Kageki Shoujo!!

[neflight86]

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* Based on a drama shoujo manga by Saiki Kumiko.

Like the Takarazuka Revue, the young women who go to the arts academy Kouka Kageki High School play all the parts of musical theater, be they female or male. Narata Ai is a jaded former idol performing female roles—her roommate, playing male roles, is bright-eyed country girl Watanabe Sarasa. From the school to the stage to the rest of their lives, there is no challenge these young women can't face with their passion for performance.

Source: Seven Seas

Genre(s): Shoujo, Arts

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What makes this interesting is that, two episodes in, I still don't know what it is supposed to be about, but I'm not bored. Let me step back, this is obviously going to be about the two main lead's journey to becoming top stars at this traditional(?) performance arts school, but the route there is completely obfuscated, and that leaves the focus to the other characters, who have been very fun to watch so far. There are a wide range of personalities, from the thorny rose to a gentile lilac, this flower garden's metaphor of mine is barely forced.

Something about the production and the way characters carry themselves give a life and energy that I can subsist on. Give it a try.

[Ryllharu]

This one is one of my favorites this season.

It's pretty openly based on the Takarazuka Grand Theater, Takarazuka Revue, and it's corresponding Takarazuka Music School, but renamed and located in a different city for literary (or legal) reasons. There's even the jutting arc of stage out front mentioned in episode 2.

I really like the main duo and the supporting cast so far. On the surface you have ambitious genki girl and her quiet and sarcastic cold counterpart. But peel back a layer and you have something different! You have genki girl who has been told once before that her dreams won't be fulfilled, and a girl who was working in the entertainment industry and grew to hate it. Step back to the other character's viewpoints, and you have a dumb genki girl who has big starry eyes for the stage and is too tall, too awkward, and too disrespectful of tradition to make it to the top, and a cold, ungrateful princess who is throwing away the kind of fame the others crave, and is using her influence and connections to easily step into what they've worked very hard and waited years for the opportunity to be a part of.

Then! You step back to the main duo and what you actually have is a genki girl who trained extensively in kabuki theater where women are banned, and is striving to go to all-women musical theater and finally be a "top star," and a girl who probably loves performing, but came from a competitive idol group obviously based on AKB48, got scared away from it due to some really shitty behavior from a stalker fan (who is still stalking her), and that drove her to hate men entirely and applied to the school solely to get away from any and all men, aside from her relatives and teachers...who she still doesn't like touching her due to the trauma.

That's a whole lot of character development fodder, and that's only the first two episodes and the main duo!

You also have the twins that waited a year to attend together, the superfan turned aspiring star, the quiet one, the legacy student, the scheming upperclassman witch, and a stern but equally kind senpai who did her due diligence to be accepted.

[Ryllharu]

Episode 3


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It's actually refreshing to see a character with androphobia (or gynophobia for that matter) have a developed reason for it, nor it used as a joke. Even when shoujo series do it, it's usually some one-off event. Like how we're sort of lead to believe that her creepy fan when she was in an idol group was the reason for it. Instead, it was something far, far worse.

They've also gone from a series that at first seemed like it was a idolization of the Takarazuka system, and then the dance teacher takes the full turn on that presumption as well.

For the three-episode test range, this series is really underrated.

[neflight86]

That was a rather sad backstory. From the surface looks of it, the Otaku fan only wanted 'closure' with her anyway, though she is in no condition to render that, obviously...

No fatties, huh? Understandable, but scary.

[neflight86]

4

Not a very narrative dense episode, but the themes of overcoming trauma, frustration with the life you want to live versus the life you are living, and the how some positivity can come out of idol worship (got friends and a job because some girl on TV cracked a smile?) really came together and gelled into something greater. This is some low-key good stuff. Every character is making their screen time impactful and the interactions are charming and inviting, for some reason- even the 'evil' upperclassmen.

[Ryllharu]

The ED has also changed. The first three episodes were Narata and Sasara. Now episode four is Sugimoto (super serious intense classmate) and the eating disorder girl.

It's a really good ED song, so I was surprised to see them switching vocalists. But it also makes sense considering the school they're at!

[Ryllharu]

Eps 5

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The two superfans (the class rep and the legacy girl) are surprisingly the key source of comedic relief in the series. They're so overly serious about the troupe that it breaks the tension of any scene, far more than Sarasa's ignorance and genki outlook, or Narata's social struggles with finally having friends again.

Seeing Narata's hair starting to grow back out as a sign of progression this early was also a nice touch. We knew from the OP that it would, but it's so insanely rare in anime and manga I was mildly surprised.

All of that is a pleasant counter to the bleakness in Yamada's storyline. I was also surprised that the teacher that triggered her recognized the signs and symptoms immediately. Her friends have noticed too, they just hadn't said anything. The whole staff room scene was refreshing to see.

Not gonna lie, I got a little misty-eyed when the effeminate teacher was telling her that while she's 40th, she's ahead of 1,100 other girls. He didn't even mention that she got in on her first try, and there are others in her class and above that tried for years to get in.

[MFauli]

episode 2:

Alright, this is fun to watch, Ryll. Maybe I'll watch the rest right now, too.

The one thing I utterly hate, though, is that dumb creep otaku. So unnecessary. I really hope this either makes an unexpected turn (like, he's not actually a bad guy) or is dealt with quickly.

The rest of the episode was nice, although I wonder what would have happened if Sarasa had stepped on the silver bridge. Would Andou-sensei have expelled her on the spot? Dangerous situation.

[MFauli]

Episode 5:

All caught up, yay.

First, about prior episodes: I kinda hate this stereotype of otaku as disgusting, ugly men. Even while he turned out to be a good guy in the end, it still sucks how ugly people in anime aren't just ugly, no, they MUST be bad people on top of it. It reinforces real-world prejudices that I myself, unfortunately, am too aware of. I wish anime would stop doing that. People can be pretty and bad, too.

Now, about episode 5. I got teary eyes when the music teacher wouldn't just leave Yamada to herself and actually went after her to give her an awesome prop speech. That was just so bonafide nice of him.

On the other hand, the ballet teacher is a total psycho. She KNEW about Yamada's eating disorder and just went "oh well. if she cannot understand it by herself, she's better off failing". She's not a doctor, she doesn't know how dangerous an eating disorder can be and she let it go on nonetheless. Bulimia is such a well-known disorder amongst young girls, especially in the show industry. As a professional, she should have known better. A renonwned school as theirs surely would have a dietarian who'd work out a proper weight loss plan for Yamada, right? Tsktsktsk ...

Seeing the other girls realize how Sarasa shines bright above them was nice, too.

I was disappointed that they ddn't show us at least 1-2 minutes of the theater piece, though. Reminds me of the recent criticism against Bokutachi Remake, where the projects Kyouya and Co. do are either never shown or super generic. I wanted to see some tier A-animation that really hammered it into my head how amazing this theater school is. But they didn't show that. Bummer.

What also irked me in earlier episodes: So the abusing guy is still with Ai-chan's mom?! And her uncle, the teacher, went as far as installing a lock, but left it at that?! That's just dumb. In-before "young girls are scared and wont tell others" blablabla. Whether that's tre or not, it's infuriating.

Anyway, this anime is nice. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece so far, but it's certainly one of the best new anime I'Ve seen this season. Thanks for the recommendation, Ryll.

[Ryllharu]

First, about prior episodes: I kinda hate this stereotype of otaku as disgusting, ugly men. Even while he turned out to be a good guy in the end, it still sucks how ugly people in anime aren't just ugly, no, they MUST be bad people on top of it. It reinforces real-world prejudices that I myself, unfortunately, am too aware of. I wish anime would stop doing that. People can be pretty and bad, too.

A couple of clarifying points. "Creepy Otaku Guy" Was a misdirect from the start, that's really the whole point of that arc. He's a recovering hikkimori. He admires Narata because she isn't an outgoing, constantly smiling typical idol. She's introverted and expressionless. He saw himself in her, and through his fandom, found friends, a job, and starting getting out more. But his shyness got to him, and when he caused her to get fired, he 'stalked' her all the way to Kouka to apologize. The anime went out of its way to show that Narata's attractive fans were actually worse, and knew proper boundaries less. Mikiya was just caught in an unfortunate timing, like she said. She would have snapped at someone else if it wasn't him. He was a good enough person to not be hurt by her rejection.

Also, the dancing stuff with Sarasa. He's a pretty awesome dude. The whole point of his little arc was about shattering misconceptions that are caused by looking only at appearances, which is why Sarasa bonded with him quickly, and why the bitchy senpai got called out by her classmates. Also, thinking about it, it even dovetails into Sarasa's mentor-senpai, who explained about how she's older than everyone else, and that's fed into her drive to succeed despite not being as innately gifted as her own classmates.

On the other hand, the ballet teacher is a total psycho. She KNEW about Yamada's eating disorder and just went "oh well. if she cannot understand it by herself, she's better off failing". She's not a doctor, she doesn't know how dangerous an eating disorder can be and she let it go on nonetheless. Bulimia is such a well-known disorder amongst young girls, especially in the show industry. As a professional, she should have known better. A renonwned school as theirs surely would have a dietarian who'd work out a proper weight loss plan for Yamada, right? Tsktsktsk ...

I think you're missing the point of that scene in the staff room. The mean thing was calling her a fatty, but the ballet teacher is really toughening up the girls against their peers. She mentioned to the other teachers that they will get bullied in the troupe, either by their peers or their competition's fans, and we've already seen that with the bitchy girl Hijiri. Not may get bullied. Will get bullied. She's happy to screw with Narata and try to undermine her while mentoring her, and she's tried to get Sarasa kicked out as well, just for fun.

I think you're misunderstanding about the eating disorder part. Yes, she ultimately triggered it, but Yamada would have had it one time or another if she was prone to it. The more important part is that the ballet teacher recognized it immediately, and demanded that Yamada start producing a meal log so she'd have proof. She looked at the results, and promptly informed the rest of the staff with a troubled expression. If their vocal teacher hadn't taken her to the hospital, I expect the ballet teacher would have. Yamada collapsed earlier than the teachers expected, or before they could confront her about her growing eating disorder.

Tachibana warned her very gently to not hurt herself, then requested the log.

Who we should be mad at is the other girls. Narata recognized it, but the others probably did too. They all said nothing, even her roommates who definitely knew. Narata did try but botched it.

I was disappointed that they ddn't show us at least 1-2 minutes of the theater piece, though. Reminds me of the recent criticism against Bokutachi Remake, where the projects Kyouya and Co. do are either never shown or super generic. I wanted to see some tier A-animation that really hammered it into my head how amazing this theater school is. But they didn't show that. Bummer.

Didn't they though? We saw part of Romeo & Juliet, and the honestly strange shit that Takarazuka Revue does as interludes. I think it is safer to say that if you know what Takarazuka is, you don't need to see all that much do understand what they're referencing. For westerners, yeah, seeing more of it would be helpful, but for Japan, Takarazuka is as immediately recognizable as anime itself. References are thrown around in anime and manga all the time.

If you poke around, there's a lot of Takarazuka Revue fans watching this series, throwing all sorts of crazy info around about how connected this is. The two veterans that the girls met on the stairs are voiced by actual Takarazuka stars, or at least former ones. The music for the entire series is done by a composer who worked with Takarazuka for twenty years. That's why the ED sounds like one of their songs with male and female parts by the voice actors. It very much is intended to be one.

What also irked me in earlier episodes: So the abusing guy is still with Ai-chan's mom?! And her uncle, the teacher, went as far as installing a lock, but left it at that?! That's just dumb. In-before "young girls are scared and wont tell others" blablabla. Whether that's tre or not, it's infuriating.

I thought he put the lock on because she asked, but Ai eventually moved out and lived with him while she was in JPX.

[MFauli]

Didn't they though?

They showed a montage of a couple different scenes. But none had overly great animation. I would have hoped we'd get some high quality animation for that part, to really show the audience "THAT is the place our heroes want to get to, and LOOK how awesome it is!". It didn't look all that awesome. Just some people doing theatre. If I had to make a comparison: Think back to those special fights in Naruto. Rock Lee vs. Gaara, Kyuubi Naruto vs Sasuke pre-timeskip. That kind of all-out animations. Would have made it more impressive.

I thought he put the lock on because she asked, but Ai eventually moved out and lived with him while she was in JPX.

And he didn't ask why she wanted a lock? Especially after how scared she was when he appeared there?

Thing is, at this point she has no weight to accuse the guy of anything. That forced french kiss happened years ago, nobody else saw it happen, nothing can be proved. If we as the audience didn't know, I'd say: Tough luck, but a man shouldn't be punished on mere accusations without proof.

Had she said something right after if happened, it would have been believable enough to take action. Although she has a good ally with her uncle, she should tell him at least.

[neflight86]

I'm enjoying that pretty much all of the characters have more than one side to them. Narata has a shy side when trying to make up with Watanabe who is surprisingly cold (for a genki girl in anime) after having been slighted in a pervious episode. Fat shame sensei also demands her charges maintain a healthy lifestyle. Stern Sempai is a nose-bleeding revue nerd. The characters are feeling very fleshed out so far, aside from some traumatic circumstances.

Then we address the elephant in the room (too soon?) who has become all too adept at the double finger dinner do-over. Her motivation being her unambitious sister's doting was cute, as was her singing voice, and I'm glad that the system in place (or at least the staff) afforded some help during her time in need. I did like the line that, while at the bottom, she was still accepted above over a thousand other applicants. It was a good perspective. With this, most of the lingering drama has subsided. Will the show now shift its focus to the actual competition/training, or some good old fashioned petty bullying by the upperclassmen? Time will tell.

[David75]

I guess Sarasa got that remark because she's only a great recorder/player: she can mimic an actor's performance incredibly well... but that's all there is to her talent yet ? She doesn't perform herself, only copies/mimics ?

[MFauli]

Episode 6:

LOL, I'm sure there are ways to tell Sarasa what she's doing wrong WITHOUT totally crushing her soul and traumatizing her

I wonder why the teacher criticizes her like that. I guess he watched the same Romeo and Juliet-performance and recognized some specific mannerisms from the actor there?

Ai-chan not know kanji is ... wow. That's almost like being an analphabet in the West. Learning kanji only now at her age fast enough to learn lines ... that's probably the most unrealistic anime of the season now

Other then that, an okay episode. Not to exciting, not boring.

[Ryllharu]

I thought this was a pretty great episode personally.

Sarasa is a mimic, for sure. It's because she was trained in Kabuki. The tradition where stage names don't just mean performing the same roles as the mentor-predecessor, but even acting in the same style as them. They change their names during their careers, but there's absolutely a factor to it that a character should be portrayed in a very specific way. It shares a lot of elements to geiko entertaining as well as martial arts.
It's interesting that the series has given their lead this mimic trait, considering that Glass Mask gave it to a particular antagonist intent on leapfrogging her way to fame by acting as one of the lead's understudies. If Sarasa can't overcome this and develop her own style, she will fail.

Not reading Kanji isn't the same as not knowing your letters, at least in Japan. It's more like never taking any spelling and vocabulary lessons. Ai knows the basics, she can read. But her manager was spoonfeeding her the readings. It's more like not being able to read music with an instrument because the tabs or positions are written under every note.

I wouldn't say it is unrealistic. University students and high school students both use Kanji dictionaries. This isn't China. Depending on the target demographic, manga often has the readings in hiragana or katakana next to the kanji in tiny font. I believe Korea does this too in manwha with Hanja/Hangul (though Hanja is rarely used). Ai has been in entertainment touring for a long time. If her manager wasn't making her study, yeah, she's going to end up just like this.

I'm also interested in the twin situation going on. We know one of the twins was recognized as more talented than the other, or at least more confident, because the first one waiting for the second to also pass before entering Kouka. Not sure which is which, because they're voiced by actual twin voice actors.

The overall interaction of Group E felt very natural, because of how consistently the character development for the main cast has been slowly build up across these episodes.

[David75]

That Phantom teacher was particularly harsh to Sarasa. He was only a bit technical bit caring with others. Only harsh with Sarasa.
Usually in anime it means Sarasa is a talent monster. That teacher is only harsh to Sarasa because she did not show what she's capable of, she only used her mimic ability without too much effort: only some hours the night just before the assignment.
When the other 3 really worked the best they could in the very short 2 weeks they had.
I guess he wanted her to show what she's able to when she works hard on something and also show the begginings of Sarasa as an actor. At this stage he could care less about quality, he just wanted to witness work and the will to start something.
Those thoughts come from the fact that future Ai told us Sarasa has to be something big in the future.

[Ryllharu]

I think he's breaking Sarasa of her fundamental flaw early on. Swiftly and decisively. He noticed her perfect impressions just as much as the students did.

But he also recognized that she was merely copying the other Kouka actors in her performances. Her fellow classmates don't notice, or are such big fangirls themselves that they think her imitations are "great." But in practice in the tea room, we see that unless she has reference material, she's got nothing. Her group thought she transformed overnight, but she was recreating that performance exactly, which their teacher noticed immediately.

The others have flaws he chipped at too. The twin isn't putting in her all (due to confidence I assume). The legacy girl is too focused on feedback that she damages her own performance, and Ai has no emotion (something she is painfully already aware of) and focuses too narrowly on the audience instead of how Sarara did it to the whole theater (though she was just copying a Top Star).

edit:
What tipped him off was probably looking at the balcony instead of the whole audience. I wonder if that's a flaw of the actor she was copying.

[David75]

I get it all the girls are in that school for a long time and I know theory and basics are important.
I also know these girls are raw talent monsters if they are part of the student body.
But it's a bit strange to not have them learn acting like they just did for a whole year when they seem to practice almost everything else.
Good catch for the balcony detail. And somehow I like the idea each girl can gauge some of their potential but also some of their shortcomings very early on.

[Ryllharu]

Oh, I forgot my favorite scene this episode.

The other girls teasing Sarasa about having a boyfriend back home in the very typical anime/manga manner, and she bluntly replies, "Yep! He's in Tokyo, but it could be him," which leaves them all speechless for a second, and even then they kinda doubt her. Then it dawns on them all that yes, she's beat them all to having a relationship with a man.

[neflight86]

More goodness. I did enjoy the critique and the lead up to 'why don't the first years practice acting?' At least they had an explanation that they typically should focus on learning textbook performance fundamentals for the first year, and that doing this was an experiment to get them riled up. You can only get away with that in a pure meritocracy.

The performance was a good scene and the implication of copying the other actor is clear, but why wouldn't that make her a top star? You don't have to beat the best if you can simply be the best when that self-same person isn't around, can't you? I know, that wouldn't be satisfying and would be off-tone for what this show is, but that is just the disconnect I'll set aside for how much I am enjoying the remainder of what's going on.

I also appreciate the straightforward exposition about the performance arts technicals (critiques), not being acclimated myself, so that I'm not left behind.

Special shout out to the legacy girl for being earnest, sincere, and aware of her own coarseness. Immediate buy-in.