Gekidol Project

[Stark700]

New idol project announced. Coming Spring 2016.

Theater company Alice in Project and animation studio Hoods Entertainment (The Qwaser of Stigmata, Fantasista Doll) are collaborating on the Gekidol project. The project will combine stage theater, anime, and idols. The project will launch in spring 2016. The project opened an official website and Twitter account, and the project also has a booth in Comic Market 89. The website reveals a teaser visual for the project, with the text "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Theater + anime + idol = Gekidol.

Official site:
http://gekidol.com/

ANN source:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...-spring/.97074

[MisaoFan]

PV:

[MisaoFan]

New info: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...emiere/.164188

[MisaoFan]

Premiere scheduled for January 5: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...emiere/.166721

[Cosmic Eagle]

1st ep:

That's much better produced than I'd expected....With the live action featuring so prominently....Wonder if this is the birth of a new Bang Dream style group.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep1:

I'm not sure where this anime is trying to go. It seems to take place in a world where there was some type of magical deletion of cities, but how is this going to take a part in the story? Are they gonna fight someone? Are they gonna solve the mystery of why that happened?

Overall, I guess it was better than most idol anime 1st episodes, but not much to go on right now. Like other idol anime, you also have those VAs that probably aren't actual VAs with stick voices too.

Also, I guess not using CG for the dancing was a good point.

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 1:

I was expecting to be very much a down-to-earth acting anime about young people doing acting things and being part-time idols, like Shonen Hollywood, but it also does have a very mysterious feel to it. Having part of Toshima Ward getting wrecked for no known reason besides supernatural left me in a confused state, I don't really know why they're adding it and I thought the robot girl was just a mascot for Alice in Theater, but after being done with the premiere, I think I got some clues resulting from it, that that robot girl might be Seria's dead twin sister but in robot form gave me Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere vibes. And the whole thing about Seria having a magical ability of perfectly imitating lines could have easily be taken away, it just does not have a place in an anime that's supposed to be grounded in reality (apart from supernatural stuff), just have Seria be an hardcore acting otaku and there would be no changes in it.

The characters are interesting despite their archetypes already tried and done in similar series, with Seria being the usual clumsy girl with a 'special' ability. Mako despite being a tsundere is rational and smart in attitude. Airi shows potential as a deuteragonist and will be assisting in helping Seria becomes a good actress and she, together with that one older woman Seria is idolizing, are pretty cool people. The animation quality is decent and I like that they put effort at doing the acting part justice, even the idol music scene is hand-drawn and that's what make it stand out from the average anime about female idols. The music sounds nice, the voice acting is very average in my opinion but they try their best to sound passable.

I'll be giving it a chance and I wanted to really like it, but the supernatural part left me uncertain as in whether or not the writer would dare explain how it fits with the setting.

[stray]

I watched this on a whim and so far I'm not sure what to make of it. I like the character design anyway. The zombie OVA was interesting, and kind of reminded me of the Shirobako OVAs -- but was also very disjointed. I'll probably give this another episode anyway.

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 2:

The episode introduces a bunch of characters we have never seen before, and they each have their personalities and quirks defined through first impression. I did not expect Airi to be troubled and agonized because of perhaps the past, it seems Seria will likely help her overcome her biggest issue. Manami established herself as the genki moodmaker who brightens the group's atmosphere and Akira is the most normal member who is the onee-san figure. Doll serves as the mascot who may bear Alice's appearance, but we don't know what her attitude will clearly be like and the other two characters' personalities aren't clearly fully established yet but it's possible they may also have their own issues to deal later on. The first idol concert aimed at raising Alice In's profile didn't go so well with TMS blackout and all, and I still don't get much about what are Izumi's whereabouts. The group dynamics will hopefully progress well and despite my skepticism over the post-apocalyptic twist in the previous episode, maybe they would explain the mystery overtime? This series remains quite mysterious in what is trying to do outside of it being about acting and I will observe what kind of direction it will go.

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 3:

This week it focuses on Airi's backstory which came about as early as expected. Even though she used to be a junior idol, she eventually started to hate her job and had to leave the moment she joined Alice in Theater, making lots of friends along the way, I am invested in her character drama. There is a bit less focus on Seria, she seems to have a minor inferiority complex and is worried that no matter how hard she'll try, she will never be as successful as Airi whom she idolizes a lot. It's good to hear that Airi has forgiven Kaworu even during a misunderstanding when the latter is trying out a idol outfit for the other members to wear. And in a somewhat unexpected moment, the gekidol concept is born, mixing acting with in-between idol parts, I'd like to see it get expanded throughout the run since it's in the title. Speaking of the execution, it was okay, even relatable at times, but it's not quite depressing enough.

Outside of those above characters, it seems other Gekidols doesn't have much characterization going for them other than Lovemin being the genius despite her relatively small size. Birthday episode will come next, but I have a feeling that things will get darker as it goes on even if it's not too obvious at first.

[Marina2]

THAT scene at the beginning of ep.3 surprised me.

[stray]

Somehow appropriate considering the characters look like they could have been designed by Bow Ditama.

The theater parts are more interesting than the idol parts IMO but this series is interesting enough to keep up with for now. Still curious as to why there's a giant gaping hole in the middle of town but maybe we'll get to that eventually.

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 4:

This is actually pretty good, but the twist came out a little earlier. It's great to see some worldbuilding and although we barely learnt about the calamity from 5 years ago, I think the story is trying to build Takezaki's presence on a slow pace as an antagonist and I'm sensing he could be partaking in making said disaster to happen even if indirectly. At first I wasn't too sure what is wrong with Seria but then as soon we learn more about her the more it makes sense so I'm going to speak that for later.

The date with Airi seems a little suspicious in the wording, I was initially passing it off as just yuribait but the moment they actually kissed not once (accidentally) but twice, I was pretty shocked to see it, I mean yuri kisses aren't particularly common in those types of stories, but from that point onwards I'd like to see an eventual romance building between them even if it's just a subplot.

Then comes the reveal behind why Seria is so troubled over her birthday and why her parents put all of her pressure into her sister Arisu over her, and I really feel bad for her, I mean it's the parents' fault for not putting effort at taking care and protecting all of their children instead of focusing on just one or a few, they didn't even try making Seria a friendly and better child. Doll being Arisu in robot form is something I already expected to happen (and it did), but her general attitude is so different from before. Airi's reaction towards the twins' reunion is pretty strange, I feel like she's about to get friendzoned.

What I really like about this anime is because you can sense tension slowly building up under the facade of being merely about acting. At first I did not get about the calamity part but I'm glad they're bringing it into light through clues.

My best hope is to see the general mystery involving calamity and Seria-Arisu interactions being put in major focus half the time and learning to see other girls' backstories.

[stray]

Nice to finally learn why there's a hole in the center of town. Surprise yuri is always a good thing.

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 5:

This is getting pretty tense in so many ways, but I've been wondering why Seria-Airi relationship has been getting weirder ever since Seria called Doll Alice just because she thinks it's Arisu in robotic form. True to its name, it is getting dramatic but not THAT dramatic.

First of all, I like Shigeyasu Yamauchi's storyboard very much, it has tension and I like the visual composition of it a lot, he seems to understand what he's doing when directing the episode.

How Seria has slowly been ignoring Airi even after her late birthday doesn't seem too serious at first but it grows worse as it goes on. It seems Kaworu has her own grudge holding against Takezaki and even accused him of stealing the gekidol (or as Takezaki calls, actidol) concept first even though it's obvious she started the idea.

I like Seria-Alice bond pretty much, it is cute and intimate, I liked the Alice in Deadly School play very much, but Airi's been in a bad mood throughout the run, she even mistaken Alice for Izumi without learning that it was an illusion.

As I can see, it is my pleasant surprise, it is getting better every new episode and it did a decent job at building mystery and dramatic tension. The only major flaw I have so far is that most gekidols outside of Seria, Airi and Alice are painfully underdeveloped (it reminded me of Assault Lily: Bouquet), I'm very interesting in knowing their backstories. I'm also looking forward to see Izumi further as well.

[stray]

I'm enjoying how dark this is getting. Evil AI will always be evil. What's in it for Alice to take out Airi though? Hmm.

[serenade_beta]

This is starting to be as weird and entertaining as Gibiate.
Also, there was an abnormal amount of close-up shots in ep 5, so hope that gets fixed?

[Benigmatica]

Okay everyone, after watching the first 6 episodes, it seems that Gekidol went from being a generic idol show to something creepy. Then again, some would shrug this series off which is quite sad.

[stray]

Taking it back to basics now that Izumi finally came home. Kind of curious where things go from here but regardless this show is criminally underrated. One of the only series really keeping my interest this season.

[Benigmatica]

Alright everyone, has anyone watched the ending of Gekidol as I'm left with some questions regarding it?