As luck would have it, on her first day at Holbein Entertainment Co., Miki Ishimoto is tasked with managing a brand new idol group! A recent college graduate, Ishimoto is eager to begin her career in the industry. However, her department's responsibility is...statues?!
The statues in question are the Sekkou Boys, or "The Rockies," a boy band comprised of four Greco-Roman sculptures: St. George, Mars, Hermes, and Medici. These four busts are new to the entertainment scene, and it is up to Miki to ensure the Rockies' prosperity in the idol world. But will they be a stone-cold success? Or will Miki's management prove to be a rocky start to stardom?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
DarthInvader
"Imma let you finish, but Sekko Boys is the best boy band of ALL TIME." – St. George TL;DR: Sculptures, Idols and Genius Script = One Great Ironic Gag Comedy Series. From the genius quit pro quo scriptwriter, Michiko Yokote, comes such a finely sculpted anime that will leave you saying, “To hell with making sense, this anime rocks hard!” Seriously, don’t take this anime seriously! This is a comedy anime where it deconstructs the whole music idol genre and it does a fantastic job. One can say some of the characters are even godly. The story is simple but ironically funny. We havea failed art student with statue-phobia, Miki Ishimoto, who lands a job as a manager for a boy band group called The Rockies. To her stone-cold surprise the band of idols is composed of four Greco-Roman sculptures, St. George, Mars, Hermes and Medici. Here’s the ironic plot-twist, they are all literal idols aka statues. How will she overcome her statue-phobia to lead the boys to their rocky success? Well that’s why you watch this well scripted ironic gag anime which pokes fun at every minute detail. It’s a real work of art that will leave you feeling like you’ve just spent 7 minutes in heaven.
If the premise of the anime is already mind boggling wait till you meet the ingenious characters. The director found a perfect balance between overly emotive Ishimoto and single facial reaction from all the sculptures. I mean they are sculptures, why would their sculpted facial reaction change, right? Regardless, it is beyond baffling how the sculptures convey so much emotion with only one facial expression each. The voice acting team comprised of godlike seiyuus such as Sugita (Gintoki), Fukuyama (Lelouch), or Daisuke Ono (Shizuo) deserves major props for how much life they manage to give to completely un-emotive characters.
Overall, this anime isn’t an artistic masterpiece. In fact, the animation is pretty mediocre. There really isn’t any OP song but the ED song despite not being good is super catchy and fun to sing along. The anime starts of great. The first seven or eight episodes are hilarious but the latter episodes are just funny. Regardless, I would still recommend you to watch it because of its absurd premise, fantastic script alongside some of the funniest single-expression characters to date.
S – E – K – K – O – B – O – Y – S SEKKO!!
P.S. I’m always open to criticism and suggestions and I hope you found this short but supaishi review helpful.
JuliaCNDSVH
Sekkou boys is a strange show. I haven't seen something similar in my life. It's refreshing and doesn't make sense, that's why I enjoyed it . Story: 7 The story follows four marble sculptures of ancient personalities who want to become idols and their manager, a young female. Art:6 The art isn't great, but isn't bad either. I like the way Sekkou Boys are designed. They look realistic and that makes the show more funny in my opinion. They look exactly like the real ones. Just google them . Sound:6Now the sound.. this is an idol anime, but they don't sing at all (except for ending). I was disappointed.
The voice actors made a good job, but I wanted Ishimoto to have a more mature voice, but that is a personal opinion.
The ending song is funny.
Characters: 7
The characters are very good, I think they will make you smile if you decide to watch SB . This is what makes this anime out of the box, the members of the band:
Mars- the God of War in Roman religion
St. George - soldier in the Roman army
Hermes - The Messenger of the gods, god of trade, thieves, etc. in Greek religion and mythology
(Giuliano De') Medici - co-ruler of Florence in 14th century
Miki Ishimoto - their hard-working and down-to-earth manager.
Enjoyment:6
I enjoy this, but not at the point to want to rewatch it or convince other people to watch it because is something wow. Just give it a try. The episodes are 8 minutes long .
Maybe you will find this annoying, boring or funny and stunning. I have no clue.
Overall: 7
A cute light- hearted anime with a lot of jokes.
nanakox21
Note: This review may contain spoilers! Story 7/10: Funny and interesting to watch. The friends they have met along the way on their path to stardom has a great plot to it. That is closest thing that I have seen that is part of the plot development. Characters 7/10: Seeing the transition of Miki from being an art student to the manager has a big part on her character development. The writers have used Greek/Roman historical & mythological figures to implement the anime. St. Giorgio is the leader, cool and collected. Mars (God of War) - Can be seen as the tough guy & womanizer. There's alsoHermes (Messenger of the Gods) & Medici (an Aristocrat). Sekkou Boys are interesting as well, however; how can they have the ability to talk and perform on stage in front of the media and fans? They were being cocky and showoff-ish at first, but they have grown to love Miki and appreciate her for her time and hard work.
Enjoyment 8/10: A lot of fun and moments throughout the series. It still makes me question their capabilities of their daily lives. Sekkou Boys & Miki get to meet various people in the industry and becomes friends with them while being on the road to success.
Overall 8/10: The content of the anime is awesome. Best of luck to Sekkou Boys!
LegendAqua
You DID read the premise correctly and...no your not high. On the outset this is one of the more fun weird anime shorts LA has seen and considering you read the premise you kinda get LA's statement on this already. Characters are typical idols and Miki is the average hard-working manager who had an ironic fate with her first job due to her being in arts college all she did was make sculptures, now she's managing them!. The stone bust idols "The Rockies" are also your typical idol tropes just mix in Greco-Roman backstories into their characters behaviours and you got the "Rockies". As much as theplot goes and for the mere fact it's an anime short, it's about Miki and the Rockies going into the idol industry and getting to know the "Rockies" and their antics.
The comedy has a punchline by the end of the episode and some typical character jabs but like the premise itself, this anime's comedy has a weird sense of self-aware comedy to it.
In terms of animation done by LIDENFILMS, well the animation is decent enough for an anime short and the obvious "picture-to-screen" animation for the "Rockies", character designs wise, it is decent and really the animation hardly have any flaws to see. The ending is like any other episode, with a crazy punchline to it.
Sekkou Boys is one of wierder yet impressively funny anime short of Winter 2016, so if you wanna laugh merely from the premise alone then Sekkou Boys is a perfect choice...just hope that you don't "bust" into this series...Ok LA will stop now.
ZappBrannigan
I'm attempting a concise review (Q/A style), so keep in mind that these simple statements are in place of complicated explanations. If you want a more precise idea, read a longer review. "What is it good at?" Humor, including but absolutely not limited to: ridiculousness, satire, puns, and unfortunate situations. There's some seriousness, and I feel that the humor does not clash with it. "What is it bad at?" Nothing concrete in my opinion. There are some situationally-dissuading aspects -- It has "short" episodes; and the majority of the humor relies on ridiculousness, puns, or what I'll call "full awareness of 'idols' existing." "How long does it take to knowif I want to watch it?"
I think it's fair to use the 3-episode rule, but the 1st episode is one of my favorites; if you're very uninterested, you could say less than 3.
"Could you clarify the synopsis?"
Part of the point of the show is to not make sense. It's better to just read the synopsis as "a ridiculous comedy about idols" and forget the details.
"What's it about (figuratively)?"
I'd say it's a comparison of "real life struggles" to the struggles in (various) media that mean to represent them. You'll likely get a different idea.
Redstern
First off, I'm sure everyone reading this is as confused as I was when I read the synopsis. And yes, this is a series about sentient statue busts in a boy band. This is easily, without a doubt, the strangest series I have ever seen, and I would have a hard time finding a weirder series if I tried, but that's a good thing. This is a short series that you can fully watch in an hour that will have you smiling and laughing the whole time. The thing I really loved in this series was the situational comedy was truly brilliant.Seeing a bunch of statues act out normal human emotions, and somehow manage to do normal human tasks and have entire lives while off camera despite being made of stone and not having any arms, legs, most of a body, or any ability to move at all was hilarious. It's hard to explain, but it was done so well.
If you are going to watch this, don't expect a deep story or character development, because you won't find that here. But if you want something super goofy, ridiculous, funny, and easy to watch, that you could probably watch over your lunch break, then I highly recommend this series.
Paraturtle
Story: Probably one of the bizarre entries in my 'completed' list. I don't think I've seen anything like it, especially since I don't watch idol themed anime, to begin with. A friend of mine described this show to me as, "The most surreal experience in giving credence to the inanimate affection fans of idol shows have for the characters. They're nothing more than statues that represent an image, an image that the viewer dictates and strips the creator of any power of their creation." He then went on to say that this show did literally what everyone else did with other idol shows passively. Nobody caresabout who anyone is, just that they A) get the job done as idols or B) look cute and make it easy for fans to make inappropriate material of the characters.
I knew he was joshing with me considering the show is just a comedy and nothing more. It's not necessarily a strong comedy, either, but I did find the show itself somewhat enjoyable. I credit that to the short length of each episode, since I don't think a show this abstract could carry 22 minutes an episode. There's no way I could sit through that.
Since each episode is a stand-alone adventure in idol management, and probably because I don't watch idol anime to begin with, I actually found each episode somewhat interesting and different each time. A problem with comedy anime (or shows in general) is they can grow stale, rehashing the same humor over and over with no change in setting. Like I mentioned, the show isn't all that humorous but the stories in each episode are different so that kept me watching.
Art:
Overly digital and has a leftover "cute" factor to it, but I'm assuming that's a staple of the animation company. The statues, of course, are not the cutesy design but I guess I'm really just complaining about the anime industry as it is now rather than the show itself. To backtrack a little, people characters don't look realistic and are super cartoony, but that's no invasive or bothersome, just not interesting because it almost felt like the human characters were just carbon copies of some other animated features in the same style.
The settings were alright but didn't stand out. Nothing memorable there.
The animation was about as good as I expected for the modern digital age. The real spectacle was how the Sekko Boys were portrayed in the show. Just from doing different angles of their default pose, different emotions could be conveyed from their actions or words. I thought this was pretty cool, and it especially goes to show the importance of camera placement.
Sound:
The OST was okay but I don't remember any songs other than the outro by memory. The voice acting work with everyone was pretty good, and it had to be considering viewers can't equate speech with character movements. The Sekko Boys don't move, so their voices needed to be distinctly different.
Character:
Everyone is different in-so-far as they needed to be. Can't really speak to anything else. They're just sufficient enough to get the ball rolling and nothing more. However, I did enjoy how the statue's legitimate portrayals were handled for some of the jokes, such as references to St. George's slaying of a dragon and such. That said, this is a show that had some humor that only few will get, and I only got a bit of the historical jokes.
Enjoyment:
I mean, I killed some time and it wasn't miserable. It wasn't spectacular, either, but I think it was kind of fun to say, "I watched a show about a group of historical figures in a boy band. Oh, and you thought they were the legitimate figures? No, just their artistic bust versions."
That's kinda cool I guess.
((If you liked this review, check out my other reviews by going to my profile and clicking the 'reviews' tab. I review virtually all anime and manga I find!))
lycoping
I have no idea what to make of this anime. There's only one other anime I've said this about, and it's "Shikanoko nokonoko koshitantan". This is one of those anime where you really can't spoil it, because there's not enough plot to spoil it. It's utterly inscrutable. It's about an idol group, who are stone statues. That talk. That's the whole plot, everything else is just secondary. It's about a stone statue idol group. One of at least three, so the world they've created is, well, not ours. The stone statues are carried around, but it's heavily implied they can move, eat, or drinkof their own accord, but the movement is never shown. It's as if you have a team of PAs and makeup artists coming in in between frames and positioning the statues, moving things around, and pretending like they really can move around. In-story, they can't. But, as they say *directly*, that makes sense, and who cares about making sense? (That's pretty close to a direct quote). Also, there are a few pop culture references, some of which are a little obscure.
This is why I got such strong "shikanoko" vibes from this anime. This isn't an anime intended to take itself seriously. And this is an anime that wants you to know they're not taking it seriously, but not to the same degree as shikanoko. Maybe the illegal, mind altering substances they took when coming up with this weren't quite as potent.
I get the feeling there's some kind of deeper message about idol culture in this one. But it's so well hidden I'm unable to fully flesh it out. And somehow, I don't really care enough to try too hard.
Did I enjoy this anime? Well, yes and no. It was a definite mixed bag. On the plus side, art (haha) was okay, music was, well... music, I guess. Each episode lasted about 7 minutes, so it's easily digestible and didn't outstay its welcome. And, well, if it was trying to be a silly anime that makes zero sense but is moderately entertaining, well, they did deliver.
You might enjoy it, you might not. And honestly, I can't really predict which. So, mixed feelings from me. Give it a try, I guess, at least there's minimal time investment.
Katrov
Okay, so this was a fine, short comedy. If you find the premise entertaining enough along with the same constant visual gags, for 12 around-eight minute long episodes, then this will be good for you. STORY: 5 / 10 Kind of poor, it’s a simple comedy that’s mostly short, episodic stories following the same overarching plot line that’s pretty basic, but overall entertaining. ART: 4 / 10 Not really that good, minus the actual statues themselves. Pretty basic and I didn’t find it very visually appealing other then the sight gags. Not really terrible, felt like super basic anime art, nothing terrible but not memorable either. SOUND: 4/ 10
They only have the one ending song, which although catchy, if you don’t really like it, that’s tough luck because that’s all there is LOL.
CHARACTER: 5 / 10
We get some basic personalities for our boys and their try-hard manager, along with the boss and other office guy. The most focused being the main character, Miki, some reasonable insight into her for how short the whole thing is. No real development for any of the characters though.
ENJOYMENT: 6 / 10
Like I mentioned earlier, if you like the premise and have around a couple hours to sit through this, it’ll be light and easy viewing. Wouldn’t really rewatch as it’s pretty bland once you’ve seen it once/gotten tired of the same joke over and over again.
OVERALL: 6 / 10
One scene that made me laugh out loud out of sheer surprise was in episode 9, when the Rockie’s leader, Saint George was shown to have slept with a woman to get Mars out of a scandal,. She asked him “Do you regret doing this?” and the camera just pans to him lying on his side, crying into his pillow. I laughed so hard, that was a good, very short joke that still makes me smile thinking about it.
If you wanna see some sweet statue idols act like rock heads, this is for you lol…also it’s fun reading comments on where you find people watching this, there’s sure to be plenty of rock and statue puns.
BanjoTheBear
(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) The Thinker. David. Lincoln of the Lincoln Memorial. Sculptures, like those above, have been a staple form of art ever since people realized that they could manipulate stone. Either to immortalize legends or demonstrate the intricacies of the craft, sculptures are more than just heavy pieces of rock. The sculptures of Sekkou Boys are the same. While they likewise have the status and the looks backing them, they also bring their charm to this animated medium. STORY Sekkou Boys finds Miki, a recent art graduate, choosing to pursue a career in management after coming to despise drawing sculptures. Naturally,she gets the job – managing a new idol group called the Sekkou Boys, consisting of four talking, singing sculptures: St. Giorgio, Mars, Hermes, and Medici.
The premise itself is ridiculous. Each episode has Miki doing her best to deal with the shenanigans and issues that come with these four “men.” From the immense difficulty in lifting them everywhere to potentially scandalous dealings, the anime embraces its absurdity. Nobody questions such inanimate objects actually acting and reacting, leaving more room for the anime to simply play out its events.
To this end, Sekkou Boys does well in utilizing its premise for comedic purposes. For example, near the end of the season, Medici gets tossed in with hundreds of copies of himself, and the only way Miki knew which one was the real Medici was through the drunken scribble she wrote on him the night before. Mars speaking with the television host is another example. As he gets grilled with questions, he starts to sweat profusely despite his stony complexion.
The anime continues with its know-how when it incorporates the backgrounds of the Rockies (a nickname from Mira, the idol who also happens to be their biggest fan) themselves. St. Giorgio’s constipated face nets him a silly catchphrase and a bit of advertising fame, but he concedes that his (unmoving) expression was the one he made when facing off against a dragon. Or Hermes, with his thieving representation, holds a secret sermon where he sells a literal steel bolt with (untrue) lucky powers at an exorbitant price.
Simultaneously, the anime’s idol motif also gets used for humor. In one instance, the group is invited onto a live showcasing of different musical groups. But the other groups take so long conversing and performing that the Rockies get cutoff (with Miki tripping in the background) when it is their turn to go. In fact, this joke is almost meta in its humor – sculptures (obviously) do not speak or sing to begin with.
The anime does include a small, dramatic conflict in relation to the Rockies treating Miki poorly and her subsequently abandoning the group. It somewhat comes out of nowhere and gets resolved rather quickly. Plus, it unfortunately detracts from the comedy for almost the entire episode.
Even so, this aside is a tiny dip that does not completely take away from the rest of the season.
And that’s about as much as the show provides narratively. While the structure of the narrative is sound – the first couple of episodes introduce the premise, then each focuses on one specific member, then the episodes bring them all together, and then the final couple of conflicts ensue – it does not invite any larger themes or ideas.
Regardless, the anime nails its comedy through various means, making it, if nothing else, filled with execution.
ANIMATION
Truth be told, Sekkou Boys does not have the best animation around.
Miki does have certain segments that prove otherwise, like when her hair flutters due to a cold wind or when she is exploding with rage over drawing, but, for the most part, the anime remains static. Similar qualms can be had over the art. While the setting itself is realistic – various hotel rooms, the management office, and so on – none of them are particularly impressive to see.
But while the show may be lacking in terms of technical animation and art, it makes up for these problems with more comedy-driven material.
More specifically, the anime uses its visuals to sculpt out even more comedy. Take the character designs. Their photographic depictions contrast harshly with the two-dimensional environments, making them stand out in a silly manner. Along the same lines, Miki dons many different reaction faces: flustered, vicious, and so on. Indeed, her various expressions (as well as her own plain design) are accentuated by the stoic faces of the Rockies.
(A small shout-out goes to Mira’s colorful and vibrant design.)
And just for good measure, the anime also includes subtler bits of comedy. During certain scenes, and sometimes for only a couple of frames, small visual jokes are shown. A couple of the funnier examples are St. Giorgio growing stubble after drowning his sorrows away and Medici suddenly wearing sunglasses when Miki shines with brilliant light.
So while the show is arguably not the strongest on an animated and artistic level, it certainly understands how to use this visual medium for comedic effect.
CHARACTERS
Miki and the Rockies of Sekkou Boys are characters that exist purely for comedic purposes. Meaning, no development or extensive characterization is given and should not be expected.
To this end, the anime at least gives the crew their own distinct personalities. St. Giorgio is calm in his dealings but willing to get “touched up” to help his friends. Mars is actually not as gruff and tough as his appearance may reveal, succumbing to harsh words from Athena. Hermes mostly keeps to himself, letting the others be loud in his stead. And Medici is rather childish, immature, but he loves his “jewels” all the same.
Sekkou Boys, similar to the story, also takes advantage of their real-world history. St. Giorgio talks of his Saintly status from time to time. Mars mentions Venus in his dialogue. Medici makes a comment about Michelangelo being the artist that created him when in the middle of a photoshoot. And Hermes refers to himself as the “original Renaissance man” given his multitalented background.
These details are admittedly small, low impact even. But they at least demonstrate the anime’s care for its characters.
As for Miki, she is usually a very kind and simple woman. She works hard at her job, lifting the Rockies, managing the Rockies, and helping the Rockies in any way that she can.
Originally, she found herself baffled and angered at the idea of tending to these plaster pieces once again. But her time in the music industry allowed her to go through many new experiences. Finally getting her license. Seeing the different behind-the-scenes environments of the various venues. Straining her back.
And after experiencing what her new job had to offer, and realizing what being back home meant for her, she understood. She understood that what she wanted all along were the very sculptures that she had come to despise. Thankfully, the Rockies apologize and Miki vows to not run away again, reuniting the strange group.
That is to say, their friendship gets officially set in stone.
SOUND
Sekkou Boys foregoes an opening track and instead invests all of its effort on its ending track. While the composition of the track is nothing special, it still manages to come together nicely. Mars, Hermes, and Medici sing as St. Giorgio provides the “backup vocals.” The piece is partially catchy, too. But it is the ED’s chant that makes it a fun singalong excursion.
The rest of the original soundtrack has nothing notable. It contains some varied tracks, like hip-hop tunes and a more bittersweet piece. But, for the most part, the tracks are simple arrangements that do little more than fill the air with noise.
Voice acting reaches heights similar to the ED. Tomokazu Sugita as St. Giorgio, Daisuke Ono as Mars, Jun Fukuyama as Hermes, and Shinnosuke Tachibana as Medici fit their respective heads well. Their voices for the commanding, warlike, suave, and pretty-boy cast gave the show even more comedic chops. And a special shout-out goes to Shiho Kokido (in one of her first main roles) as Miki for her agitated, flustered, and angered performance.
ENJOYMENT
This one happened to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
From the get-go, I knew that the show was going to be an absurd little experience, but I was surprised that it managed to maintain its shtick for the whole run. I never found myself tired of St. Giorgio dishing out lame jokes, Mars yelling to forego logic, Hermes giving the baby on his shoulder fermented grapes, and Medici doing his best to flatter through texts.
Miki was entertaining, too. Her constantly struggling to keep the talented yet annoying Rockies in line, while also reacting to the situations with a mixture of emotions, made her a fun lead to cheer for. Her beating up Mars and getting overly excited about a potential red-carpet walk were some of her highlights.
I cannot say that I adored the characters, though. Yes, they were humorous, but they were not exactly memorable – no matter how unique their premise may be.
Nevertheless, other jokes also made the show more comedic to me. The other three failing to not bring up words related to St. Giorgio’s unpopularity and Agrippa ruining the moment with his pun (as well as Miki’s dumbfounded expression) after the group arrives to get Miki back are just a couple of examples that had me laughing at the silliness of the show.
Sekkou Boys does not shy away from its ridiculous premise. The talkative marble heads, the comedic visuals, and the small glimpses into the real-world history do create a fun little show. Unfortunately, the anime doesn’t do much else. But it is certainly more interesting than a pile of rocks.
SUMMARY
Story: Good, singing sculptures bring about comedy through various means
Animation: Fine, while animation and art are lacking, the comedic visual presentation boosts the fun further
Characters: Fine, St. Giorgio, Mars, Hermes, and Medici reflect their actual counterparts with Miki receiving a small amount of development
Sound: Fine, good ED, bad OST, above-average VA performances
Enjoyment: Fine, a tiny yet fun experience even if the characters are not that memorable
Final Score: 5/10
templeofmars
I rarely write reviews so excuse me if this is slightly incoherent, and/or awkward. Sekkou Boys was something I watched a while ago, I stumbled across it out of nowhere during my idol phase, and thought "Why the hell not?" It isn't perfect, and there's a lot I could say about why it's not. However, there's a certain charm to Sekkou Boys which I think is what makes it at enjoyable. The episodes are short, the humour is pleasant. It's a pick-me-up show in all honesty, I would watch an episode or two after a long day and it was nice. Something I didn't haveto pay too much attention to.
I would recommend this show to anyone who needs a small rush of charming statue idols to give them a little happiness boost! Don't expect a masterpiece, just enjoy what you're given and it will be a nice experience :D
SnivySomnia
The concept of Sekko Boys is brilliant. Following up on the criticism that the idol industry is based on the exploitation and sexualization of youths without concern for their emotional well being or development, it presents a world that has slowly begun to opt out of most subjective views of “attractiveness”. The common folk now rally behind the art world’s objective, long-standing take on beauty resulting in the most beautiful men in existence becoming modern day pop stars. Of course, those men are actually the depictions of various mythical and legendary figures preserved as busts. Sentient stone and plaster busts. That concept alone would have soldme for a quick viewing during this fairly gloomy anime season, but there’s also the addition of various comedic actors from the legendary Gintama and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, a side order of the ever flamboyant Jun Fukuyama, and all topped off with a script half dedicated to the mythologies these characters hail from and half admonishing of the media world as a whole. All together, that creates (arguably) the most intriguing set up this season.
Was the resulting short series actually able to sell and expand upon that hook for its nearly 90 minute total run time? Surprisingly, yeah.
Miki Ishimoto is an art student who had a heavily traumatizing (and in my case, highly relatable) experience through college that ultimately led to her violently abandoning the medium shortly after her university years started. She accepts a job working for an entertainment company which immediately pushes her to become manager of their new idol group, Sekko Boys, if solely due to her intact spine (which one might find ideal for when lifting heavy objects). She imagines the most beautiful bishounen at her beck and call, her cemented future successes, and the inevitable grandeur she'll earn as their organizer. Upon face-to-face introduction to the stars she’ll be working with, the talking busts of Saint Giorgio, Hermes, Medici, and Mars, she promptly explodes in rage.
The average three-hundred-eighty second episodes contain plots that start by treating the boys as regular idols, but escalate into absurdity through their dual presence as, not statues, but legendary figures. Mars/Ares loses his composure when asked about his yandere-esque escapades with women during a TV interview, Hermes confesses to giving baby Dionysus wine thus invoking his manager’s fury, Giorgio has no sense of humour and earns a cult following because of it, and so on. Though its humour is primarily based around references, it’s a significant improvement over the idea reference’s existence is worthy of being a full punch line. They build off of the existing material like a good Gintama sketch to create amazing situations, such as Giorgio’s dramatic bar scene in which he agrees to “bed” a woman in order to erase a scandal, only for a post-credits reveal to hilariously bring the joke back around to his existence as a statue. It’s that each episode somehow expands on the culture of this world and expansive rules of the statues’ biology that keep things fresh each sitting. For example, did you know they can body swap to other statues of themselves? Still, this is your chance to either run away from the complicated Greco-Roman mythos or find yourself intrigued enough to dive in and compensate for the references you don’t get with research later on.
LIDENFILMS continues using their animation standard, creating a short that, if you plugged a few episodes together, could have taken a full time slot a few years back. It’s rarely stiff and the twist of photoshopped statues is surprisingly unobtrusive to immersion, heavily thanks to the pool of shots they fish through having been taken from numerous angles, heights, and lighting types to match the scenes. More necessary praise needs to be given to Miki’s design, who manages to be cute not due to weakness, blushing, or child-like features but by her comically outrageous stress level. So rest assured, even if Kagewani wasn’t your thing with its shaded paper style, Sekko Boys “looks like anime”.
Likewise, the music is standard background fair used to accentuate scenes and has the same level of comedic editing you’d expect from a fairly respectable studio; a surprise for a short series to have, but nothing high above competence. It’s rare for a show with a thematic touch in music to lack leitmotifs, but like most pop idols the Sekkou Boys are putrid beyond belief in that category. “5/5 So Bad, It’s Good”, says one of their own in-universe reviewers.
Like any short series, Sekko Boys is filler for the viewer, but it’s filler with heart and a skosh of wit put into it. It comes off as a way for its animators to vent some rage at contemporary art schools, put a few nails in the Miss Monochrome coffin, and unleash a writer’s repressed love for art history, mythologies, and juxtaposing the classy art we’re often told to praise with the absurdities of the medium they've found work in. It’s knows this is about as far as it can go in its exploration of its concept and it was definitely a ride worth sharing.
SanaeK10
When it comes to Idol Anime, I usually gravitate towards shows that at least try to shake up the standard formula or try something different with the established genre. I think I have Sekkou Boys to thank for moulding me into that sort of person, having watched it many years ago and writing this review upon a rewatch. Sekko Boys' main draw lies in its comedic value. The show is very consistently well written and the jokes revolving around the fact that the idols are actually sculptures do work perfectly well and simply can't work if the idols were regular people, all without being too over-relianton lowest common denominator observational humour. Despite being sculptures with unchanging facial expressions, the fact that the show manages to have the Rockies be so expressive regardless of this is to be commended.
There's only ever one song for the whole show and it's both catchy and hilarious. Sugita's reluctance to sing lends so much to the song's staying power.
Rewatching the show has been a great experience seeing as how I've come to appreciate other subversive idol shows much more over the years, and I have this short to thank for it.
8/10
SgtSalamander
Sekko Boys is a bizarre, fast-paced comedy about an idol group made up of famous statues, including Saint George, Mars, Hermes, and Medici, specifically Giuliano de Medici, and their hapless greenhorn manager who's a young woman fresh out of art school and totally new to the business of managing an idol group and adapting to the chaotic hijinks that ensue. It's a weird show, with a lot going for it in the comedy department, but it feels as though it more often than not relies too much on the absurdity of its premise, and is notably marred by a script that is severely dated bydead memes. Beginning with the story, there's not that much to it. It's just the oddities and challenges that would come from managing a musical group composed of sentient statuary. Honestly, it's impressive how they came up with enough content on that premise alone to make a whole anime out of it, even if it is shorter than most. As for the writing that defines the story, most of the time it is indeed quite funny, feeling casual and characteristic, reflecting the distinct personalities of each member of the Sekko Boys. However, this otherwise genuinely funny script is held back by some really dated memes that are painfully cringe. I'm not sure if this is the case in the original script, or if some 'localizer' hack got their hands on it and decided to mangle it for their own amusement, but these totally break any and all engagement with a given episode, and are so painfully unfunny that it completely ruins the rest of a given episode's already limited runtime. This is best captured by such lines as "Ain't nobody got time for that!" and "#newdriver #tokyohighway". I am doing you a mercy by leaving it at this, as there are unfortunately numerous other examples. Truly, this aspect drags down the anime so much that it's honestly a shame, since the rest of it is pretty good.
The art, as a result of the writing's shortcomings, is probably the strongest aspect of the show. It has an interesting, clean art style and creative direction that juxtaposes these majestic and contemplative European statues with the flashy, glamorous life of a mid-level Japanese idol group, complete with scheduling conflicts, variety shows, and talent managers.
The sound is good, meeting the basic standards of quality, with fun, high energy voice work and one recurring J-Pop song by the Sekko Boys that also serves as the ending song for each episode.
Of the cast, my favorites are the stubborn womanizer Mars and the good-natured yet socially awkward Saint George. Overall, Sekko Boys is a funny, absurd title, that could have gone a lot further if it wasn't held back by numerous instances of deeply cringe referential meme humor.
