Today I reviewed the hyperactive but generally endearing Mikagura School Suite! Outside of the likable protagonist Eruna, there really wasn’t that much to this one – its storytelling was pretty half-baked, and its aesthetics were nothing to write home about. The one exception was the handful of excellent fight scenes, but with less than half a dozen such scenes scattered across a full dozen episodes, that didn’t really save the show. Still, “mediocre but generally pleasant” makes for a perfectly acceptable viewing experience.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my episode notes below!
Episode 1
Opening with a classic action cold open
Some nice loose animation here. A focus more on energy than consistent character art, which is good
Opening with the MC’s confession fantasy. Eruna is gay and horny and proud, and it’s great
Christ, this dub is abrasive though. Really overselling everything
Both the dub and original VA cast are super shrill, though. It’s just that kind of show
And Eruna’s VA is certainly enthusiastic
Eruna decides on her school because the girl in the brochure is hot. Reasonable enough
Her VA’s performance basically involves constantly cracking her voice. Eesh
“So what’s the dealio?” Pretty much covers the tone they’re going for
Lots of pretty basic jokes, lots of overreactions. Eh
That said, Eruna herself has a solid personality. Her rambling is pretty great
Everyone has to join a club, the clubs battle using crazy powers, these battles decide their rank and school perks
“Oh. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Eruna’s VA really does sell her dopiness and enthusiasm
The cat’s vocal tic is a lot more awkward in English
You don’t even get a room if you’re not in a club
Some of the side characters are much less convincingly acted, like this art club guy
Christ, this cousin character who’s lusting after her sure is a thing
Episode 2
Yeah, the Japanese VA cast is less… hyperactive and loud
Explaining how special powers and fights work
Eruna remains as pleasantly thirsty as ever
It’s pretty awesome to get a lesbian character who’s neither chaste nor meaningfully predatory
They basically have Stands
Their abilities reflect dedication to a specific passion
Eruna’s “special ability practice” is some solid comedy. She just hits people with seemingly relevant objects
“Do people think I’m an idiot?” lol
Eruna runs away to a sealed room
“You are a descendant of the chosen line.” Welp
This is all pretty abrupt
Eruna gets crazy mobility powers
This episode has some awesome animation. Rough on the inbetweens, but very dynamic
“Ability: Toy Gun”
She gets an energy beam
Episode 3
I like how everyone here are friends, battles aside
Eruna’s gotten way too confident. Which is also nice – her headstrong personality isn’t just used for comedy, it’s also a legitimate dramatic flaw
A lot of the show’s jokes are very basic. A whole bunch of yelling and slapstick
The fight animation is still very loose and satisfying
Eruna loses her match
Mascot suggests she form her own club, but she needs three members
This scene of Eruna and Seisa at the end is really nice
Episode 4
Jeez, opening with self-hatred and divorce
“I’m acting like a Yuto Akama that anyone would like”
Eruna starts practicing with the drama club. They put on a pretty funny play
The episode’s second half opens with the rookie brackets announcement. Things are moving fast!
Akama’s feelings are pretty solidly expressed
I like that the resolution here is very simple, and based on ordinary kindness
Another fight scene, again favoring extremely loose drawings. Great stuff
Whoa, these loose ink-blot horses are wonderful
Hah, the Gunbuster pose
This fight’s so awesome. This show really has some hidden strengths
Episode 5
Minatogawa, the flower arranging club member, seems to be this episode’s focus character
Seisa is getting some solid material this time
The featureless white background characters are an odd style choice
Yep, Seisa’s getting plenty of material
And the cast overall are interacting well. Lots of good friends
Plus the silliness emerges naturally from the dramatic variables – fighting over this Miracle Man model
Seisa: “this is why I hate club battles”
Episode 6
Looks like we’re getting art boy’s backstory now
Kuzuryu’s his name
Mikagura has a sister school based all around sports, with a strict win-or-lose philosophy
This over-the-top sneeze. I really love how Eruna isn’t glamourized at all
Kuzuryu was resented and talked about behind his back at the old school
A much less exciting fight this time. We really haven’t gotten any highlights since those first three fights
Eruna wins a close battle and inspires Kuzuryu… and then promptly loses in the quarterfinals
Otone Fujishiro appears
Episode 7
The show’s music is generally pretty mundane electronic noises, but there are some nice instrumental bits for the battles
Otone wins the rookie competition. She’s not in any clubs, and seems unhappy
She’s shy, gets nervous, and says mean stuff
This show really doesn’t have many backgrounds, and a lot of them are pretty underwhelming
This episode is super tedious. This show needs matches to be moving towards
I do like how the characters continue to grow, even aside from Eruna
Whoa, Seisa just superpowered the rain away
This show’s production is reaaally threadbare now
Episode 8
The annual “treasure hunt” is coming
Now we’ve got an RPG parody, complete with solid 16-bit visual tricks
Mecha Bimii appears. Sure
Time for… a quiz show?
This sure is a barely-constructed conflict
Basically just giving Otone, the pink-haired girl, more character
Another pretty tedious episode. Otone is just too simple and unreal of a character for any of this to feel interesting
Suddenly Mecha Bimii is a giant monster
Otone agrees to join Eruna’s club
Episode 9
Otone and Eruna already make a pretty reasonable pair
At last, Eruna in the director’s chair
They’re creating fake scandals to get their advertisements in the background when the newspaper club reports on them
God, some of this show’s humor sure is abrasive
Otone’s been scaring off other potential members
An embarrassing scoop-based battle against the newspaper representative
Episode 10
Bimii’s humanifying ritual is fucked up
A ghost hunt episode. Pretty standard fare
More interesting is Otone feeling jealousy towards Seisa
They get in a fairly pointless fight. Not particularly visually interesting, either
Episode 11
Seisa’s isolating herself, and seems possessed by some demonic power
Cracks are appearing all around the school
It’s nice that Eruna and Otone get to be such equal friends
Also settling some Kuzuryu-Shizure drama
Seisa was betrayed by an upperclassmen, and sealed away the photography club room
I wish this Shizure/Kuzuryu conflict had enough time to feel like a real conflict, but it’s still nice to see them make up
Also a decent fight
Episode 12
They got a lot of legwork out of the I’ll Figure It Out Later club name