Special A Episode 2 – “Dai shocku with the OP”

The Special A class is a group of seven particularly elite students who are top of the school when it comes to studies and raw abilities. They have their own garden, their own uniform and are worshiped by most of the student population. With such elites, there are always dissenters. The current episode revolves around the student president, who seems to have a problem with the Special A class. What is the challenge this week?

Episode summary

We get another introduction of the special A students, as Hikari once again loses to Kei in the exam. Akira brought raspberry cake and tea for their tea session happily. However, her mode is spoiled by Tadashi, as she emphasized that it is for Hikari. Hikari is busy studying to beat Kei and she is happy that Kei is simply enjoying her tea. Kei replies that he will finish all of them quickly once he is done. After some random quarrels, they talk about the student council president, who is in 2A (the class just under Special A). Kei reminds her how Hikari is similar to the “number 2″ class.

When Hikari is going to scream that she is not “nii-san”, someone else did and it seems that it is Kakei Hajime, the sophomore genius in class 2A. Tadashi happily adds that he is the guy who is always hospitalized and uses money to buy his influence. He re-accounts that he has arrived to school in the morning, only to be shoved aside by Akira (when Akira greets Hikari) and then stomped by the fangirls/boys of Hikari. Hence, he proposes a challenge to them. Hikari gladly accepts the challenge, saying she likes people who challenge others.

That earns the eternal irk of Kei who throws a book at Kakei, who tells Kakei to be “ready”. Kakei creates a battle between two pro wrestlers (Fankyu brothers) against Kei/Hikari. It turns out after viewing Hikari/Kei’s training lessons that they have to cheat to beat the two. The two also have a bet where the loser is the one who uses the most moves in the fight. While Hikari walks, a flower pot, oil stains on the floor and bamboo poles impeded her way. Kei dispatches some men too, and he realizes that Hikari might be in danger. As he rushes to the gym, he is relieved that Hikari is fine.

Kei tells Hikari not to join the fight, and then she will only be a burden. Hikari trains hard. Kei meets up with Ryuu and Tadashi, and he ropes in Tadashi to be his partner as Hikari is out. When Tadashi rejects the offer, Kei says he will personally “train him”. After training, Kei meets Hikari, and she says she will prove to him that she will not be a burden. The day comes for the battle, with SA and Kakei as judges. In the waiting room, Kei says that he will fight first, only for a female to come with flowers.

It turns out that it is an impostor and they are handcuffed. In the battle, their movements are restricted due to the handcuff. Kei’s hand is stomped by one of the wrestlers while defending Hikari. Hikari works hard to lift the hand away. Kei carries Hikari and brings her out of the ring. The wrestlers start to stomp on Kei. Kei says it is all right as long as she is not harmed. As the wrestlers continue to stomp on Kei, Hikari is distraught, as she says that she does not want him to get hurt.

However, when Kakei shouts out that Hikari is merely a burden, Kei gets extremely agitated and says that Hikari will not lose to anyone. Kei suddenly goes berserk and breaks the handcuff. The two of them combined superbly to destroy the Fankyu brothers to oblivion. Hikari says that she will beat him one day. Hikari also shouts to Kakei that she has fun and tells him to challenge them fair and square next time. At the end, Kei reminds her that she lost their bet, and Kei says she will beat him next time.

Thoughts

Special A depends on its humor and likable characters. In that sense, the Gonzo adaptation did it some service with a clean translation from manga to anime. If you like the characters in the manga itself, you will definitely like them in the anime. However, that is also a limitation in which that it is likely to be branded as yet another shoujo school life series. It’s a good thing that it is not a harem, but future scenarios might make Special A more appealing to the masses.

This week’s episode is based on Chapter 5 on the wrestling battle between the two. Some parts are changed here and there, but the essence of the story is mostly preserved. It is during this episode that Yuko Goto’s rendition of Hikari feels more awkward than usual. I am perhaps biased toward her or something, but it just feels like she is forcing it too much. I must complain about the terrible OP by Yuko Goto. I must admit that I am never a huge fan of Yuko Goto (while earning the wrath of Calawain). However, the OP is really a whole disaster of its own, and I must say that Yuko Goto should not be allowed to sing a whole song by herself.

It just does not work out fine. Please change the OP. Immediately.

I personally like how Gonzo adapts the scene where Kei tries to protect her. There is more impact compared to the manga, and the jealously felt by Kei when Hikari says that she “likes” Kakei is so much more imaginative and explicit compared to the manga. I guess that the drama count in Special A, due to the ability to have animated graphics brings the hilarity and the anger management to a whole new other level.

On Akira-sama’s appearance, I personally like how they are dressed up all prim and proper compared to the cheerleading uniforms in the manga. Well, cheerleading uniforms for Akira will work equally fine, but as long as it is Akira-sama, everything is good. Akira-sama is fine too. The number of laughs in this episode is few, and I guess it somehow just does not seem to make me laugh enough. I do hope that it is simply because of being physically tired.

The next episode is on Hikari’s cooking. For those who reads the manga, you know the drill. Don’t spoil it for the anime readers. For those who are pure anime viewers, you will have more laughs in the next episode.

P/s: Does anyone think that Kakei looks like a trap in the last screenshot?