Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou ep. 12 review

At the final episode at last. It is a bit sad to have the series end but there is still the movie to look forward to.

Mixed in the usual recap is a scene we did not get in the past episode, Mana showing up at the assembly.

Back with the boys and their fight the group begins to break off to let the others move on. This starts with Maya and Satoshi staying back to let the rest of the group move on.

The next to leave is Shohei, to the surprise of the rest of the group. But they leave things in his hands and while it looks like he may actually do some fighting his true colors come out and he runs, letting himself be chased by the thug that stopped the group.

Back at the assembly Fumie continues to give her speech, talking about what she hates about the school.

We go back to the fight and of course Tetsuya splits off to leave Tatsuya to fight the main baddie alone.

Miyata-sensei actually does something somewhat useful in the drama and holds Saionji back so he cannot interrupt Fumie's speech. 

Fumie continues her speech and reaches the point where she turns it on its head by saying that even though she hates a lot about the school the boys love the school. And because they love the school she does not want to see it be ruined by someone who has used underhanded tricks to do so.

After Fumie is done Saya runs on stage to tell everyone that she also does not want to leave the school.

Lead by Sayuri the other girls and Miyata-sensei give their support for wanting to stay at the school. This of course ticks Saionji off as things are not going as he wanted at all.

Tetsuya manages to defeat his opponent which begins the series of events for the fight that ends up with the Bakada boys winning.

And the two delinquents that Tatsuya and Tetsuya ran into last episode show up to team up with the Bakada boys. Of course they do this because they do not want to see their rivals defeated by anyone else but them, which is a pretty common trope in shounen series.

Saionji pretty much turns into a defeated cartoon villain that snarls at the girls that the school will be closing and that will be the end of it.

With the fight things are wrapping up. On of the big highlights is Shohei actually landing a hit, though on accident with a headbutt.

The end of the fight with Makoto and Yuuki is a fun watch as they argue with each other only to use that momentum to beat their enemies.

The director of the school shows up at the assembly and ends up siding with Fumie. He claims her words and the support of the girls have changed his mind and he will do everything possible to keep the school going. So with that Saionji has been defeated.

Tatsuya is the last to finish off his battle and does that with the power of love (for his school).

Tatsuya lets out a cry of victory which all the boys hear and they celebrate the victory. Again I feel like Yuuki and Makoto are the highlight of this with their brofist.

Both sides meet after their separate victories. Tatsuya asks Fumie if she likes the school and she tells him that she hates it.

But Fumie gives her biggest smile yet and that seems to get the message across about how she and the other girls feel as everyone then breaks into smiles.

We jump to a month later and see things are more or less the same as they have been, with the boys being their usual selves and the girls being annoyed that they are not more refined. Also at some point Mana returned to the school and is friends with the rest of the girls again. The boys end up inviting the girls to go out and eat with them, showing that they have begun to get along even though they do not agree with everything.

Not everyone is happy that the boys and girls are getting along better. Yuuki and Makoto decide that the other guys are getting soft and decide to challenge them.

The others take up the challenge. And we end as the fight begins, much like how we entered the series in the middle of a fight.


Overall Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou is a good drama series. Sure it is not the most challenging but for it is it is good. It never takes itself too seriously, comes through with action and has a surprising high quality to its cinematography. That said I do not think I would recommend it to anyone who is not a fan of this kind of drama or the actors in it.

I think the series started strong enough but there were issues with actually making all the episodes actually feel connected. Several of them started a story and ended at a place that it felt it should lead on to something else but instead went nowhere. And I do not think they really had a story to fill the last few episodes properly, which lead to home things being dragged out that probably did not need to be or having stories that just did not feel all that inspired.

But despite this I found myself enjoying it. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they do the tropes they used well and the comedy. I think the comedy is one of the stronger parts of the series and without it Bakaleya would probably be hard to have gotten through.

I would say more but some of it will spill over to talk about the movie, which we get to see a preview of at the end of this episode. I will write up another post about that and address everything else then.

Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou ep. 11 review

Well this drama is almost over now. Hard to imagine that it would have been over for weeks if it kept the original nine episodes it was slated for at first. Johnny's and AKS must be happy that this drama has paid off and looks to be the perfect platform for these up and coming talents of theirs.

The episode starts with the usual recap of the final scene from the last episode. It then flashes to Tatsuya in the boys' club room looking uncertain. Tetsuya asks him if things are alright and he answers yes.

The gang from last episode are then introduced as transfer students and it becomes apparent that whoever is behind things has to have a good amount of sway with the school to pull something like this off.

Fumie and Saya go to Saionji to complain about the new transfers but Saionji just tells them that they only need to endure things for a bit longer.

Fumie and Tatsuya get to talk a bit and both are in pretty good moods despite the recent events. Tatsuya does confirm that he thinks that she and Tetsuya are an item to Fumie's displeasure.

They are called into the classroom as the website from last episode is still being updated with rumors even though Mana is no longer coming to the school.

The next day there is a flier up saying that the girls have an assembly for them to attend. The guys do not worry much about it as it does not say anything about them.

There is a rumor about the girls going back to their original school and Fumie and Saya go to find if there is any truth to it. Not only do they get it confirmed they are also told that this school is getting closed and the guys will be scattered to different schools once it does.

Tatsuya and Tetsuya run into some of their usual rivals to find that word of Tatsuya being replaced has already spread.

Meanwhile Fumie and Saya are discussing things. Both do not want to leave the school and decide that they should see about finding Mana and learning the truth. They end up being extremely lucky that when they go to leave to find her Mana shows up at the school.

By spying on Mana they are able to discover the mastermind behind everything, Saionji. When Mana tells him that she wants to do something to help he tells her that she is not needed anymore and is useless to him now. He then leaves and of course Mana looks heartbroken. Saya then reminds Fumie that Mana was a big fan of Saionji and they both agree he was cruel to just toss her aside like that.

We get the usual scene of Saionji discussing matters with the head of the school. He shows him how much the school could sell for and seems pretty content that he has convinced the other man to close the school.

Tatsuya and Tetsuya happen to see Saionji give money to the leader of the gang. They talk about it as they enter the classroom and find Saya and Fumie there.

The four go over what they have discovered about the matter. When discussing on what to do Tatsuya says that he plans on fighting much to the girls' dismay. He tells them that he is willing to do what he needs to in order to save the school. Fumie then says that she also will do whatever she can to save it as well.

Fumie and Saya find Mana and ask her for help. They say that they believe in her but she does not really respond to them.

It is easy to see that Mana regrets her choice and that the words of encouragement from Fumie and Saya will probably be enough to push her towards redemption. Especially since Saionji has showed her his true colors and dumped her so harshly. 

I find it interesting that the girl that prizes her friendship over love (Saya) is painted in a good light while the one that sacrifices her friendship for love (Mana) is not only is in a "villain" role but gets that love used against her. The theme of the strength of friendship is easy to see with the boys but I think this is really the first time you can see the same theme fully displayed with the girls. 

Tatsuya has a flashback to his brother talking about loving the school. He told Tatsuya that he can be the top of the school only by loving it and punches his hand into the punching bag. I am thinking this is going to be important when Tatsuya fights the big bad these episodes.

We then toggle back and forth between scenes with the boys gearing up for a rumble, which gives us this nice group shot.

And of Fumie and Saya walking towards the meeting that Saionji is having to announce to the girls that the school is being closed and that they will return to their old school. 

The main group of guys end up facing the rest of the school in the hall. Tatsuya opens things up by asking them if they love the school. They look puzzled but then the fight begins and that is what we are left with for the boys in this episode.

Fumie and Saya show up and Saionji asks Fumie to say something to the girls who are still confused about the announcements. With this the episode ends as Fumie says her first line of her speech, saying that she hates the school.

I think this episode would do much better directly connected to the final episode of the series instead of having to stand on its own. Even though things are definitely moving it just feels like the story is so close to the resolution that it is frustrating to have to wait another week to get that. So I think for those who will be able to marathon the drama will find this episode better to take as they will be able to move directly to the next unlike those watching the series now and are forced to wait.

I cannot wait to see how this ends. I have an idea but this drama has been good with throwing curve balls with what they end up doing from episode to episode. It will be interesting to see if they do any set up for the movie with the final episode as well. At least it should be only a couple more days to wait to find out.

Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou ep. 9 review

As promised this week's episode is getting reviewed much sooner than last week's. And it seems like it has been confirmed that the series will have twelve episodes in addition to the movie later in the year.

The episode starts with Tatsuya talking to Tetsuya confused to why Fumie stood up for them for the fight. Tetsuya tells him that Fumie probably sees them as friends, which is something that Tatsuya does seem to get.

When the two get to the classroom Tatsuya greets Fumie by patting her shoulder which surprises her. But Tetsuya explains that is just how he greets his friends and Fumie is happy that she is considered a friend now.

The happiness is short lived though as Sayuri exclaims disbelief over a website she if looking at. It is about the school and has a bunch of vicious rumors about it on it.

They go over the rumors which are all either completely false or exaggerations of things that have happened, like Shohei getting in trouble for purse snatching. But the school is taking a lot of heat because of the rumors so the girls decide to make sure they find out who is responsible for them.

The main group of girls is lead by Mana, who is played by Team 4's Nagao Mariya and has been gaining a more prominent role over the past couple of episodes. They think the boys are behind it and spy on them. When confronted she tells them that they do not trust the guys, which angers them.

After the guys storm out of the classroom Tatsuya passes by Fumie. He tells her that they can't be friends anymore, which surprises Fumie as only that morning he greeted her as a friend. After he leaves though Tetsuya shows up to talk to Fumie.

Sometime later the other boys are walking along and a girl in a Catteleya uniform bumps into Maya and falls down. She quickly apologizes and runs off. Maya finds that the girl dropped her student ID, that she goes to the first Catteleya High School and her name is Arisaka Yuna. After talking to Tatsuya and Tetsuya about it they decide to give the school a visit.

This gives us much needed light hearted moments for the episode as so much of it is pretty serious in tone. We get highlights like Makoto and Yuuki dealing with another fancy toilet and Makoto getting water in his face/mouth for it.

Then we get Maya, Satoshi and Shohei spying on a class. Maya spots the girl that bumped into them and they decide to go down to talk to her. Of course this turns out to be a terrible idea as they are spotted and the girls freak out with having boys in the school.

Meanwhile Tatsuya and Tetsuya are talking outside and Tetsuya explains to Tatsuya that Fumie did not know about the other girls distrusting the boys and she was hurt by his comment. When questioned about why he cares so much about Fumie, Tetsuya says he owes her a debt and then even goes on to try to tell Tatsuya that he likes her but does not get the chance as the rest of the boys, who have all been spotted, show up running away from pursuers.

The two initially hide but then Yuna shows up and leads them to a room to hide in.

They learn that Yuna actually admires Fumie very much and was around the other school because she was worried about her.

Meanwhile Mana tells Fumie she thinks the guys are suspicious. Fumie tells her that she believes that is wrong. Saya and Sayuri agree with Fumie and bring up that the boys really do not have much to gain by doing something like this.

Back at Cattelya they ask Yuna about the trouble that has popped up and she does seem to know something about it.

Back at Bakaleya Mana brings up to the other girls that maybe it is Fumie that is the one responsible. Meanwhile Fumie is with Saya wondering who the traitor could be. Tatsuya and Tetsuya show up and tell them they have a good idea who it is but they need their help to confirm it.

The next day a new rumor shows up and the suspicions have been confirmed on who the traitor is. Though it is rather obvious by that point.

Fumie and Saya meet up with the traitor, Mana. She at first tries to deny that she is responsible for the rumors but it falls apart when they tell her that the latest rumor is something only something she would know as they told her and that it was a lie.

We then get a flashback of Yuna telling the guys what she knows. She has seen Mana return to Catteleya frequently recently. She has been meeting up with a boy but Yuna has not been able to get a look at who it is, but of course recognizes her former schoolmate. Mana has been complaining about being at Bakaleya and apparently the boy has told her that she needs to continue on for a bit longer and it will not be an issue.

Fumie demands that Mana tell her why she did what she did but mainly gets silence in reply.

Mana finally gives her reason and it is simply that she hates Fumie.

She leaves and Fumie ends up breaking into tears, very much hurt by Mana's words. And the episode pretty much ends there.


I thought the previous episode was setting things up for a larger story arc but even though that is not completely wrong it went a direction I was not quite expecting. Though I don't mind it as this story line helps a lot with making the girls more interesting characters and not just background dressing and seems to be setting up the finale, and perhaps even the movie.

Of course now the big thing is how will the other girls react to Mana being the traitor and of course who the boy Mana has been talking to is.

I do confess to geeking out a bit with Koike Rina in this episode as I am a long time Sailor Moon fan and do remember her from the live action series where she played the character Sailor Luna, Luna's human form for that version of the series. So I would not have any issue with her showing up again in the drama.