Miss Monochrome The Animation

Miss Monochrome is an anime with each episode being 4 minutes long. It is about an idol, Miss Monochrome trying to become a well-known singer in Japan. With 4 minutes each episode including the 1 minute long ED you might be wondering if it's worth it. It is definitely worth watching if you have a little time to spare and you are just looking for a laugh. Each episode will make you laugh at least once, it's guaranteed.

Story: 7

It's another story about an aspiring idol looking to make it big in Japan. Only difference being that Miss Monochrome is an android. Like most androids in ... anime, she is incapable of emotion most of the time. This does not hinder her charm, in fact it further enhances it. The lack of reactions during gags makes the humor that much more abundant. There is in fact a back story to why she wants to become an idol and it has something to do with another more popular idol. I will not spoil it.

Art: 8

The art is modernly basic during normal scenes in which there is mostly dialogue. The scenes that are showing another idol singing or something important going on are where the art shines. The colors in these scenes have nice contrast and realistic movements. Miss Monochrome's ED is especially entertaining despite being CGI.

Sound: 8

There is no OP for this anime, and I applaud it for that as most other short episode anime never have enough time for the actual show because of this. It does however have an ED it is appropriately named "Poker Face". No it's not a Lady Gaga cover. It is a Miss Monochrome original that fits her perfectly because as I mentioned before, she is incapable of emotion. The voice acting for this anime is quite good. Maneo, the manager is well voiced. Miss Monochrome herself is monotone due to being an android so she's great too.

Character: 10

I needed to give Miss Monochrome a 10 for characters. This anime has single-handedly created the most spectacular character of all time ever to exist in anime... Ruu-chan. Its dialogue was amazing! It further added to the story, without it I don't think Miss Monochrome could exist. It has the most heart breaking back story I have ever seen in any piece of media ever. Alas, tragedy strikes. I don't want to go into spoiler territory... But I cried... A lot. Another semi important character is Miss Monochrome herself. She is very spontaneous with the ideas she comes up with for becoming famous. She also orgasms from batteries. Maneo is her Manager. He gets her tons of gigs that she ultimately ruins in one way or another. Kikuko is the main big idol whom Miss Monochrome has a tragic past with. She is the drive for Miss Monochrome to become an idol. Mana is just some cunt of a loli that although I hate to admit it. Without her the story would not have been set into motion.

Enjoyment: 10

Although it's short, I really enjoyed this anime. Every second that Ruu-chan was on screen was another second of enjoyment. Miss Monochrome definitely went beyond my expectations in terms of enjoyment. I hope we get a season 2.

Overall: 8

Miss Monochrome deserves the score I give it. It has created a character that will forever change anime as a whole. Ruu-chan has set an all-time high for my expectations for anime characters in the future. As I said before, I hope Miss Monochrome gets a second season. I need more Ruu-chan.

Often times anime that have very short episode lengths get dismissed by the community as automatically lifeless and humorless shows with little to no world-building and characterization of characters. With Miss Monochrome having four minute episodes with one minute dedicated to the ending song, one would probably assume this about this show.

Though many of the complaints may be justified, Miss Monochrome is surprisingly great for what it is and was enjoyable the whole way through.

To simplify the plot, Miss Monochrome is an android that aspires to be a Japanese idol with a manager, gigs, etc. On her way to her eventual goal, she often ... gets herself into random situations to get exposure for herself, get jobs, and meet up with people to allow her pursuit of becoming an idol.

The plot is the weakest part of the show as three minutes does not allow for much plot progression. Thankfully, each episode's story is really self-contained and besides the first and last two episodes of the series, the rest of the episodes follow no real story.

This brings me to the strongest point of the anime: the characters. In Miss Monochrome there are not many main characters. Miss Monochrome, her manager, Ruu-chan (bless her soul), and Kikuko are the most important.

The star of the show, however, is Miss Monochrome herself. I don't know what it is I love about her, but her design, her mesmerizing dance in the ending, her battery hijinks, and her unique autotuned voice all contribute to one cute character. As of writing this the second season of Monochrome is airing and I can't wait to start it to see more of our favorite idol android.

Overall, I give this short little anime an 8/10. Usually anime like this aren't that enjoyable to me, but this show is one of the best of its kind. If you are in the mood for something quick and cute with a "colorful" main character, I recommend this to you.

If I had to describe this anime, it would be weird and random, but funny at the same time. I have no idea what I just watched, but I like it! For a 4 minute show, Miss Monochrome will definitely leave you saying, “what just happened” by the end of each episode. If you didn’t know already, Miss Monochrome is a slice of life anime.

Story: (8/10)

The story begins with our main character, Miss Monochrome, aspiring to become a popular idol like Kikuko on T.V. and her caretaker, Mana, asks to be her manager. She becomes her manager and requests 19.3 billion yen as the ... first thing to do as an idol. Our poor main character, Miss Monochrome, believes her and gives her all her money, leaving her broke, homeless, and stranded out on the streets to search for a new manager. Upon hoping to find one, a person named Maneo, who is surprisingly a manager, appears out of nowhere, but is not the manager you’d expect him to be. Little did you know, he’s actually a manager for a convenience store. Maneo becomes her manager and decides to help Miss Monochrome try to become a popular idol that she had always dreamed about. There’s not that much to say about the story, because the anime is so short, but what makes this so compelling is that you don’t know what to expect. What you just read, was an example of one of them. Majority of the episodes you watch are unexpected and randomly funny and by the end of each episode, it leaves you wondering if you’ll ever see Miss Monochrome become an idol. The only drawback I found within the story is that it perceives to be linear by the way the writer had set it up. You may not think the story leads anywhere, but it all comes together in the end.

Characters: (10/10)

This anime couldn’t be done well without its characters. Our main character, Miss Monochrome, may seem like a vocaloid by appearance, but in actuality, she’s an android. Her inability to feel emotions and take things literally enhances the show’s comedy. Another thing this anime does well is that the characters feel like a comedy routine. Maneo, being the one to find jobs for Miss Monochrome, sets up the joke and Miss Monochrome, the android who can’t differentiate between a joke and a serious answer, is the punchline. Mana, the con artist, sets up the tragedy for the main character and Kikuko, the popular idol, being the main goal. Of course you couldn’t forget about Miss Monochrome’s trusty pet, Ruu-chan, to add character depth towards her. Each character in this anime serves a purpose and executes it well.

Art: (8/10)

The artwork was produced by Liden Films who also made Yamada-Kun and the Seven Witches, Terraformars, and Senyuu. The artwork for this anime wasn’t that bad. The 3D CGI character of Miss Monochrome in the end credits were well done. However, the overall environment and the design for some of the characters looked generic.

Sound: (9/10)

There’s no opening theme for this anime, only an ending. However, only taking up the last minute of the show, it sounds good. I was surprised how well the English dub vocal crew were compared to the Japanese one. The main character for Miss Monochrome sounds very similar to the Japanese vocal actress which I liked very much. The rest of the English dub voice actors seemed to have fit the role just as the Japanese ones as well.

Enjoyment: (8/10)

Since Miss Monochrome is 4 minutes long, I expected it to become another generic anime and something linear, but it seemed to have proved me wrong. This anime made me go on an unexpected feels trip. I never knew something that seemed so upbeat, lighthearted, and innocent be so tragic at the same time. Another thing I liked about this show, was how it referenced some real life people, anime, and merchandise. I mean, who doesn’t like a bit of references right? An anime can throw around a few references, but when it’s done right, it can become a masterpiece. In Miss Monochrome, the references aren’t just some subtle hint hoping to give you a little chuckle, it actually adds toward the story and the comedy which, surprisingly, impressed me.

Overall: (8/10)

Overall, Miss Monochrome is a short, enjoyable, slice of life anime that will make you laugh and feel good after watching it. You can kind of expect what’s going to happen in the end, but the random journeys you go on with Miss Monochrome makes up for it. Miss Monochrome’s stale but optimistic view on becoming an idol has certainly put a smile on my face. This underrated anime deserves a little more attention and I hope you give it a chance too.

Miss Monochrome is a short anime of 13 4-minute long episodes. Let's dive in, shall we?

Story- 6/10.
Not much to this story as you'd expect, as the total viewing time of the entire show is about an hour maximum.
Miss Monochrome is an android whose only real motivation is to become an idol, to be able to meet Kikuko, another idol.
Although the "story" was practically nonexistant, they did a decent job - I found each episode charming and laughed a fair few times at the way it was told. They also included a little backstory between Miss Monochrome and Kikuko, which I thought was a nice touch. ... 6 may seem a little high for the story aspect considering there wasn't much of one, however I personally didn't mind the lack of it.

Art - 8/10.
Well-done, good quality animation, not much to say here as not that much actually happens. Character designs were okay, but nothing startling.

Sound - 8/10.
I really enjoyed the ED to this small series (Poker Face, by Miss Monochrome herself!). Voice acting was good and often added to the comedic moments. Miss, being an android, had a very fittingly monotone machine-sounding voice.

Character - 7/10.
7 may seem a little high as you don't really learn anything about Miss other than the fact that she is an android who wants to become an idol to meet Kikuko and she is a little naive.
However I thought she was charming and although there is little to no character development (she continues throughout the hour runtime to act naively and restlessly pursue her goal to become an idol) I found it satisfying to watch.
Also, Run-chan is amazing.

Enjoyment - 8/10.
Short and sweet. Nice little series to watch if you don't have much time, want a couple of giggles and 'awww's.

Overall - 7/10.

Miss Monochrome is a 4 minute episode anime filled with comedy, randomness and slice of life.
I really liked this series but that is only because of Miss Monochrome :3 She is a android with a somewhat childish robot view upon the world, so many misunderstandings and so on happens a lot indeed! which gives a special kind of comedy to it.

Even though there are somewhat lots of randomness in this one then it is still one continued plotline throughout the series which makes it not too random ^^ which it is something that I like.

The main problem of the series is you really have to ... like Miss Monochrome because she is the main factor for nearly everything in the series so if you don´t like her, then there is not much to like about this anime :)

Anime with only 4 minutes per episode? Meh, that must be pretty bad, since it has no time to hook you up, right? These were my thoughts when I saw Miss Monochrome. Little did I know, I was about to find out I was gravely mistaken. Again, never judge a book by it's cover.

This anime can be descried in one word: wholesome.

Story 9/10

So the premise of the story is about Miss Monochrome trying to become the top idol. Now, i want to be clear on something, I avoid idol themed anime since the story always tends to be generic and the main focus of ... the show is always on the dancing and singing and the key point should always be one dimensional pretty boys or pretty girls having fun. I don't say there is anything wrong with that but I personally find it generic and boring.There are a lot of 12 or 13 episode anime I watched which have the normal time per episode (~24 mins per ep) , anime that had a lot of time to build up a world, a plot and character development and failed to do that. What is amazing about Miss Monochrome is that it succeeded in setting up a plot and a few characters in a format of only 4 minutes per episode. We even have a backstory of the show, which, to be completely honest, blew my mind. This is a really cute and somehow wholesome comedy/slice of life anime that will leave a smile on your face and make you at least giggle, if not laugh, at some scenes.

Art 8/10

Art was pretty. Again for a short anime, I could see the artists did not slack on either backgrounds nor character designs. While it was not breathtaking or anything, I found it pleasing to the eye.

Sound 9/10

There is only one song and it is pretty catchy and nice, I really liked it.

Character 8/10

Characters are all very fun and have their own personalities which is again, amazing to do with only 4 minutes per episode. I know I keep saying 4 minutes per episode, but it really is amazing to do anything in that short amount of time. I loved all the characters and they were really fun to watch :)

Enjoyment 10/10

I really enjoyed this short show. For anyone wondering if they should watch it, I recommend anyone who likes comedy and slice of life to give it a try, it is really short so if you watch an episode or 2, it will only take you like 10 minutes. I really hope this anime will be watched by more people and be noticed more in the future, it really deserves it.

Overall 9/10

What can I say more? I really loved it and I can't thank Horie Yui enough for making Miss Monochrome and inspiring this show.

Sometimes, when reality is too much for us, we want to watch something that'll take us away from it for a while, whether its funny comedy or cute antics of cute characters. Cartoons have been an escape from reality since its first inception. But sometimes, this isn't always a good thing. I personally like serious stories, but even I like something short and sweet once in a while. One such short and sweet anime is the recent Miss Monochrome anime series that's recently taken Japan by storm. What's this? An idol anime that's not ridiculously stupid or melodramatic? Awesome! Buuuuut all of the episodes are ... four minutes long, and there's a lot in this anime that really doesn't make sense, so I'm not gonna lie, it is VERY flawed.

An android named Miss Monochrome has lived on Earth for years and years. When a stupid girl named Mana steals all of her money, Miss Monochrome is left penniless, living in a rundown apartment (how she's able to live there and pay any kind of rent or mortgage is never explained) with no means to support herself. She does have two things: her portable vacuum cleaner and a dream to become an idol like a woman named Kikuko. When she befriends a convenience store manager, who she's convinced is an idol manager simply because he has manager on his tag, she strives to stand out and be an idol like Kikuko. But the journey to become a singer is hard work.

Since the anime itself is extremely short in its duration and episode length, there isn't really much to talk about. The animation looks quite good and it does its job well, but for the most part, it isn't really noteworthy. All the girls are drawn in cute moe style, the movements are reasonably fluid but not enough to make hardcore animation fans gush over it, and oddly enough, the CGI in the ending is actually really good! Normally, CGI is really bad or doesn't blend well with the 2D animation. There's no CGI in the actual show, so it doesn't have that problem, but the CGI in the ending theme is reasonably fluid, it doesn't look stiff or creepy, and since Monochrome is an android, it does a good job in keeping her uncanny valley appearance without going into uncanny valley territory itself. The music is...not much to write about. Sweet piano pieces are in abundance, Kikuko's music is bland, and I don't even remember the rest of it.

For the most part, every single character is bland. Monochrome's a robotic android, Kikuko is the sweet cutesy idol whom everyone loves, Maneo is the hapless doormat who does everything he can for Miss Monochrome even when he's not obligated to, and Mana...she's easily the worst character, namely because she gets away with grand embezzlement, never gets arrested, and NOBODY calls her out on it! They even go as far as to say she's helpful and sweet even when her intentions are as obvious as a pink dress in an all-black wardrobe! But other than Mana, none of the characters are bad. The short run-time of four minutes doesn't give them time to really do much.

But bland characters and lack of a compelling storyline aren't the worst of the show's problems. There are some elements that it introduces out of bloody nowhere that don't really have an effect on the show whatsoever, such as a group of aliens destroying Earth, allowing it to repopulate, then making plans to destroy it again. Sorry, but these aliens add nothing to the story, nor do they have a reason to be there in the first place other than to show how inhuman Miss Monochrome is. There's also the fact that Ru-chan, Miss Monochrome's pet portable vacuum cleaner thingy, dies at one point in an early episode, in a way that can easily be fixed, but Monochrome acts as though its the worst thing ever...and then he's brought back in the next episode without a second thought! Consistency, people! It's not that hard!

All in all, it's nothing great, but if you want something sweet to tide you over, feel free to watch Miss Monochrome. It's a cute show with little substance, but at least it tries.

No point in writing too much so I'm going to cut to the chase.

Miss Monochrome The Animation is just a cute short about a *kuudere* singer wanting to be a widely famous idol due to her inspiration. I did say it was cute. Also, the keyword is specifically "kuudere".

The story focuses on Miss Monochrome in random antics for the most part, after everything is done with the initial episode, Miss Monochrome just tries fun and dumb ways to get her name out there to the public. There is a bit of backstory though, so it isn't all just the same thing. But the lack of ... diversity is something you might want to take in. To be fair, I don't know what you could be expecting from something with 3 mins per episode. The characters here are one-dimensional, but I see no problem with this, again, 3 mins per episode and it is comedy-based. It might be hard to sit through, getting what is copy paste but different scenarios of a story put together, though it isn't as bad as I make it out to be. Miss Monochrome does a good job of holding everything up by herself. Don't expect too much from the rest.

Visuals are pretty box standard in pretty much every way, designs, animation, backgrounds, you get the point. The same goes for audio in seiyuus, "the opening", OSTs. But the ED is actually pretty fun to watch, you should stay for that with every chance it is presented.

I enjoyed this, but not so much so that I would praise it with every fibre in my body. It was nice to pass the time with, was a little funny, can be tedious but it pays off, I think. Universally I would imagine everyone is the same as me. Would recommend it as something to pass the time with or a little short series for dire need.


Overall - 6.0 (6)
(Click "Overall Rating" for score breakdown)

Real quick gonna rate how good of a kuudere I'd give Miss Monochrome. She hits the basics, has her cute lil emotion moments, very fun to watch all around, just lacks some original character to her name, let's say 7/10.

Hatsune Miku who? It's Miss Monochrome now.

Maybe it's my inexperience with idol shows, but Monochrome has them all beat. Why follow 4-9 girl's, when you can focus on one girls climb to the top?

Story: 6/10
What story, what plot? This has none. Pick any episode and watch it, it's pretty much standalone once you know the three main characters. Also, I'm sure you have four minutes to spare somewhere.

Art: 5/10
Pretty standard art, but the ending sequence got me hooked onto this show like an illegal substance. If you choose to only watch one episode, just skip right to the end and enjoy the music video. ... Bonus points for the 3d motion capture thing they got going on.

Sound: 8/10
Love the auto tune sounding music she sings. Not much more to say there.

Ladies and gents, Hatsune Miku, the anime she deserves.

All I could think of was "Why isn't Miku in this? Why is there a knockoff Miku?" I really don't see the difference between the two as characters, and I honestly find that Miku or any other voice synthesis would have been better than a human in hard autotune acting as an android. How did there even get to be so much Monochrome stuff during this time? They even make a Miku reference when they see a box of leeks! At that point, I started feeling like they were aware of the similarities, whether it was on purpose or not.
I'm also not a big fan ... on Monochrome's design, particularly the torso part, which looks fairly uncomfortable.

The four-minute comedy episodes range from fine to painfully average, though the plot of the first episode irks me. This anime is also quite similar to Idolls, though different enough that I can tell the difference between the two plots. Still, both series try to be wacky but fail for the most part. And yet, I find this anime to be more boring than Idolls, and the plot points in this series kinda feel like they're there for no reason. At least in the first half. The second half does get better when it comes to a cohesive story.

The most interesting thing I find in this show, however, is what happened prior to the start of the series, which is revealed in episode 9. I think that a time loop would have been possible, or at least history would have repeated itself again, if episode 3 ended up having a similar fate. Still, I find that lore about society's past quite remarkable.

I honestly feel like most of the jobs she gets other than being an idol make her feel more fulfilled than being an idol, and it's cool to see what else she can do. However, it is an idol anime, so of course that has to be her goal. Still, if she decides to retire from that, I hope she returns to the things that fulfilled her, like farming and wrestling.

Overall, it's kinda boring, but it did get better over time. Still, I have no idea why there's so much knockoff Miku stuff. Well, I'll see if it gets any better.