"Medaka Box: Abnormal" (also known as Medaka Box - Season Two) in an animated action show set in an high school full of crazy characters (I suggest reading the review of the first season "here" to get a better description of the main characters).  Picking up right where the first season left off we see Medaka coming out of hospital and returns back to school to which is in the process of being rebuilt due to what happened in the prior season.  Medaka also gets called up to the office by the Headmaster of the school and he discusses that Medaka is no ordinary girl as she has some extraordinary abilities and that she is in a class of humans known as "Abnormal" (just think of the mutants found in the "X-Men (1963 -Ongoing)").  Medaka is also invited to join an elite group known as "Thirteen Party" but she refuses to join as she doesn't like the sick and disturbing things that they do.  Since she won't join the group, she must fight against the group as she is now their enemy.  It is now up for Medaka and her amazing friends to put a stop to Thirteen Party and save the lives of many people.  (Click "Read More" to read the full review).

"Well, back to school."

The story in this show starts of pretty good but gradually becomes more bland and boring with each following episode. This season also takes a dramatic turn from that of the first season as instead of this season being an "anti-fight" anime, we see that this show becomes a strait-up "fight" anime in the same vein as "Dragonball Z (1989 - 1996)" and "Yu-Yu Hakusho (1992 - 1994)".  While there are a lot of great "fight anime" out there I wasn't a fan of that style being used for this show.  The style just didn't work well and suffers the same problem as the story itself to where the action is decent in the first few episodes but become very bland and boring real quickly.


The drama in this show is the best part of the story as the drama scenes actually add something to the show...  Granted it isn't the best drama of all time and could be stronger but I do gain something from watching the drama scenes.  There was some comedy in this season but it was toned down quite a bit compared to the first season as this season was trying to have more of a serious tone.  Did I like the comedy?  It had it's moments but there were a lot of jokes that were just plain useless and forced.


Characters in this show are alright as they do a good job of making you want to support them and wish their journey well.  The characters could've also been given more personality and character as it feels like that we are being given very toned down minimalistic and bare bone versions of the characters, they were more well done in the first season.  A huge complaint about this show is that it ends on a super huge cliffhanger and not just that but the cliffhanger was the most interesting thing to happen in this entire series as it teases something great for a third season.  Sadly it does not look like that a third season will happen for what ever reason and that does tick me off a little.


Art-work in this show has a basic and clean look and it looks decent with nothing bad that I can say about the look.  Character designs are a little generic looking to where you could mistake most of the characters (excluding Medaka) for characters from other shows (like "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (2012 - Ongoing)" and  "Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (2006 - 2007)").  Animation in this show is passable through most of the show but there are some moments where the animation looks choppy and slow.  The Japanese dub is decent with voices that work well with all of the characters but the acting could've been stronger.  There's also a few typos in the English subtitles which is a little weird to see.  Soundtrack to this show isn't bad and it goes well with all of the scenes.


In the special features section there were text-less versions of the opening and closing credit sequences.  I wasn't really a fan of them as sure they had some decent music and alright visuals but there wasn't anything all that special that hooked me into then.  You also get a load of trailers that aired on Japanese television and my feelings for them are neutral as I didn't find anything particularly good or bad about them.


Overall this was not a good follow-up to the first season and nor was it a good season in general.  Sure early episodes in this season showed promise but it ultimately ended up being very bland and boring (minus the cliffhanger).  If there were a third season to be coming out then I'd recommend you'd rent or watch this show via legal stream so you know what to expect for that season, since this is not the case, I recommend you avoid this and just stick to the first season of the show.  Bland and boring fight show that left me disappointed.

Title: Medaka Box Abnormal (Medaka Box - Season Two)