An established discipline on par with conventional medical approaches, "vocal medicine" is the practice of using songs to treat health conditions and injuries. Young people around the world strive to master the art and become "healers" to help people through the power of their voices.
Among the many healers in training is Kana Fujii, a naturally talented singer who was inspired to pursue the profession after a life-changing experience. Along with the driven Reimi Itsushiro and the easygoing Hibiki Morishima, Kana trains at Karasuma Phoniatric Clinic under the stern yet kind mentorship of Ria Karasuma.
As they endeavor to achieve their dreams, Kana and her friends meet various colorful healers along the way, discovering that there is much more to vocal medicine than just diligent studying!
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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KANLen09
"Kind-hearted, powerful songs heal the world. These are beautiful miracles sung by humanity." And thus, the marriage of musicals and humanity exist to help heal people, an absurd idea that just surprisingly works wonders all on its own to create its own masterpiece niche, directed by the same person whom brought you Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I can hear you say: "That almost sounds like an overkill." This is the core tagline of this show, and truthfully, I have a head-aching dilemma when it comes to shows like these. You see, it's easy to watch seasonal anime with the usual predictable Isekai shticks and some other genre copy-pasteshenanigans, so much so that it's easy as balls to write reviews for it like a robot from start to finish. But when it comes to unique shows like Healer Girl...I find that I have to reverse-engineer the entire process, stop and think things through to concoct one well and comprehensive article that everyone certainly will agree to (NGL, also a cheap way to be the show's definitive top review). Not just because this is my personal AOTS that's already a masterpiece right from the start, but just like Extreme's song: "More than words to show you feel, that your love for me is real", Healer Girl has taken the special place in my heart for a multitude of reasons.
It's a well-known fact that Mondays are unanimously the worst day of the week, giving rise to the infamous term "Monday Blues". And in this packed Spring season, Studio 3Hz is back with yet another original anime, and Healer Girl is the one that has consistently surprised me the most and above all, even more so that's done by people whom had few hits and many misses. Plus, it's only made more perfect as the only lone show airing on a Monday (in Japan) to literally "heal" the Monday Blues away. So for that, this show gets a plus for standing out in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Music has actually been proven to provide a multitude of health benefits in the form of music therapy, and what better to marry music through the one word that resonates with what has been meta-trending in the anime scene recently: Healer, healing. And there're many moments of soothing voices and musicals in Healer Girl that truly makes the show stand apart and embody what makes this so special with immaculate, palpable love for music. And what a joyful little series Healer Girl was, I even have to think that this easily puts Disney's High School Musical to shme. And of all the "Spy × Family" and "Ya Boy! Kongming" roaming around being the general AOTS and dark horse of the season, there're bound to be hidden gems if you look hard enough. Nevertheless, I'm still very floored and baffled at how this show is under-appreciated for cultivating a niche audience so much that it's a literate hidden gem all on its own, and I certainly don't mind if it was intentionally made that way, because it is just that.
So then, what is Healer Girl all about, for the few of you that actually cares about this hoopla of a show that peaks of surprises galore from start to finish? Well, as the title proclaims, literally girls training at the Karasuma Vocal Medical Insitute to be healers through music, where the healing of illness and injuries via songs is a special technique that improves the mental health of both patients and doctors. And it's in this premise that such "Healers" strive to sing when called upon to respond to the health and anxiety of patients and doctors alike. It's everything else that are just "more than words can say" to even explain what's going on in this show. The best way that I can put this is through the words of PhenomSage: "a pretty silly, absurd and childish premise, but...BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, that's where you'll be led astray because the premise is indeed all of this, but this is EXACTLY what gives Healer Girl it's whimsical and fun charm." And if you're the type who's a fanatic of Disney IPs like High School Musical, I can certainly promise you that Healer Girl delivers the shenanigan-filled musical feels that embraces all of that silliness through love and music in a way that's infectiously joyful and worth sing-a-long sessions for days on end.
And what makes Healer Girl so wonderfully made in the musical expressivo way are through its characters, done by Princess Principal's character designer Yukie Akiya:
The literate Healer Girls:
- Kana Fujii (VA Karin Isobe, Just Because!'s Mio Natsume);
- Reimi Itsushiro (VA Marina "HoriMari" Horiuchi, relatively new Seiyuu);
- Hibiki Morishima (VA Akane Kumada, TenSura's Eren);
- Sonia Yanagi (VA Chihaya Yoshitake, relatively new Seiyuu);
- Shinobu Honosaka (VA Miyu Takagi, Wake Up! Girls's Miyu Okamoto);
Their Healer teacher and friends:
- Ria Karasuma (VA Ayahi Takagaki, Symphogear's Chris Yukine)
- Shoko Nagisa (VA Hisako Tojo, Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki's Toshika Jin)
And just because there's been a resurgence of new Seiyuus lately, doesn't mean that quality can't be compromised, because it can feel rough for some whom aren't used to a main or supporting role. However in Healer Girl's case, I would like to beckon this as more of an experimentation for especially the 5 main girls whom vary in experience that pales in comparison to the only well-known Seiyuu here that is Ayahi Takagaki. Despite that, their VA performances here are truly nothing short of stellar, that really compliments well with the show's themes being a full-blown musical series that sounds just as nice and heartwarming.
To say that I'm very blown away by a Studio 3Hz original series yet again since the days of 2017's Princess Principal, and the marketing for Healer Girl being "a bold, new form of musical healing animation", it certainly has eclipsed every embodiment of showcasing limited animation, but letting its visuals do the work, which I'd tell you, Healer Girl has ACTUAL SAKUGA of unlimited potential that goes beyond the quote of "a picture paints a thousand words". And director Yasuhiro Irie definitely understood that assignment, because his directing is just outstanding, for real. Even with the widely-hated scriptwriter-cum-series composer Noboru Kimura's script on this (which does feel cheap at times), thankfully this show is saved within the cusps of the FMA: Brotherhood director whom knows how to make something good out of the bad.
Easily the most impressive aspect of Healer Girl has gotta be the music itself, since this is what drives the show's thematics, supported by Ryo Takahashi of Void_Chords fame. Every episode has its own insert song, which can range from the usual impromptu healing when people are in danger, or something like mere dialogue, which I have definitely NOT seen music mixed in with dialogue that hearkens the High School Musical feel done in anime before. It can sound serious, but in certain episodes like the sports festival where the main healer girls conduct their participation in running and song, that is where I feel the potential really hits its stride by being fun and interconnected that it almost feels funny, yet surprising how this could've worked so brilliantly well.
The high point for me, is gotta be the OP and ED. The ED first out of the way, it sounds good and as what you would typically expect of an ending song. But the OP, HOLY GOD THE OP...HOLY WOWSERS it is the most MAJESTICIALLY-sounding opening song ever, that I instantly fell in love with it the first one I've listened to it, and subsequently on repeat like I was on 7th Heaven! Because it does not just look beautiful with musical tapestry all around, but the vocals are just outstanding that just strikes a chord to my heart, not to mention that the "Healer Girls" group is just basically the character VAs altogether. If only Ya Boy! Kongming's OP didn't exist this season, then this would've been my No. 1 OP of the season (2nd place is already better than never) bar none, but maybe that's just me since it instantaneously healed me from the get-go.
Mark it when I say that Healer Girl is SERIOUSLY, criminally underrated for a show that's not for everyone, but for those whom can appreciate this anime, musically-inclined or not, may it bless your heart being a personal great-to-near-masterpiece of a work that you'll never forget. As for myself, I know I'll never, EVER, forget this spectacular show that came out of nowhere to make my Mondays better alleviating the Blues, and I pray that it does the same to you too.
Marinate1016
While idol shows are extremely popular, we haven’t got many, if any musical anime. This makes Healer Girl one of the most unique shows I have seen in a very long time as well as one of the most enjoyable. An absolutely lovely hidden gem of Spring 2022. Musicals are not something I’m usually into. I normally find the random breaks into musical numbers to be cringe and uncomfortable to watch, so for a show to make me love that really speaks volumes to the writing. Unlike live action musicals, Healer Girl actually takes a pretty intuitive approach to incorporate the acts into the show. Insteadof the girls just randomly breaking out singing ala High School Musical, music is used to heal people in this world. In addition to regular medical personnel, so called Healer Girls are brought along to ensure the successful outcome of operations. The songs that are performed are always accompanied by beautiful visuals, lovely animation and of course some really amazing vocal talent, making them a treat to watch.
As with any wholesome and cozy show, the characters are the biggest sell of the show. Each and every girl in this show is waifu material and generally loveable. Personally, I fell in love with Reimi from the moment she appeared on screen. By far one of the best girls of the year. The other girls all have unique backstories and bring something different to the table creating an awesome experience.
As I said before, Healer Girl was easily the most slept on show of the season and it’s a shame. It really was such a nice way to start the week and lived up to its title by offering some nice healing after a long weekend. I will really miss the girls, performances and that gorgeous art style.
Healer Girl gets 10 notes out of 10.
ren0080
It's been so long since I last smiled while watching every episode of an anime. And to think this was the anime that made me do that... I'm smiling again just thinking about it. Now, before I review this anime, because I am 100% sure that a lot of people skipped this series and wrote it off as "generic moe sol anime but with healing", I just wanna say that technically you're not wrong for thinking that. What I'm trying to say is that this anime is not for everyone. If you hate music anime, then this isn't for you. If you hate female protagonists thenthis also isn't for you. Are you still here reading my review? Good. Now let's start breaking down why I think this is the Best Anime this season (and possibly the Best Anime this year).
First, is the plot. It's not the strongest plot out there ngl. It even started pretty generic with the protagonist (Kana) showcasing her abilities, as well as the concept of this whole show. Healing via Singing. This type of concept is not unique to this anime, but it's definitely the first series to dedicate a whole anime just for the concept alone. And I have to say, they handled the healing via singing thingy pretty well. There's not a point in this anime where the girls healed someone via singing and broke my immersion, because the singing ability is still grounded in real-life rules. For a simpler explanation, the singing is strictly for helping the patient lose their pain or calm their nerves. In other words, they're like a band-aid and an anesthetics in one package. They're not like the go-to solution to every pain and disease, no. That job still goes to doctors, and the Healer Girls are mostly there to assist the doctors.
These things are so simple yet so effective to make the world feel believable in my opinion. And that is this anime's strongest strength. Another one of its strength is the pacing. Each episode have perfect pacing that perfectly handles the conflicts in that episode. My only complaint is how in a certain episode in the latter half, they kinda f*cked up the whole sequence of cuts with present and flashbacks which is kinda confusing. Other than that, it's all perfect.
Then the characters. The characters here are all interesting and likable. Sonya is definitely the Best Girl for me. But all of them are all good girls that deserve headpats for how hard they work. They each have their development throughout the series which makes their growth a joy to watch. And their interactions with one another and how different they are from another person are also fun to see because it shows how they aren't just one-dimensional cardboards that can be replaced with anything. They're not complex and full of nuisance kind of characters, but they are still well-written characters. The side characters as well are memorable characters that had some kind of impact on the story and the characters, whether it's to develop them or to further the world-building of the series.
Let's move to the animation department. It's amazing. This is probably the best animation that I've seen that is not ufotable, kyoani, wit, or mappa. This is just that good. Its fluid with its every movement, and it barely has off-models in each frame. The art is also very consistent which is always a plus in my book. The direction too is pretty well-done. There are always meaningful and interesting shots, as well as a beautiful sequence when the girls start singing. It's just a joy to watch.
Then lastly, the music. I'm not someone to be considered when talking about music, but I know good music when I hear it. And this anime has plenty of bangers in its catalog. The ost, insert songs, opening, ending... all of them are so good. And that's to be expected from a music anime. But this is just so great, definitely up there with Love Live music imo.
Overall, I just love how solid the foundation of this anime is. It has a strong concept that greatly integrates with irl mechanics that keeps my immersion from breaking. The cast is strong and full of interesting personalities. The animation and music departments are all top-notch. It's just an anime with minimal flaws, and that's why I think that this is the Best Anime this season.
(9.6/10)
SanaeK10
Healer Girl is a show with an interesting premise that doesn't do nearly enough to capitalize on its unique premise, leading to a fine, but otherwise forgettable Slice of Life/CGDCT show. The initial premise of songs having these fantastical properties to heal would make for a wonderfully original show, and yet the girls hardly do any healing outside of a handful of episodes. The majority of the runtime is spent doing typical CGDCT stuff like school festivals or summer vacation stuff. i.e. going through the motions without doing anything special. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but when you're me and you've watched aton of the stuff, it all ends up blending together and the one thing that would have otherwise made this show stand out just doesn't do enough.
So, what? The girls do end up singing a lot, but most of the healing is delegated to emotional healing, i.e. singing songs to make people feel better, as opposed to actual healing, which as I said only happens a handful of times throughout the whole show. There are plenty of other shows where the main cast also sing to make other people feel better in one-off episodes, so already the defining feature, the very core of the whole show is rendered moot.
Then again, maybe I'm being too harsh. I really like the MCs and the songs are really well done, particularly the OP. But at the end of the day Healer Girl is an unremarkable, if nothing-wrong show that never tries to exceed expectations or to stand out in a genre swamped with many other similar shows. But hey, they'll sing a song and make you a bit happier, and isn't that all that matters?
No. No it doesn't.
6/10
Firechick12012
One thing I really love about anime is that in Japan, pretty much anything goes. People could make anime and manga for pretty much anything, from simple, slice-of-life stories with little to no conflict, or they can go balls to the wall wild and come up with the absolute craziest premises you can think of, and Japan would have no problem putting them on TV. I mean, where else can you find an anime about a general from imperial China being reincarnated into modern day Japan and helping a girl pursue a music career? Or a show about a bunch of buff dudes using sentientmonsters named after famous songs and bands to fight each other across generations and family trees? Or about a guy who fights crime while his head is literally a chainsaw? Or a show about a spy, an assassin, and a mind-reading child becoming a fake family in order to fulfill a mission sanctioned by their government? So the fact that Japan just recently made a cute anime about high school girls using singing acapella as a means to heal peoples' injuries and have it be treated as a valid medical pursuit, along with basically making it a musical at points, should be just as fun and interesting, right? Ehh...Healer Girl is fine for what it is, but it stumbles a lot in terms of how it handles its premise and many other things.
Me saying that Healer Girl is about high school girls singing as a means of healing people medically is not an exaggeration. Basically, three young women—Kana, Reimi, and Hibiki—work at a medical clinic in a small town as apprentice healers alongside their famous mentor Ria. In this world, singing and music can be used as medicine and has been officially recognized as a valid medical pursuit. Kana in particular is eager to become a healer after having been saved by one as a child, and is determined to follow in their footsteps. But so far, she and her friends are trainees and still have a lot to learn before they can earn their licenses. They also have to deal with a rival healer from another clinic, Sonia, who is determined to beat Ria at her own game, and their own personal flaws if they want to grow as healers.
So...yeah. Healer Girl is basically an anime musical in the vein of Sing a Bit of Harmony, complete with characters bursting into song at completely random times, even when it's not needed. I mean, when your whole premise involves having magic healers work side by side with surgeons, pharmacists, and traditional medical doctors, and leaning very heavily into the musical themes, it's kind of inevitable. Now, the premise by itself is actually pretty interesting, and Healer Girl does manage to do things with it, from showing the main trio actually learning the ins and outs of healing with song, having them actually partake in singing while an actual surgery is going on, the limits of what they can do at their current level, and so on. Plus, Healer Girl also manages to smartly avoid going the pseudoscience route in the vein of "You can cure cancer by singing!" by empathizing that healing with song isn't without its drawbacks, and that even in the show's universe, advances in medicine still can't cure everything. On that note, I can definitely respect Healer Girl for going all in on its premise and having a more nuanced, holistic approach to health care. The colorful, smooth animation also helps with this, making for some great visuals and imagery...though, whose bright idea was it to have the main girls have two-colored hair? It just looks weird!
Of course, that doesn't always mean Healer Girl sticks the landing, and if you couldn't tell by the rating, there's lots of areas where the show really stumbles. For one, Healer Girl as a show is extremely cheesy, treacly, and saccharine. The whole show is a bright, candy colored piece of fluff where any and all conflicts are resolved pretty easily, leaving it without much in the way of tension, and any resolutions it does offer are pretty anticlimactic. The middle section especially suffers, with the sports and cultural festival episodes being the most egregious offenders, what with having the characters sing-talk for 80% of the former, and somehow being able to flawlessly play instruments while wearing full body animal costumes in the latter. Both were completely ridiculous and really dumb. There are also times when Healer Girl seems to have very little regard for following its own rules. In one episode, when the main trio sing to soothe a surgeon's nerves, which has all the complexity of your typical Disney fairy tale wave a magic wand and get your happily ever after, they sing in a closed room, but in another episode, the girls sing WHILE in the operating room, not wearing any masks or scrubs or anything of the like, just three feet away from the surgeons and the operating table. Uh, hello?! Did the staff behind this show just forget that hospitals have strict hygiene rules, especially when surgeries are being conducted?! Say what you will about Gray's Anatomy, at least that show didn't feel the need to have surgeons and nurses not wear scrubs and masks while in the operating room! I'm pretty sure anyone who doesn't wear masks or scrubs while in the operating room would get fired for putting a patient's life at risk for infections if they did that. Basically, at times Healer Girl goes all in on its premise, but also makes serious missteps and undermines itself at times to the point where your suspension of disbelief is broken and you can't take the story seriously anymore.
The characters by themselves are perfectly fine. Nothing groundbreaking, since they start off as pretty blatant archetypes at first, and their character development is pretty predictable as well. Most of the side characters don't really do much, with Shinobu being the biggest victim of this, though I do appreciate that the anime put in the effort to give Sonia more depth to her over making her another typical alpha bitch stereotype. If there is one thing that the show does manage to nail, its the chemistry between the main trio. By themselves, Kana, Reimi, and Hibiki are pretty stock standard, but their interactions and banter do feel genuine and organic, and they actually feel like a close-knit group of gal pals who do everything together and truly cherish each other...though Reimi's whole exaggerated, obsessive, crush-like worship of Ria is pretty creepy and annoying. Plus, the show also gets some points for having plenty of adult women as respected leaders in the medical field. But as it stands, the characters have about as much depth as the cast in every Love Live series ever, which is to say...not much.
Plus, for a series that banks itself on its music, the actual songs are pretty...dull. I mean, I liked most of them, but many of the songs are the exact same boring acapella ballads but with different lyrics, with very little in the way of variety. On one hand, I could understand not wanting to have the healers sing or play heavy metal music during an operation on a patient, as that'd probably ruin a surgeon's concentration to the point that they'd put their patients' lives at risk, but nowhere does the series make any mention of this in-universe. Every single song is just plain generic, well sung as they are, and feel copy-pasted from other ones that came before it. It says a lot that the actual background music feels more inspired than the actual songs. Then again, I do listen to the opening theme song a lot, so I'm a complete hypocrite, and other shows have done far worse than Healer Girl has, so I don't want to be too hard on the show.
Basically, Healer Girl is sweet, saccharine, treacly, nice and fluff. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing really bad either. It stumbles a lot, but it does have its heart in the right place. Healer Girl as an anime is perfectly wholesome, though doesn't have much to offer than that, but it could be a great anime you can use to get your preteen relatives into anime for the first time. The show feels like it was made specifically for girls, so it'd be a nice gateway anime for your daughter, kid sister, niece, or what have you. It may be a little too overly sweet and sugary for me, but Healer Girl is better than most if you're into anime about cute girls singing wholesome ballads and want a nice musical to bop your head to. Also, can you believe this is directed by the same guy who directed Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Kurau Phantom Memory?
AguyinaRPG
Healer Girl made me smile, and that's more than enough of an endorsement as far as I'm concerned. A show that takes on the genre of musical theater in a serious way, it has just enough depth to keep it from being entirely light and fluffy, though it yearns to find its full voice. You will know if you want to go through the rest of the show by the time the opening on Episode 1 ends. The theme of this show is right there in the title, "healing", which is also representative of its specific anime subgenre, Iyashikei. Not only does the story revolve aroundthe healing power of music, it's meant to make you feel good above everything else. This does unfortunately mean that it holds back on dramatic and powerful exploration of its mixed medical-magical setting.
Being neither a comedy nor a drama, the characters are mostly defined by their likes and goals, which are fairly well realized. I never purely felt that any of the main cast was a pure archetype, and the tight web of relationships says a lot of subtle things about each of them. It's a testament to why Iyashikei stories are popular, despite not having traditional forms of overwhelming conflict. The director of this show also directed Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood so you know he has the chops to make a lot out of a little.
The show's look is very appealing, though there are very few truly incredible moments of animation. What it is able to do is wring out a lot out of the climactic musical sequences, even if they are a little bit held back by the simplicity of the frame count. Magic truly feels magical and actual spontaneous singing - integrated into the story - is given a directorial care that really pulls you into the moment. It's effective musical theater that's only able to use spectacle occasionally, but very well.
What's clear about Healer Girl's story is that it's more about *themes* than plot. This is a real shame because there's a lot of world details that are calling out desperately for more exploration. The relationship between healing and the sciences, the various forms which Healers are able to observe as they sing, why unpracticed healing needs to be regulated. All of these details are only lightly touched upon, creating a certain air of mystery but begging for proper development. What we get instead is learning about the building blocks of the main girls, why they got into the profession and why they have the bond they do now. It's depth that is used to make the little details and interactions shine for than the main center of the story.
The overall theme of healing begets perhaps the biggest narrative point to the show, passing knowledge on. Learning is at the center of every episode in some way or other. There's experimentation, problem solving, formal and informal training, mentorship, and inspiration. These are not delved into as much as they should be, again only hinting at what's possible if the show took a more dramatic tone. It perhaps would have been good if the songs were more crafted to explore that, but despite actual wording in the show saying that the content of a song was important, they tend to be more generally uplifting rather than targeted, save for a few cases.
Healer Girl does a lot with the concept of a musical anime that people who like musicals will love. There's always a song in each episode, all interestingly placed with their own unique narrative purpose. It makes me relish the potential of these two forms of storytelling, while also acknowledging that what we were given was plenty enjoyable by itself. Taking Healer Girl on its own terms as the specific something it is, I do truly think it's worth your time. At the same time, the biggest flaw of the show is the tepidness to go further with its best aspects to lean too hard into the type of genre it is. I've never wanted a sequel or spiritual successor to something more than this show.
(Side Note: This anime was also made under very amiable circumstances, according to the director. While it doesn't have the 'oomph' presentation of something like Bocchi the Rock! or even Flip Flappers by the same studio I can still see the love put into the production and I think it's important to relish ethically-made shows even if they aren't the most impressive. A big thumbs up to the management on this one.)
SneakyWeazel
Don't think I've ever bothered to review an anime in the decade I've spent on this site. Healer Girl was so enjoyable I felt it was time to finally break that streak. It found a great way to blend the mundane with the majestic. The table stakes aren't saving the world here, they're saving your neighbor or family friend with the power of the Healer songs. Still Healer Girl does a great job of drawing you in as you become attached to the characters and their journey to grow and improve. The music and art were definitely my favorite parts of this show as the characters singingconjures up beautiful landscapes visualizations of their songs healing power.
It gets off to a bit of a slow start but after a few episodes I was hooked. This is on pace to probably be my anime of the year.
Blue_Maroon
It’s a solid slice of life anime. Easy to enjoy given the easygoing tone, wholesome themes, and some character that carves out a niche for itself within the genre. Note that if you hate musicals (for some reason) you may have a tough time getting into this one. This is a musical through and through, with at least one musical number in every episode. How well they connect to the story varies, but I think they do a good job with it for the most part. The songs are performed well and the visuals have a little more flair than you’d expect given how the rest ofthe show looks. That isn’t to say that this show looks bad, but it’s in a bit of a different style that may look cheap compared to higher budget anime.
If you like slice of life shows, I’d say give a couple episodes a shot. You can tell the people behind this anime actually cared about it so it has some charm to it. No biggie if it’s not your thing.
i-like-this
Disney Pseudoscience. Healer Girl is a fun, slice-of-life, moé shows about three high schoolers pursuing a medical career by becoming “Healers”, doctors(?) who can heal people using only the power of their singing voice. Well-animated and very colourful, there's a lot to like about this anime. The core three apprentices Kana, Reimi and Hibiki have excellent character chemistry from beginning to end and their interactions are both charming and amusing. The fourth poster healer Sonia who is Kana's more experienced healer classmate is very underutilised which is probably for the best because, in all honesty, her presence can get a bit insufferable. The singing is notablebecause it’s not just tied to their jobs as healers. The three of them can just burst into song over literally anything and the animation is so crisp and whimsical that you’d be mistaken in thinking this anime was made to be a Disney+ exclusive. It’s cute, charming and sometimes funny as it’s very clear the girls are ad-libbing lyrics. It’s a nice touch.
However, the show is very light on story and actual character development so after a couple of episodes the song-and-dance formula starts to get stale. When that happens you start to think about the actual lore and logistics of a clinic that has a doctor sit and sing (presumably unaccompanied) at a patient with a broken leg before giving out medical advice and the world-building starts to fall apart. The show doesn’t confirm whether or not these singing powers are actual magic or powers so when you watch a literal open-heart surgery scene with girls dressed in white singing at the surgeons you can help but feel the concept has turned a bit stupid. It feels like something Gwyneth Paltrow's company Goop would practice and sell.
Healer Girl is okay. It has a lot of good things going for it, but enough idiosyncrasies that may take a viewer who likes detail out of the experience. What I'm saying is, it’s a very slice-of-life anime.
6/10 It’s Okay *Thumbs Up*
YukiSakura128
I am so happy that i was able to stumble upon this anime since the first episode i was hooked, i have never in my life find an anime that made me want to cry at every single episode cause of how amazing the songs and the melodies were, its truly an amazing anime and the songs are just so soothing and so kind of like angelic since ive watched alot of animes where people sing or play instruments i have never felt this with any other anime except this anime this anime was truly one of a kind and i wish there was aseason 2 just cause i would want to keep listening to them sing and produce such amazing music that moved my heart.
it always makes me wonder what other incredible songs and music did the singers do and look at what the producer has done before cause it was just so surprising to find an anime that was this amazing
AkiraChinami
Well, that finale sure did sneak up on me. Maybe that's my fault for not double-checking how many episodes this season would have, but in my defense, it's a bold move to have your final episode involve splitting up the central cast and sending one of them to the other side of the ocean. That's something you usually have to spend at least two episodes on! That surprise may also be why I'm kind of split on this final episode. On the one hand, it does a pretty solid job of wrapping things up in a way that feels satisfying without precluding the possibility of acontinuation. There's no sequel baiting, because Healer Girl isn't a show about plot to begin with, but it's clear that while our Healer trio have hit a significant milestone in their journey, there's still plenty more left for them and Ria to do. We do get one important reveal – that helping Kana on that plane all those years ago was what inspired Ria to fully dedicate herself to Healing – and that's a great way to bring this whole story full circle, at least in a thematic sense. After all the times we've seen Ria working as their mentor, it's a touching reminder that helping these girls grow is also fulfilling to her as well.
Likewise, our trio just happening to be on a plane with a young girl having an asthma attack stretches the limits of dramatic convenience, but also this is Healer Girl. If you have that much cynicism over something like that, you probably tapped out back when they had the catgirl maid concert. This show has long been willing to sever the reigns of realism for the sake of schmaltz, and I wouldn't want it to stop in its final half-hour. Cheesy as it is, it's also a sweet way to show just how far our girls have come from the start, and to signify them reaching a new stage of their journey where they can begin paying forward with the things they've learned from their mentors.
On the other hand though, this episode introduces a ton of cool ideas that just don't get the time to breathe, because whoops we also have to end the series. They send Kana all the way to the United States for her month-long internship, and we see basically none of it. Hibiki spends a whole month sitting in on surgeries and studying with doctors, but it's all shown in a brief montage. Reimi goes to Sonia's clinic and they have a duet but we never even get to hear it! These are really exciting concepts you could build a whole story arc around, allowing the girls to grow and change while apart. Yet we just have to accept that it all happened off-screen because we still need to get these healer blobs on an airplane for the closing segment. There are still a few solid moments – Reimi's reasoning for cutting her hair (and Sonia being adorably tsundere about it) stands out in my memory – but on the whole this is a bizarre way to tease really interesting story ideas that are just glossed over, and it definitely deflates this finale for me.
On the third, mutant hand extending out of my shoulder that's constantly doing jazz hands, it's hard to stay too angry at this episode/show when it has the gall to end it on a full musical number. And by that I mean it's not just the characters dancing and singing, nor is it merely a Healing Image. Going by the eyelines and reactions of every non-Healer character, it seems like Kana, Hibiki, Reimi, Sonia, and Shinobu are flying over the city through sheer power of song. The cynic in me wants to complain about this weird break from literalism, but that part of me has been in the ICU since episode three, and the rest of my psyche was too busy looking out the window and seal clapping to listen to it. This is the perfect move for Healer Girl to end on, throwing realism out the window for a pure explosion of sentiment, music, and indulgent animation.
And that seems to be it for this colorful, fluffy bundle of cotton candy. A few times now I've compared it to Love Live!, and at the end that still feels like a pretty apt point of reference. While it stumbled more than a few times with heavier drama, at its core Healer Girl has mostly succeeded in being the bubbly, musical, unerringly sweet show it set out to be. Like anything sweet, it can definitely be Too Much at times, but to belabor one last musical metaphor, it's like a bubblegum pop song: simple, effervescent, and just the perfect kind of catchy to stay stuck in your head until the heat death of the universe.
MidniteAndBeyond
I stinkin love anime, y'all! I love it so stinkin much! I love discovering new shows, good and bad. Trying something out because SOMETHING speaks to me at a first glance. Even if it doesn't turn out great, its fun to just discover and experience new things. And when you're actively searching new shows from years past instead of just following along with whats current and trendy like everyone else, you end up finding some truly magical shows that you'll never forget. LIKE THIS ONE, FOR EXAMPLE! There's no shortage of idol anime, we all know that. But there aren't really a whole lot of animemusicals. This one treads the line between musical and music show, and I truly can't think of any other anime like it. ITS SO. STINKIN. GOOD. The animation is to DIE for! Its so stinkin bright and colorful and vibrant and expressive! The characters are all really lovable and fun to be around. With the main cast being voiced by relatively unknown seiyuu, which was EXTREMELY impressive! And there's new songs EVERY. SINGLE. EPISODE! Sometimes through the characters singing their dialogue and sometimes through full on musical numbers. There's never a dull moment and this show's signature style is sprinkled all throughout, from beginning to end. If I had ONE complaint, I kinda wish they went a bit further with the subtitles during the songs being fit to match the syllables of the lyrics, rather than being direct translations. I know songs typically aren't translated that way because it'd be SOOOO much extra work. But for this show being all about music, I feel like its kinda warranted and would've only amplified my enjoyment since I'm singing the lines in my head as I read, regardless. This show was so special and its a crime that its only 12 episodes long. I'd give anything for a sequel or another show in this style. If you take only one recommendation from me this year, let it be this.
10/10
alquimistablanco
Healer girl is halfway between a music/idol anime and a magical girl medical serial. Bottom line: it's quite good! The singers harmonize well and the instrumentation is meant to be emotive and at times tearjerky, but you're not going to find a whole lot of straight bangers on the level of Zombieland Saga Revenge (S2). It is nonetheless a pleasant entry in the genre of music anime. Story (6/10): The premise is fairly simple. There is a semi-magical branch of medicine that can be done with singing, and each of the episodes revolves around the main characters (healers in training) helping people, including each other, withtheir songs and learning more about music and themselves. Most of the episodes follow the "someone needs healing but standard medical treatment isn't available" pattern [enter magic music Healing], but a few episodes are dedicated to exploring different settings, skills, and character backstories. There was one particular episode where the plot seemed quite contrived to establish a "reset" by the end of the episode, but I'm nitpicking.
Being semi-formulaic is by no means a crime, but if you are looking for a deep overarching, consequential plot or a really deep character exploration, this ain't it. It's good, but nothing to write home about.
Characters (6/10): As is the case with many anime surrounding niche interests/disciplines/fields/whatever, each of the main characters as well as most of the supporting cast is color-coded and represents some aspect of that discipline in which they are especially skilled... and most of them don't really have many more character traits than the couple they need to fulfill that role. They did do a nice little character exploration of their inferiority complexes and imposter syndrome later in the season, but for the most part each of them stays in their box. All together, the cast harmonizes well, but individually their characters don't have an abundance of exploration or development. The fact that one of the character's main traits was "simp for sensei" got on my nerves for a bit, tbh, but even she gets some last-minute self-reflection. Overall, good, not great, but with a sizable cast and only 12 eps to work with, what can you do?
Art (8/10): The art is overall very pretty. There's a little too much "green field with lakes" for my taste in all the infinite musical "images" that the Healers can propagate, but they're well done and expand on their repertoire as the series goes on and do a fascinating visualization of a surgery assist later on. The OP is animated very well... perhaps too well, as their effusive hand gestures honestly creeped me out on my first few viewings. The characters are animated very well overall, and the animators knew how to draw the eye away from scenes where they needed to cut corners for one reason or another. All in all, the visuals accompanied and enhanced the music skillfully and brought the most out of their characters while also not necessarily being breathtaking. Quality stuff.
Sound (8/10): This is a music anime, and the singers are good. That's the most important thing in my book. The voice actors give good performances for their limited characters as well. There were an abundance of songs used (at least one new song per episode) both in Healing and as a narration device, which the musical-lover in me enjoyed. That being said, I wasn't necessarily blown away by any one of the specific performances. They were all pretty, competently to very well done, and fit what was happening in the story, but there is a limited range of emotion involved in many of the songs. The subtitle of the series is "Kindhearted, powerful songs heal the world", and virtually all the songs in the series fit the "kindhearted" description. Again, nothing wrong with a series accomplishing exactly what it sets out to do, but I do feel like there was a missed opportunity to explore via music some of the frustrations and feelings of inadequacy that the show at least cursorily explored.
Overall, this was an enjoyable series about cute girls singing cute magical songs to help the people around them while learning a little bit more about themselves. I had a good time with it, though it did not heal my COVID. 7/10
MelodyOfMemory
A charming and worthy entry into the magical girl genre. Instead of fighting, magic singing is used to heal, through a magical realist approach where the singers work with the real-world healthcare system. There's a song in every episode, so those who hate musicals can stop reading at this point, but otherwise, the songs are as amazing as one would expect, with the OP being the glorious soaring orchestrated standout (so good that they actually play the full version at one point). The producers also constantly throw in little scenes demonstrating how well-versed they are in music and how much they geek out over it. Thecast is a very likable bunch. Kana Fujii is nominally the protagonist, but in reality, it's more of an ensemble cast where each of the main trio gets to star in certain episodes, and this rotating focus even becomes a key plot point late into the series. My favourite is Hibiki, who seems to be the calm, competent one that's good at everything, but then the last few episodes reveal she's just as vulnerable as the other two. It's meta-amusing how the series toys with the "best girl" concept in that final arc, and the message to come out of it is a good one, which makes up for how slow the anime could be through the middle.
Despite its intriguing premise, there's a long stretch where the actual healing takes a back seat in favour of typical anime slice of life shenanigans. While the episodes themselves are still compelling, especially Episode 8 where things take a dramatic turn with Reimi's home situation, and they actually do provide relevant character development for later on, it's understandable to think "When do we get back to the therapeutic music?" The last third does make the wait worthwhile, when their force of nature mentor Ria Karasuma gets more involved in the story, both through showing the immense and beautifully animated power of an experienced adult healer, and revealing some heartwarming connections to the girls' past. Having them reach C-rank at the end is a good way to cap things off, leaving things open to imagine how much more they have to learn to reach Ria's level.
Rival Sonia Yanagi seems like an obnoxious tsundere stereotype, but given the nature of the show, she's actually revealed to be a kind person with a relatable competitive streak, as her syco-friend Shinobu attests to from the beginning. The shy Shinobu is adorable in her own right, being a literal accompanist to the other four girls, and deserved a lot more screen time and exploration of her backstory. It's quite heartwarming to see these two steadily join forces with the main three, and it's too bad this series will likely not get a second season as it would have been amazing to see more of their potential as a five-girl group.
Overall, not the deepest anime, but a chill, relaxing one that will put a smile on many viewers' faces and seeing talented women doing their thing is always a joyous occasion. Also, the book that Ria reads at the end opens the possibility of George Sand's La Petite Fadette being canon to the series. Could Fadette have been the progenitor healer girl? Who knows.
