Today I reviewed STARMYU, which turned out to be something of a hidden gem in the musical anime genre. STARMYU succeeds on solid character work and terrific musical sequences, fully embracing the possibilities of its genre to express dramatic turns in catchy and visually vivid song and dance segments. It’s a little rough around the edges in some ways, but still a very fine show.
You can check out my full review at ANN, or my episode notes below.
Episode 1
Right, this melodramatic dancing
A black-winged angel
Okay but not great animation
These background colors are quite nice
OP is all about pursuing dreams
Along with the idol songs, the soundtrack seems heavy on electronic/synth tracks. Not really that great
Ayanagi music academy
Introducing our various boys
Yuka Hoshitani is our lead
Nayuki is the soft-spoken boy
The Kao Council, the intimidating music department leads
Yeah, they’re really leaning into a shoujo melodrama affectation here – and then the Kao Council actually break into choreographed song. You have to buy into it
This is basically an actual musical
Traditionally animated, though the choreography and animation aren’t the most impressive
Otori is the white-haired guy
Hoshitani is a pretty likable lead
Some backstory between Otori and the glasses pusher
The red-haired guy is a kabuki actor. Tengenji
He’s an ass
Tsukigami is the blue-haired kid and the top of the class
It looks like the main group will all be dropouts picked up by Otori – the irregulars, made into a Star Team
“I want to dance…”
And now he gets his own character song at the end, I guess?
Nayuki has stage fright
We’re getting a fair amount of character development for just the first episode
The Star Teams dynamic gives this show a bit of a sports drama flavor, since they’re got direct competitors
Episode 2
The Kao Council actually all seem pretty reasonable
Otori gets his own intro song. The backgrounds for this are gorgeous
Wow, and now this black profile segment. They’re going all out on these segments
The characters express themselves through their songs, but they also just express themselves in reasonable conversations
If every character is going to get a music video this imaginative, this will be a very fun watch
Even the animation here is quite solid
As first years, they’re only candidates for the musical course. They still need to prove themselves
Half the teams will be eliminated after a performance/tournament, and then half get removed again after a second one. There we go
Today they’re doing a play
Great gag – Hoshitani thinks he was chosen to be the detective because he’s talented, but the two actual talents know it’s the easy part
And Hoshitani overacts like hell, of course
And the script just ends. Dang, this is a nicely composed episode
Time for improv
I like how much we’re getting all of their internal thoughts
Nayuki tries to save his ass
Ah, blue-hair’s performed in musicals
The internal thoughts are already selling this whole cast
Hoshitani acknowledges he was carried. Good
Yeah, Otori’s the heir of the school
This show leans more towards musical theater than idols, which I really like
Welp, now Nayuki has his own song. And with an entirely new background style
Yeah, this really is a musical. He’s singing about how Hoshitani lifted his spirits
“These guys might be able to change this tedious estate”
Red-hair wants to get rid of Hoshitani, of course
Episode 3
Oh my god Nayuki made them both box lunches. He is the best wife
Seems like this episode is focused on Tegenji, the red-haired guy
He’s an ass, but he seems to be driven by carrying the future of kabuki on his future. He’s legitimately worried Hoshitani is dragging them down
Some silly misunderstanding drama
The purple-haired guy also has a job
“There are rumors about how Otori gathered people who should have failed”
“What’s important in musicals is teamwork”
Blue-hair nails Tengenji’s problem – he’s terrible at cooperating in general
And now Tengenji gets his own song. Gorgeous backgrounds, all with a kabuki theater sound and flair, mixed with rock
God, even this song sounds so cocky. Great stuff
But it also focuses on ephemerality, his fear for kabuki
“I’ll stick to my own way of doing things.” Tradition versus, er, Otori
Ah, Tengenji’s been hiding a cat
And he’s super protective of her, and it’s adorable
Oh my god, Tengenji gets a love song dedicated to his cat
Another distinct art style for Hoshitani’s silly memory
The animation is solid when it needs to be
“Don’t let your failures show in your face”
Episode 4
Tsukigami, the blue-haired dude, is this episode’s focus
A month has passed
Apparently his mother is involved in his drama – and someone named Haruto, likely a brother
Yep. His very accomplished brother, who has some award ceremony
Kuga can play piano. He’s kinda been the wild card of the group
Kuga just eating cup noodles for lunch. He happily accepts rice balls. Once again, this is a very reasonable cast of characters
Kuga is just a quiet but nice dude from the start
Oh man, Kuga’s song is a crazy spy thriller narrative. Great shit
Heavy filters, rich colors, dramatic compositions. Everyone has their own style
Dang, and we’re already at the first stage tournament
Kuga immediately becomes a friend. It’s nice that some people are just reasonable
Team Hiragi is here!
The Hiragi teammates are immediately given their own personalities through solid conversation
All three of Tsukigami’s family members are prestigious theater stars
Time for a Tsukigami song
He’s surrounded by a giant stage, reflecting the expectations placed on him and the person he believes he’s supposed to be
Clocks and stairs, reflecting his anxiety about succeeding as quickly as possible
“‘Work hard, work hard.’ You sound like that’s all you know how to do!”
Tsukigami getting in fights with the A team
Hoshitani breaks up the fight. Great shit
Time for a brawl!
The whole team demonstrates their support for Tsukigami
Episode 5
“Are you not future actors?”
They have to choose a leader
More nice visual interludes, this time elaborating a prince’s fairy tale
Now the whole team gets to hang out
They all have a solid rapport at this point
I like that they’re emphasizing the various individual skills you have to master – strengthening your core, etc
Dang, strong animation for their rivals’ performance
Their performance makes Hoshitani even more insecure
“One of my teammates said kings should make their own dreams come true.” Our leader discussing his desire to break free of the expectations of his family name
“I just want you to look like you’re having more fun.” The Ping Pong ethos
Getting backstory on the cool loner team member
“I copied musicals on TV to make my mother happy.” Aww
Hoshitani gets another song!
Nope, it’s a group song. Good stuff
This show’s songs are really good
And of course, Hoshitani ends up being the leader
Episode 6
Nayuki’s twin sisters are enlisted to save their crappy costumes
The sisters are powerful
The choreography and direction of their performance is terrific. The animation’s pretty solid, too
Otori breaks tradition in two ways – rearranging the song as a positive dance, and streaming the whole thing to the whole school
And their rivals are big fans
They got eighth, a perfectly reasonable score
“I don’t want to restrict my students.” This is also a show about teaching, oddly enough. Helping people embrace their own spirits
Otori once left a Star Team
“The same blood flows in our veins.” Oh dang
Yeah, they’re brothers
Episode 7
It’s time for a summer training camp!
The cast really work together well now
Oh my god, Team Hiragi jumps out and starts a dance number. Amazing
This song’s visual execution is awesome
“That vase was Chekhov’s gun, huh?” lol
It’s great seeing both the teams and the brothers work together
The team leaders meet
Episode 8
Their second round competition will be at a festival with a big audience
Their ability to gather an audience and stage the production will also be judged
It’s nice that Team Otori has a reputation now
Their conversations and arguments remain quite strong
“Right now, the members of Team Otori are started to be treated by the students like revolutionaries”
Oh man, this musical performance is so good
Episode 9
Otori’s team has their performanced cancelled, but Otori doesn’t tell them
Otori and Hiragi were brothers, but Hiragi was taken in by the head family
Hiragi ended up having a very strict upbringing
“I want to dance more freely to express how I feel.” Hiragi was shaped in the family’s likeness, while Otori represents freedom
When the results are announced, Otori can only focus on the teams who didn’t make it, and the pointless suffering of this whole ranking system
He decides to quit the Star Team. His leader believes in him
But Hiragi is wounded by him quitting
Hiragi has to cling to his status as the Hiragi heir, having suffered so much
“Are you going to leave me alone again?”
And now the cycle repeats again the the Kao Council
“We need to protect Ayanagi Academy.” “Even if it means stealing the student’s dreams?”
Episode 10
Their performance time now overlaps with Team Hiragi’s
The general piano-led soundtrack is also pretty reasonable
The group starts to split apart a bit
They all get stuck in shumai dog costumes
Otori’s advice to all of them is great
This crew is really good
Episode 11
Huh. Looks like we’re getting one random episodic adventure before the finale?
Ah, they get to meet Haruto Tsukigami, Otori’s mentor
And of course Hiragi sent them here, hoping they might convince him to save Otori
Otori traded their right to perform for his own resignation
They share a feather-filled duet. Hoshitani is the white angel
Once again, nice reflections on teaching
Welp, looks like a typhoon will ruin their performance
Nayuki gets a really nice scene here
Episode 12
The outdoor stage collapses, their performance is cancelled
They decide to go for a guerrilla performance
“Do you want to be washed away in the storm with this performance?” Beautiful