Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu

Command, control, and communication: the three pillars to successfully execute missions in modern military combat. They are also the source of inspiration behind Stella Women's Academy airsoft club, aptly named the C3 Club. Due to the club's nature, the members have trouble finding newcomers, but, as the school year starts, they hope to find their next sharpshooter among a new crop of students.

Yura Yamato is a freshman at Stella; she sports an unassertive personality that makes it difficult to make friends. She soon discovers her absent roommate owns a massive collection of military memorabilia and movies, including a replica Desert Eagle. When one of the C3 Club's members catches Yura re-enacting an action movie, she drags her into the Club's airsoft practice match. Despite being on the losing side, Yura is unexpectedly drawn to the excitement of the game.

Upon her return, Yura's roommate—Sonora Kashima—reveals herself to be the C3 Club's president and invites her to join. Now with Sonora by her side, one more exhilarating match convinces Yura to sign up. Thanks to her new teammates, Yura discovers a hidden side to herself and an unexpected love for airsoft. However, as her dedication to the game slowly takes over her life, Yura finds herself on the path of great change and success—one that may easily lead to self-destruction.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu was released on Blu-ray and DVD from September 18, 2013 to March 19, 2014. It was licensed by Sentai Filmworks and released on home video as Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3 on September 2, 2014.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kirishima, Rento

Main

Nishizaki, Rima
Japanese

Yamato, Yura

Main

Makino, Yui
Japanese

Kashima, Sonora

Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Hatsuse, Karila

Main

Kayano, Ai
Japanese

Hinata, Yachiyo

Main

Yonezawa, Madoka
Japanese

Mutsu, Honoka

Main

Saitou, Chiwa
Japanese

Haruna, Rin

Supporting

Seto, Asami
Japanese

Hatsuse, Aira

Supporting

Kayano, Ai
Japanese

Seto, Midori

Supporting

Hasumi, Erina
Japanese

Choujirou

Supporting

Hatano, Wataru
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Hayashi, Youhei

Producer

Takatori, Masashi

Producer

Yoshikawa, Atsushi

Producer

Kawajiri, Masanao

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"Shape My Story" by Anna Yano

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Ending Theme

"Hajikero! C3! (弾けろ！しーきゅーぶ！)" by Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu (Yui Makino, Miyuki Sawashiro, Ai Kayano, Chiwa Saito, Rima Nishizaki, Madoka Yonezawa)

Reviews

Dec 21, 2013

pancake_monster

Recommended

If you've been around the anime community for long enough, you have no doubt heard of the so called "Moe" genre. With a focus on cute girls doing cute things, (usually in a high-school setting) Moe series tend to focus more on comedy and various slice-of-life situations then plot and character (See: K-On! and Lucky Star for two very popular examples). But what happens when a show that has seemingly "Moe" characteristics attempts to delve into deeper themes, such as self-worth, the struggle to become a better person, and the consequences of your actions? In that case, we get a show like C³ (Full title: ... Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu).

To get this out of the way early, the production values in C³ are perfectly fine for this sort of anime, with the art and character designs being nice and unobtrusive, and the music especially being surprisingly good. To be honest, the art isn't spectacular by any means, but given that this show at its core isn't really about the action (or anything else that would be worth taking considerable time and money to animate) the animation does its job well, maintaining a consistent level of quality.

Produced by Studio Gainax, (makers of popular shows such as Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, Gurren Lagann, etc.) C³ seems pretty simple at the outset, featuring an all-girls school that our protagonist, Yura Yamato, is just beginning to attend. Yura has had trouble making friends and standing out in the past, and she is determined to change herself and become more outgoing at this new environment, to have a fresh start, if you will. But despite this resolve, she finds herself incapable of following through, failing to speak to any of the other girls that she encounters or to meet any new people.

It isn't until she is scouted by the school's airsoft team, C³ (that stands for Command-Control-Communication, if you were wondering) that she begins to find the determination to change. By participating in these airsoft games, (aptly called "survival games" by the team members) Yura is able to make new friends, discover new passions, and strengthen her resolve to better herself as an individual.

It is through this airsoft team, and the opponents that they face, that we meet the rest of the characters. To be honest, the majority of them are mostly there just to fill up space, but they do this job adequately, adding some comedy and lightheartedness to the series at some points, and acting as good symbols of how people perceive the actions of certain characters at other times.

But more notable than them is Sonora, Yura's upperclassman/roommate, and the leader of the airsoft team. Sonora acts as a sort of mentor to Yura, guiding her through the basics of airsoft and giving her the confidence she needs to join the team, as well as the resolve to continue playing and to make the best of the games. Also notable is Rin, a star player for the Meisei academy airsoft team, and a girl who has some strange ties with Sonora's past. These two characters both have a strong impact on Yura's development as a character, each of them providing various insights that both help or hurt her as she goes along. This technically being a sports anime, the theme of "It's not just about winning or losing" is definitely alive here, but it's addressed in different ways by different characters, and Yura most of all struggles with determining its true meaning, and finding a balance between Sonora's and Rin's methods.

It is this development with Yura's character and set of themes that differentiate C³ from other shows of "cute girls doing cute things", and even a lot of other sports anime, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, Yura's character is also what makes the show's greatest flaws apparent. Yura in the beginning of the show is, as previously mentioned, a rather lonely soul, a girl who craves friendship and affection, but is not outgoing or brave enough to actively seek it. Through C³, she is able to slowly reform herself, getting braver, more determined, and "stronger". But what happens when these changes go to far?

Two things happen: For one, the show becomes quite interesting, as we get to see a show that was formerly about a bunch of cute girls playing airsoft games for fun turn into a character study regarding how Yura's transformation obviously goes to far, and whether or not she can redeem herself. Second, the plot and characters begin to act slightly illogical in order to allow this to happen. Truly, Yura's struggle IS interesting, and it kept me engaged, but there were a few occasions where Yura obviously showed awareness that she was going to far, but did nothing to stop herself. Despite her own realizations, and the pleading of the very friends she wanted so badly, she still continues down a path that can only lead to her destruction, and the show does a poor job of giving us a solid reason as to why.

This sudden transformation in the show's focus also leaves it feeling a bit disjointed, as it practically feels like two different shows between the first and second halves. Personally, I enjoyed seeing the slow buildup towards the sudden shift in tone, but it's disappointing that it falters right at one of the most important moments for Yura's character, and it feels like had the show focused a bit more on the serious side of things, it may have been able to provide more logical reasoning for the events that take place.

And ultimately, this is C³'s problem: It is a mish-mosh of ideas thrown all together, with the focus shifting around constantly, as if in a mad dash to get to the next topic before time runs out. Important events happen, interesting themes are brought up (including a sort of fantasy-realm that ties into the real world), but they are ultimately brushed aside to get onto the next major plot point. Had C³ JUST been a slice of life comedy, it probably would have been a fairly good one. Had it JUST been a show about self-loathing and redemption, it probably would have been pretty competent. But it also would have been something that we've seen in other shows plenty of times before, and likely done better. It's C³'s willingness to play off our expectations and try to surprise us that makes it special, that makes it stand out among all the other slice of life/redemption stories out there as something unique. Even if it could have technically been better had it stayed focused on one theme or genre, it would have been nowhere near as special to me, and I for one commend it for the risks it takes, even if the result of said risks didn't always turn out spectacularly.

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Sep 28, 2013

XavierSylfaen

Mixed Feelings

C³-bu, in a word, is confused. It doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a slice-of-life about cute girls shooting cute guns? Is it a story about how the main character loses sight of what's really important while chasing a dream and how she works to gain it back? Is it a tale of the supernatural link that a girl has with an ancient Japanese warrior and how she uses her power to change the world? The answer is none of the above. It is instead a jumbled mishmash of all three. Due to their radically ... different themes they end up coming together like chocolate, steak, and curry in a blender.

The slice-of-life episodes have little to comment on. If you like cute girls and/or airsoft then watch them, they're well-done for what they are.

The supernatural element has only one major episode, number 4. It's brought up again twice near the end but never mentioned throughout the large majority of the series. The fact that they included the paranormal theme at all is mind-boggling. When they brought it up in episode 4, the watcher is led to believe that it will be the focus of the show. Yet it in fact makes absolutely no impact on the plot whatsoever. However, it's still done beautifully, and is in my opinion the best episode of the show.

The plot-driven episodes are quite good. Yura and Sonora (and to a lesser extent Rento and Rin) get some character development, and although the other characters are just there to fill out the cast and are underdeveloped it doesn't detract much from the plot progression. Although its end is less than fantastic they're worth a watch.

You may read this and think "This all sounds pretty good!" Well, that's because it is. Each individual element is good but they don't mix together very well. You may be wondering why all of these differing ambitions seem at odds with each other in the show. (Note: the following is speculation.) This rampant disorganization is likely due to C³-bu being Kawajiri Masayoshi's directorial debut. With no offense meant to the man, his filmography outside of C³-bu consists of only one lone entry - doing background art for Dantalian. However, the individual episode directors all have more experience than Kawajiri. Many have worked on very notable shows like Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, Gurren Lagann, etc. etc. As his first time directing a series, especially with little other experience under his belt, one can see how he might have had trouble keeping reins on the episode directors and making it so that the whole series has overarching themes rather than just having them crop up and then disappearing.

As I see it, there are four ways to watch C³-bu.

1. Watch episodes 1-3, 5-6, and 12-13 for SoL with girls and airsoft.
2. Watch episodes 7-11 if you're more into plot and want a decent story of suffering and redemption.
3. Watch all of episode 4 and 17:00 to 20:35 of episode 11 if you want an interesting supernatural oneshot.
4. Watch everything from episode 1 to 13 if options 1, 2, and 3 all sound appealing. You can watch it for the entertainment value and appreciate it for what it is - a highly flawed show that was poorly directed, but has some legitimately good material despite its shortcomings.

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Feb 19, 2015

Fear_the_Reefer

Not Recommended

Yura Yamato is on cloud nine, seeing the campus of her high school for the first time. She’s been admitted into Stella Women's Academy, a prestigious all girls school populated by students with families far more affluent than hers. When she checks into her dorm, she finds out that her roommate is away, visiting some of her family in America... But that doesn’t stop her from rolling around in her dorm mate’s bed, where she happens upon a curious item hidden under her pillow. It’s not a diary... It’s not a photo of a boy... It’s a very ...

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