LegendAqua

♪ Rookie seiyuu, availability is first, acting comes in second ♪ Everyone. please meet the cynical sister to Sore ga Seiyuu!, Gi(a)rlish Number!. Gi(a)rlish Number is another one of those workplace animes like SHIROBAKO or for more precise for this review, Sore ga Seiyuu!, this time it looks at the voice acting, light novel and anime industry through the lens of cynical narcissistic Chitose, in comparison to Sora ga Seiyuu's Futaba Ichinose optimistic ones. The main group of seiyuu's Chitose Karasuma voiced by Sayaka Senbongi (Koutetsujou no Kabaneri as Mumei, Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku as Claire Kokonoe), Koto Katakura voiced by Yui Ishikawa (Shingeki no Kyojin as Mikasa Ackerman,Qualidea Code as Canaria Utara, Owari no Seraph as Shigure Yukimi), Yae Kugayama voiced by Kaede Hondo (Handa-kun as Miyoko Kinjou, 91 Days as Luce Lagusa), Kazuha Shibasaki voiced by Saori Oonishi (Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka as Ais Wallenstein, Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata as Eriri Spencer Sawamura, Shiougeki no Souma as Hisako Arato) and Momoka Sonou voiced by Eri Suzuki (Amanchu! as Hikari Kohinata, flying witch as Chinatsu Kuramoto, Heavy Object as Milinda Brantini) felt like caricatures as the ACTUAL seiyuu's and their careers, such as Kazuha Shibasaki and Momoka Sonou being some recent veterans into the industry and knows all the pitfalls and perks to the industry (as Eri Suzuki and Saori Oonishi have been in the industry longer just by seeing their voice acting roles) compared to the newbies like Yae and Chitose. Though Chitose's parallel to Sayaka Senbongi a bit with Gi(a)rlish Number actually with Sayaka Senbongi being casted in Koutetsujou no Kabaneri as Mumei (a lead role), similar to her being one of the leads in the in-universe Gi(a)rlish Number plot. Koto Katakura as Yui Ishikawa felt like it was what happened with Yui Ishikawa in Shingeki no Kyojin and her gaining knowledge from the industry from a "hit anime" and that transferred into Yui Ishikawa's character. It's just LA's meta-thoughts about Gi(a)rlish Number and the obvious reasons of LA wondering about the voice acting industry. Meta-talking aside, LA wants to delve into the characters themselves. Shall we?. Let's start with Momoka and Kazuha, for the most part they are the sempai's to Yae, Chitose and Koto, they to have some cynicism in the form of their parental issues with being a seiyuu. Momoka and Kazuha have a bit of duality when it comes to their parental issues and becomes a major focus for the both of them. See Momoka's mother is a famous seiyuu and Momoka herself being brought up into the same industry as her, she is effectively put in the shadow of her mother when it comes to Momoka's job as a seiyuu, this contrasts quite well with Kazuha's more resistant parents especially Kazuha's father who dislikes Kazuha being in "fanservicey" acts with her job and wants her to quit, this kind of duality with both Momoka and Kazuha helps develop these characters for the most part and as much as it opens up both Momoka and Kazuha, their personalities are pretty much the same by the end of it. Next is Yae and Koto. Yae doesn't get the best character development with her being a rookie like Koto and Chitose and she effectively becomes the cheerleader to Chitose by her arc and not much else. Koto is the exposition fairy and mild comedic relief and also has the same position as Yae another cheerleader for Chitose. Now with all this Chitose this and that. It's time for Chitose, she is LA's favourite character and pretty much has the last half of the anime to herself along with the shady, don't give a crap Kuzu-P and his name is apt at that. Chitose gains a great deal of character development, all from how she see's the industry, as for her to gain popularity and not caring how she'll do it and quite the narcissistic, cynical behavior to go with it might LA add. Her character development really grows from what would happen if a seiyuu gains popularity but falls from grace quite quickly as the in-universe audience too quickly fades Chitose as a "main lead" from a "shitty anime". Thinking back on it though the circumstances isn't exactly the same, it reminds LA of real life seiyuu's like Yui Kondou to Asami Imai to Mari Nakatsu and hell even Ikumi Hayama who went through something like this fading from popularity after some main leading roles. Really Chitose's development as a rookie seiyuu and her experiences as one isn't all rainbows and easy pickings on the next roles she gets, bringing in the cynicism of the seiyuu industry. Gi(a)rlish Number also jabs in how the current (as LA writes this review) landscape of light novel adaptations anime are been looked at also with the same cynical look at "anyone can write, but not everyone can act, what good are light novel authors if all they do make hack stories that gets made into anime boom" and very quick jabs at the light novel industry as well as the main anime the Gi(a)rlish Number cast are casted in is a light novel anime with abyssal production values due to...well Kuzu-P, on speaking of which. Kuzu-P voiced by Kazuya Nakai gets something of a simultaneous character development along with Chitose bringing in the parallels to each other but for Kuzu-P on the producer side, his character development fall from grace and slow gains afterwards is nothing but what happens when a producer only cares about money and not the overall product of the anime and he'll drag EVERYONE one else down just to get his ambitions done with.....he does get "better" with the help of Chitose but only "slightly". Really both Kuzu-P and Chitose reigns in the statement that yes the seiyuu industry is a rather harsh and brutal industry and that even "wasted potential" from a person with horrible personality can still have the potential to do great, cynical but uplifting for those in this brutal industry that we as the audience especially outside Japan, don't get an honest look at this brutal industry. In terms of diomedea, the anime is full of moe, however LA will bring up this point about the moe and the cynicism "clashing" with each other. The moe in LA's eyes does NOT clash with the cynicism from the characters, if anything the moe helps highlight the fact that it is using moe which is a prevalent style in the anime industry to appeal to the demographic as being "cute and nothing else" to actually utilizing this same style to show that moe is being manipulative and cynical much like how the characters are being portrayed and their own cynical intentions of the "moe anime industry boom", it's not a detriment or clashes as it makes the point of using moe as their own antithesis to point out the cynical nature of the anime and it's own jabs at it's own industry. Ok with that rant out of the way, the moe aesthetics if anything is pleasing to the eye and the character designer QP;flapper with it's bolder, moe and colorful designs made the character designs overall one of the best things about the animation. Well LA is gonna talk about voice acting in a voice acting anime, well what can LA say but favourite character = favourite seiyuu, it goes to Sayaka Senbongi as LA really loved Chitose's narcissistic and snarky attitude for the most part and used for all the jabbing at the other characters she did, but also given Sayaka range gave her a chance to do DRAMA at the same time. LA will quite honestly say that the voice cast did a 100% really, from Kaede Hondo to Yui Ishikawa, Eri Suzuki and Saori Oonishi and the more gung-ho characters like Kuzu-P's Kazuya Nakai and Namba Shachou voiced by Kenyuu Horiuchi, the CEO of Number One Produce and even Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as...himself???...huh they pulled a Sore ga Seiyuu with that one. Nonetheless, the voice cast is great in Gi(a)rlish Number and to be expected from an anime about voice acting! Gi(a)rlish Number is another one of Wataru Watari's (Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru., Qualidea Code) original cynical creations and that blatantly shows, but having a cynical look at an industry that is more or less that is under wraps and hardly told to us about in greater detail but shown in a brutally honest yet cynical side of it's industry through the eyes and manifested in Chitose went through is somewhat refreshing take on the "workplace anime". Gi(a)rlish Number with some odd yet cynically encouraging theme of even a horrible person with a horrible personality wants to be in an dog eat dog industry like being a seiyuu can still have the potential to be a great one if one can apply themselves and move with the flow of the brutal and cynical industry they work in instead of being left behind.

Razovy

{Razovy} [NO SPOILERS] First of all I want to say that I consider this anime not only to be the best of this season (fall 2016) but also to be one of the best I've ever seen! If you like a feel good show about funny characters trying to make it in the world of voice acting than this anime is definitely for you! Story 10 / 10 The story itself starts out with Chitose who, with the help of her brother / manager, is making her big deput as one of the main characters of a new anime. She's awful at first, but gradually gets better by learningfrom her fellow actors / friends. What struck me as odd when taking a look at the genres after finishing this amazing anime is that the only genre included is "slice of life". The great thing about this anime is not just the interaction between the characters but also the amazing jokes and the drama (that will definitely surprise you since it starts out very mellow and fun). As I said before this show is a feel good show and one of the best out there! Normally when I watch the last episode of an anime I feel bad since it's over (or relieved when it was awful), but when I watched the last episode of Girlish Number I sat there with a smile on my face, looking back at an incredibly wonderful experience! The plot itself was amazing but slow moving at times which I'm sure could bother some of you (one of the few flaws this anime had). This is unfortunate as I think that the writers could have spend some of the screen time on more interesting things... Characters 10 / 10 The characters are AMAZING! Although Chitose was the main character, I felt a connection with every single one of them, especially Kuzu-san, who to me will always be a very memorable character. In fact, I could watch this whole anime again just for Kuzu alone! What I mean by this is that every character was very interesting: I'm sure that for every character, major and minor, a whole new anime could be created, that's how good the character development of this show is. Every character gets enough screen time to make them interesting and at the end of the show they all seem to have made great progress, which leaves you with a very satisfying feeling. Art 10 / 10 Now this is of course very personal, but when I think of amazing art I think of Girlish Number. It's really colorful, the character design is amazing and the backgrounds were beautiful! Since art is incredibly subjective I'll keep it short: when I think of anime art, this is what I want to see. Sound 8 / 10 I like the OP theme so much that I'm listening to it right now while I'm typing this! The ED theme is awesome, and the OST of the show is great too. Giving the soundtrack a 10 would be an exaggeration since I can name a few other anime that have a better soundtrack then Girlish Number, but nonetheless the great OP theme and the nice OST still deserve an 8 out of 10. Enjoyment 10 / 10 If you couldn't guess this score you weren't paying attention while reading this XD I REALLY enjoyed Girlish Number and loved every minute of it! I will never forget this wonderful anime and to be honest, since I'm finishing up all the anime of this season (fall 2016) I think I'll rewatch this one before Winter 2017 starts to experience these great characters once more! Overall 10 / 10 For anyone who likes slice of life this is a no-brainer: watch this great anime because I'm sure it'll leave a smile on your face just like it did with me. For the people out there who have little experience with the slice of life genre or aren't really a fan I still recommend this one to you guys. Why? Because this show could change your view on the slice of life genre completely with it's funny cast of characters, beautiful art and great soundtrack! Overall I rate this anime a 10 out of 10. And as the OP theme song starts playing again I want to thank you guys for reading my review! I hope Girlish Number will leave a smile on your face after you watch the last episode, just like it did with me. {Razovy}