Girls Band Cry

The first three episodes was a pleasant surprise. It’s hard not to compare when there are two girls’ band anime in the same season; so far I enjoyed Girls Band Cry more due to its polished screenplay and vivid characters.

Ep.1, serving as an intro, was quite rushed, a bit exaggerated, and somewhat clichéd. I understand that conflict is the heart of drama, but this 24-minute episode crammed in too much! However, the merit of efficient storytelling emerged in ep.2, with a much better viewing experience. The screenplay was so developed that a short dinner scene revealed the distinct personalities of three characters naturally, including new ... character Subaru.

Undoubtedly, main character Nina was the most impressive. I saw the unique vitality of adolescence on her - strayed, naïve, hysterical, yet filled with a contagious power. Her backstory wasn’t uncommon in anime characters, but Girls Band Cry was able to convey the "volume" of her trauma, rather than glossing over it lightly. Her paranoid and sensitive personality made her a "troublesome" character, but this vulnerability was exactly what adolescence looks like. Yelling at a random stranger while flinging a lamp? That’s quite rock’n’roll for a high school dropout. She needed to vent; she needed to make her scream heard. She needed to join the band.

There are some lesser satisfactory (but not detrimental) aspects. First, 3D animation wasn’t that enjoyable - the characters’ movements were unnaturally smooth, and there was always a greasy lighting on the characters. Secondly, Nina’s voice when singing lacked the rage and loneliness as shown in the anime; it was not bad though, I still enjoyed most of the singing scenes.

Hopefully Girls Band Cry will never turn into another “cute girls doing cute things” anime. According to the screenwriter Hanada Jukki, the anime aims to explore the story of young people floating between dreams and reality - and I hope it ends that way.

Ok the CGI is good not studio orange level but its good, but that's just me now. The story is aint like your typical music anime story and shit but the mc if you don't like stupid, annoying, childish, angst teen then this isn't for you so she stopped going to high school to pursue her dream and shit but its fucking obvious she doesn't now how the world works...….god I cant write a review after watching that. ok its isn't the worse I've seen but its definitely not the most entertaining idol/music anime, the story is aint, the character writing specially for the mc ... is stupid and unrealistic and we cant just say its because she 17, teens are a lot smarter than we give them credit for I now a lot are stupid but for a 17 year old she acts like a pre pubescents child

Do you like main characters that are way too quirky to be on screen?

Do you relate to a portrayal of a character that is a public nuisance with shouting and damaging public/private property some times when they step outside?

Do you think that having zero clues in reading social cues and then blaming the world for it is funny or cute?

If your answer is yes to all of the above, oh, boy, I’ve got the anime for you.

Now that is out of the way, let me start by saying, look, I get it, I was a teenager, and I know Nina (one of the main characters) ... had a rough life, but some things that she does are taking it too far. And every time I start to enjoy what is going on in this melodrama of a show, Nina does something that I feel is inexcusable which turns me against her. I believe she can still be who she is, and channel the same energy but use different methods to be more respectful in certain cases and places.

When it comes to animation, Girls Band Cry uses full CGI to convey its story and what is going on, that being said, it is still an upgrade compared to other similar shows that uses similar tech. However, here, the CGI is smooth, way too smooth. So, either that is a problem, or the exaggerated facial and body expressions that characters do is.

The vibes of the story is toned down in some places to give space for being exaggerated in other places and to offset the imbalance in the story-telling for some problematic characters.

Since the theme is about music and forming a band, some songs are good, they have some good elements and energy to them, OP and ED are good.

In the end, if you’re on the edge of your seat wondering whether I’ll continue watching this or not, the answer is a resounding no. I wish it’s a yes, I want it to be a yes, but every time I try to dive into the drama and the characters and I start to invest in their moments and what is going on, I get thrown out with a cheesy scene or get put off by some of Nina’s actions.