Waccha PriMagi!

It's rare that a show is able to completely hook me in from the start but that's what Waccha PriMagi was able to do. With charismatic characters, good comedy, and hints in the background for a deeper plot, it seemed like Waccha was prepared to use its time well and create a stellar show. And in the end Waccha was able to live up to that potential and ended up being one of my favorite shows.

Waccha's characters excel in both being fun characters to watch on screen and as being deep and interesting characters that grow throughout the show. The issues that the main characters ... each have are developed and tackled well. The show being four cours allows each of these issues to be explored through out the span of the series, which gives both a lot of nuance and development to these aspects of the characters, but also gives them a more meaningful and realistic development as they are approached through out the show rather than covered for an episode and then forgotten about. All the while the episodes that focus on these various issues work really well, and provide a lot of good viewing experiences. A good example of this is Miruki. When she's introduced she is presented as a selfish idol, only looking out for herself. But as the show goes on and she gets more screen time more of her personality shines through including a lot of the unique characteristics that drive who she is and the outlook that she has. This development and characterization does a great job of making her feel very real and admirable despite the negative qualities that she has. It also does a good job of showing the viewer why some of her negative qualities are there, and gives a great nuanced picture of her.

The character's charisma are all top notch too. The characters have fun personalities without feeling overly gimmicky or shallow. The interactions between them as well as very fun to watch, as they can bounce off of each other in great ways. The mascots in particular have a lot of great chemistry together. It's always fun to see Myamu and Chimumu bicker with each other as the two's silliness play off well against each other. It's also nice to see bonds like Matsuri's and Hina's where Hina can both be a mentor to Matsuri that helps her get experience and suck into the PriMagi, but also can be a sort of rival at the same time. Each of the various characters between the cast are able to have strong bonds with each other and provide something in their interactions with different characters. The cast is just really fun and likeable. Each of the characters is pretty much able to carry an episode on their own and utilize their unique charm to make the episode fun.

The plot also developed well. The hints that they dropped at the beginning towards conflict in the background where explored later and even brought out a strong theme on the role of technology versus the power of magic when it comes to idol performances and other entertainment like it. Waccha was able to tackle these ideas in various ways with different character's relations to the main theme, without making it overly focused on these thematic ideas. It was able to do this by having these ideas be central to various character's development and plot. They fit into the puzzle pieces the Waccha created itself with and paired well with the natural development and character based issues that the characters were dealing with.

At the end of the day, I really loved this show. It was the show that I looked forward to the most for the past year, with characters that I absolutely loved seeing on screen. Episode after episode Waccha was able to provide a whole bunch of entertainment and enjoyment. The cast has been one of my absolute favorites and ultimately it's hard to say anything but I love this show. It was a great time watching it, and there were so many heartfelt and resonating moments from it that I really enjoyed. It basically fulfilled all that I was hoping for at the beginning. So I'd easily recommend others to watch it. It's really good. I wish I could talk at length about all the specifics I enjoyed about it but I wanted to keep this spoiler free and give an overview. I hope this was fine enough. Personally though I loved the show, and I hope you all enjoy it too. It was a magical watch and I hope for more of it in the future.

Before I start I'll admit I'm fairly limited in the overall Pretty Rhythm/PriPara sphere as I've only seen Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live and s1 of Pripara. So take what I have to say with a grain of salt. I do know the reasoning behind this franchise which is to sell Japanese girls cheap merch that is on par with the merch Japanese boys get pushed with in regards to Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. There's the hugely popular arcade game(mainly with older people, not kidding you) that is aimed towards girls.

Story 6: Where I'm at currently which is 11 ... of the 13 episodes current available as I write this, the story is just setting up for the first main the FreshFest and it's been pretty episodic with the story just setting up who characters are as a whole. At min I'm guessing this is to be a 50+ series so it's going to take time for the actual story to go anywhere. As is right now? It's fine enough, nothing really unique they do but execute it in a good enough way.

Art 8: What really did me in for PirPara and why I never got past the first 38 ep was honestly the art. PriMagi moved a bit back towards the Rainbow Live art, not sure how previous entries were but that was more of what I find pleasing at least. It's like they made a compromise between Rainbow Lives style and PriPara's style and it honestly comes out nice I think.

Sound 7: This is where I'm going to be more generous than most on this. I had initially picked up this franchise to fill the void of Aikatsu that was left when the poor excuse of a series Aikatsu Planet came to be. All of Aikatsu used a good amount of reusing songs(early series were a bit more varied but still), then Rainbow Live and the first 38 ep of PriPara were no different. When almost all episodes in a 50+ ep series airs it's expect to be this amount of repetition to be honest. Trying to compare it to something that is 13 like Love Live Superstar(didn't watch) and Selection Project(did watch) is pretty stupid. SP had 5 or maybe 6 total songs in 13, LL not sure but probably par for course based off the first 2 series. Out of all the songs we've heard from the cast so far I've only disliked 1 and hope they do add more song variety in the near future.

Character 7.5: I'd say the most contentious character of them all is Myamu. Always the ADHD ridden character in this type of franchise and Myamu is this one. Less grating some of the Precure characters we've had with this personality but still. Outside of that all the other characters so far that are key figures have been great. Slow on the growth but it's steady growth we see within the cast realizing they've been too lazy about PriMagi and slowly getting more serious or the seriousness of another and seeing how far she's willing to go.

Overall 7.5: Too early at the moment to tell if I'll continue to like the series or not but so far I have as I've watched 11/13 available ep so far. Tempering your expectations is something one must do with this franchise as it's here to sell Japanese girls on merch and a money wasting arcade game but for what it is this entry is enjoyable without all that too.

This is my first review, so it may look a little sloppy, but I will try my best to format it to make it cohesive and clear as possible. I was recommended this anime by a fellow stranger on the internet and was drawn into its art style and cheerfulness that the show appeared to have. And I was honestly very surprised to see how good this show really is so far!

STORY:
The story is great. It's easy to understand, and I like how light-hearted it can be at times. The way the idols were introduced were definitely not slow-paced (ones that take an entire ... episode on the buildup), and in my opinion, it was perfect just for me, although I am aware this is not everyone's cup of tea.

ART:
The art is one of the only things that bought me to watch this, and it was impressive. If you do not like any other aspects, you will likely find the art style and consistency to appeal to you, but everyone has a different taste in art. and that is perfectly fine. However, I enjoyed the consistency of the animation, and how Myamu's over-designed dress never had a single animation error, or at least I did not notice one. One thing I did like was how before the performances for the daily song, the characters would be in 2D backstage, and the characters still did not look messy even with the complicated dress designs!

The 3D CGI was not bad as well compared to other idol anime CG. I mean, if you take a look at Aikatsu, you will see the difference. But personally, I preferred 2D over 3D.

SOUND:
This was one of the only animes in which I never hated a single song. The Opening was very good, as well as the ending. I could not stop listening to the ED as soon as I finished Episode one, and in fact, I just listened to it again and again a few hours ago.
The songs by the idols were incredible. The only complaint that I have is the repetition of the songs, and how Matsuri's main song was used every time she appeared, with only a different outfit to attempt to compensate, but it did not change a thing. Though I am only 10 episodes through, I hope they are not that lazy.

CHARACTER:
I loved the characters. I would say Matsuri had a good amoutn of development (you get to see her family), and Myamu had good development with her grandfather (no spoilers). Although, so far, I have not seen any development with the rest of the characters, such as their families and home lives..

ENJOYMENT:
Overall, I enjoyed this anime very much. I am honestly surprised at the 6/10 rating this show got, but maybe it is because I have a bad taste in anime. The only complaint I can agree with is the repetition. I guarantee you I will be seeing a lot more of that.