Gi(a)rlish Number

[SPOILERLESS REVIEW (with a little bit of spoilers, but there's a warning before it appears)] Ok, so before I start, if you would prefer to listen to my review instead of read it, you can do so here as I know this might be a bit long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiWxUTvu54M&t=646s Idol anime, the window into the Japanese anime and music industry like nothing seen elsewhere. Idol anime are typically about the protagonist working their best perfecting their talents to become a successful idol, which in the end, they typically do. But this isn’t always the case, what if the idol isn’t successful in the industry and is crashing? This occurred with Wataru Watari’s 2016 light novel, Girlish Number. Today I will be talking about the high’s and lows of the anime adaptation of said manga. To begin, I wanted to talk about some of the history behind girlish number, so you could get a feel of it. Girlish Number was originally written by Wataru Watari and was first released as a light novel on January 30, 2016, which would eventually come to an end in 2017. Later on, the light novel would revice two spin-offs by the names Girlish Number: momoka memorial, and Girlish Number Shura. Both of these stories don’t really contribute much to the overall story of girlish number, but can still be a fun read. On october 7, 2016, Watari’s novel was adapted by the anime studio Diomedea to produce an anime series of the same name. Girlish Number aired for 12 episodes and had mediocre feedback, resulting in a grad score of 6.88 on MAL. Was this score deserved? You’ll find out very soon. To begin with the actual talk about the anime, I decided that I should probably begin with the characters to avoid confusion in later segments of the video. Girlish Numbers' main cast features Chitose Karasuma, Koto Katakura, Kazuha Shibasaki, Momoka Sonou, and Yae Kugayama. Chitose Karasuma is considered the lead of girlish number, she is a college student hoping to make it as an idol, in fact, most of these characters are college students. Chitose is known for her bratty personality and with amazing expressions, she is also known for her lazy, sloth-like personality, making her not really wanting to do any work. Will this come back to bite her? Koto Katakura is the oldest out of all the characters at the age of 26. Koto is known as being the otaku of the group and is also known for speaking in a regional dialect. Yae Kugayama is fairly new to the industry, similarly to chitose, she is known for being far too kind to the point where people say her words “hold no weight”. Momoka and Kazuha are known as the veterans of the group, they both are already famous idols who just happened to end up working on the same project as the other three members of the main cast. I really like the dynamics of the characters as they couldn’t be anymore different. The next essential thing to this anime is its music and animation. I decided to combine the two of them as it's probably the part I have the least to talk about. To begin the anime adaptation chose to take a softer approach to its style, allowing some of the best facial expressions to do along with the comedy within the series. Compared to the manga or light novel, the anime seems to look completely different compared to its source material. Another thing to mention is just how different the characters look inside of the anime adaptation, I mean just look at manga chitose versus anime chitose. As for the music of girlish number, considering it's an idol anime, you would assume the music is on point, right? Well, you are absolutely correct! The anime adaptation features 6 unique songs featured throughout its 12 episodes, the most prominent being its opening, bloom, and it's ending, Ima wa Mijikashi Yume Miyo Otome. Personally, I believe the opening for girlish number couldn’t be any more perfect. The opening, Bloom, is as the title entails, blooming. The song is about wanting to be number one, sprouting the seeds of their career, hoping it will one day bloom into a famous idol. I guess you could say the same thing about my YouTube channel hehe. All in all, I believe girlish number did have solid animation and music. Story (spoilerless) The story of girlish number is about Chitose Karasuma, a college student aspiring to be an idol. The wikipedia description defines it as “College student Chitose Karasuma is determined not to do boring things as she enters the adult world. To this end, this bad-mannered beauty barges into a facility that trains would-be voice actors and actresses, somehow landing a job at "Number One Produce," a seiyuu agency managed by her older brother, Gojou. In Chitose's mind, she's poised for greatness, but finds herself at a loss when she continues to only get minor roles.” Essentially, Chitose is very lazy and self-centered, giving no care to the people around her. Since she is so lazy, she barely makes it in the industry relying on her brother to do most of the work, but will this all change? Another thing to mention is that Chitose isn’t really a singing idol, she's actually a voice actor, working in the anime industry. The story does take some breaks from Chitose to develop other members of the main cast, but I guess it isn’t essential for a story about Chitose. Story (spoilers) Alright so for those who are still here, let's get started. The story begins with Chitose’s debut as a Seiyuu. If I was to be brutally honest this first part wasn’t really my favorite as I thought it was a little bit bland to the point where I almost dropped the whole series. Not too soon after, we are first introduced to chitoses bratty personality, arguing with her brother and complaining about the roles he gets for her. Eventually, Chitose caught her lucky break, she managed to get a role of a main cast as the main heroine, but there was a twist. This was a harem anime, so there were multiple main heroines, so in reality, chitose wasn’t all that special. The other girls of this harem anime where all the girls mentioned within the characters section. In the next episode, we get even more of a glimpse at chitoses bratty personality, she starts flexing her main role to other rookie voice actors, even though we all know her role isn’t special. The main purpose of the episode was to let us get well acquainted with all the characters while also showing us the quality of the anime they're working on, which to put it simply, is terrible. So at this point we know that even though chitose has a main role, it's one for a low budget harem anime. In episode 3 the recording for the anime starts, which is when the laziness of chitose show. Since chitose put no effort into practicing for the recordings, her acting for them was absolutely horrendous. In this episode, we see Chitose realize how her laziness has affected her, causing her to reach out to her colleague, momoka, to learn how to properly voice act. As of episode 4, the budget for the anime really began to show, they weren’t on time with their production, leaving their fans disappointed. Also in this episode, the anime finally did debut, which ended up having a terrible launch, people hated it. Of course at the end of the day all she cared about was if she lost any followers over it. (also can we beat chitose in follower count, thank you)! As of episode 5, chitoses greed began to show, the anime was started to get sales and all chitose cared about was her paycheck. Meanwhile everyone was concerned about the sales of the series, all Chitose cared about was stuffing her face, showing the gluttonous side of Chitose. The end of this episode gave chitose exactly what was coming for her, a cyber troll attack exposing her for what she really is. The next episode shows how Chitose is still traumatized by her cyber attack to the point where she was too afraid to stare at a camera, although she brushed it off fairly easily. The other important plot in this episode was showing us how everyone was finding new j…

I am a huge fan of Wataru Watari and I need to get that out of the way before I dive into my review. This doesn't necessarily reflect on my enjoyment or lack of enjoyment associated with this show and I have admittedly not touched the source material for this show. I will say, first and foremost, I have no idea why people enjoy the character that is Chitose Karasuma. She is awful, she is disdainful, she is prideful, she is a pain, and worst of all this doesn't really change by the end. They just continue to allow her to be the way she is because it supposedly makes her a good seiyuu. The supporting cast is alright, but none of them are particularly great as individuals. I think Kazuha and Momoka stand out as well-rounded characters, but we only get a semblance of true depth from these two as the rest of the characters are mostly passed over in favor of a more general plot that targets the shortcomings of the animation industry and the many pitfalls that both source authors and everyone responsible for adaptation. The skeleton for a great series is present, but I found myself frustrated with the lack of enjoyable moments. It felt like I was waiting for a character to grow and possible become a reasonable human being, but instead they double down and continue to be a trash character. Parallel to the producer, Kuzu-san, who just so happens to also be a garbage character. The motivations for these characters to become rich or famous or respected, they're shallow. Is this realistic? Maybe in some ways, but the characters themselves are caricatures or portraits of real-life stereotypes. It could be said that this was intentional on Watari's part, again I have not touched the source material so I can't rightfully say whether this would be more or less clear based on the original work. This series does give a good idea of a story that doesn't necessary fulfill the wishes of the audience, maybe it was never meant to. This series in ways gives me Haruhi vibes. Our main character is a selfish brat who has all the other characters at her whims. What made Haruhi much more interesting, however, is that Haruhi has the other characters on a string and if they do anything adverse to her plans the world could end. Chitose has none of this power and yet still manages to have the others cater to her moods. Story gets a 5. It's right in between really good and really bad, so that means I'm neutral on it. I was able to watch the entire series without having an aneurysm but did I enjoy watching it? It's a question I'm not sure I can answer because I really enjoyed the take on life in the animation industry for all the characters, but the characters we followed made me grit my teeth at times. The heartfelt moments with Chitose, I honestly felt like she deserved to feel like crap. So maybe I got satisfaction from those moments simply for the fact that her brother's opinions were validated. Kazuha's upbringing being displayed was a highlight of the storytelling. Art is good, gets a 7. Some animations were awkward as hell, a great example being the scene right before Chitose completely disrespects Gojo by saying he wasted his time trying to be a seiyuu, he waddles into the frame. A lot of the characters were clean and well-done, Nanami seemed to be a little less focused on in terms of design than the rest of the characters. She's young of course, but not much younger than the rest. Some scenes delivered very well, like Chitose running to the recording studio and falling, breaking the phone and getting soaked. I give the show a 6, which I think is more than reasonable for something that is a subjective score. I don't think this is a great show, but I saw plenty of ways it could be an amazing show. As a viewer, I often look for character development and design as a cornerstone for how well a show is written. Believable characters create a believable story. This show started off with believable characters, but by the end the illusion faded. Chitose's importance was emphasized while her growth was stunted. Her attitude was in direct opposition to everyone else involved and she stood her ground at the end to applause and acceptance (besides the author's liaison who appeared to be the only rational being by the end of the show).

Story: so the story is about Chitose who wants to become a actress but she is having a hard time landing a real good role and or a main role and just get stuck with the lesser known roles and what not so she is able to finally land a lead role in a anime but of course that wont come with out some hardships and also with dealing with the voice acting the hate from other people ect. so she pretty much learns to adept to everything while trying to get out of the mob roles and into the spotlight as a lead in a anime. Art: i don't really knack on the art that much but ill say the art is really well done here nothing else to say here. Sound: sound is really good actually loved both the OP and the ED here and also loved all the Voice actors here. Character: Chitose is the one of the many female lead of the anime and well she is a pretty snobby and pretty much just wants to become popular also she can be pretty much a case to handle sense she just wants to become popular and noticed by everyone that's how i would describe as her in general i loved her she was a really good character even though with everything i listed. Koto i mean i personally could just describe her as happy go lucky and just a friendly face as for her character i didn't mind her that much just meh to me honestly. Yae is pretty much the person gets like really shy when she talks to the others and what not but again is a happy go lucky person in herself when she doesn't get shy like really quick like she does as for her character again like Koto i didn't mind her just meh to me. Kazuha is pretty much the person who doesn't really show much emotion if at all honestly that's the real easy way to describe her (she will show it sometimes though) as for her character again just meh to me. Momoka is honestly almost like Koto and Yae (but to a degree in terms of Yae) as just being happy and go lucky honestly as for her character i mean again meh i didn't mind all the characters i honestly just really loved Chitose in the anime. Enjoyment: What i liked: i mean for the slice of life it does it really damn well and also the comedy in this was just straight up good and most of the characters in this were really enjoyable to me. What i didn't like: only real bad thing for this for me was the some of the characters in this i personally didn't care for but that's my only real gripe with the anime. Overall: ill be giving this a 8 the comedy and the slice of life was done to a tee and just really damn good as to the character (that i liked) being just really well done here and the voice actors being really well here as well a anime that is worth the watch

Ironically this anime is about the harsh truth of making anime, and that not all of them will be good, but there is a lot of work put into making one. So IMO they kind of had a weird sense of humor by basically making fun of their own anime. IMO this anime is bad. But like i said , since i know the amount of work that was put in, i will give credit where credit is due. I like the Character design and art. The animation was decent. But that is about it. The anime is boring AF. We have to w8 all the way to the last 2 episodes for something to actually happen, and even that is very short lived. It was very hard for me to go all the way through to the end of the anime, but i made a pact with myself to watch any anime i start all the way to the end, even if it is bad. I came across a few anime that started kind of bad but it got really good later on.

Good anime but easy to forgot. I really like the artstyle even tho it was a bit shiny/ The topic is interesting, if we like the job of this show, i can't stop myself from imaginining the voice actresses when they had to do an anime about their job with a studio who do a ot so great anime. Characters are hard to remember we dont even have to remember their name. But i really liked the personality of the main character who is really funny. I'd like to say, yes this is not the best anime of the world but it's still nice to spend time.The first part of the anime is a little bit boring because it only deals with the development of one char not really useful for me, it wasn't really good to put that for the beginning, at least the second part is more interesting and better. Animé sympa mais oubliable. J'aime beaucoup les graphismes bien que ce soit peut-être un peu brillant. Le sujet est intéressant, du moins si on aime l'univers du doublage, d'ailleurs je peux pas m’empêcher d'imaginer les doubleuses qui font un anime sur leur métier mais sur un studio qui fait un animé moyen. Les personnages sont facilement oubliable, a tel point qu'on retient a peine leur nom, par contre le caractère de l’héroïne est très drôle. Autant prévenir oui ce n'est pas le meilleur animé du monde mais c'est ok pour passer du temps, la première partie de l'animé n'était pas utile pour moi, elle servait qu'a développer surtout un personnage secondaire, la deuxième partie est bien mieux

In a world where the genre of "cute girls doing cute things" has overtaken the anime market, "Gi(a)rlish Number" seems to be the the pioneer and sole survivor of the "voice actor girls doing voice actor girl things" genre. From start to end of this anime goes through the many events and emotions of what a female voice actor goes through such as landing the first main role, working with managers/agencies, and emotionally dealing with voice actors that are better. It's hard to classify and review this show as a normal anime, as most anime has some out-of-this-world setting or twist that makes it interesting. Meanwhile what makes "Gi(a)rlish Number" "interesting" (quotations depending on who is watching) is how grounded it is in reality. There's nothing supernatural that occurs, just voice actor things. Each character is pretty well made, showcasing the different backgrounds and personalities each has. Just like reality though, these characters don't have a "hero's journey" or "awakening". Just like the real life or an employee, the show about voice actor girls doing voice actor things ends with the characters having basically the same personalities, flaws, and strengths they started with. I would recommend this anime if you are interested in an introspective look into the voice acting world. I wouldn't recommend this anime if you are looking for anything particularly exciting or extravagant to occur.