Aikatsu Planet!

I'll warn you in advance that Aikatsu Planet is definitely a show for people who already like idol anime. As someone who's spent six years of their life deeply embedded in idol culture, this show was a breath of fresh air. Both live action and animated segments blend beautifully. It always makes narrative sense when the girls are in the Aikatsu world, so the transition isn't jarring. I'm always a sucker for the cheesy idol friendship moments and this show has those in spades, but they never come off as cringey. 25 episodes is the perfect length of time to connect with the characters. Nomain character is left unexplored. The show also addresses a lot of modern issues with the vtuber community. There are benefits and drawbacks to anonymity. I appreciate the show's willingness to be honest about how a double life can impact someone, especially a child, even if it does simplify the issue for it's child audience. The music is the most important part of a show like this, though, and they NAILED IT. This is the first time I've downloaded an idol soundtrack while the show was still airing. If you're an idol fan, please consider watching. The live action segments may confuse you at first, but this show is completely worth your time.

Mao Otoha is like any teenager: she goes to school, hangs out with her friends and always tries to get ahead in her studies. Her interest is ballet, but he has put it aside. Lack of interest? Perhaps. Mao is also not very interested in the world of music. One day, with her best friend, Shiori, she sees the concert of a virtual idol named Hana. Although she catches your eye, she has never imagined working in this industry. But there's a little problem. The idol behind Hana in the real world has disappeared and the agency she works for is in trouble as Hanahas an agenda to fulfill. What will Hana's manager do? Aikatsu is a franchise that will be turning 10 years old in 2022, it is an anime that already has several seasons with different stories and characters. "Planet" renewed the idea by creating a universe which combines live action with animation. Although the main defect is the lack of ability to act, the effort of young actresses is noted to interpret different emotions in addition to the basics: singing and dancing. You can see the training they had before starting to record the chapters. The part of the songs are really good. All actress has the basic ability in singinf and if yopu search if the singles and albums you can enjoy them In animation it is good. I mean, it isn't a cheap animation. When the idols and on the scenario singing and dancing is when we can see the most attractive animation this production has to offer. The negative part is that meanwhile, the animation is basic and have some mistakes In general, Aikatsu Planet is fun to watch although some episodes are somewhat annoying, these can be easily skipped as the personalities of some of the characters can be very cloying and not very credible.

Very good entry into the Aikatsu! franchise for people who want something from tokusatsus other than henshin heroes and kaijus (which I love with all myself, but limiting the tokusatsu medium to those ones makes no sense). In facts, as a person who is pretty sceptical of the meshing of anime and tokusatsus in general (see my review of the Red Baron anime reboot), I must say I'm pretty surprised the meshing actually worked in this show, because the transition between the two mediums is pretty much seamless and you can actually believe that the ladies in the live-action portion of the show end havinganother completely different identity in the virtual world. Identity in the virtual world which in all the cases it's a feast for the eye for the hetero men who watch these shows for the good looking ladies singing good songs. As characters and story goes, as it is custom from any tokusatsu or tokusatsu-adjacent show ever made period (and as it is understandable from a show made to sell virtual idol cards used to battle a là Pokemon style) there's no story or characters proper to speak of but, again, if you're here for the technical aspect of the tokusatsu meshed with the anime part - as intended from the producers themselves, as clearly this wasn't made for the hardcore Aikatsu fandom but for the people who also watch henshin heroes - you don't care one bit for any character or story or whatever to begin with as tokusatsus are not story or character driven anyway. The only real downside I see in this is that some songs (which are all fun anyway) might get a bit repetitive on the longer run, but there are worst cases in that sense I can think of (Mahou No Tenshi Creamy Mami, for example). In facts, I'd rather take this show over the last nonsensically overhyped Kamen Rider show I've watched (the Gavv, which is not the BeZteZt reiwa KR show ever somebody online makes it out to be), the last mind-numbing boring Kamen Rider zeztz episodes, the not-particularly enticing (to be generous) first episodes of Gavan Infinity or hamfisted toku/anime meshings like the terrible Tojima wants to be a Kamen Rider thing (particularly over this one) anyday, anytime. Highly recommended. Sincere thanks to the Masterpiece going by the name of Kimi To Idol Precure (they shared the main writer) for getting me to know this franchise to begin with and congratulations to Bandai for finally pulling it off on their own (without the involvment of neither Toei nor Tsuburaya, I mean) after the Girl Gun Lady Fiasco produced in the same year this show was made.