To be around cute girls wearing cute clothing is all Eruna Ichinomiya desires. Since Mikagura High School happens to have the cutest uniforms around, she decides to enroll in this prestigious high school known for its cultural clubs.
However, she does not realize that joining a club is mandatory, and representatives from each club must battle for a ranking. Based on these rankings, club members are awarded housing and food. Chasing after Seisa Mikagura, the most beautiful girl in school, Eruna joins the going-home club but finds herself thrust into fighting the next club battle. With the other club representatives wielding unique powers, the competition is sure to be fierce!
Based on the popular song series, Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku follows Eruna as she explores the various clubs in school and assists the members with their troubled lives, all of whom are also vying for the top spot in school.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
wisuel
Story 6/10 There's a magical school. Students have to be a club member. And students have to fight using their powers. This school has a new student. Her name is Ichinomiya Eruna. This story tells us her school adventures. I like this anime. It's a seasonal anime and it could be called fun for the summer. It's not overly good but everyone can love that. Enjoyable, fun and adventure.
rowhan
Mikagura School Suite is is an adaptation of Last Note.'s vocaloid song project that spawned a light novel and manga (all written by Last Note.) This would make MSS the 4th anime that adapts a vocaloid project. Story: 4/10 Mikagura School Suite's story is incredibly mediocre and not special in any way. The plot likes to wave around in different areas throughout the anime to try to give the other characters more depth but it just didn't work (at one point theres a giant Godzilla-esque robot just cause, no logical explanation given). The ending is also very predictable and honestly not fulfilling; I feel it neededat least a short epilogue to show how everything ended up afterwards with the many different characters (I don't count the montage in the last ED has much of an epilogue if that was what it was meant to be). One last note (pun) is the the humor in this anime is horrible, it's just not funny. The jokes are dragged out like Shigure's character wanting to get with his cousin. Also, don't hope for Eruna to end up with anyone, because it doesn't happen.
Art/Animation: 3/10
Ohhhh boy. This anime had many MANY art and animation issues. The fight scenes were done incredibly poorly and were done very choppy. Lots of scenes the art looks off and just wrong. The animation overall is below average. Now, to the character designs. I HIGHLY dislike what Doga Kobo did to Akina's character designs. Akina's original designs were quite good despite being simplistic but Doga Kobo changed them to have weirdly shaped eyes and just did not look good. It also made them look, well, out of place next to each other. The backgrounds are very simple and average.
I did like the special ED for Eseragoto Spiral's cover song in I believe ep 11.
Sound: 6/10
I honestly can't note anything particularly good or bad about the OST, it did its job. I did enjoy the covers of Esoragoto Spiral and Houkago Stride but they weren't as good as the original songs. The voice actors did their jobs well, I felt most of the voices fit but Asuhi's voice was WAY to high.
Character: 4/10
Most of the characters in this anime are ok or annoying.
Our main character, Eruna Ichinomiya, is always hitting on girls and loves girls very much. This is one of the few different things about this anime as I don't see MCs like this. Other than that she's a typical positive MC.
Shigure, Eruna's cousin, is either a normal pretty good person, or a crazy comedy relief character trying to get with Eruna.
I, personally, liked Minatogawa and Asuhi the most in this anime and series. Minatogawa is a lonely member of the flower arranging club and I liked his character even though he was minor. Asuhi is a member of the astronomy club and I also liked his personality.
Yuto, the head of the drama club, was a very weak character. Yuto is like a cheap knockoff of fellow vocaloid song series Kagerou Project's Shuuya Kano. Yuto faked how he felt and this was brought up and solved in the same episode and was really underwhelming.
Some of the characters have vocal quirks, mostly in the drama club, it's very very annoying to me. I did not enjoy listening to them. Another major character, Bimii, says "ryui" all the time and its annoying and his dialogue is all unfunny. It's also not really explained why Bimii is with Eruna most of the time despite he's supposed to be a teacher at the school.
Enjoyment: 5/10
Somehow, this show kept me watching despite its content. I never really felt like dropping it so I'll give it that. However, it gave me mostly criticism and that's not a good thing.
Overall: 4/10
I can't recommend this anime, I really can't. I recommend you check out the songs because they're far better than this anime.
Stark700
This is no ordinary school. It looks normal at first but Mikagura Private Academy is far from normal when you get supernatural battles on everyday basis. Why? Because it’s for representation and show which club reigns supreme on campus. In essence, this series isn’t just some slice of life school life story but also one that blends in supernatural shounen-like features with school shenanigans. Based on the light novel and Vocaloid songs, Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyou is an adaptation that I’d like to describe more as a school battle comedy. It runs on a story with characters that possesses special abilities belonging to each of hisor her own club. The series stars protagonist Eruna Ichinomiya as she enters the doors of the academy. In a nutshell, she is portrayed as an otaku with a special taste in cute girls. Essentially, it’s what led her to come to Mikagura Private Academy because she saw a picture of the elegant Seisa Mikagura, the granddaughter of Mikagura Academy's principal. So there she is experiencing this rather bizarre change in her life. For what’s worth, this show is a bit corny although it does settle down with style once the pace goes going.
For starters, the academy is divided by many cultural clubs that specializes in different skills. These expand to a large variety including culinary, art, craft, drama, calligraphy, astronomy, manga research, flower arranging, and even going home. It’s a mixture of almost everything you may find at your local school with their extracurricular activities. For Eruna, this becomes a source of problem because she doesn’t belong to any club. By the school rules and mechanics of the series, anyone not in a club gets poor treatment including a lack of sleeping arrangements; the first episodes shows Eruna sleeping with a sleeping bag at school. Can you imagine that? But as the series progresses, we can see a bit of Eruna’s potentials. As the school focuses on school battles, it’s up to the students to improve their skills and make their own club proud.
Because the series features a wide range of characters, it takes time to explore the most prominent ones. This is a plus as the series allows us to see some insight scoop on what the cultural clubs are about. No more just telling but also showing becomes evident as we see what some of the club members do behind the scenes. For Eruna, I suppose it means that she can understand how the school works while trying to get Seisa’s attention. And that’s really a focus on and off for Eruna. At first, she really wants to hook up with her but as the story develops, we can see that Eruna genuinely cares for Seisa. A problem is that the two are not compatible. Seisa has a lone wolf-like status and isn’t the type to open herself to others. This is explained in one of the later episodes as we learn more about her past. However, the series shows that Eruna can brighten up just about anyone’s day. Relationship is important especially for youth and character growth so Eruna’s experiences with other characters really brings out herself too. One of the more prominent relationship she has is with a young girl named Otone. While they started off with a lot of awkward moments, the two becomes close. It brings out Otone’s true character to light rather than the uptight and expressionless person that others see her on the surface. Similarly, Eruna also shows her kindness to others based on a lot of events that she gets herself involved in.
As a series that has a lot of diversity, there’s also a good amount of comedy. However, this is a bit of a hit or miss. Eruna is character that some people will like or others will feel dislike towards. In retrospect, she is a very energetic girl but sometimes, she can be a bit naïve and too straightforward. Her personality when first introduced in the series also mirrors those of a kid in an ice cream shop. She goes around looking for “cute girls” and has her delusional imaginations. This is where the comedy comes in full force as she imagines being in “intimate moments” with them. The yuri vibes will also be a bit evident although it’s nothing sensitive and played more out as a comedy. But for a show like this, I feel like comedy is important as the series crafts a lighthearted atmosphere. The competitiveness is still there with the club battles and even tournaments. However, it also gives the series a breather when you see how much some of the students have fun in their daily lives. Just be aware that some of the dialogues can feel a bit cheesy as the story drags on. While it doesn’t obliterate the series’ enjoyment, it may feel blend after seeing many varieties of it.
Then, there’s the action. Like I mentioned before, this is no ordinary academy. As a school that features club battles with special abilities, expect a bit of colorful explosiveness. The mechanics of the battles and rules are explained that can be easily understood. The battles themselves usually don’t last long but does capture the point. I would say that the action itself is only slightly above average. Most of them showcases a characters’ special ability that corresponds with their club origin. So in many ways, it’s predictable at what some of them can do. The battles has a lot of energy but sometimes doesn’t match its momentum. Some of them are also rather short so expectations coming into them aren’t high. In retrospect, there’s nothing too special about them besides being a colorful gimmick to progress the story elements. After all, school battles with supernatural elements isn’t something new we see these days.
In terms of artwork and visual, this series explodes in color. Literally everywhere is color whether it’s the characters, the setting (school), or the battles. The school itself doesn’t look too special but the characters are decorated in flamboyant style. From the diverse range of colored hair to some of the battle outfits, we see a good amount focus on the visuals. Unfortunately, not every episode can live up to its hype on the technical aspects as there are times when the colors feels out of focus. The backgrounds are also lazily animated while some body movements are limited. Fan service is very minimal except for some of Eruna’s personal delusions. And even so, that’s played for laughter.
Soundtrack is a more or less moderate. It’s nothing to write home about especially if it’s almost always cherry. The OST all sounds similar except for cases when the characters do battle. That’s when the full throttle orchestra kicks in. Otherwise, it’s generally underwhelming. The OP and ED theme songs does have a bit of colorful style though especially with the characters in frame. On the other hand, character voice mannerisms isn’t very impressive. Eruna sounds almost like a brat at times while Seisa is borderline emotionless. The only character that brings a lot of personality into the series with its voice is perhaps the mysterious creature name as Bimii. While his voice isn’t anything impressive, he attracts considerable amount of attention on-screen just by the way he speaks. Don’t expect something that will blow your mind in the end though.
This show is probably a good choice for anyone interested in some comedy fun. Otherwise, it adapts spoofy gimmicks and settles for a family-friendly atmosphere. There are hardly any mature themes or something that is shocking. The story is very straightforward with its colorful cast of characters. But while it is generic and not very memorable together, it does pull off some clever tactics. It has this good natured fun to categorize school as a playground rather than a military academy. In the end, you’ll have to ask yourself if this type of fun is effective because why not?
Borrator
I picked up the show for the turbolesbian MC and I never regretted that for a second. If you're wondering whether you should watch it, try the first episode. If you're enjoying Eruna, watch it. Otherwise, drop it. The show was really bad in several aspects - animation, rushed storytelling, Eruna's power not being perverted in any way, pretty weak writing in several places, using the cousin to associate MC with some het vibes, no matter how weak they are - but it's still one of the shows I have enjoyed watching the most. In general, not just this season. That's why enjoyment 10/10 andsince enjoyment is what truly matters, overall 10/10
BlurredVision18
All my reviews are spoiler free aimed towards people who haven't seen the show. Mikagura School Suite Initial summary and review, if you're not interested in the summary skip the story section. *note my reviews are always spoiler free. Any part of the story that's revealed in the summary is only for the first three episode or less in an attempt to intrigue you to give it a view. MSS is an anime adaptation of a novel that was first inspired by a series of popular NND songs created by Last Note and performed by the Vocaloid GUMI. The words that describe this show as a whole arefun, energetic, even charming at times. But I think the word that best describes with show from an objective standpoint. Is lazy.
Story: The show starts off rather ominous, with a girl running from a pursuer through the dark Academy halls in the middle of the night. Ending with an incredible attack from said pursuer with the outcome unknown to the viewer. By the end of the episode, we learn the girl that was being chased at the beginning of the show, is the granddaughter of Mikagura Academy, the girl who prompted Eruna's attendance, Seisa Mikagura. Seisa is a austere individual who usually secludes herself from the rest of the academy even as far as not attending classes. She catches sight of Eruna when she arrives and offers her to join her club, assuming this has something to do with her family name, and ask her to represent the club in the upcoming battle demonstration. Eruna happily accepts with drool running down her face from gawking at her sweetheart senpai. But she doesn't even know how to battle..... It seems as if it's a start to a good mystery. What happened that night? Why is Seisa so withdrawn from everybody else? And why does she have an interest in Eruna the moment they meet? As Eruna enters her first battle, she quickly learns how much of a disadvantage she's at and flees from the fight in an attempt to catch her opponent off guard during the pursuit. She stumbles upon a closed off section of the building and enters a room with a shrine where a very ... familiar looking girl, grants Eruna with her ability to manifest absolute energy from her spirit. Just like that huh? In a fluke, Eruna is able to pull a victory against the Calligraphy club member. At this point the show is still looking good, despite the animation which I'll get into shortly. Eruna then goes back to Seisa bragging about her victory in her first battle. Seisa tells her the only reason she won, was cause her opponent wasn't taking her seriously to begin with. Refusing to believe that, she challenges Seisa to a mock battle to show Seisa her strength. Seisa accepts, but tells Eruna if she is unable to break one of her crystals (a battle is won when you break all three the crystals that float around the combatant) she will revoke her membership to the club. Eruna is defeated with little effort from Seisa. No longer a part of any clubs, Eruna goes from club to club meeting the members, making friends, causing some mischief, trying to find her place, and trying understand why Seisa acts the way she does. Sounds interesting right? Well unfortunately it kinda loses this focus halfway through the show, but manages to end on a decent note.
Story Execution: The narrative begins with a bang and some intrigue. There's some mystery to be resolved, an MC who has been brought to an understanding of what she needs to do, and the battles to be had...... well, not so much the battles. When you read the synopsis and watch the first few episodes you'd think that would be a good focus. But instead they focus more on character action outside of battle and lots comedy skits. They go as far as to hype up a battle, cut to the eye-catch when a commercial would air, and when you return, Eruna would be talking to someone like, "*sigh* I can't believe I lost". And this happens multiple times. For a school based on club battles, you rarely see any of them fight. The show would have been much better off with Action rather than Slice of Life Comedy, but the budget wouldn't allow it I guess. The story gets cut up into little arcs as she goes from club to club meeting it's members. With bits of interaction from Seisa drive the main narrative subtly. This was fine for half of the show. Then you meet Otone Fujishiro, who takes up a third of the season with nothing to gain from it by the end, besides a bunch of yuri jokes and a lesson in friendship. Which becomes really boring to be honest. It does manage to end with an interesting conclusion to the narrative but it wasn't very exciting and a kinda cliche ass pull. It could have been fleshed out more without the... basically comedy filler. If the writer took this a little more serious than he did, he could have had a compelling narrative, but it's washed out with all the random comedy and cliche friendship morals.
Characters: Lots of fun characters. Each one is given it's own little arc and melancholic back story. Eruna is very energetic and has a lust for anything cute, specifically girls. Although she seems rather naive see isn't exactly dumb, in fact you tend to see that she has a more level head the more you watch behind her constant antics and care free attitude. You find a heartwarming development as to why Akama, the Drama Club Prez, is initially so harsh to the new freshman during their training. The tragic story of the deeply misunderstood Art Prez Kyouma. The inspiring reason for the freshman Asuhi to push forward bettering himself. Then there are the "antagonists" I guess you could say. Like the Music Club member who instead of battling fair, plays with her opponents and unnecessarily humiliates and belittles them. Or the broadcast member who tries to to shut down Eruna's little scheme she comes up with. I will say the drama club members were annoying and took up more time than they needed to. And you can't forget then man that brought Eruna to the Academy her cousin Shigure, who is completely in love and obsessed with Eruna, it's pretty funny. But sadly none of these stories become a focused theme, and reverts back to Eruna and her cheesy friendships for the remainder of the show.
Art and Animation: ....... This is my biggest problem with the show, as I believe it is the cause of all the other problem I see with it. The Art looks great. The designs for the characters are good, the colors are beautiful, etc. The animation is very lack luster. Only main characters are detailed, anyone extra are merely white silhouettes. Not that big of a deal itself, but just the tip of the ice berg among shortcuts. When action arises, characters look rather inconsistent and vague. It's also obvious why you don't see many battles, because it was too much of a hassle to draw them. The battles you do see are talks with an attack here, more talks and a face close up, then an attack there, more talks, commercial break, next scene after the battle skipping the conclusion. And the obvious errors are littered throughout the entire show. The crystals that hover above the characters, are sometimes absent during scenes or even switched places for a brief moment then returned to their original position. I even recall a scene where Eruna was just forgotten to be drawn, and was absent for almost 20 frames.
Sound: The BGM is alright but nothing memorable, the tracks that were the best are seldom used. The OP and ED switches during certain episodes were good to watch and listen too. The Eruna version of Houkago Stride is awesome.
Enjoyment: I did enjoy the show. Even though all the battles I wanted to see weren't shown, I still enjoyed the characters, some of the comedy, and the main story between Eruna and Seisa. I wish the show would have taken it's story concept more seriously and had a staff that wanted to animate some wild action. Instead it was just SoL comedy while Eruna helped other students be honest with themselves through her constant 100% smiles, energy, and cliche view on friendship.
Overall it was alright but pretty underwhelming. I'll give it a 5/10. Not really something I'd recommend watching to someone. Unless I know the person can look past it's flaws and enjoy the random fun and yuri jokes. Sry Eruna-chan, but you weren't that great. I still love your songs
BanjoTheBear
(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) After completing Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku, I started to wonder what kind of ability I would have if I was granted one based on what I do. At first I thought of a keyboard that would create out of thin air anything I typed out in full – “Manifest Words” would be the name I would give it – because of how much I write. Then my mind wandered to a snowboard that was not so restricted and could go on all surfaces – “Any Board” – because I like to hit the snow when such anopportunity presents itself (it is pretty rare nowadays). Regardless, I know that whatever I happened to receive I would have as much fun with it as possible because that is what life needs to be: good, safe, and reasonable fun. This is what the anime tries to convey, but somewhere along the way, it loses sight of what it has to say.
STORY
For many people, Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku appears to be “just another high school anime.” It takes place at (coincidentally enough) a high school, everyone in the cast has unique abilities, and it involves some comedy, some drama, and a resolution where it all ends happily ever after. Sounds rather common on paper and that is perfectly fine, since anime do not always have to be something startlingly new. However, Mikagura is not like other anime. Do not be mistaken; this is not a compliment. The show missteps each time it moves its feet, and for one reason only: disconnectedness.
Mikagura’s toes usually point towards the flashier section of what it brings to the table. More specifically, a high amount of emphasis is placed on the characters’ abilities, the clubs they enroll in, and the battle system in place. As the calling card of the show, it makes sense that the anime would want to show off Eruna using “Tension Max” or Seisa enacting “Killing Art.” But it does not do this. Despite Mikagura putting much stock into the abilities, it is quite uncommon to see them being used in any capacity. Skirmishes are alluded to and it is obvious that specific move-sets exist, but the anime defers to using repetitive comedy in the form of Eruna’s love for “yuri” or Shigure’s ridiculous crush on his cousin. Should the battles even commence, they do not last for very long. It is very strange to witness because it is clear that the show wants to make the battles and the abilities have meaning within the world presented, but because it is so averse to showing them directly, they come off as unimportant and without purpose. As a result, the events which occur feel disconnected since what does happen – like the investigation of relationships between characters or Otone’s entire arc – hardly coincides with the goals or focus of the anime.
Nowhere is Mikagura’s loss of focus more prevalent than with the finale. Throughout the season, it was evident that the biggest conflict was Seisa’s inability to open up based on some past transgression. Therefore the show was structured to keep the issue hidden as long as possible – Seisa is removed from the festivities willingly but also to keep her shrouded in mystery. A disconnect, however, is created once again since the anime waited beyond the point of acceptability to divulge the problem. Said problem is revealed close to the last, prominent segment – the duel between Eruna and Seisa – leaving little time to process the ramifications and no time to see a respectable resolution of the main plot point.
In hindsight, the order of the events is logical from a narrative stance: the beginning of the season demonstrates where Eruna and Seisa are strength-wise, setting the former on a path of fun and learning, with the ending designed to mirror the start and Eruna’s inevitable improvements. Yet the middle portion’s disconnectedness does not accurately portray such growth in Eruna, causing the final battle to feel unnatural. In other words, because the build-up is avoided – due to the anime refraining from having these battles – the payoff from the final fight is never achieved either. Worse still is the explanation behind Seisa’s sudden reversal of brooding (a few words of wisdom not from Eruna, her constant supporter) and the reasoning for their coming together (a supernatural phenomenon referenced, at most, twice), both of which feel disconnected from the rest of the show.
Interestingly, the main theme of Mikagura revolves around disconnectedness, too. Essentially, while everyone might be different or separate or unique, such differences do not matter when people come together to have fun. The disconnected units are able to connect with one another precisely because they are disconnected in the first place. That is a powerful message because togetherness is an inherent need of people. Interacting and connecting with others is something each person should experience, no matter how disconnected he or she might be. This mentality can be seen throughout the season, with Eruna bringing people from the drama, art, gardening, astronomy, calligraphy, and newspaper clubs into one group of friends. She does not care if the person wields a scythe, writes symbols, or shuts herself in. She simply wants these people from every walk of life – these disconnected parts – to come together and have a silly bout of fun. While the show’s lack of battles prevent the theme from being explored outright, there is enough there to keep the plot from feeling completely useless.
Unfortunately, Mikagura could not prevent disconnectedness from ruining whatever narrative it managed to string together.
ANIMATION
Mikagura is a mixed bag when it comes to its art and animation. Looking solely at the art, it does not immediately dazzle the eye, consisting mostly of the school and the surrounding forest. Other areas are visited as well, such as Seisa’s mansion or the various club rooms and hallways. While it appears run-of-the mill, the backgrounds have a strange combination of two- and three-dimensions (more two than three) that give it an air of uniqueness to match the characters’ abilities. Also of note is the handling of civilians or non-cast members. Rather than including a handful of extras with minimal designs, Mikagura opts to include as many as they can with the caveat that they have no details whatsoever. Using this technique, the cast members receive all the attention without the show feeling as if only they exist.
Some attention is paid to the character designs as well. For each person, it is easy to derive who belongs to where and what they do. Kyouma is a painter, so his face is covered in colored marks while he wears a lax uniform. Sadamatsu works with flowers, giving his grassy hair and robe of tranquility more meaning. Even Seisa, who appears normal, sticks out with her mismatched stockings that represent her off-kilter power. The same level of detail can be witnessed with each character, not just those listed; an obvious boon for the anime.
Not as obvious is the strength of the actual animation. When the anime pushes the regular, everyday scenes to the front, movement of limbs, eyes, and hair is not too noticeable. The comedy is quick, so the actions of the characters are usually jittery or choppy to keep up with the speed. Fights see a technique similar to the civilians: the show reduces style and detail in favor of fluid motions.
CHARACTERS
Mikagura does not put much stock into its own characters. Their development is weak and their characterizations are arguably weaker – Eruna is energetic, Asuhi is shy, and so on. To be fair, the anime’s symbolism in regards to the characters’ abilities does add more depth. For example, Eruna’s explosive and energetic personality manifests as insane agility and dazzling light. Yuuto represses his emotions, so he uses art to release his feelings. Otone likes to keep her halves in-check or “wrapped up,” and since ribbons do just that they are her weapon of choice. Asuhi is always hopeful, keeping his head held high and seeing the bright side to life, which his telescope and astronomy tendencies personify. Seisa’s ability as well matches her person; she hates forming relationships with others, something that is almost physically impossible to do, thus she bends time and space to make it a possibility. Each character can be dissected in this way, but it does not help when the characters are rarely utilized or developed. However, when the anime decides to actually do something with its characters, it usually takes one of two forms.
The first form is investigating a character’s past, thereby allowing them the chance to change for the better. Yuuto, Kyouma, and Seisa are the figureheads for this form. Sadly, it devolves into the same pattern: dramatic past is shown, presently resolved, and forgotten in the future. That last bit is the worst offender; after having these characters overcome their troubles, very little is done with the outcome. All three more or less act a bit nicer, but the impact of their development means next to nothing for others and especially themselves. The second form is investigating a character by association. Specifically, Eruna and Otone undergo this type of development, with the latter using the former to achieve it. That is to say, the rest of the cast members develop Eruna whereas Eruna alone develops Otone. For Eruna, this kind of development does not work because she is at the pinnacle of her person; drama and conflict are impervious to her personality. For Otone, she simply hangs out with Eruna to balance her polite and rude sides. But Otone’s character seems pointless, since her role only consists of being an extra member to create Eruna’s club and to aggravate Seisa further. As it was with the characters going through the first form of development, after Otone has “fulfilled her duties,” she is pushed off the stage to finally put the spotlight on Seisa, effectively reducing any importance Otone’s character might have had.
It is unfortunate because Otone is arguably the most interesting character within Mikagura. Looking at the two main girls – Eruna and Seisa – Otone mediates the disconnect between them. If the three were placed on a “personality line,” Eruna would occupy the affable end, Seisa would be as far away from Eruna as possible, and Otone would sit in the center. As such, and as is seen, Otone is capable of connecting with both extremes. She follows Eruna’s wacky antics because she had always wanted the same kind of fun, and she empathizes with Seisa because she had been in the same predicament before. Her involvement brings Eruna and Seisa’s relationship to the breaking point, which ironically needed to happen; to bring them together, Eruna and Seisa had to be disconnected even further than they already were.
But reiterating, the inclusion of Otone and the symbolism of the abilities are mostly lost due to the mishandling of nearly the entire cast.
SOUND
The music of Mikagura follows a simple motif: fun. Like Eruna’s ridiculous optimism and the comedy of the show, many of the pieces that the anime offers are upbeat and filled with happiness. The opening theme is catchy despite the quickness of its beat. The main ending theme slows down slightly, but maintains the same peppy vibe with its fast singing, changing vocalists, and lyrics literally referring to being happy. The jazzy ED is not exactly “fun” but it still has disk scratching and strange sound effects to make it fit the atmosphere.
The other EDs fit the same pace as the main OP and ED, as does the majority of the remaining soundtrack. While there are more melancholic or intense pieces for those sad and dire moments respectively, the show mostly uses slice-of-life arrangements that coincide with the comedy and fun being had.
As far as voice acting is concerned, it is neither the best nor worst ever heard, with most of the cast providing performances of the average variety. The exception is Juri Kimura as Eruna whose constant excited attitude could instantly be heard whenever she spoke.
ENJOYMENT
Repetitive though the comedy may be, I still found it pretty hilarious whenever the jokes were used. Shigure fawning over Eruna followed by a subsequent beat-down, Bimii screaming due to the transformation machine, and especially Eruna going gaga over Seisa and the other girls was overdone but still entertaining for me. The anime using Bimii as the “straight man” to Eruna’s craziness was a smart move, since if Eruna had free reign to do whatever she wanted without occasionally being reeled it would be almost too much to handle. This same tactic is seen with Kurumi (Seisa’s handmaid). Stopping Eruna from taking her relationship with Seisa into risqué territory quelled Eruna’s imagination, forcing the audience to use their own imagination to think where it would lead; a subtle and clever move once more.
The reality, however, is that I was not too fond of much else. Seisa’s character had potential but was treated horribly writing-wise throughout the season. Same for Otone, who seemed to have a place and a purpose within the show but was ultimately there as a slightly more fleshed out Seisa. The rest of the cast is largely forgettable, either because their jokes are not worth remembering (like Nyamirin and her big boobs) or because they have next to no presence (like Meika, the new calligraphy club member). But the most frustrating part of the whole anime was the ending. The show makes such a big deal out of Eruna and Seisa becoming friends, or at least getting Seisa to see the fun side to life, and when it finally happens, I am given a few snapshots of the result. It was nothing short of wholly unsatisfying.
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku does what it can to be fun, but the disconnected narrative and lame characters keep it from preaching what it wants to say. The detailed designs of the cast and the incorporated music attempt to silence such obstacles, but it is not enough to make its voice heard. Simply put, if the anime had an ability of its own, it would be called “Wanting Better Execution.”
SUMMARY
Story: Bad, disconnectedness is rampant throughout the season
Animation: Fine, the art style does its job, nice character designs, about average actual animation
Characters: Bad, Otone is interesting and symbolism exists, but the rest of the cast members are handled poorly
Sound: Fine, fun OPs, EDs, and soundtrack, with average VA work
Enjoyment: Fine, overused jokes were hit or miss, Bimii and Kurumi were clever additions, but everything else, especially the ending, was rather frustrating
Final Score: 4/10
SkyNoHoshi
Y’know, school is fun. You have friends to talk to, activities to take part with and other stuff that seem ‘fun’ to enjoy. But having watched Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku (Mikagura School Suite), their definition of ‘fun’ has gone a lot wackier. By entering the school, you would probably go nuts with whatever activities they have. This Vocaloid project is based on a light novel. Eruna spends her life at home playing games, and has yet to decide on which high school to attend. Her decision finally came about when her cousin Shigure gave her a pamphlet for Mikagura Academy, where she catches her attention on aphoto of Seisa in it. When she attends to the academy, she finds out that it only has cultural clubs, and a battle system which club members with special powers fight one another as representatives.
The story pretty much goes how the characters take action, in that case it revolves around Eruna more. There is no clear goal of what she wants to do in the academy, since she is more of a character who goes with the flow. Nevertheless, the story is quite easy to follow as she gets to know more about the academy, and meet and interact with other students. Hence, there is no need to understand the story at a much deeper context, such as the battle system or the super powers. What is so great about the story is the comedy. Each episode never fail to make me giggle like an idiot at some scenes, so it did a good job of making me enjoy the anime. There is also this sub-plot about Seisa’s past which is a bit more emotional, and it tends to show more in the latter part of the anime. I do not have any problem with the sub-plot, although I wish that it can be explained better. I also hoped that there is something much more exciting than just battle on every episode, and aside from character interactions and mysterious to unfold, I still wish for more. In summary, an easy-to-follow comedic piece of work that needs a bit more surprise.
The cast has a variety of club members and each of them has a typical anime personality on their own. Having Eruna as the main focal character of this anime, it spills lots of fun to everyone, whether to the other characters or even the viewers. Do not worry, she is not 100% that way. Sometimes she shows her concern or thoughts to whoever she gives them to, and unless she is having thoughts of yuri fantasies to Seisa, or being dumb, she goes on what she wants to do with lots of determination. For the other cast, some of the characters have a backstory which appears in the anime once in a while. It depends on how it is being told or how the characters related to them is going to follow up, and neither of them is boring to hear. Especially for Seisa, her backstory forms as the context of the sub-plot I mentioned earlier. Character development is minimal, but it still works out fine for all the characters.
For me, the artworks, such as the sceneries and the character designs, are simple. I do not think the staff has ever crossed over the line which they lazily draw out the whole episode. Sometimes there are drawings of background characters that are not even coloured, but I am not annoyed by them still. However, it is cool that the palette gives off a nice bright colourful feel. In battle scenes, the animation is decent enough - not very spectacular. It is nice that there are different types of super powers these students can use them to fight off with one another, giving a variety of battle fights. I wonder if that is a budget problem, or maybe Dogakobo used more money for their other anime. Either way, it does not really matter.
This anime definitely shines bright on the opening and ending songs, which are sung by respective voice actresses. Houkago Kakumei is something I can grove for hours on loop, as its energetic pump-up music get the excitement going every time an episode airs. The individual ending songs are covered from its Vocaloid songs, and in comparison to both the anime and Vocaloid versions, I say that the quality pushed up way higher in the anime version, although the Vocaloid version is still good to hear. Overall, the three have different genres that fit the style of the characters, and they are great. My favourite is definitely Esoragoto Spiral. Finally, the main ending song is less catchy but still nice to listen to when you are feeling happy. Sadly, the soundtrack is not that memorable. If I can recall on my head, I probably think that the battle music is good and fitting. The voice acting is absolutely well-done. I give my appreciation to Eruna’s voice actress, Kimura Juri, who also voiced Miyamori Aoi from Shirobako, for giving her best efforts in voicing the wonderful Eruna-chan the viewers adore. I also appreciate the others for giving their best efforts too.
I did not really expect that a lot of people would enjoy this anime. But again, Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku is another anime which fell under the radar from other popular anime this season. I cannot blame the other audience, but I must say that they should give this anime a watch too. Personally, it is enjoyable because of the comedy and the characters that make the story good to watch. Maybe it is one of the few unique anime this year, since the story and Eruna are somewhat original to me.
Leafeon-chan
The following is based on my own opinions, you are free to disagree with my review. Also this might contain spoilers, but not really. Let’s start with the overall art in this show. The animation in Mikagura Gakuen kumikyoku wasn’t too shabby. In the first few episodes I noticed right away how there wasn’t put all that much effort into it. However nothing about that bothered me. But later on this show, when the fighting scene started to happen, I sort of started liking it. It’s obviously different animation, but it caught my eye and looked interesting to me. But the composition wasn’t so good. Samegoes for transition and scenery. Some of the objects or people in the background were drawn badly and most of the time the characters were composed in a way that there wasn’t a lot of scenery to draw, which made the dialogues a bit boring to watch.
Another point that I liked in the art was the use of colour. Mostly bright colours where used, but it wasn’t too up in your face at all. Even in the opening and ending themes, it was completely acceptable. It gave an extra touch to the refreshing atmosphere the anime already had with the storyline. That said, it blended in well. And it was nice to see how every character matched their own colour.
As for the character design, they were all good looking, as in being attractive. First off, I would say that it’d make their designs good. But thinking twice about it, made me realise that it’s actually just an lack in originality per character. It is just the same design, with different eye colour, hair, clothes and height. Which is a totally different story is their design in the light novel.
Looking more into Eruna, she’s almost the perfect protagonist. As in she gets along with everyone easily and helps them grow in the story. And it’s nice to see how she resembles the main hero in a tv show in their world, which every character used to watch. Because Eruna IS a super hero, in the way she acts. She energetic and true to herself. She’s not quick to give up on anything, and most of all she’s the source of the comedy in this show. At the same time Eruna is also the only character that you could actually call good in this anime.
There are some annoyances around the fact that there are a lot of characters in this show. But that didn’t bother me at all. Firstly, because it fits Eruna’s character all too well. She’s the type to befriend half of the school. Secondly, every character got there good share of screening time. Despite the enormous amount of then, none of them were too left out of the show. But as I said before Eruna is the only character you could actually call good. While watching the anime, you can see how there’s put some thought into character development, since they’re really trying to give some characters a good background story and motives of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But the backgrounds didn’t get to me. And some of the motives where just too unclear. The urge to develop a character well was so big, that their development was too rushed. The change in nature was so out of the blue that it felt incredibly forced.
But as for the relations between characters, I am always a big fan of nice friendships. They all became good friends really fast and maybe a bit rushed. But in this aspect too, it is only natural for a character like Eruna to befriend others so easily.
The storyline is a bit more complicated than usual. This is not the first time or last time you’ll see a magical high school, with the protagonist being new to the magic. Here too, there is put some thought into it how to make it into a good story. But the thing that bothers me the most is how this could’ve been a nice story if they put some more effort into it and left out a bit comedy. Not to say that the comedy is the source of this anime’s success. But what I’m trying to say is that the comedy and serious storyline weren’t getting along too well. I would’ve liked to either see this story grow, or focus solely on comedy. And I would mostly root for the comedy. But right now every time the serious storyline got somewhat progress, it was forcefully broken down or put aside to make way for focusing on comedy.
The overall sound was pretty average too. But what stood out the most was probably the voice acting. Not only did the voices match, but they did a great job in fight scenes or other situations. However the soundtrack wasn’t all that good, since it didn’t stood out at all or did it give an extra sensation to the happenings. And the OP and ED theme weren’t that fantastic either. Though the beginning of the opening was a bit catchy and is the only thing I can remember of it. But the themes stood out more in composition than in music itself.
Now despite all the negative things I just said, I still had a really fun time while watching this anime. Even though they had a golden opportunity, they wasted it a bit with throwing too much comedy at us. But we recovered quickly and made the comedy our favourite aspect of this anime.
98T4nk
More anime ending with the season winding down i have another review here of mikagura gakuen kumikyouku (mikagura school suite) this review will be my overall thoughts and what i expected and what i got but in short i liked the series alot. Story- The synopsis is exists but a freshman girl who dreams of a great school life of cute things enters a private boarding school within the school there are clubs which students represent the higher tier the club the better things you receive along with club battles each student within any club has a unique power the story basically is how will themain character get into a club that suits her personlity and also who will she recruit if she gets is able to find or create a club.
Art- I was kind of on the edge about the art in this particular anime although it is really colorful and had some good animations for particular club fights the art wasnt as slick or pretty as i wanted it to be but the main problem is during some fight scenes it looks like the art style of those certain scenes lack when comparing it to the other scenes that dont involve fighting but because it was colorful and had the main characters and club members look really unique compared to the other students in the school who were just plain i give it props it was decent.
Sound- The music throughout the show never really stuck out to me but the opening was really catchy and i thought the ending was pretty decent as well but overall the ost in the show did not stick out but the characters voices suited each character and the noises and sounds during the fight scenes or just dramatic scenes fit great so overall sound as a whole isnt bad.
Character- Really funny- funny - shy - scarred. I love the character roster throughtout the show the mc Eruna is absolutely cheerful adorable and funny the rest of the characters also are pretty funny throughout the show when they are featured. You get a really shy split personality character who you might not like at first but she grows after showing her true personality which is cute and shy overall likeable and a shy/scarred girl whos past makes her a person who doesnt want to start new friendships with others and overall her character is super distant but by the end of the anime you will enjoy her although she honestly is not a major role even though she is an important part of the story.
Enjoyment- Easilly an 8/10 for me just because of the wacky somewhat unpredicatble and funny moments and scenes throughout the anime and that awesome fight scene during the last episode just awesome short but awesome. I was not expecting anything when watching this because i wasnt planning to watch it but i went ahead and did and i really enjoyed what it had to offer.
Overall - 8/10
kelpiechan
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku, is an anime that I wouldn't personally watch if I found it after it has already aired. Its story(8/10) is very unique and original so you can choose to watch it if you want something new! The Art(6/10) wasn't what the one I like in anime as it's more like Amnesia and less than SAO which I like. The Sound(5/10) is one of the worst of the anime's features, or to state it better, it isn't very well taken care of...But the voice acting is very good! The development of the characters(8/10) is very interesting and the are the ones who make the twists and turnsof the anime.
Apart from the fact that is a rather slow pacing anime, with kind of boring first episodes, it is worth for someone to watch it for its last episodes which are great!
Hedgie
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku or its english title known as, 'Mikagura School Suite'. I found it surprising that it got Dub. Which when comparing the two I found the Dub all the more appealing and easier to follow. Just seem to take a slower pace. As someone who has never seen or watched Vocaloid Shorts it's hard to say, but I just happened stumbled upon this show with no expectations whatsoever. Gomenasai like always but minor spoilers. Story: 3 Our protagonist is, Eruna. Right off it's shown that she's trying to decide which High School she wants to attend. Eventually deciding on 'Mikagura Private School' do to thewonderful assistance of her cousin Shigure and her hormones when she see a picture of Seisa. Without a doubt Eruna is infatuated by Seisa looks and is the main reason she attends. Seems like an ordinary school premise but many things unfold and it's more than just a ordinary school it's 'Magical School'.
In order to ever succeed and have 'Splendid' School Lifestyle, one must join a Club! That's the main focus of anime, it'll other events come into place. Such as tournament to get everyone club on notice or even beginning a club of your own.
Art & Sound: 4 | 2
The animation, when you have backgrounds characters that are a solid color white color, then you know there's something wrong. That in my opinion was a terrible misstep forward towards the show and made it all the more displeasure to watch. Furthermore, some characters have absurd designs. If I had to call out one it would have to be, Kyoma having paint markings on his face and clothings. Sure it shows that he's apart of the 'Painting Club' doesn't stop it from being ridiculous though. When it comes to fight scenes they were splendid well done, the only major drops in animation quality was towards the ending of the anime.
Sound, nothing worthwhile or amazing. The Opening and Ending Themes were dull and just for temporary showing nothing memorizing. The only that was just above average was EP.12 Opening and Ending Themes.
Characters: 3
Eurena is one of the most Universal Generic frustrating characters I've seen in awhile. She's a degenerate pervert the most irritating character archetype. It shouldn't be the lead character by any standards in my opinion. Much less when trying to incorporate all these types of genres at once. Furthermore, she has ‘Magical Powers' making he overpowered with few train scenes and by luck. I just finding unjustifying a character of her stature is one of the strongest club holders. Her main appeal is the more annoying one, and it’s her being the pervert she is.
Now as for Seisa she's more level headed and serious with a decent reason on why she create a club known as the 'Going Home Club'. Although she has the least amount of screentime compared to everyone else, she's the shows driving force behind Eruna to committing the actions she commits.
No one else deserves to be even mentioned. I couldn't even recall their names. There were too many characters with too little to no screen time. Some obviously having more important roles than others and more screen time but nothing worthwhile mentioning.
Enjoyment: 1
I hated this show half through episode one when she arrived at the school. I winced in agony knowing the type of anime it was going to be. I found myself tapping my leg against the ground waiting and wanting for the episode to come to a finish.
Final Thoughts/Overall: 1
Everyone has different taste. I however, found this anime is so unbelievably generic having all those annoying tropes I despise and hate. It was more than an agonizing pain to get through. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone being that it won’t even leave an impression on you. It’s one of those anime that just appears during the season and people forget about sooner rather than later.
easternjohnny
well the girl who out of the blew finds herself at a magic school, looking for food and board by challenging a magic showdown. this is a somewhat excellent show with odds and ends of fantastic style of magic and graphics of excellency, the main actress has a cute thoughts toward girls may have drop the show a bit, but overall it gives you a sensation you want more to watch..hope a second season happens, well good for creators for a show of magical whimsiness
Ja33er318
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Writing a review on an anime that came out 2 years back ok xD ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~Alright so Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku, a series based off the ever popular NND song series is your basic average magical school plot where cultural clubs fight against one other to get benefits such as a better clubroom and etc. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I know some people find this anime mediocre but i honestly didn't find any part of it that mediocre. In fact, i enjoyed the characters and personally i feel if the story was executed in a different way than a usual magical school plot, then this anime may come out differently and appeal toothers
~At the end of the day i loved the different characters in the anime. From the reckless Eruna to the
scary-faced yet kind Kyouma, they all made the anime as enjoyable as it could
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
this is what i feel about the anime of course people have different thoughts on it <3
Teku_
Okay so most reviews of Mikagura are shit. There are only two things you need to know about Mikagura. First, it's complete and utter garbage. I've watched the BD version release and you won't find a single piece of good artwork, fitting voiceovers, honest OP's/ED's or go five minutes without counting so many plotholes you'd think you're reading your cousin's BL homemade doujin. Second, it takes itself so not-seriously it doesn't just runs with the cringe, it goes on several dates, buys an extremely expensive wedding ring and proceeds to elope to some lost shithole in the Bermuda Triangle where they'll have little cringe-sons and cringe-daughters to populatetheir cringe-dimension. It's nonsensical fun and lovable characters and cliches so stupidly straight you'd meet them for church service.
Hey, you still reading? Why? Want to know a thing or two about the series before wasting your time on it? Have you decided that even though this anime isn't very popular, the reviews aren't that great and the story's quite short you want to watch it?
Might as well give you some ACTUAL information, i guess.
Tags: Yuri, Vocaloid-based, Highschoolers with Abilities, "Mystery", FUN.
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku, as you might know already, shows us the life of Eruna Ichinomiya and the adventures she faces in the Mikagura Academy, a strange highschool where students form clubs and gain special abilities to fight with. The real reason why she's there, though, is because she fell in love at first sight with the school beauty, a girl named Seisa Mikagura. However, Seisa belongs to the Going-Home club and, you guessed it, she's almost never at school! Why might this be? And what can Eruna do about it? She doesn't knows for sure, but she's sure to give it her 100% with the help of her friends, all throughout it discovering the secret behind the school and her own powers.
I do disagree with one thing most others say about Mikagura. It's not forgettable nor seasonal. This is a show that has the potential to become your new reference for nearly anything. "As bad as Mikagura?" Damn. "As crazy as Mikagura?" Wow. "As carefree as Mikagura?" Nice! "As many missed opportunities as Mikagura?" Impossible!
For the technical specs at least you can count out Art and Plot. The art's messy as all hell and at best looks standard. Even in the BD release you won't find much quality. Hell, not even QUALITY for laughs and kicks. It's unremarkable.
The plot, on the other hand... Oh, the plot. I wonder if when Last Note relayed the details there was a storm outside or it was windy, because it sure seems like any semblance of "coherence" flew right out the window and they had to make do with two arcs and character development that is somehow LESS complex than what you'll find at their respective music videos.
The VAs weren't what I'd call fitting but at least they gave you the right idea with most characters. The OP and EDs were all over the place in not that bad of a way. The atmosphere and scenario were on point for what they wanted to do and the way they managed the ensemble deserves its own rant (which i won't give because you'll want to do that yourself when it's over).
Finally, the fun you might gain from this show is either very much or very little. Much like the main character, there's no middle ground to stand on. If you manage to hang on until three or four episodes in (by which point i should mention. If you've come so far expecting the gags and hijinks to stop after the plot's settled in, abandon all hope) then you're good. Just let yourself go and enjoy the trainwreck that is Mikagura. Feel the Eruna and fall in love with the Himi. Cry with Yuuto and get awed at Kyouma. Be hopeful with Asuhi and be smooth like Sadamatsu. Fight like Otone and stay true like Shigure. And above all, break down like Seisa once it's all over, because you wasted 10 hours of your life you'll never get back and now you have feels you didn't asked for and questions you'll get no answer for and a sense of wonder over the sheer mounstrosity of missed chances and open doors and plotholes this show's leaving you with.
It's terrible.
Enjoy it.
TSTO
This review might have some very light spoilers. Just a heads up. This is my third review on here. I don't write reviews often, because many times others have already covered most of the important bits newcomers should know about a particular anime. I felt that I should write a short one about this series, while it's still fresh in my mind and as it's not one of the most popular shows out there. I binged it last night, but not because I found it to be wonderful, but rather, I wanted to try to make sense of the randomness and instability of it by the end.Was there any sense in the end? Let's find out.
The story of Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku is hard to put into words simply, as it feels more like a mashup of multiple tropes from different series out there jumbled into one show, and not in a good way. It mainly deals with these students at this unusual school attaining superpowers to combat each other as part of their curriculum.
The main character, Eruna, is a girl whose really into girls, and she's not afraid to show it. I'll be honest, this was the main reason I even picked this one up, as yuri in anime is one of my favorite things.
In the early episodes, Eruna's fantasies are in full force and she gets very excited every time she meets a girl at the new school she has joined recommended by her cousin who attends it. She's not afraid to show her infatuation with cute girls, cool! But later down the line, the yuri, for the most part, is heavily reduced to the point of almost being forgotten in favor of "plot progression", which there isn't much of. The plot moves every which way in random zig zags and curves that make no sense, and then towards the end tries to wrap it all up immediately without any explanation of how it came to be really. Eruna's awakened power was sort of explained why she was given it, sort of. But her progression to becoming as strong as she is at the end was done quite half-assed. The entire show feels more like a parody of anime than a legit concrete story.
Now, it's fine to make a show rely on comedy to make light of the plot and give people the impression that it's not taking itself too seriously. But when the comedy falls flat on almost every scene, it makes you question the validity of the show's existence in the first place. I found myself not laughing almost at all throughout the entire series, save for a few scenes here and there, which was quite disappointing. If the plot is already as ridiculous as it is, then at least make a better effort to make me laugh. It usually doesn't take that much. Perfect example is a simple story like the one in Blend-S. Uses parody of anime & otaku culture and has a very simple premise but the jokes are fantastic throughout. I didn't have to force laughter out of myself like I tried to with Mikagura here.
There's plenty more to say about the story of this show, sadly it's mainly more ranting in my case, so I'll continue to art.
The art & animation felt very off and inconsistent.. In many scenes, more than I've probably seen in my overall tenure with anime, which was reignited early this year after a 15 year hiatus. It feels like there wasn't too much quality assurance done before this show was slapped onto TV screens. The characters are often misshapen, the faces take a turn for the worse especially in high action scenes, and sometimes certain characters lose their body proportions (Otone, in many instances, is a good example).
The animation also has its own issues, but it's not the worst I've seen. The combat sequences are probably where most of the budget went, but they do range from not good to not terrible quite often. The environment or setting is pretty flat. The colors don't have much of a gradient to them most of the time.
Sound... well the voice acting was pretty great I thought. I'll expand on that in the character section.
The soundtracks I felt were not to my liking. I normally won't skip tracks that often in series where I enjoy the music, but I found myself skipping several times here except for the few episodes where it had changed. Sound effects throughout the show were okay, not great or memorable in any way to me.
Character. This is where I felt the few bits of comedy that worked, did because of the capability of the voice actors (Japanese). Each one is quite a unique individual in their own way, and their voices and characterization was done pretty well. There are a few that were not up to par with some of the others, such as Yuto. His backstory felt meaningless and then he became a backdrop character who was never really looked at again. The cute loli Himi seemed interesting but went from a fun supporting character at first to an empty shell for the second half of the show, it's too bad because she was one of my favorites.
So did I get enjoyment out of this show? Well, I guess enough enjoyment to binge it through to the end in one sitting, if you can call that enjoyment. More like I just wanted to see what sort of resolution would come from this giant mess of a show. But yes, there was some enjoyment to be had, mainly from the moments where I told myself that the writers of this show do not want you to take it seriously in the first place, and for a few moments that would keep me content with it. Until the end, that is.
I don't think I can say wholeheartedly that this is a great show. Neither a good one. It's not the worst I've seen, but it all depends on how you approach it. If you are looking for a show that takes itself seriously and gives you a solid storytelling experience, rich character depth, incredible eye candy art, and memorable songs, look elsewhere.
On the other hand, if you are just in for some over the top shenanigans without much purpose, a very upfront yuri main character, and somewhat decent action scenes occasionally, then Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku might entertain you for at least a little while. 4/10
P.S. I realize now that this review was longer than I had hoped. Ah well.
TheFryingPan
This anime would've been amazing if they executed it properly. But if sort of felt like they were trying to deal with two many things at once. First off, in the difference in strength in the heroine (Eruna) between the first episode and the last episodes was just impossible. The timeframe given for her to evolve her power beyond absurd is just impossible. From what I can tell, she transferred into the school and this was episode one. And then she becomes this strong in episode twelve when it was just the midterms? But there were no Christmas breaks or summer breaks so it must meanthe first midterms she has come across. And she asked s certain person what was coming up since everyone else seemed to know. This would mean that she has no idea of what she is about to have to do. And yet she still somehow found the time to become this powerful? Powerful enough to battle on par with the top dog of the school? That's just insane.
Second, I gave the character score a seven. But it could've been ten. They completely rushed the character development of Eruna and Seisa and Akama. To this day, I still have no idea whether Akama got over his past or not and is he still acting or not. And also, there were also plenty of great characters like Otone and "Enoyan" and Minatogawa. But they got very little screen time overall. The only reason they would appear was to drive the plot forward. We did not see them develop as a person at all. I would've given the anime a character score of 10 if they did not squish the series into 12 episodes and instead extended it into 24 episodes and actually added the finishing touches. But instead, they decided to rush the anime and leave everything half-done. Very disappointing. And Otone's character was introduced late even though she was kind of important to the anime. And her development came when everything else was being revealed.
I wouldn't recommend this anime but I would have to say that it was enjoyable. It was executed way too poorly to be called a good anime.
NewbieJun
Yet again another series with an interesting plot! The story follows Ichinomiya Eruna; a normal girl who has an abnormal love for beautiful girls; normal right? Well her life changes as she enrolls into Mikagura Gakuen to meet Mikagura Seisa; the grand daughter of the principal The school has a very unique system in which the club that wins battles against other clubs will obtain points and popularity; more points means a greater school life. The plot simply follows Eruna and her friends Although it follows Eruna's main goal which is to be together with Seisa, it still explains the backstories of the characters around Eruna. As you can see justby seeing what the main character is like you can tell this anime is a straight-up comedy series; I mean come on, she is obsessed with beautiful girls and the main reason for her enrollment to Mikagura Gakuen was to meet Seisa...see?
But as you can see from the plot you can somewhat tell what kind of storyline the series is going for; the typical main character enrolls into a school, starts at the bottom and slowly reaches the top because of her unique talent.
Pretty simple right?
Yet these kind of simple plot lines are always captivating, is it not?
Anyway going back to the series; "It is interesting" would not be enough to show how great this series is. There are just no words to explain how great it is.
Although I wished the series was longer cause it ended very quickly...
Some may disagree because I mean people all have different taste in things.
But none the less I enjoyed watching this series and I hope whoever is reading this review will also enjoy the series if they watch it.
Cauthan
(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site) [Synopsis]: Ichinomiya Eruna (Kimura, Juri), possessed by fantasies of cute girls and adorable uniforms, decides to attend Mikagura Academy after seeing Mikagura Seisa (Oonishi, Saori) as a model for the school’s pamphlet. Once she arrives however she learns that Mikagura is not like other traditional high schools and features club battles wherein representatives from different cultural clubs at the school duel in order to earn points for their respective clubs. The points can be used as a substitute for money within the school and one’s status along with that of their clubs and their budget are oftentied to the results of these skirmishes. Awakening various powers and abilities, the students of Mikagura Academy battle to further their clubs and improve their standing in the school.
[Characters]:
To start off with the heroine and protagonist of the show, Eruna was I think the strongest part of the show. While her bubbly enthusiasm and blatant naivete is by no means an innovative trait as a female protagonist, her over-the-top, reactionary style of comedy along with her rampant love fantasies and her drooling over other girls makes her stand out in my mind. On top of that, I felt that Kimura Juri did an outstanding job executing Erun’s eccentric personality and gave her a voice that I think avoided most vocal archetypes and furthered her uniqueness substantially. Eruna’s desire to make friends and interact with others sets the pace for most of the show’s scenes and plot and while she is never far from a comedic moment she has a genuine investment in her friendships beyond that of her romantic fantasies. I think that Eruna is the single strongest appeal of the show and her presence carried a countless number of scenes.
Seisa is a far cry different from Eruna in that she is poised, reserved, and distant from the other students at the school, opting to often stay at home in her mansion instead of attending classes or battles. While she is not entirely cold to other people and sometimes exhibits a more playful side the majority of the show’s infrequent yet central plot is investigating the past circumstances that led to her current demeanor as Eruna struggles to make friends with her. Seisa is likely the strongest student at the school in terms of battling how however her ability ‘Killing Art’ I felt was woefully under-explained and while it worked well enough as an ability within the show, I think some further clarity would have been beneficial to both her and the plot.
I suppose the last character to mention outside of the general cast and Eruna’s other friends would be Bimii. Bimii is a flying cat and a teacher at Mikagura Academy however at no point during the show does he actually teach any of the students and can almost always be found following Eruna around. Like some members of the drama club he has a phrase with which he ends each of his sentences with which can become grating after a time and his overall presence in the show I thought was pretty irreverent as his purpose was to provide context for the school and its battles and be a comedic character – something I believe he failed to become as his gags were bland and not even Matsuoka Yoshitsugu could make me pay any mind to his character.
Mikagura has a fairly concise cast outside of it’s main characters and had enough members to construct a believable enough school setting however, despite their outrageous designs, many of the characters felt generic and forgettable as the show only really focused on a handful of people and made liberal use of fairly uninteresting side characters. A select few characters outside of the main two or three characters occasionally receive some investigation into their backstory or personality insights however these things hardly complicate them in a meaningful way and unfortunately don’t end up mattering a great deal in relation to the show.
[Art/Animation]:
While the show is produced by Doga Kobo, a studio which I always felt did quite well in the animation department, I was surprised by the below-average performance in this category. While the comedic faces were fairly well done throughout, the character designs wavered from scene to scene quite frequently and the action sequences were honestly pretty bad – at first I mistook the minimalistic, low-definition battles to be a stylistic choice however as the show progressed and I gained further examples of how these fights played out I realized that the animation was suffering heavily and the crude artwork was underselling the potential of the scenes. To posit a guess I would say that the show lacked a sufficient budget for what it wanted to do however whatever the actual reason, I feel Mikagura fell short in this area, an area I felt it needed to succeed in because of its character designs and premise of school battles.
To speak to the art itself, the show is just as flamboyant and flashy as it’s characters in that the colors are bright and pop against the generic background. I harbor no great love for vibrant character designs and so I will be straightforward when I say that I didn’t enjoy a majority of the cast on an aesthetic level – the drama club, utilizing traits like cat ears, heterochromia, and outlandish hats I felt was especially guilty of this however almost all of the characters are quite eccentric in design while I feel Eruna and Seisa are slightly more reserved and far more appealing in this category.
[Story]:
After establishing Eruna as a character and the setting of Mikagura Academy the plot of the show falls away somewhat in favor of more trivial scenes and exchanges in which the show introduces different characters and holds various school battles in accordance with its premise. The plot could best be identified as Eruna’s quest to find a club to which she wants to belong as well as her desire to make friends especially in the cases of Seisa and Otone. With these motives at play, the show conducts itself in a fairly simple manner and occasionally offers progression in the form of Eruna’s status at the school or by revealing the context of Seisa’s past.
While the show features a good many school battles it is first and foremost a comedy and the majority of scenes are spent on Eruna’s comical interactions with the rest of the cast. The battles themselves are frequent enough to keep one’s attention if that is their main draw to the show however their poor execution damages this aspect of the show. Despite this I must admit that a handful of the battles were quite enjoyable and that some of the student abilities were fun to watch play out however the battles almost entirely featured student’s butting heads against one another and were more or less devoid of actual strategy. I don’t feel that the show’s lack of plot progression was a negative factor as I thought it did quite alright in the comedy department and so I didn’t think it needed to overly concern itself with something it didn’t need to. None the less, It should be noted that the show is quite shallow as far as the story is concerned.
[Music]: The music in Mikagura was fairly forgettable outside of a few repeated songs that appeared in the battle sequences and even those didn’t impress me substantially. The battle music aside, the rest of the soundtrack was pretty generic background music and the only other thing of note in this category that I think is worth mentioning is that, as the series itself is based off of a light novel series inspired by Vocaloid songs written by Last Note. This being the case, there are a handful of songs outside of the OST that might catch one’s attention such as the varying ED’s which feature character covers of the original songs.
[Final Thoughts and Rating]:
Mikagura was a fun enough show and I don’t ‘regret watching it by any means if only because of Eruna but it’s poor animation, lack of other compelling characters, and moreover – it’s lack of interesting qualities tarnished my enjoyment of the show. Because I feel the show is so incredibly reliant on Eruna as a central force of comedy within the show I would guess that one could determine whether or not they will enjoy it based on the first episode and their impression of the character.
Rating: 5
I gave Mikagura a 5 because it fell short in a number of meaningful places yet still featured a decent level of comedy and a fun protagonist. The negative elements were not enough to ruin the show entirely for me however they weighed heavily on my ultimate perception of it and as such I can’t see any way that I could give the show more than a mediocre score.
[Recommendations]: Mikagura was a pretty decent comedy and anybody that enjoys the character of Eruna will probably find it worthwhile to stick around and watch the show despite its shortcomings. The action sequences are pretty fun and decent overall yet lack even moderately good animation to back them up and so I recommend this show very tentatively in regard to its battles.
Somebody101
This anime, surprisingly, looked boring when I first read its description on the anime site that I frequent, but I decided to give it a chance. I'm glad that I did, cause this anime was...well, a funny anime that is guarenteed to make you smile. Story: 7 The story is probably one of the lower part the anime, as the story itself isn't really anything new. The protaganist goes to a school where people have superpowers, you seen at least a few of these kind of animes already. What makes it stand out though is the comedy behind the story, which stems from our heroine herself. Art: 7 Theart is basic, to put it bluntly. The creators didn't waste any effort in drawing what they were supposed to, but they cut corners where the could, like the background characters, whom they only drew in white. Budget saving at its finest.
Sound: 8
The sound was average, like the art, however there were nice opening and closing songs, also as well as a few different ending animations, that had different songs, so at least the budget cuts were used for something else.
Character: 9
The characters were one of the better parts of the anime, and I say that fully knowing the fact that there are a few cliches in there, however, there a majority of other characters who were fun to watch, like the protaganist, the art club, and the quiet maid who would always rekt the protaganist. The protaganist herself, is a yuri pervy girl, which leads to awkward, yet funny situations that will have you laughing.
Enjoyment: 10
I personally enjoyed this anime a whole lot, due to the comedy it brings along with it to lighten the mood, not that it gets to dark anyway. While the cliche plot is tiring, the energetic vibe that the protaganist brings along with it is uplifting.
