda assim sem se perder, mesmo demorando um pouco pra começar a andar.
Nota:
História: 9
Prazer: 9

Arte:
Os traços são bem detalhados e limpo, porém é meio feio em alguns personagens.
Nota: 9

Personagem:
Todos são apaixonantes, originais e bem construídos
Nota: 9

Geral: 9

English:
History and pleasure:
Well, Medaka Box has a good story that starts very simply but then goes deeper and deeper, with the author including several elements in the story but still not getting lost. Well, I think the best way to talk about a story about the whole separate bow.
1-School Bow: Well, this is by far the weakest bow, where it looks like a slice of an unstoppable life of an invincible girl doing everything with ease, with little focus on the story, just the presentation of characters.
2-Arco Unzen: this is more exciting and being told in a good way, there is still a deepening of history, practically a prologue to history.
3-Arc Anomalies: the first arc focused on history. This bow is where things start to get really good. It shows a story, although simple, really good from beginning to end, giving more construction to the characters and with a lot of focus on fights.
4-Minus Bow: this has already begun with a major turnaround from the previous bow. Has a good focus on battles and a good script. The characters receive a good build and is by far the most exciting arch.
5-Arc Ajimu: This bow focuses more on history than battles, and yet it keeps you trapped while in a play.
6-Final Bow: Well, this bow shows more people and still good fights, plus tension during battles, plus a well-constructed script.
Result: a story of the manga from Medaka Box is very good, and focusing on the characters and battles, but still, without delay.
note:
History: 9
Pleasure: 9

Art:
The traits are very detailed and safe, but it's kind of ugly in some characters.
Note: 9

Character:
All are passionate, original and well built
Note: 9

General: 9

This manga was so mindblowing that I had to create a review on how awesome this manga is.

If you are looking for an original manga that somewhat breaks the 4th wall, then read this. This manga would somewhat be called a parody since the mangaka continuously shits up every mangaka's creation that ever lived.

In the Beginning you will think it is just a main character and her group getting suggestions and helping people out. I personally think the overall enjoyment in the beginning would be a 6. But later in the manga..that is when your mind will get blown away and shoved way up your ass. Unlike some manga that is interesting in the beginning and slowly progresses into a boring drag of a story, medaka is the complete opposite.

A very random ass manga. And I enjoy random ass manga.

It does not get interesting til later on in the manga so just read the manga.

Technically this manga would be a 9.6 But the overall feeling I get from this manga would be a 10.