Show By Rock!!

The great music adventure in Show by Rock!! begins after Cyan decides to play her favorite rhythm game and suddenly gets sucked in, finding herself in a world called Midi City where music reigns supreme. She learns that anyone who delivers amazing and powerful music also has the ability to control the city. However, not all music is pure. An evil plan is set in motion to engulf the whole Midi City in darkness. Is it too late for Cyan to do something?

Cyan Hijirikawa always regards herself as nothing but an ordinary girl living in a mediocre world. She has great talent and extreme guitar skills, but she also lacks the confidence to take the first step in realizing her dream to play in a band and be a music millionaire! Little did she know that an eminent power resides deep within herself—the power to defeat evil with her magical music!

Join Cyan, Chuchu, Retoree and Moa in a world where music is everything.

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Adaptation:	Show By Rock!!
Other:	Show By Rock!!: Legend of Shingan Crimsonz, Show By Rock!!: Plasmagica na Gogo, Show By Rock!! x Joysound
Sequel:	Show By Rock!! #
Side story:	Show By Rock!! Short!!
Spin-off:	Show By Rock!! Mashumairesh!!

Han, Megumi
Japanese

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Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Suzuki, Mari

Assistant Producer

Ikezoe, Takahiro

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Mima, Masafumi

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Seishun wa Non-Stop! (青春はNon-Stop!)" by Plasmagica

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Ending Theme

"Have a nice MUSIC!!" by Plasmagica

Reviews

Jun 21, 2015

98T4nk

Recommended

This anime season has given us many great anime to choose from Show by rock has not really been discussed at all or if it has then very little as the season is shortening and alot of the anime in the season are ending it is only right to say I believe show by rock!! is one of the most underrated anime of the entire season.

The story is kinda weird in the beginning but then everything else is something you probably cannot predict it is fun, super nutty and a really easy watch that is worth it. Girl tries to join a band but with ...

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Sep 21, 2015

Veronin

Mixed Feelings

Man, I really wanted to like Show By Rock.

There was something quite special about it for a short time. It strayed very much on the 'simple' side of entertainment, confident more in the cuteness of its cast than anything else, but damn, it worked. It brought me the same sort of joy I felt back in the Middle Ages when K-ON first started airing. But, as seems to be the trend with most anime, it decided to abandon everything it did well and instead shoehorn in a cheesy, boring action story that the characters were obviously not meant to be a part of. Great. ...

I remember telling my friends to give the show a shot beyond the first episode, which, at the time, seemed very misleading and unlike anything that came after. And while I would still stick to my comment that there is nowhere near as much CG as the first episode suggests, the actual content of the anime-- its story, its themes-- is that same nonsense over and over again. The interesting bits in the middle of the anime are the actual misleading part.

There is nothing wrong with an anime not being what you expected it to be. Genre shifts, when done effectively, are one of the most powerful techniques in storytelling. It's not necessarily the change in style or genre that is the issue with Show By Rock, but that what it changes to is so half-hearted, so stale and lifeless that you can't help but wonder if, maybe, something went wrong during its production. Half the time it wants to be a light-hearted music show, and the other half it wants to be some deeply emotional battle opera. And as a result it succeeds in being neither.

The melodrama is tiresome, to say the least. Far too little time is spent developing the characters before it is suddenly thrown our way. Five episodes in, nothing meaningful or interesting having occurred with the characters yet, it suddenly acts as though we are supposed to care when the main four's friendship is falling apart. Give me a break. The reason why K-ON-- the anime that Show By Rock clearly wanted to be-- worked so well is because it focused on making us care about the characters long before doing anything dramatic or emotional with them. Drama, if meant to be taken even remotely seriously, is a privilege that must first be earned. Show By Rock does nothing to earn it. It acts as though it is the audience's duty to cry along when the background music urges us to. No thanks. It can take my groans and sighs instead.

And, really, it's stuff like this that is the biggest disappointment, because there's clearly some signs of talent hidden underneath all its problems. During the sixth episode, Cyan sings a love song in order to show her true feelings (demonstrating how important the music - supposedly - is to her), and her seiyuu actually sounds like she's about to break down and cry during it. There is obviously no real emotional response to be had with this scene, but the execution itself is pretty remarkable. If it had actually been put at the end with the rest of the series slowly building up towards it, it could have been a genuinely amazing scene. There's some neat pieces here, but the pieces are arranged so poorly that none of it actually means anything. If you slap pretty things together with no consideration as to how each individual piece works, it will invariably be a mess.

I suppose the addition of four bishounen characters helps add some variety to an otherwise one-note story, but the entire time it just felt as if they were taking precious screentime that could have been better spent developing Cyan and her friends. Or, heck, they could have had their own show instead - at least the stupidity they got themselves involved in was more entertaining than all the drama with the girls. As it stands, it feels like the production team had far too many visions for the anime going on at once, and rather than settle for one, they attempted to incorporate all three or eight of them.

If nothing else, at least the sound and visuals don't entirely suck. The opening is super cute and feels like something that would have come straight out of K-ON, which, in my book, is certainly not a bad thing. The CG, on the other hand, is very much off-putting-- switching between two distinct art styles rarely ever works well-- but it's not frequent enough to truly be bothersome. Even when there is big explosive CG action nonsense going on, it looks fine. It actually carries a sort of professional quality to it, which sets it apart from pretty much all CG in anime. It's just that the traditional 2D stuff is so much more appealing, what with all the adorable faces and poses that Cyan makes...

You've probably guessed from all the complaining, but I am not a very big fan of the show. I cannot recommend watching it unless you are bored out of your mind and possess a bottomless well of patience for mediocrity. You won't be missing anything of great importance if you decide to skip on it and check out something else instead, anyway. I actually had it on-hold for two months without even noticing-- it's that kind of show.

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Jul 19, 2015

BanjoTheBear

Not Recommended

(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

There’s this game series that is pretty popular, or at least, it was during its heyday. This video game is called “Guitar Hero.” I was never a music guy myself – I couldn’t play brass instruments, the “cool” drums, or jam out on an acoustic. But I had “Guitar Hero,” where playing was simpler, screw-ups were okay, and I got to have fun with a whammy bar. I got so good at the game that I managed to beat “Through the Fire and Flames,” considered one of the best “boss battles” in gaming history. I was ...

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New 'Show By Rock!!' TV Anime Announced

After the final episode of Show By Rock!! Mashumairesh!! on Thursday, a new television anime series titled Show By Rock!! Stars!! was announced. The story will featu...read more

Mar 26, 2020 6:00 PM by vanillaguard | Discuss (4 comments)

New 'Show By Rock!!' TV Anime Announced [Update 12/3]

Production company Sanrio announced through the official Show By Rock!! website on Sunday that the franchise will receive a new TV anime titled Show By Rock!! Mashum...read more

Nov 24, 2019 7:40 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (6 comments)

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Poll: Show By Rock!! Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) LunyRem - Jun 21, 2015	87 replies	by Chromatus »» Mar 17, 1:07 PM
Poll: Show By Rock!! Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Apr 5, 2015	205 replies	by WELLERM »» Dec 16, 2023 7:46 AM
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Poll: Show By Rock!! Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 19, 2015	51 replies	by ravioliqueen »» Feb 11, 2023 4:01 PM
Poll: Show By Rock!! Episode 6 Discussion Stark700 - May 10, 2015	49 replies	by Muow »» Aug 14, 2022 7:22 AM

Show By Rock!!

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Show By Rock!!

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Information

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Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

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