pearl51 - 2015-06-27 01:35:26

Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku is a anime series based off the moderately popular NND Vocaloid song series of the same title. At first, I had only found out
about Mikagura from a Facebook page about a similar anime with similar circumstances,Mekakucity Actors. When I heard there was to be an anime adaption,
I was interested to say the least. And yet, I didn’t get a single drop of pleasure from the horrendous adaption at all. 

Story: 

“Ichinomiya Eruna is a shut-in who is currently deciding what high school she should attend to. When her cousin, Ninomiya Shigure recommends his own school, Mikagura Gakuen, Eruna - at first - isn’t interested, but when she sees a attractive young girl by the name of Mikagura Seisa, Eruna is more
than ready to attend. However, Mikagura is no ordinary school -students find themselves entering cultural clubs only where they develop special powers in order to defeat each other! What will happen to Eruna, and her dream to make her own club?”

The show had many flaws, and like many other adaptions based off loose stories, it was to be expected - but it felt like the directors of the show were stringing the episodes together loosely every week, hoping for it to make sense somewhere along the way. It also felt like they didn’t know which genre
they were going for. Although animes tend to be a mixture of different genres, Mikagura felt like it had no sense of identity which only served to make the show bland and dis-interesting.

Animation:

One word, if you please: 

Poor.

Words cannot even begin to express how awful the animation was. It felt like there was a strict budget of around £2.00 (roughly $2/3) - whilst the general animation of characters wasn’t unbearable (they at least moved smoothly) - the backgrounds were so bland and the battle scenes were about as impressive as cardboard. The characters were just rough and very harsh to look at. The colour palate they went for was particularly unpleasant, especially when it
came to the background; I’m talking white for practically everything, with an occasional blue or green. However, the fight scenes were truly atrocious. It was as if they had a toddler drawing whatever came to mind; a bunch of rushed scribbles and smudges. This showed considerably towards the end of the
show, in which Eruna and Seisa literally became two dots of orange and black colliding - if that’s not lazy, I’d like someone to show me what is. This laziness of animation, I find, will be hard to excuse as the company in charge, Dogakobo, has animated shows like Yuru Yuri and even Plastic Memories -
which are both known for aesthetically pleasing animation. 

Sound:

Due to this series being created after a bunch of songs, sound wasn’t actually that much of a problem. Although the voice actresses Juri Kimura and Ari Ozawa weren’t amazing singers, their cover (alongside Saori Onishi) of Houkago Stride was not that bad. However, the rest of the OPs and EDs that
featured were pretty forgettable, and were basically your typical up-beat and childish J-pop songs, with the exception of Esoragoto Spiral. Aside from a few minor characters, the voice acting was decent and in some cases, certain actors/actress executed their characters’ personality well. 

Character:

Now, this is possibly Mikagura’s only saving grace. Whilst the most of the cast consists of typical over-used tropes, we did see some funny interactions with different characters. Eruna, as a main character, provided some hilarious moments throughout the show, however towards the end of the show she received the ‘shounen treatment’ and became a overpowered protagonist with next to no personality. Character development however was again, something that virtually didn’t exist – mainly because only a selected handful in the manga actually get development in the first place. And, for someone like me who has been following Kagerou Days (Mekakucity Actors) for a couple of years now, you will realize that these ‘special
characters’ are virtually carbon copies of those in the aforementioned title. 

Enjoyment:

Whilst I did (surprisingly enough) enjoy the banter between characters within the show, I virtually hated everything else. As a reader of this review, you can probably tell my own personal opinion on this show.

Overall:

There’s only one way to describe Mikagura: a sprinter that started too late and rushed to the finish line. It just drags you at a pace I found was a little bit uncomfortable in a sense, as virtually nothing – I mean it – was explained. And, even if it was (I’m looking at you, cop-out ending) it was extremely forced and possibly some of the greatest quick thinking I’ve ever seen. This show has almost nothing going for it, but if you feel that
for some reason that you want to pick it up, I can at least guarantee that you will get a few laughs.

I would recommend this show to those who are looking for some light entertainment on a rainy afternoon when you have nothing else to watch.

I wouldn't recommend this show to those looking for anything serious or interesting. Nor for anything to do with
the supernatural/superpowers, 

Thanks as always to you guys for reading my review, and I hope that you find it useful! 

pyost - 2015-06-05 06:03:16

I adore the main character Eruna-chan. She's spirited, bright, and all around adorable. Sadly, the story doesn't seem to know where it's headed or what it's attempting to accomplish. Random things happen, Eruna-chan reacts...and sadly that's all. While the magic club battles had potential, it and Eruna-chan seem doomed to go nowhere, thanks to poor direction. You deserved more, Eruna-chan.