Futsuu no Joshikousei ga [Locodol] Yattemita.

One time, my friend who also watches this anime told me that it isn't an idol anime, thus I can't compare it to Love Live, etc. But hey, the idol theme still sticks, so you can't judge me.

When I first heard about this anime, I thought of myself 'hey, is this going to be another 'great' idol anime'? Well, let's see how it goes, shall we?

Locodol revolves a group of fellow girls: two of them, Nanako and Yukari, as 'locodols' or local idols, under the name of 'Nagarekawa Girls', and two manning a mascot character, Yui and Mirai.

This basic story starts with Nanako given a ... 'locodol' job by her uncle, who works in the city council. She met Yukari before they were to perform for the first time together. Afterwards, it continues with the lives of the pair, meeting more new characters and experiencing some wacky moments. The story isn't very special at all, since it is a typical story device to have someone or a group to have progress along the story. Hence, the English title 'Ordinary High-School Girls Tried Being Locodols'.

The story doesn't show any idol industry shenanigans, which is good, because I love a relaxed story that doesn't involve any butchering of idols.

Now, I never heard of a locodol before, which is something unique about the story. Apparently, there are also other locodols around too, from different cities. They help to promote their own cities and also to bring the spirit to the residents. I think that the idea is interesting, although I like to see more of locodol action.

The story ends with a very sweet conclusion that leaves no gaping holes behind.

The characters have different personalities which I find quite similar to other characters. Nanako is quite a pessimist, with a lot of worrying that burdens her down. Yukari seems like a perfect person, but she can be clumsy sometimes. Yui is a typical small character yet so strong she can do interesting acts in her heavy mascot costume. Mirai is a shy person but is still sociable.

Throughout the story, both Nanako and Yukari learn more about themselves and they have nice development. They meet more new people who then support them in their own future events. Eventually, the whole town adores these locodols.

Nevertheless, all the characters are very cute, especially Nanako's 'nanyako' stuttering.

The art is pretty nice. The scenery looks gorgeous and I love the colour choice. It felt a bit like it was painted in many scenes, which give a nice touch. The character designs are cute and the facial expressions can exaggerate for comic relief, hence very cute too. There are some chibi designs which I think are cute too.

Most of the time, the atmosphere where the locodols perform are quite lively. It may not be a very big concert but more of a small-scale concert for the residents. The costumes they wear are great and the dancing animations are smooth and cool.

Despite not having a lot of songs, the quality is good. The opening and ending songs, both sang by the Nagarekawa Girls, have a certain relation to the anime and they have a good singing voice. They may not be as famous as other awesome anisongs, but it has its own standards. The background music is nice and cheery. The voice acting is great too, as they express their emotions well. There are some recognisable voice actors, especially from Yukari and Mirai, and a few supporting characters and other locodols.

I admit it that I enjoy this anime despite a simple story. It may not be a famous anime, but it still is a great one to enjoy.

A quick look at MyAnimeList's anime recommendations from this anime, I see other idol anime like Love Live, Wake Up Girls and Idolmaster. Honestly, this anime stands differently from others. These other anime have a group, while this anime has a pair. There may be following a similar route towards progress, but they encounter different experiences. So, if you are one of those guys who can't remember all the group members in a particular group, I think this anime shall be your first.

If there's a second season, dig me in!

First review on MAL (although I have several anime review blog entries).
Note: The score is adjusted to MAL scales by adding 1pt to the original score.

First of all, this is not the usual idol anime you watch. It's not like shows like Love Live, the The iDOLM@STER etc. Instead surprisingly, the 'Futsuu'(Plain) in the title is what makes this show avoid your stereotypical idol anime.
But on the other hand, it also means that this anime is more close to your usual slice-of-life anime.

The most important feature of this anime is that in many ways, it is not 'idealized'. It depicts the plain-looking work of Locodols ... and how they slowly turn into someone suitable for the job, instead of *cough* turning into a lead guitarist from scratch in one year *cough*.
So let's take a look at the 'not idealized' and 'idealized' aspects:

-NOT IDEALIZED-
>The life as a Locodol, i.e. the main plot. It is more close to real life, but it often becomes too plain and without comedic gags to support. You can't just simply take everyday life onto the screen and make that into an anime.
>Nanako doesn't look as if she can become a Locodol from the start. (Regardless of how it turns out)
>The mascot: it is just a normal mascot which reminds me of the Blue Badger from the Ace Attorney games. Surprisingly, the mascot turns out very good.
>Most songs. Well yeah, usual idol songs are too stereotypical, but here in Locodol, besides the last song they performs(sadly, it sounds like your usual idol track), all we have are some school anthem like songs and the ... mascot-promotion song. This show suffers from a lack of good songs. Explainable since their songs are about promoting things about the town, but poor in sound department nonetheless.
>The town's budget. Kind of realistic, but. In some cases it is rather the producer of the anime who is low on budget.

-IDEALIZED-
>The recognition the Locodols get. Especially: I'm not going to spoil the anime, but in one specific scene, what the Locodols did would be considered 'lame tactics' in real life.
>In one case the Locodols took a job not suitable for usual high school students yet they completed the quest. Common in other anime, though.

-OTHER ASPECTS-
>Fanservice: Usually, when there is fanservice, it's not done very well. For example, Ep01 is rather misleading as it would probably make viewers believe that this show is totally about swimsuit fanservice.
>The comedy: ...Not that good. The stalker thing was meh: what did I say just now... 'lame tactics'?
>The infamous cliche 'I have been happy because you guys/girls are by my side': Still a bit cliched in this show, but overall natural and heartwarming. You would probably not feel that it's cliched.
>The yuri vibe: The problem with the yuri vibe is that it's one of the highlights of the show, so if you don't like yuri you'll find the show less enjoyable.

So how to sum it up?
This show tries to stand out from your usual idol anime, but to avoid bordering on a normal slice of life it tries to support itself with massive yuri vibes.
Overall the show is heartwarming, but still a bit cliched among 'cute girls engaging in activities' slice of life anime. Plus, especially in the earlier episodes, it fails to give us some entertainment value, and it still can't avoid several problems normal slice of life anime usually have.

Recommended for:
>People who are tired of usual idol anime(I'm not a huge fan but far from being sick of the genre)
>People who like some heartwarming story about girls engaging in activities
>People who like light-hearted yuri.

Story: 6
Art: 6
Sound: 4
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 7
Overall: 6

(Stats: Suspicious Ups=0, Downs=0 as of 22 Apr 2015. Calculated with statistical hypothesis)

Nagarekawa: a quiet, peaceful country town in Japan, where there aren't any tourist attractions to attract tourist for such amusement parks but they do have public swimming pools! So the Nagarekawa City Hall decided to promote their city, by introducing Kohinata Yukari and Usami Nanyako. Thus the Nagarekawa girls was born with 2 more girls joining them. Their aim? Promote Nagarekawa City!

The story for the series is nothing much interesting but 4 main girls being the locodols trying to promote Nagarekawa via National TV or entering contest in order to be featured in the Television. They do have fanservice but not that much, what ... i also expect that constant comedy and the good moments has done this perfectly. So i might as well give 7 out of 10

The animation throughout the series is fluid, not lag or weird animation or akward animation, the background image is not too saturated, the character designs were pretty nice and appealing. Once again, Studio Feel is in charge for this since i can see the hair gradients of the characters. Rate 8/10

The sound were pretty appealing not to loud, childish or boring. The OP and the ED is fine, the voice actors for this series is decent, not too bad. 7/10

Most characters i like would be Usami Nanako with her mess up lines for such her name and also her air-headness. 7/10

Overall there is nothing much spectacular about the series but I do enjoy watching it. What i assume that this may ended up as a casual experience filled with characters and interactions that make your lips twitch into a smile almost against your will. Also it's quite relaxing and calm. With that i give 8/10

Overall 8/10

-looking forward for the new OVAs