Medaka Box - Episode 2

Zenkichi Hitoyoshi has, inevitably, found himself dragged onto childhood friend Medaka's student council staff, which leaves him in charge of looking after Medaka's box (stop sniggering at the back) - provided he can stop worrying about how to make his school uniform look fashionable, that is.

This week's instalment sees Medaka Kurokami tasked with a couple of requests from her suggestion box - her first request is a rather desperate one from a girl named Ariake, who finds her big chance on the school track team put in jeopardy when her running shoes are maliciously destroyed.  But by who?  Such questions are trivial when you're a genius of Medaka's calibre, and she soon tracks down the culprit and resolves the issue with little more than her raw speed, a hug and a sense of trust in the kinder side of humanity.

With that dilemma resolved, Medaka's next case involves a missing puppy which needs to be found.  For once however, the student council president is happy to step aside and let her underling take on the task, something which Hitoyoshi does with gusto - until he actually sees what this "puppy" looks like, at least.  Nonetheless, with the "help" of Shiranui in capturing the beast he tries his best, only to find himself usurped by Medaka in the end if only because of a little jealousy of her part.  Still, it means that the episode ends with mission accomplished, even if things don't quite pan out as we might have originally expected.

I have to hand it to Medaka Box on one count if nothing else - it's really pretty fun when it comes down to it.  Its story may occasionally be dumb (and the second half of this episode in particular is terribly clichéd and predictable, but it just about gets away with it thanks to some smart dialogue and funny one-liners that help to grease the wheels and keep the episode flowing, further assisted by a decent roster of characters.  Whether this will be enough to carry the series all through to its climax in a suitably entertaining way remains to be seen (I suspect it will have to offer more than it does currently, certainly), but for now I'm at least enjoying the show enough to keep up with it for all of its fan service and occasional daftness.