Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku

Story 6/10

There's a magical school. Students have to be a club member. And students have to fight using their powers. This school has a new student. Her name is Ichinomiya Eruna. This story tells us her school adventures.

I like this anime. It's a seasonal anime and it could be called fun for the summer. It's not overly good but everyone can love that. Enjoyable, fun and adventure.

What people see:
Genres: School

What I see:
Genres: School, Romance, Yuri, Mystery, Comedy, Slice of Life, Action, Adventure

Story: 7/10
As far as depth, there wasn't much to the story. Much of it felt like filler and when the important stuff came up, it was near the end and because of that everything felt rushed. What disappointed me the most was how the one thing that this anime's all about (that clubs battle each other) weren't shown off as much as they could have been. There were only about 2 or 3 club battles and much of it wasn't shown off. However, I must commend the writers for avoiding allowing the main characters to always win. It's so overdone and it gets repetitive and predictable when they do it. I also have to say that they did a good job keeping things lighthearted in the more serious times.

Art: 8/10
There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the art, but the main thing that really got me was how any extra characters around were usually colored white instead of being colored like a normal person. I know this is more of a personal problem, but it just seems like the animators were lazy. For what it was, the fight scenes were drawn out very nicely, especially the final battle.

Sound: 8/10
It was good I liked the opening. Nothing stuck out or was spectacular in any way though.

Character: 9/10
Probably the best part of this anime. I thought the characters were very diverse in personality and even sexuality. Yes sexuality. If you haven't seen the first episode, basically our main character, Eruna, is into chicks more than guys. While this may tired you from watching, this leads to some funny scenes that would otherwise be avoided if she swung the other way. As for the other characters, they were all very interesting although more backstory for them would have been nice,

Overall: 8/10
This is quite a funny anime with a good bunch of characters that only really lacked a well thought out story. Things were brought up so suddenly and ended just as quickly that the flow and timing just felt off.

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Mikagura School Suite is is an adaptation of Last Note.'s vocaloid song project that spawned a light novel and manga (all written by Last Note.) This would make MSS the 4th anime that adapts a vocaloid project.

Story: 5/10

Mikagura School Suite's story is incredibly mediocre and not special in any way. The plot likes to wave around in different areas throughout the anime to try to give the other characters more depth but it just didn't work (at one point theres a giant Godzilla-esque robot just cause, no logical explanation given). The ending is also very predictable and honestly not fulfilling; I feel it needed at least a short epilogue to show how everything ended up afterwards with the many different characters (I don't count the montage in the last ED has much of an epilogue if that was what it was meant to be). One last note (pun) is the the humor in this anime is horrible, it's just not funny. The jokes are dragged out like Shigure's character wanting to get with his cousin. Also, don't hope for Eruna to end up with anyone, because it doesn't happen.

Art/Animation: 3/10

Ohhhh boy. This anime had many MANY art and animation issues. The fight scenes were done incredibly poorly and were done very choppy. Lots of scenes the art looks off and just wrong. The animation overall is below average. Now, to the character designs. I HIGHLY dislike what Doga Kobo did to Akina's character designs. Akina's original designs were quite good despite being simplistic but Doga Kobo changed them to have weirdly shaped eyes and just did not look good. It also made them look, well, out of place next to each other. The backgrounds are very simple and average.

I did like the special ED for Eseragoto Spiral's cover song in I believe ep 11.

Sound: 6/10

I honestly can't note anything particularly good or bad about the OST, it did its job. I did enjoy the covers of Esoragoto Spiral and Houkago Stride but they weren't as good as the original songs. The voice actors did their jobs well, I felt most of the voices fit but Asuhi's voice was WAY to high.

Character: 5/10

Most of the characters in this anime are ok or annoying.

Our main character, Eruna Ichinomiya, is always hitting on girls and loves girls very much. This is one of the few different things about this anime as I don't see MCs like this. Other than that she's a typical positive MC.

Shigure, Eruna's cousin, is either a normal pretty good person, or a crazy comedy relief character trying to get with Eruna.

I, personally, liked Minatogawa and Asuhi the most in this anime and series. Minatogawa is a lonely member of the flower arranging club and I liked his character even though he was minor. Asuhi is a member of the astronomy club and I also liked his personality.

Yuto, the head of the drama club, was a very weak character. Yuto is like a cheap knockoff of fellow vocaloid song series Kagerou Project's Shuuya Kano. Yuto faked how he felt and this was brought up and solved in the same episode and was really underwhelming.

Some of the characters have vocal quirks, mostly in the drama club, it's very very annoying to me. I did not enjoy listening to them. Another major character, Bimii, says "ryui" all the time and its annoying and his dialogue is all unfunny. It's also not really explained why Bimii is with Eruna most of the time despite he's supposed to be a teacher at the school.

Enjoyment: 5/10

Somehow, this show kept me watching despite its content. I never really felt like dropping it so I'll give it that. However, it gave me mostly criticism and that's not a good thing.

Overall: 5/10

I can't recommend this anime, I really can't. I recommend you check out the songs because they're far better than this anime.

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This is no ordinary school. It looks normal at first but Mikagura Private Academy is far from normal when you get supernatural battles on everyday basis. Why? Because it’s for representation and show which club reigns supreme on campus. In essence, this series isn’t just some slice of life school life story but also one that blends in supernatural shounen-like features with school shenanigans.

Based on the light novel and Vocaloid songs, Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyou is an adaptation that I’d like to describe more as a school battle comedy. It runs on a story with characters that possesses special abilities belonging to each of his or her own club. The series stars protagonist Eruna Ichinomiya as she enters the doors of the academy. In a nutshell, she is portrayed as an otaku with a special taste in cute girls. Essentially, it’s what led her to come to Mikagura Private Academy because she saw a picture of the elegant Seisa Mikagura, the granddaughter of Mikagura Academy's principal. So there she is experiencing this rather bizarre change in her life. For what’s worth, this show is a bit corny although it does settle down with style once the pace goes going.

For starters, the academy is divided by many cultural clubs that specializes in different skills. These expand to a large variety including culinary, art, craft, drama, calligraphy, astronomy, manga research, flower arranging, and even going home. It’s a mixture of almost everything you may find at your local school with their extracurricular activities. For Eruna, this becomes a source of problem because she doesn’t belong to any club. By the school rules and mechanics of the series, anyone not in a club gets poor treatment including a lack of sleeping arrangements; the first episodes shows Eruna sleeping with a sleeping bag at school. Can you imagine that? But as the series progresses, we can see a bit of Eruna’s potentials. As the school focuses on school battles, it’s up to the students to improve their skills and make their own club proud.

Because the series features a wide range of characters, it takes time to explore the most prominent ones. This is a plus as the series allows us to see some insight scoop on what the cultural clubs are about. No more just telling but also showing becomes evident as we see what some of the club members do behind the scenes. For Eruna, I suppose it means that she can understand how the school works while trying to get Seisa’s attention. And that’s really a focus on and off for Eruna. At first, she really wants to hook up with her but as the story develops, we can see that Eruna genuinely cares for Seisa. A problem is that the two are not compatible. Seisa has a lone wolf-like status and isn’t the type to open herself to others. This is explained in one of the later episodes as we learn more about her past. However, the series shows that Eruna can brighten up just about anyone’s day. Relationship is important especially for youth and character growth so Eruna’s experiences with other characters really brings out herself too. One of the more prominent relationship she has is with a young girl named Otone. While they started off with a lot of awkward moments, the two becomes close. It brings out Otone’s true character to light rather than the uptight and expressionless person that others see her on the surface. Similarly, Eruna also shows her kindness to others based on a lot of events that she gets herself involved in.

As a series that has a lot of diversity, there’s also a good amount of comedy. However, this is a bit of a hit or miss. Eruna is character that some people will like or others will feel dislike towards. In retrospect, she is a very energetic girl but sometimes, she can be a bit naïve and too straightforward. Her personality when first introduced in the series also mirrors those of a kid in an ice cream shop. She goes around looking for “cute girls” and has her delusional imaginations. This is where the comedy comes in full force as she imagines being in “intimate moments” with them. The yuri vibes will also be a bit evident although it’s nothing sensitive and played more out as a comedy. But for a show like this, I feel like comedy is important as the series crafts a lighthearted atmosphere. The competitiveness is still there with the club battles and even tournaments. However, it also gives the series a breather when you see how much some of the students have fun in their daily lives. Just be aware that some of the dialogues can feel a bit cheesy as the story drags on. While it doesn’t obliterate the series’ enjoyment, it may feel blend after seeing many varieties of it.

Then, there’s the action. Like I mentioned before, this is no ordinary academy. As a school that features club battles with special abilities, expect a bit of colorful explosiveness. The mechanics of the battles and rules are explained that can be easily understood. The battles themselves usually don’t last long but does capture the point. I would say that the action itself is only slightly above average. Most of them showcases a characters’ special ability that corresponds with their club origin. So in many ways, it’s predictable at what some of them can do. The battles has a lot of energy but sometimes doesn’t match its momentum. Some of them are also rather short so expectations coming into them aren’t high. In retrospect, there’s nothing too special about them besides being a colorful gimmick to progress the story elements. After all, school battles with supernatural elements isn’t something new we see these days.

In terms of artwork and visual, this series explodes in color. Literally everywhere is color whether it’s the characters, the setting (school), or the battles. The school itself doesn’t look too special but the characters are decorated in flamboyant style. From the diverse range of colored hair to some of the battle outfits, we see a good amount focus on the visuals. Unfortunately, not every episode can live up to its hype on the technical aspects as there are times when the colors feels out of focus. The backgrounds are also lazily animated while some body movements are limited. Fan service is very minimal except for some of Eruna’s personal delusions. And even so, that’s played for laughter.

Soundtrack is a more or less moderate. It’s nothing to write home about especially if it’s almost always cherry. The OST all sounds similar except for cases when the characters do battle. That’s when the full throttle orchestra kicks in. Otherwise, it’s generally underwhelming. The OP and ED theme songs does have a bit of colorful style though especially with the characters in frame. On the other hand, character voice mannerisms isn’t very impressive. Eruna sounds almost like a brat at times while Seisa is borderline emotionless. The only character that brings a lot of personality into the series with its voice is perhaps the mysterious creature name as Bimii. While his voice isn’t anything impressive, he attracts considerable amount of attention on-screen just by the way he speaks. Don’t expect something that will blow your mind in the end though.

This show is probably a good choice for anyone interested in some comedy fun. Otherwise, it adapts spoofy gimmicks and settles for a family-friendly atmosphere. There are hardly any mature themes or something that is shocking. The story is very straightforward with its colorful cast of characters. But while it is generic and not very memorable together, it does pull off some clever tactics. It has this good natured fun to categorize school as a playground rather than a military academy. In the end, you’ll have to ask yourself if this type of fun is effective because why not?

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