When Kasumi Toyama was out camping as a child, she heard the rhythm of the "Star Beat" while admiring the starry night sky. This sparkling, heart-pounding sound left a lasting impression on her, and since then, she has constantly been seeking to rediscover that exciting thrill.
Now, as a newly enrolled student of Hanasakigawa Girls' High School, Kasumi is more determined than ever to find that long-lost sensation again. She attempts a myriad of school club activities, and even considers taking up a part-time job, but none of these feel suitable for her. That is, until she chances upon a star-shaped guitar in the storage room of an old pawn shop. It leads her to a live house, where she is captivated by watching a live performance for the first time. Spurred from the adrenaline, she instantly decides to form a band without even really knowing why. However, such a venture requires her to confront various hurdles with new friends she makes along the way, all in her pursuit to encounter that twinkling, heart-throbbing ardor once more.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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RiverRode
It's become a common trend in recent years for an anime project to spawn an idol group - it boosts the popularity of the franchise, and provides another avenue for profit. However, according to Takaaki Kidani, founder and president of Bushiroad, the company responsible for the BanG Dream! multimedia project, the era of idol anime is coming to an end, and band shows will be the next big thing. Which is interesting, because despite technically being a band anime, BanG Dream adheres incredibly close to the idol formula. You can buy albums and character songs for BanG Dream. (Shouldn't the focus be on the instruments?)You can go to a concert and see the voice actors perform live. And it's not just concert tickets and CDs that BanG Dream is trying to sell you; the multimedia project also includes card games, headphones, several manga series, and a mobile game. BanG Dream is an extremely commercial project, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself. However, it becomes a problem when the pursuit of financial interest comes at the expense of creativity.
Everything about this anime is designed to be safe and inoffensive. There's nothing new or risky here that could potentially alienate consumers; just trends and tropes that have proven themselves to be successful thrown together into an amalgamation that's sure to sell. It's something that nobody is going to hate, but that nobody is going to love either. Rather than creating something that's only okay for everyone, it would have been better if they had created something that will be at least one person's favorite. Sadly, making a good show seems to be secondary to making good money.
There's not much that's more generic in anime than a story of a high school student trying to start a club for one of their interests. With that premise alone, you already have a fair sense of the events that will go on over the course of the series: In the first two thirds of the series, it'll be necessary to recruit more members, and of course they'll all have some issue that needs to be worked out before they can join, and once the group is finally completed in the final third, there will be some last challenge to overcome. But genericness aside, there's also the issue that the series is loaded down with fluff. There are so many scenes that don't accomplish anything, when there's so much that needs to be accomplished. It would have been possible to tell a much better story in much less time if the staff actually cared enough to write something interesting, but as it is, the story is generic and insubstantial.
Scenes that don't accomplish anything doesn't refer only to the half-developed plot; character growth was only sorely lacking. The characters start the series well within the lines of clearly defined archetypes, and over the course of 13 episodes, they never really go beyond that. There's the occasional scene that will hint that maybe some growth is going on, but it'll never result in lasting change. This results in a tragic absence of sincerity. No matter how absurd a situation characters are placed in, it's still possible to relate to and care about them if their actions and emotions feel genuine. Here, the situation isn't all that detached from ordinary life, but these characters are so flat that it's near impossible to connect with or be invested in them.
Perhaps another aspect of this is that the characters aren't visually appealing. BanG Dream relies heavily on CG for its performance scenes, and this causes the characters to look really unnatural, especially their faces. And even when the show isn't relying on CG, the use of stills and pans is abundant. Over the course of its run, there were two occasions on which episodes were delayed by a week, and it also started two to three weeks into its season. It's not unreasonable to expect that this extra time would be put to good use for making sure that everything actually looked good, but apparently CG was passable, and the staff couldn't be bothered to go beyond that.
After watching a certain amount of anime, you begin to pick up a few words and phrases: youth, dreams, bonds, excitement, you get the idea. These are the types of words that make up the songs from BanG Dream - no real depth, just a barrage of platitudes and banalities. At least, that's how the lyrics are for the opening and ending themes. As for all of the other songs that are sung over the course of the show (like five?), they're left untranslated. It's probably no great loss, though official releases ought to get into the habit of translating song lyrics. Despite being a band show, it seems that the music really wasn't all that important.
None of these factors on their own would necessarily ruin an anime. A solid cast could compensate for a lousy story, and some people won't care how a show looks or sounds as long as it has something interesting to say. The problem is, BanG Dream doesn't have any strong suits; everything about it is derivative and half-baked. It doesn't have anything new to say, and exists only to make a profit off of an existing trend. It projects a future for the industry where creativity is shunned, and the only thing that matters is marketability. This is everything that is wrong with the industry. Good riddance.
Nafisa
I decided to give BanG Dream a shot since I enjoyed the tap tap hell which is the rhythm game. In all honesty, I usually go into these types of anime with low expectations and I set the bar especially low because of how boring the synopsis made the anime sound. At a glance, BanG Dream looks generic, bland and boring. Storywise, there’s nothing outstanding about it but it isn’t bad nor good, it’s more mediocre. The plotline is definitely not the selling point for this anime. It’s your standard “airhead gathers girls to start a band/group” which is fine, it’s supposed to be lighthearted.Although, there is some realism within the show. It touches on family issues, finding yourself and there are some very serious takes on friendship and relying on others. The plot itself isn’t completely predictable, there are a few things that might leave you wondering what will happen next. The story does start off slow and a couple episodes are mainly just the progress of the group which can be boring. Overall, the story wasn’t bad but it could’ve been better.
As for characters, they’re all very likeable. A variation of tropes, you’re bound to like at least one of the main girls. There was at least one episode dedicated to each member, the development was pretty good for twelve episodes. The bonds between them all were displayed well and the friendships were developed nicely throughout the series. If you played the game like myself, you will notice an absence of three other bands, if you haven’t played the game you aren’t missing out on much so don’t worry about it. If BanG Dream does get a second season I would like to see more of these characters implemented in story rather than just being cameos.
The artwork was nice, like most band/idol anime the colours are vibrant. Everything else was pretty standard apart from the eyes, they seemed to focus more on the eyes than anything else. Only complaint would be the CG, it was messy. Didn’t look particularly good and they would’ve been better off without it.
Now one of the more important aspects, music. The OST was nice enough, it wasn’t memorable or anything but it did add to the atmosphere during scenes. Although, there were a lot of times where background music wasn’t used where it could’ve been. If you don’t pay attention to that kind of stuff then it shouldn’t be a bother. The opening and ending were nice, ending better than the opening in my opinion but both were catchy. The songs were cute and funny, the voices were raw which I can appreciate since they’re all supposed to be novices. The seiyuus did a great job portraying their character, you could really hear the emotion.
Generally speaking, BanG Dream wasn’t fantastic but it was enjoyable. Lighthearted atmosphere, cute characters and catchy songs. Whether or not you watch this anime is for you to decide. I hope this review at least helped you finalise your decision!
90shentaigirl
Like many others, I discovered BanG Dream! when it was a fresh app that had just come out. I consider myself extremely well versed in idol anime especially those that have spawned from mobile rhythm games. When I saw an anime had been made, I was looking forward to it because other idol anime like Love Live! and Cinderella Girls had been successful. However, this was not the case with Bandori. It is extremely bland and seems like it was a fast attempt to catch up to other idol anime that had been successful and making tons of money. None of the characters are multifaceted,and the plot itself is generic. Personally, I would stick to playing the game and skip the anime itself if Bandori interests you. However, there are many more series more deserving a watch.
ren0080
It's actually pretty good like it exceeded my expectations. The animation is decent, but that's to be expected from the studio. They ain't Sunrise or anything. The characters are all great. Though I wish they touch upon other characters a little more since they didn't fail to develop most of the main characters. I was expecting more tbh Story is good, and the pacing was alright. Music, this is where they shine. Like it's actually genius how they did episode 12 where their performance is not bad, but not professional either. Like, it's pretty realistic that they performed on that level since they are amateurs. Enjoyment, I felt a littleemotional feeling when it get emotional and laughs when there's a comedic scene. Pretty alright.
Overall a nice 7.2/10
Lildusky
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. STORY I like this genre, the musical slice of life with cute girls doing cute things. I like Love Live and K-On, Euphonium, etc. However, there is a lot of heart and story to this one more than others I've seen. Without being forced, it actually feels like there is progression and trials for the characters, which is something I really appreciate. ART I don't think this animation has as much quality or heart as K-On, sometimes almost feeling cheap. Any presence of CG here (or in related games or music videos) is surprisingly smooth. Character design is appealing,however, even with side characters.
SOUND
Music might be my favorite out of those listed shows, and if you wanna cheat, more Poppin Party and Roselia songs and covers outside the show are mindblowingly good. Background sound, OP and EDs, and voice acting absolutely works work me. Songs that take part in the show are also bangers with heavy story bangers too.
bakkayakka
"Why does it exist" is really the only way I can think to describe this anime. For a simplistic slice of life anime about a group of friends trying to start their own band, it's perfectly fine. Not anything special, and incredibly inoffensive. But fine. You can sit down, watch it, and you don't feel like it's a chore to do so. But at the same time, it's not going to blow you away. It's obvious that this anime's primary purpose is to be one element in a multimedia project, spawning an idol group, the game, ect, and that's really all it is. It doeseverything you expect, and it does it in a decent enough way, but it's all stuff you'd be expecting. It has heart behind it, but that heart is cliched in itself.
I may seem like a broken record here, but that's really because I can't think of much else to say. If you enjoy the BanG Dream! game, or the songs by the real life groups that spawned from the project, then you'll likely like the anime. It's the characters you like from one of the bands, doing band like stuff, and becoming friends. If you're planning to just watch the anime, do yourself a favor, and don't make it a "drop everything and look forward to watching this" thing. The best way to watch it would be casually, in between the things that have your complete focus. In that sense the anime is enjoyable, but don't expect anything more out of it.
Christianw1mp
To put it simply, this anime was put out to advertise a game that surpasses it in every way. The anime itself in my opinion falls short of being a great music anime however that is not to say the music in the series is not amazing as this series has some of my favourite music in anime to date even though only a glimmer of that is shown in this first season. The anime for BanG Dream is also amazing past this season, this anime felt like it was building up to something greater which is exactly what it did as both season 2 andseason 3 are massive steps up in storytelling, appearance, and writing in general. (which is why I ranked sound 8/10 for this show as I know it gets EVEN BETTER in the future seasons(
This anime unlike the game focuses almost entirely on the band Poppin Party with occasional very short appearances of the other bands from the game (Afterglow, Pastel Palettes, Roselia and Hello Happy World) and another minor band that is almost exclusively in the anime Glitter Green
The game is a rhythm game visual novel and does great storytelling, the reason I am making this review is I encourage you to watch this show and explore into the deeper universe of the series if you dislike the first season of this anime.
Now about the actual show now that I got that disclaimer-esque warning out of the way.
The show centers around 5 girls, Rimi, Arisa, Tae, Saya and Kasumi who form a band called Poppin Party, this is a mixture of your typical school anime and music anime that feels somewhat cliched and boring at times however is still very enjoyable. It is important to know that despite this anime showing mainly this band that there are 6 bands in total shown in the bandori universe that matter up to this point.
Poppin Party (our main cast)
but there are also 5 minor bands of importance in this series (pre S2 and S3)
Afterglow, Pastel Palettes, Roselia, Hello Happy World, and Glitter Green (who are minor characters in this show)
A lot of these minor characters won't be shown much and if you are a player of the Bang Dream mobile rhythm game and coming to watch for those characters in specific you should know that you will likely be let down.
The story is fairly rudimentary and isn't a shining point at all, if you are coming for story expect barebones basic writing, nothing exceptionally terrible but also nothing to praise or give props to.
Art is fairly good, the 3d design of the characters can be off putting but they get much better with their animation in S2 and S3 so I can't flaw them much as it doesn't take away from what is being presented.
I ranked character a 6 because despite the series as a whole having amazing characters, you only see a glimmer of that here, this is a great stepping stone into these characters but don't expect many major developments.
I enjoy this series and I even enjoyed this show despite the fact it pales in comparison to it's contemporaries, I heavily encourage you to try Season 2 and maybe Season 3 if you enjoy S2 and install Bang Dream Girls Band Party on your mobile device to see the better parts of this series.
Overall I rank this a 7/10 due to it being an overall good series and good starting point for the show, it is lackluster in a lot of parts and lacks the shine and charm the future seasons and game bring, however that does not mean it should be discounted entirely. Give it a watch, and definitely try the game.
LegendAqua
BanG Dream! didn't go out like a BanG!, more like a small dull thud. For an anime like this within it's genre it very typical in this anime climate but even then this kind of anime just can't be in the same pedigree of it's contemporaries..why?...well... Let's start with our main cast Poppin' Party. Kasumi Toyama voiced by Aimi Terakawa our genki leader...check. Arisa Ichigaya voiced by Ayasa Itou our resident tsundere and main focus of quips and teasing within the group and the keyboardist of the group...check. Rimi Ushigome voiced by Rimi Nishimoto the bassist of the group, the shy one...check. Tae Hanazono voiced by SaeOtsuka the aloof cloudcuckoolander one and the guitarist of the group...check and finally Saaya Yamabuki voiced by Ayaka Ohashi the drummer of the band and probably the only decent character in the anime. Yeah, if you blatantly haven't noticed, besides Saaya, the other characters are as stock and cliche as they already are. Saaya is the exception all due to her backstory and why she doesn't want to be in the band and once her DOES join the band...she becomes bland as every other character. The rest of the Poppin' Party?...they essentially had Kasumi by coincidence gathered these characters together to form Poppin' Party...check. The minor supporting characters are also there and some are supports...again typical but there are other bands in this anime and LA is more intrigued by the colorfully exotic bands other than Poppin' Party...and they are designated to be only cameos and other characters Poppin' Party just interacts with.
The plot is your typical "form a band" and "be the best" as LA said, typical of the genre, however this anime just has ever plot beats of its contemporaries. From K-On! on how the coincidences lead down to forming the band, the band competition, Kasumi's later character dilemma reflects something similar to Love Live's Honoka in the first season and finally the multiple bands in competition have both shades of Love Live and The iDOLM@STER. The characters are no better with their stereotypical archetypes that any idol fan or "cute girls in a band or idol group" has seen.
The animation from Xebec and Issen are well pun intended but the animation has a rather poppy feel to it, from it's characters to it's backgrounding. The animation is decent especially with it's character designs having a moe touch with some bolded outlines making the designs rather unique which is rather wasted on many of the main cast characters being stock and bland as they are. The "Lives" use of the CG however is probably the worst aspect of the animation, as in the CG integrated with the bright and poppy traditional animation just clash SOOOO heavily and the CG use is rampant in the almost every Live concerning Poppin' Party, LA gets it Love Live did that too but even they integrated the CG better and used it in conjunction with it's traditional animation as the seasons and Sunshine passed and BanG Dream! on the other hand has this blatantly apparent CG in full and used for the majority of it's Lives (sure BanG Dream! doesn't have another season or anything but they never deviate from using CG in their Lives, it's just a mark of laziness AND consistency). Overall, Xebec's character designs are all great and all, LA just wished it blended to it's Lives as well.
The voice acting is artificial moeness in a ways. From Aimi Terakawa who yes, is annoyingly genki to Rimi Nishimoto as Rimi- ohhh LA saw what you did there- Ushigome...as the squeakily shy vocals and Ayasa Itou as the tsundere and her vocals became rather annoying especially after her thousandth tsundere quip. The only two voice actors LA seemed to like were Sae Otsuka due to her nice tsukommi quips and her general cloudcuckooness and Ayaka Ohashi was moe but a decent one and she got bit more range due to her "backstory" bringing in her dramatic vocals into play.
In the soundtrack department, the OST is ok enough though with Kasumi's singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" over and over again you'd WANT Kasumi to shut it. The rest of the OST is just "ok" but not to the point of being "catchy"...just "ok", but it's like every other generic Japanese anime pop music you've heard. You know for an anime that has music as one of it's core focus (you know..forming the band and playing songs etc.), the music should be one of the things you kinda had to excel at.
LA will point out that it's themes of being a "star" or stars in general is hamfistingly inserted into the characters and plot which also seeps into the writing as well, sure something like Love Live also had their themes front and center yet they were subtle in their execution but they weren't as obnoxiously blatant as what BanG Dream! did with their theming of "stars" (Poppin' Party's guitars are star shaped, the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, looking out to the stars when there aren't any, Kasumi herself being one of the main driving forces for this theme), in it's defense, LA gets it, Poppin' Party and by extent BanG Dream! is trying to have it's own personality by using this theme, sure it CAN do that...LA just wished it wasn't as blatantly eye-rollingly obvious what it's trying to get across.
The finale arc as LA aforementioned to Kasumi's "dilemma" is, it DOES make it interesting BUT the other plotline being the place where the bands all play at "Space" is gonna get closed...LA to say the least kinda thought it clashed heavily with Kasumi's plotline (or forgotten until the final episode). Before LA goes into more detail...CHECK on Space being closed (See Love Live's first season entire goal for Honoka). One is that yeah...it's something LA has seen before just in a MUCH smaller scale, second is the fact that what does Space closing has to do with Kasumi changing herself into training herself to the point of losing her voice?...their still gonna have their band, the band isn't gonna dissolve if Space is gone as they can ohhh LA doesn't know...still make a CLUB at school and still sing songs at school and lastly, HOW can Poppin' Party resolve Space from stop being closed down, it seemed more in the grunchy owner's own personal reasoning than a "financial" problem as to why it's closing (and the finale?...NEVER tells WHY but it's still closing so yeah...feels like an almost total non-conflict)...it just feels forced and checking the boxes for forced manipulation into trying to like the already stock and annoyingly bland characters. Two Steps forward...5 steps back...
BanG Dream! is like every other idol or cute girls in a band anime you have seen only done with little effort (not completely though), from the too similar plot and character beats to it's just "ok" OST songs. BanG Dream! is by all means a run of the mill, checked boxes of its genre and expended as little effort to get this franchise off it's feet.
It's no wonder BanG Dream! reception has been radio silent in terms of popularity. Yes, this anime based off a manga has turned into a franchise, from a mobile rhythm game to their merchandise not selling (no seriously) to only a little to no DOUJIN circles doing anything about this franchise. Wow...that's depressing...
LA says all this about BanG Dream! even outside of the anime itself as the anime/franchise is artificial and desperate to go with the trend and be popular but like LA said about the anime, the anime is a stock, cliched with none of the flair that it's contemporaries has done better with it's elements and even better than BanG Dream! has done.
From a seasonal point of view, BanG Dream! was a pretty mediocre to almost boring ride, it had a "bit" of effort in it's characters but it was a slog to get through at times. But nonetheless, BanG Dream! is definitely one of those animes from Winter 2017 you can quite easily ignore and not miss out on anything. BanG Dream! is mediocre and cliched being played straight without a hint of flair to it, not horrible or appalling per say...but on par of nothing much to offer in which you can find better animes from it's genre (be it idol, music, drama or all three).
One last note but this is just LA, but LA would of thought that changing the focus from Poppin' Party to ANY of the other bands could have made this anime a bit better...
reimirin
gorgeous and almost made me cry. i have a lot of nostalgia for the rhythm game due to me playing it nonstop when i was little. now i can't play tokimeki experience or sparkling dreaming sing girls without near crying. 10 out of 10 all across the board. Visuals: Gorgeous omg it makes me very happy when i see them in videos and stuff. Story: Cohesive and goes well with the music. easy to remember with each episode and no fillers! Sound: if you can't hear the opening or ending without tears welling up in your eyes, it better be a 10 out of 10, or thats just how itwas with me. The voice acting is top notch too!
Characters:
all of them have flaws and redeeming qualities. i love all of them! they're all so likeable!
kasumi has her moments where it seems like her actions may be selfish, but she never fails to resolve those issues or make you like her more.
arisa is a tsundere character done right. her and her bandmates fight of course, like all friends do, but she always makes sure her friends are well or having fun when they are out and about.
saya is a sisterly character that doesn't want to join poppin party at the start, but of course she does eventually. she has her golden moments, and her ups and downs.
rimi's appearances nearly make me cry due to her crying being so emotional. another example of top notch voice acting. she is a cute character that always comes out in the end.
and tae... is tae. I can't say much without spoiling a lot.
overall 10/10 i recommend. it was a rIDE but thats always good if the anime is good! ^^
CyborgCatgirl
In an already exhausted genre like this Bang Dream is refreshingly good. I listen to the music from Poppin Party and Roselia all the time, and I'm impressed that the voice actors actually play their instruments, especially since those songs aren't simple. The characters are genuinely lovable, and it might play heavily on my own dream of finding that perfect group to play music with, but the story hit notes that brought tears to my eyes like few other things have. I keep expecting the show to hit a stale arc, but I'm into season 3 now and it's honestly kept everything right up there.At first I didn't like that the music performances and later seasons were all CGI, but then I noticed how well animated it is and how much the 3d actually adds to the animation making the music performances incredibly lifelike. And again, the music alone is a reason to give this show a go, but the story and characters give it that much more impact.
Essa_
There was a time when I had no standard and could watch any show and enjoy it. That was the time I watched this show and rated it a 7. It's been a while but now that I've seen many other shows I feel like I can rate shows more accurately based on my own preferences and tastes. If I'm being honest the story really is predictable, the art is good but maybe lacks a bit of frames every now and then and the idea of cute girls doing cute things isn't for me, at least in this format anymore. But this is a music show after alland that is the are which this show excels at. I think there is any other reason to watch this show all the way to the most recent third season. Unless you enjoy this show of course. Just speaking from analytic point of view and reviewing the story, art and characters it's not worth it. However all of us have something they like and others don't. I think the first episode can determine whether or not you will like the show.
Yaboku
In 2015, Bushiroad started developing a multimedia franchise known as ''Bang Dream!''. It started with a manga of 5 teenage girls coming together to start a band. Then in 2017, an anime was made with new character designs and story. And in the same year, we also got the Bang Dream! mobile game, which is now a huge success with over 9 million players, but how good was the anime that started it all? Story: The story is about a girl named Kasumi who decides to start a band out of inspiration when seeing a band perform live. She makes friends with other four girls to formthe band, ''Poppin' Party''. I'm a sucker for music anime with this kind of story, as I enjoy watching the characters grow and improve on their skills in the band. What makes the story interesting is the character arcs that our girls have to go trough, but other than that, the story is quite simple and even predictable at times.
Art:
Bang Dream's art isn't anything too impressive compared to what we get in anime nowadays, but I certainly wouldn't call it bad, but I also wouldn't call it great. One thing I do admire about Bandori's franchise is the character designs, Popipa defiantly has the most natural colored hair out of all the bands in the franchise and it makes sense since the characters were based off the seiyuu hat voice them. Background art is... alright. There are some nice places in the anime that have some nice designs, but a lot of the series also takes place in a school, so don't expect anything too ground breaking with the scenery. Characters can be quite expressive, but can also have a bit of ''derp' faces from time to time. The CGI is... average. It definitely looked strange at times, but thankfully, season 2 got a different studio who have experience with CGI so the animation looks ten times better. The CGI is only used in music sequence scenes so you won't see them too often.
Sound:
Listening to the soundtrack, it has nice tracks, but it's a very standard slice of life anime OST. Nothing too much stands out in the sound, but what I can praise Bang Dream! for is the music. Back when the first anime came out, Poppin' Party didn't have much songs, but even with the little amount they had, the songs are pretty good! The music has always been my favorite part of the franchise and it gets better and better as time goes on.
Characters:
The 5 girls of Popipa might be very standard character cliches when you look at them first, but they become much stronger and better characters as you go trough the show.
Kasumi Toyama is the very cheery denki girl who's looking for more excitement and thrill in her life which inspires her to start a band. Kasumi is a very standard protagonist who's very optimistic about everything and never gives up. While she still has flaws and not the best leader, you can see how her character grows and improves. Whether her optimistic personality becomes annoying or not depends on the viewer, but I love Kasumi for how hard she works.
Rimi Ushigome is the shy one of the group, looking up at her big sister as an inspiration in music. The character arcs in bang dream are always so satisfying as you watch the characters grow and that's also very apparent with Rimi. While she still struggles a bit with her shyness as the series goes on, you can see how she battles with her fears and becomes a more confident bass player.
Arisa Ichigaya is the tsundere. Constantly being annoyed by some of Kasumi's actions and attitude towards things as well as being easily flustered. I can see how Arisa can be annoying to some, but the brutally honest personality is what I like about her character. As the series goes on, she also opens up with her feelings more and starts to really get attached to everyone in the band.
Tae Hanzono is a very... interesting character. She's the ''airhead'' of the group, but the same could be said for Kasumi. Tae is my personal favorite of the girls, as she's so unpredictable and bizarre with some of her words and actions. She is the most skilled one in the group and the one most passionate about her instrument. She's a joy to watch throughout the show.
And that leaves us with Saya Yamabuki. Saya is kind-hearted and the most mature, bu she doesn't get as much screen time due to her joining the band much later in the series. I won't spoil much, but she has the most interesting arc during the end of the series which makes her a great character.
There are also some other minor characters, but they aren't as interesting to talk about. The best way to experience these characters is actually trough the Bang Dream! mobile app. As you read the games stories, you really see more of the characters that the anime doesn't explore, but that's recommend if you really want to get into the franchise. (The app does have a global release).
Enjoyment:
I personally enjoyed the anime. I think my love for the franchise is because of the mobile app and just how much the app offers in terms of content. I enjoyed watching the characters and their interactions, and how they grow as a band and friends. You can really see how much they end up caring for each other and it might be cheesy as hell, but I love it.
Overall:
Bang Dream! isn't fantastic, nor is it awful. I feel like not enough fans of the bandori app give the anime a try because of it's animation, not even realizing that the anime does a great job at developing Poppin' Party as a band. I would definitely recommend the second season and game over the first season, but if you have interest into a music anime about a group of friends, give this anime a try.
lanzel-senpai
I know this project for a long time now because of the games and their actual live ( I really love their seiyuus so talented AF) so this year I decided to take a chance to try the anime. First of all I have low expectation in this kind of anime, i hate anime with pure fanservice only but not much with plots but this one is different and i was surprised! As expected the story revolves around a girl who aspire to perform in the stage and shine! That's cute and all, she's very persuasive af and honestly kinda annoying butit is her best trait. She is the MC, Kasumi. The first 3 to 4 episodes was you usual moe anime. Girls being just kawaii girls and practicing guitar with fucking twinkle twinkle little star makes me want to drop it but after that episodes the train of emotion comes rushing in so fast. The later half of the anime shows us the realistic side of being a performer such as hard practice and time management and other stuff such as for example Saya's mother being sick of all the time. BTW i love that episode, Kasumi and friends trying to convince Saya to join the band. Imma say its the strongest episode for this season. If you love anime about band plus some moe moments this anime is really good for you.
The animation is fine, im not really bothered by the CGI animation during some scenes and of course it is a musical anime so the music here is good AF and I love their songs XD Even the songs not played in the anime. Character wise i love all of them. They are unique to each other and as you can see my DP is Tae. lol. She's funny af so she's mah waifu. I really enjoyed the show tho the first 3 episodes were weak but the rest specially 8-12 is really enjoyable and full of emotions.. 8/11
Shy_And_Lazy
Review from a player of BanG Dream! Girls Band Party which you can download on your respective app stores (google play and apple appstore). So First off this anime adaptation was made by Xebec and i must say it's not one of the best Xebec adaptation to date Good things about the anime - It stayed true to it's source material - 2D animation - Great soundtracks Bad things about the anime - the 2D animation of Xebec could definitely use a lot of work especially on minor scenes you can see the animators be like "meh this scene is not that important so i'll draw it half-baked" which definitely hurts thequality of the anime
- it's just a 2D chapter 0 of poppin party which you can check on the game in.. guess what LIVE3D animation ffs
- kira kira hikaru intensifies
all in all i really like 2d but ffs xebec you made me change my mind with this adaptation
they have one job and they managed to suck on it
KonohanaKoutarou
BanG Dream! is an anime what had the potential to become one of the level of "Love Live!" or "Im@S", but watching the pv, i was afraid about the CG they use on the songs what are not part of the anime, and my worries become true, this anime tried to insert the CG on their songs, and it was horrible, i wanted to see some improvement in this area, but it is like they didn't even tried. The anime is full of weird facial expressions, even in normal situations, the story is bad, it rounds around a lot of problems the girls have because oftheir past or even their personalities, the anime put a lot of time on this, and it was horrible.
You have a product, who already succeeded, if i were in their shoes, i would copy that product, anime, and i will try to make it better, actually you have a great game with a great story, behind this anime, i don't know why the anime decided such a path, but it was pathetic.
Also the way they play the instruments is horrible, there is a lot of anime references for that.
Don't lose your time with the anime go play the Smartphone game
splatongus
I'm reviewing this from the standpoint of someone who's been a huge fan of the BanG Dream mobile rhytm game for some time before I decided to start watching the anime. I'll do my best not to be biased, but I think BanG Dream is an amazing, expansive media franchise, combining good music with great characters and every part of it has been more or less enjoyable for me. At the moment there are 7 bands and the first season of the anime focuses on the main band of the series, Poppin'Party. The anime does a great job adapting Band Story 0 from the game, which isabout how Poppin'Party got together in the first place.
Without giving away too much, the story is about Toyama Kasumi, a girl who discovers her love for music and seeks to form a band. Together with her newfound friends and bandmates, she has lots of fun, but also goes through lots of hardships in order to fulfill her dreams.
Both the comedic and dramatic moments were adapted perfectly and they might be even more impactful than how they were in the game. Nothing was left out from the original story, so new BanG Dream fans can easily jump in, while existing fans got new scenes and more fleshed out minor characters. For example, aside from Rimi's sister, Yuri, none of the Glitter Green members appear in the game that much, but they're more prominent in the anime and we get to know them a lot better there.
There are even some cameo appearances from the other bands which don't have a part in the story of the first season.
I already know and love the characters from the game, but they're just as enjoyable and lovable in the anime. Since this first season focuses on the band Poppin'Party, all the members get a lot of screentime, their own arcs and development.
Saaya's arc was my favourite one among them and its finale was my favourite moment of the season.
As for my favourite character, I don't think I have one. The whole main cast was equally great.
Another thing I like about BanG Dream is how it balances slice of life, drama and music. An equal amount of time is spent on lighthearted moments and humour, character drama, character development and showing the band practicing, preparing and playing music.
All those aspects are executed with a lot of heart and soul, too. It's not just all about cute girls or fanservice; it's about the characters being friends, growing as people, giving their best and doing what they love.
Since this is a music anime, the music in it is obviously important and there's a lot of it.
Poppin'Party's songs aren't the most revolutionary music you'll ever hear, but I think they still stand out among music from other similar anime. Most of the songs fall into the J-Pop genre but there's a lot of variety and I personally love them. My favourite among the ones used in season one is Star Beat and it's probably one of my favourites from the whole franchise.
Another thing I love about the music is how the songs that appear in it sound raw and natural, fitting for an amateur band. Sound editing was used minimally so the music sounds just like how it would sound being played in the venues they are playing in (a basement, a school gym, an empty live house...).
Aside from the songs, the background music is also surprisingly memorable and adds a lot to the anime.
The art and animation are wonky sometimes, but it wasn't distracting to me. The animation being off-model at times maybe even makes the characters more expressive; especially Kasumi, who's hyperactive and lively almost all the time.
Something that did bother me is how, in a lot of the performance scenes in the first half of the season, the characters are playing music, but we don't see them actually playing their instruments at all. Instead we get a close up shot of them swaying and singing, while their hands are just kind of moving off-screen.
It's like they were trying to show them playing their instruments as little as possible, presumably because they didn't have the time or money to animate it properly. From episode 8 until the end (where most of the performances are), every performance is properly animated, though, so it's not too bad.
In those performance scenes the characters are animated with CG, which isn't perfect, but it's good enough not to take me out of the experience.
Considering it's just a bunch of still shots, the ending looks surprisingly awkward and it's impossible to ignore how strange and uncanny the characters look.
On the other hand, the opening is the complete opposite. It's very animated, natural and feels perfect for the series.
In conclusion, BanG Dream season 1 might not have the very best art or animation of 2017, but it's still an above-average music anime full of heart and soul. It's a feel good show full of great characters and music that's guaranteed not to leave you indifferent.
WhiteTail8
Story 6/10 Kasumi Toyama is a high school girl who doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life but when she discovers a star shaped guitar and live music she has a transformation and decides that she wants to one day be up on the stage playing music and sparkling. Being a determined happy person that doesn’t really know how to take no for an answer she sets out to form a band but going from no musical experience to performing live may be harder than she thinks. Art 7/10 The characters and backgrounds looked nice the CG wasn’t the best but it wasn’t terribleeither.
Sound 8/10
Nice catchy OP and the music in the episodes was enjoyable having a really upbeat vibe the sound was also decent and the voice acting was reasonable.
Characters 7/10
Likable characters here although I wouldn’t say they are overly complex they are more than one dimensional though having their own different personalities.
Enjoyment 7/10
I had some fun with BanG dream particularly in the final episodes as things picked up with the band and there were some tense and dramatic moments.
Overall 7/10
OVERPOWERED99
STORY - 7 ART - 6 SOUND - 7 CHARACTER - 8 ENJOYMENT - 8 Bandori has a soul that is emboldened by its quest to discover music—and it's that initial encouragement that swept me along Poppin'Party's ride towards becoming their own band. After having seen this, I can say that while it may not be the most perfect show out there, it's still an origin story filled with plenty of sparkling and heart-pounding moments. To form the all-girl band called Poppin'Party, Kasumi—an oddball who has an energetic heart and a voice that blissfully melts my heart—has to meet the other members first, and earlier segments of the show introduce usto them. We have Saaya, a caring older sister who helps out with her family's bakery; Rimi, a timid choco-cornet-loving girl; Arisa, who is adorable because of her gap moe tendencies; and Tae, the dorkiest and most comical one of them all. At first glance, their tropey demeanors can come off as being too vanilla, but I'll assure you this. Those basic traits of theirs will eventually pave to way to some sincere development as they realize what lies ahead in their musical ambitions.
Before I get into the character development though, there are points throughout the show where the story gets quite shaky. Like the creators know how the plot points will chronologically line up, but didn't put in enough effort to make them flow more naturally. As a result, some scenes—mostly the sedated humdrums—feel out of place when they're shoehorned in the storyline. And those scenes can be distracting, considering the character development here rely a lot on nuances and subtleties.
It's not to say all these small interactions are meaningless. In fact, most of them are genuinely enjoyable to watch, and not just because they're heartwarmingly cute or humorous. With the constant focus on how the girls' dynamic with each other evolves through their actions, thoughts, and exposure to music, their flaws and personal issues are slowly revealed, and this is where Bandori sparkles the most.
Because the show is grounded with no overly ambitious goals, the changes Poppin'Party go through feel realistically intimate. Everyone has their own worries to deal with, as is the case with Rimi's anxiety, Arisa's social awkwardness, Saaya's burdens from her past, Tae's general apathy, and Kasumi's optimism causing her to become oblivious of her own self. And it's through the start-up of their band—with support from each other and their family—where they learn that they can overcome these things that are stopping them from seeking out the beat they've been looking for. As they practice, they discover more about themselves along with the wondrous prospect of being in a band together—and it's a development that's very fulfilling to see.
Art-wise, even though I find it could've been done better, the vibrancy at least works well enough with the narrative elements. There are stills and pan shorts here and there, with some odd-looking eye placements, but there are also scenes that look beautiful in the character-defining moments. The CGI isn't half bad either, as outside of the occasional off-model ones, it captures the fun energy from Poppin'Party's performances
Speaking of performances, the musical direction taken by this show is mostly low-key, with soundtracks that complement the relaxed atmosphere quite nicely. The insert songs are definitely the most notable ones, considering they characterize who Poppin'Party is as a novice band. It helps that the creators chose to go with a raw live feel rather than using the version from post-production as it makes their songs sound even more authentic to the ears. From a rough and basic start to a more delightful result, their music resonates together with their development as a band.
Looking back at everything once again, Bandori might have started off feeling uncertain, but its direction took for a better turn with its evolution towards an emotionally engaging story on Poppin'Party's origin. They sparkle from their meaningful development and friendship. They make my heart pound when they perform. And I'm definitely proud of what they've learned before becoming such a lovable band.
KimiAl
As plenty of reviews have already stressed out, this is very much like an other idol show. It is not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of shows that became successful following a particular format, and those achievements should not be diminishes. Look at Kuroko no Basket. It just happens that Bang Dream falls in that specific genre. So, onto the review. The story is very basic. A high school girl, Toyama Kasumi, looking for inspiration, follows a trail of star stickers to a pawn shop, where she finds a red star shaped guitar. She decides she wants to learn how to play the instrumentand find people to put a band together. Everything works out in a way or the other. She finds the right people to play in the band and they are able to perform on a live stage. With some complications along the way, but you get the point.
Through out the story, the main characters go through some major character development, making them a little bit fleshed out, and a little less one dimensional. At the beginning of the story they downright look like stereotypical anime characters, but to the end, you can see their personalities shine with all their flaws and imperfections, making them all extremely relatable and likeable. Even the ones that you are not completely fond of.
The animation is not horrible, but they could have been able to do better. The CGI aspect is really cool looking, but it just doesn't save some of the more atrocious looking parts of the animation.
What really stands out from this show, in my opinion, is the music. This is no Nana or K-On, but the music is still pretty darn good. Rock songs have always been my favourite thou, so I might be a little biased while going into this, but you cannot tell me that Time Lapse doesn't friggin pump you up. It makes you wanna do a massive workout, and run around doing stuff. It is very classical rock, with tones of pop and and musical theatre, but you kinda get the gist. If you like idol anime music, you will probably like this kind of music. Poppin'Party is pretty standard though when it comes to Bang Dream music.
There isn't just one type of genre. If you go into the game, there is a whole variety of songs to listen to from five different bands with specific styles and songs. That is what makes this franchise so much fun. Putting different bands together to showcase the genres out there (ranging from musical-theatre to gothic), with relatable characters and fun stories, is something that very few have done.
To be honest, the reason why I am giving this review 8/10 is because I play the game, and I can see the characters, the story and the music develop in such a way that you don't really see in the anime. If you are just gonna watch the anime you might be a little disappointed, but if you go into the game, you can just see why it is so compelling and fun. My favourite band isn't even Poppin'Party (Toyama Kasumi's band), yet they are still lots of fun to listen to.
Lastly, Bang Dream in reality is not about Poppin'Party. Bang Dream is Poppin'Party, Afterglow, Rosalia, Hello Happy World and Pastel Palettes. Bang Dream is about finding your own musical preference and style, while obviously finding entertainment in cute girls and pretty cards.
