Kageki Shoujo!!

[MFauli]

Episode 5:

All caught up, yay.

First, about prior episodes: I kinda hate this stereotype of otaku as disgusting, ugly men. Even while he turned out to be a good guy in the end, it still sucks how ugly people in anime aren't just ugly, no, they MUST be bad people on top of it. It reinforces real-world prejudices that I myself, unfortunately, am too aware of. I wish anime would stop doing that. People can be pretty and bad, too.

Now, about episode 5. I got teary eyes when the music teacher wouldn't just leave Yamada to herself and actually went after her to give her an awesome prop speech. That was just so bonafide nice of him.

On the other hand, the ballet teacher is a total psycho. She KNEW about Yamada's eating disorder and just went "oh well. if she cannot understand it by herself, she's better off failing". She's not a doctor, she doesn't know how dangerous an eating disorder can be and she let it go on nonetheless. Bulimia is such a well-known disorder amongst young girls, especially in the show industry. As a professional, she should have known better. A renonwned school as theirs surely would have a dietarian who'd work out a proper weight loss plan for Yamada, right? Tsktsktsk ...

Seeing the other girls realize how Sarasa shines bright above them was nice, too.

I was disappointed that they ddn't show us at least 1-2 minutes of the theater piece, though. Reminds me of the recent criticism against Bokutachi Remake, where the projects Kyouya and Co. do are either never shown or super generic. I wanted to see some tier A-animation that really hammered it into my head how amazing this theater school is. But they didn't show that. Bummer.

What also irked me in earlier episodes: So the abusing guy is still with Ai-chan's mom?! And her uncle, the teacher, went as far as installing a lock, but left it at that?! That's just dumb. In-before "young girls are scared and wont tell others" blablabla. Whether that's tre or not, it's infuriating.

Anyway, this anime is nice. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece so far, but it's certainly one of the best new anime I'Ve seen this season. Thanks for the recommendation, Ryll.

[Ryllharu]

First, about prior episodes: I kinda hate this stereotype of otaku as disgusting, ugly men. Even while he turned out to be a good guy in the end, it still sucks how ugly people in anime aren't just ugly, no, they MUST be bad people on top of it. It reinforces real-world prejudices that I myself, unfortunately, am too aware of. I wish anime would stop doing that. People can be pretty and bad, too.

A couple of clarifying points. "Creepy Otaku Guy" Was a misdirect from the start, that's really the whole point of that arc. He's a recovering hikkimori. He admires Narata because she isn't an outgoing, constantly smiling typical idol. She's introverted and expressionless. He saw himself in her, and through his fandom, found friends, a job, and starting getting out more. But his shyness got to him, and when he caused her to get fired, he 'stalked' her all the way to Kouka to apologize. The anime went out of its way to show that Narata's attractive fans were actually worse, and knew proper boundaries less. Mikiya was just caught in an unfortunate timing, like she said. She would have snapped at someone else if it wasn't him. He was a good enough person to not be hurt by her rejection.

Also, the dancing stuff with Sarasa. He's a pretty awesome dude. The whole point of his little arc was about shattering misconceptions that are caused by looking only at appearances, which is why Sarasa bonded with him quickly, and why the bitchy senpai got called out by her classmates. Also, thinking about it, it even dovetails into Sarasa's mentor-senpai, who explained about how she's older than everyone else, and that's fed into her drive to succeed despite not being as innately gifted as her own classmates.

On the other hand, the ballet teacher is a total psycho. She KNEW about Yamada's eating disorder and just went "oh well. if she cannot understand it by herself, she's better off failing". She's not a doctor, she doesn't know how dangerous an eating disorder can be and she let it go on nonetheless. Bulimia is such a well-known disorder amongst young girls, especially in the show industry. As a professional, she should have known better. A renonwned school as theirs surely would have a dietarian who'd work out a proper weight loss plan for Yamada, right? Tsktsktsk ...

I think you're missing the point of that scene in the staff room. The mean thing was calling her a fatty, but the ballet teacher is really toughening up the girls against their peers. She mentioned to the other teachers that they will get bullied in the troupe, either by their peers or their competition's fans, and we've already seen that with the bitchy girl Hijiri. Not may get bullied. Will get bullied. She's happy to screw with Narata and try to undermine her while mentoring her, and she's tried to get Sarasa kicked out as well, just for fun.

I think you're misunderstanding about the eating disorder part. Yes, she ultimately triggered it, but Yamada would have had it one time or another if she was prone to it. The more important part is that the ballet teacher recognized it immediately, and demanded that Yamada start producing a meal log so she'd have proof. She looked at the results, and promptly informed the rest of the staff with a troubled expression. If their vocal teacher hadn't taken her to the hospital, I expect the ballet teacher would have. Yamada collapsed earlier than the teachers expected, or before they could confront her about her growing eating disorder.

Tachibana warned her very gently to not hurt herself, then requested the log.

Who we should be mad at is the other girls. Narata recognized it, but the others probably did too. They all said nothing, even her roommates who definitely knew. Narata did try but botched it.

I was disappointed that they ddn't show us at least 1-2 minutes of the theater piece, though. Reminds me of the recent criticism against Bokutachi Remake, where the projects Kyouya and Co. do are either never shown or super generic. I wanted to see some tier A-animation that really hammered it into my head how amazing this theater school is. But they didn't show that. Bummer.

Didn't they though? We saw part of Romeo & Juliet, and the honestly strange shit that Takarazuka Revue does as interludes. I think it is safer to say that if you know what Takarazuka is, you don't need to see all that much do understand what they're referencing. For westerners, yeah, seeing more of it would be helpful, but for Japan, Takarazuka is as immediately recognizable as anime itself. References are thrown around in anime and manga all the time.

If you poke around, there's a lot of Takarazuka Revue fans watching this series, throwing all sorts of crazy info around about how connected this is. The two veterans that the girls met on the stairs are voiced by actual Takarazuka stars, or at least former ones. The music for the entire series is done by a composer who worked with Takarazuka for twenty years. That's why the ED sounds like one of their songs with male and female parts by the voice actors. It very much is intended to be one.

What also irked me in earlier episodes: So the abusing guy is still with Ai-chan's mom?! And her uncle, the teacher, went as far as installing a lock, but left it at that?! That's just dumb. In-before "young girls are scared and wont tell others" blablabla. Whether that's tre or not, it's infuriating.

I thought he put the lock on because she asked, but Ai eventually moved out and lived with him while she was in JPX.

[MFauli]

Didn't they though?

They showed a montage of a couple different scenes. But none had overly great animation. I would have hoped we'd get some high quality animation for that part, to really show the audience "THAT is the place our heroes want to get to, and LOOK how awesome it is!". It didn't look all that awesome. Just some people doing theatre. If I had to make a comparison: Think back to those special fights in Naruto. Rock Lee vs. Gaara, Kyuubi Naruto vs Sasuke pre-timeskip. That kind of all-out animations. Would have made it more impressive.

I thought he put the lock on because she asked, but Ai eventually moved out and lived with him while she was in JPX.

And he didn't ask why she wanted a lock? Especially after how scared she was when he appeared there?

Thing is, at this point she has no weight to accuse the guy of anything. That forced french kiss happened years ago, nobody else saw it happen, nothing can be proved. If we as the audience didn't know, I'd say: Tough luck, but a man shouldn't be punished on mere accusations without proof.

Had she said something right after if happened, it would have been believable enough to take action. Although she has a good ally with her uncle, she should tell him at least.