Medaka Box - Episode 10

With his disciplinary committee in disarray and his plan in ruins, things certainly haven't gone as expected for Myouri Unzen after Medaka decided to intervene and save the day - but who was she saving, her subordinates or those who had set out to harm them?

It's this question that rattles around in Unzen's mind, thanks to largely to a hefty dose of bluffing from Hitoyoshi, but such musings are short-lived as he soon decides upon his next course of action - to track down and face-off against Medaka and company once again.  He arrives to find Medaka describing to her colleagues exactly how Unzen amplifies and uses his unique attacks - something which he achieves thanks to the judicious use of Super Balls, although it soon turns out that this is only part of his strategy...

As Unzen waxes lyrical about how he sees both himself and Medaka as two polar opposites of the same monstrous coin, Hitoyoshi quickly deduces that he's simply buying time to unleash something upon them... but what?  That question is soon answered, thanks largely to the eagle eyes of Medaka, but it's too late to stop the ensuing explosion which rips the student council office (and some of its surroundings) to shreds.  This would normally be enough to wipe out all of those present in the room - but of course neither Medaka nor Unzen are normal, ensuring that everybody escapes relatively unscathed.  That doesn't look likely to be the case for long however - remind me to never, ever get Medaka Kurokami angry, lest she begin to live up to her family name.

Although it isn't over just yet, this is certainly the best story arc that Medaka Box has foist upon us thus far - not that this is saying much, admittedly.  Although the series still doesn't feel like anything much to write home about, we are at least beginning to see some of the sneaky and occasionally smart twists and turns that Nisio Isin works normally promise, this time glued into the midst of their shounen setting.  At last, I finally feel vaguely interested in the show, its major characters and the direction in which they're heading - it's probably too late to save my opinion of this series as being anything other than mediocre, but at least it makes watching it feel like slightly less of a waste of time.  I'm damning the series with faint praise, I know, but that's pretty much all it deserves despite some improvements.