timerrabbit's Blog

Anime Relations: Show By Rock!!

A little ramble, but I thought I will update it and most likely a unprofessional review until one of these days I'll do one.

I first found out about Show by Rock(!!) (or SB69 for short) when about last year anime news sites leaked the first ever promo art of the band "Plasmagica", the fictional band full of main girls and even have a showcase of the GIANT "figure" (that was up for sale I believe) and I was like "Huh?" and then "Sanrio" label here and there and that shock me even more!

When 2015 would have SB69 on the Spring line up, I know I would go pick that up because I need more kemonomimi than just Dog Days!

And well...

It's weird.

It had both 2D anime and 3D chibi-animals.

And you get to fight monsters WITH MUSIC!!!

The trailer did not lie. It had a suspense sounding soundtrack with a very puzzled Cyan, the main girl and band leader of Plasmagica. I did not expect for the anime to go THIS FAR...

AND I F**KING LOVE IT!!!

I love weird and cute, something that only "Japanese formula" would work! And it pulled it off!

Also thanks to the anime itself, I learned far to late that the "franchise" was based on a mobage rhythm game...

AND I AM SOLD!

(No I did not spend any moolah. Yen prices is still insane!)

Thanks to it and the dedicated SB69 fanbase (not just the anime but for the game) I manage to start my game, played for maybe 1-2 weeks and slowly build up my "deck" of each color aliment for better/effective scoring!

So... If you like cute-quirky rhythm games but can't access a Japanese arcade, this game is a wonderful example of Japanese rhythm mobage experience with likable (cute and cool) characters!

Also I am glad it existed because I am trying to run away from the Love Live hype. (Even my sister is into it!)

The anime made me like all of the 5 confirmed bands as well the cameos (Shizuku Secret Mind and that yokai band). So don't be to surprised if I would gaga for Crow...

Do not be too shocked if I have to give this anime a 10 rating. It's like... All of the formulas that make anime "anime" and topping with cute and GOOD MUSIC and it's BASED ON A MUSIC GAME... I wish there are more fun cute anime based on music games... WHERE ARE YOU POP'N MUSIC LAPISTORIA!!!

Anime Relations: Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, Smile Precure!, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal, Dog Days'', Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou, Pokemon XY, Happiness Charge Precure!, Kantai Collection: KanColle, Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE!, Go! Princess Precure

Well then... Three or four years to be exact? I can't count anymore since I originally signed up to keep track of my anime, even though it would be easy to use a Notepad/Wordpad/whatever written tools you prefer.

Anyway, as you can tell, I am a typical "lister", but I do go and look at the forums to see what is up with the community. Though things like Pokemon are best to be moved to Serebii due to a active anime community there as well, even though I do also see a ship-wars forum... And yea.


Either way, I keep this account to list and such, but let's reflect back to 2011-2012... The rise of the Incubator!

As you can tell, I love magical girls, but that did not start until the "complex" Urobuchinator work that sprang the "fandom" overall, magical girl fans or not. I actually get to meet a fellow magical girl fan, and surprisingly for whom I respect.

Yes, this shout-out goes to RLinkSoul. A former editor for the "Magical Girl Confessions" blog on Tumblr and a mod for the forums of the same name once. To put it in a nutshell: Why I respect this guy?

He watches and adores all of the "magical girl" shows that are meant to be enjoyable, safe, and carefree. And that I guess is why we like magical girls, but those who are "grown up" out of innocence and wanted "edge".. Puella Magi is there, and I guess I can see why he dislike it, especially since Madoka is not the first franchise to turn the magical-witch genre to the "edgy" side. But yea.

I watched Princess Tutu. I grew up with Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. Hell I saw the respects it gets from a certain PreCure season! Like everyone else, I gave the genre another chance. Picked up Smile PreCure, and watched every season from 2012 to present. It's crazy-cute, but then also noticing a formula to why the "mature" side of the anime fandom gave up the genre unless it's Madoka.

But here's the catch.

Four years already. Four years since Madoka is out. You know what this means?

My phrase for the magical girl fangirling is close to dying, but not really.

What to know why?

There are anime/franchises that try to pick up the "edge".. The "OMG SO COOL/SO DARK" ingredient that is entirely optional when it comes to storywriting. Yes. I'm talking to Daybreak Illusion... Another title that I adore and wishing for an expansion, but it's not well recieved, and that makes me sad. (And the only merchandise I own were a centerfold and Weis Schwartz common/uncommon cards. That's less than my Madoka collection I have, guys!) But the problem here is that other "adult-oriented" studio(s) were trying to follow the success of Madoka-Magica, but they can not replicate it.

Sort of the same goes to the magical girl genre in general.

Just by looking around at Facebook, my anime friends are watching Aikatsu, Pretty Rainbow, PriPara... And this is just the "magical idol" sub-genre of the magical girl genre. It's really cute, but I suddenly begin to feel it's forcing the marketing, therefore I have zero interests in them.

Same thing goes to the PreCure now. I am watching Go! Princess PreCure right now, and while the script is alright (and more herp derp moments in terms of animation frames), the "magic" of magical girl genre is just... Dying. :(

Yea... I slowly either lost interest in PreCure or that Smile will remain the "first season" I ever watch and will adore it. But I hate to be a "genrunner" type of person.

So what happened with my fangirling?

Toning down.

Also, to balance, I am also watching other anime: Kan Colle, Binan High Earth Defense Love CLUB(!) (hard to label as a magical girl, but instead replace the girl tag with boys), Dog Days, and soon Digimon Adventure Tri. And for the long-term anime: Pokemon XY and I guess PreCure if you count them. (Oh yea there's Sailor Moon Crystal.)

So... I feel like a normal anime fan, yes? I still do buy the occasional "cute things" that are considered "magical girl". I even have a Cure Princess figure keychain hanging on my purse right now. I don't have a lot of HappiCha stuff nor care, so that says something. So that "interest" will still be there, but pushing it down to "casual" levels like how my status is for the MLP fandom. Plus I am currently addicted to Pop'n Music (again), and currently focusing on Pokemon to relieve that similar feel of sweet innocence-sens. So... The love for pink sparkles is there there, so don't worry, okay?

I think this will be it for now!

I hope you enjoy my current obsession! I changed the profile picture and profile front! I love Nia x Usanuko! :)