Medaka Box - Episode 3

You'd think that Hitoyoshi would have enough on his plate simply complying to the whims of Medaka every day, but somehow as this third episode of Medaka Box begins we discover that he's still finding the time to try his hand at various school sports clubs.

Thus, before he knows it Hitoyoshi has gained a reputation as a "club crasher" for his brief forays into various groups.  It's this label that sees him approached by Kanoya, one of Medaka's defeated rivals for the student council presidency and a rather nasty piece of work in his own right.  On the look-out for others with a grudge to bear against Medaka to join his insurrection, Kanoya offers an opportunity for Hitoyoshi to gain vengeance upon the girl who works him into the ground on a daily basis - a suggestion which is, of course, complete anathema to Hitoyoshi himself.

With our main man having literally beaten down that particular insurrection, it's back to answering calls for help within Medaka's suggestion box, which brings us to a request from judo club captain Nekomi Nabeshima to find a replacement as her time comes to step down.  Although this seems like a simple enough request, there's more to it than meets the eye, as Hitoyoshi has caught the eye of Nekomi while much-fawned over fellow member Kouki Akune has an eye of his own upon the opposite sex, and namely Medaka.  Thus, the two male components of this particular setup eventually find themselves goaded into a fight to see who can become Medaka's assistant within the student council - a match that we'll have to wait until next week to see.

Having at least kept me entertained and amused for its first two episodes this week's Medaka Box is, in a word, dull.  Both halves of the episode contain set-ups that are easy to read and second guess a mile off, while there's no real comedy, smart dialogue or clever concepts to help things along.  This leaves us with a predictable and boring chunk of clichéd material that hasn't exactly left me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what next week's episode will bring.  I'm not convinced that Medaka Box has run out of ideas just yet by a long shot, but it's certainly doing a good job of hiding anything it has up its sleeve will dull outings like this.