Gekidol: Actidol Project

Five years ago, a mysterious phenomenon known as the Global Synchronic Urban Disappearance caused a large chunk of Ikebukuro to disappear overnight. Following the catastrophe, the inhabitants found themselves thrown into a state of disorder, and unexplained electromagnetic anomalies called "Auroras" began to be sighted.

Awed by the performance of idol Izumi Hinazaki at a play utilizing the "Super Material Theater," a stage designed to revitalize Ikebukuro through hologram-enhanced plays, high school student Seria Morino is inspired to become an idol. Shortly afterward, she is scouted by a young woman named Kaoru Sakakibara, who turns out to be the director of Alice in Theater—the troupe that Izumi used to be a part of.

Aiming to pursue her dreams, Seria decides to follow Kaoru and joins Alice in Theater. Upon arriving at their establishment, she is cordially welcomed by a group of young and friendly girls who are all very passionate about acting. However, something seems to be amiss…

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kagami, Airi Main

Mochida, Chihira Japanese

Morino, Seria Main

Akao, Hikaru Japanese

Sakakibara, Kaoru Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Asagi, Akira Main

Yamamoto, Nozomi Japanese

Nakamura, Mayuri Main

Satou, Amina Japanese

Yamamoto, Kazuharu Main

Akiyoshi, Aya Japanese

Doll Main

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Hinasaki, Izumi Main

Suwa, Ayaka Japanese

Fujita, Aimi Main

Takano, Asami Japanese

Higuchi, Makoto Supporting

Yashima, Sarara Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Nagai, Masaru Producer, Planning

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Ueda, Shigeru Director

Reviews

Mar 23, 2021

Hunter97-

Recommended

So chaotic, yet so bold.
--> It is NOT a story about idols, just in case someone misinterpreted <--
Gekidol could be more enjoyable. It has many flaws, unpolished and complicated ideas. Narratively, it makes very clumsy errors, but it has a peculiar determination I wasn’t able to ignore.
I must be honest: part of me wanted to drop this anime after the third episode. It didn’t show me what I wanted to see, at that point I was very disappointed. But after seeing that spark of confidence in episode 4 and so on, my hope started to recover. The story wasn’t some generic CGDCT with magical ... powers like Pastel Memories. Here there’s quality, just put in simple ways. But “simple” doesn’t necessarily means “bad”.
The directing seems to go back to 2006, the cuts and the voice timing reminded me Simoun. In a certain way, Gekidol could be seen as a little child of that time.
Characters seem shallow and void, but there are backstories for everyone. They may not be exceptional beings with lots of different qualities, that’s for sure. Actually, I don’t care so much because they do what they were created to do, without the authors’ restraint.
The story, uff. Story is convoluted, to such an extent that I admire they tried to tell something like that in 12 episodes. Of course, that could be a lot better with a full 24-episodes season. Many passages are unclear and rough, too rushed at the end. The viewer can easily miss some crucial information, and I didn’t even understand 100% of what they tried to convey. Well, a reason to see it a second time.

In the end, what counts more is the impact. This was a cryptic, deformed, yet pleasant impact.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 23, 2021

dlxuniuniu

Mixed Feelings

The world is facing the abyss, the stage girls are the last hope. Only they can safe the world and conjure up a smile for the citizens - welcome to the world of “Gekidol”!
First of all, it has to be mentioned that “Gekidol” is THE unexpected surprise of the idol/stage anime scene. All those anime fans who (like myself as well) expected a classic idol story with a bit slice of life and maybe some Sci-Fi action after the first glance, are completely wrong. This anime "GEKIDOL" offers us a story which is much deeper than we can imagine and cannot be summarized in a ... whole paper…

The plot takes place five years later after an entire district has disappeared suddenly. It is a mystery that no one really knows why this happened. But at those dark hours our girls from "Alice in Theater" want to give people new hopes with their performances. It doesn't matter what setbacks they have to suffer – from the departure of important actors to losing their performance venue - despite everything, our girls never gave up. SMT is the organization which is behind all of those acts. With the new 3D hologram technology, they want to seize control in the whole theater industry. But these modern things precisely bring many problems and have already caused tragic events. Above all, there is the director of SMT Hirokazu Takezaki, or simply called "Hiro".

Hiro has a dream: he wants to create a play that will amaze the whole world. He is ready to accept anything for his dream. He changes his personality and is cold-hearted towards others. Hiro met the girl of his dreams: Miki. He wants to fulfill his dream together with her. But because of the tragic event five years ago, he always assumed that they would never see each other again.
The director of "Alice in Theater" is Kaworu, someone who is always in a good mood, as long as it is not about the theater and the financial situation. She's the one who discovered the Seria, our main character who started the whole story.
Seria's dream has always been standing on a big theater stage one day. As a child she had seen such a play and has been extremely enthusiastic ever since. But Seria also has a sad past where she lost her twin sister five years ago. Even if the crucial reality catches up with her every now and then, she is fighting for her dream every day.
Seria saw her twin sister in "Doll". The "Doll" is the most mysterious character in the series. She was "built" to help out with plays in “Alice in Theater”. It was quickly recognized how much talent there is in this "non-human figure". THE perfect actress for everything.
You cannot put on a play with one or two people surely, so all of our actresses are very important. But I won’t go into more details about the others since they play a comparatively minor role in the anime-play “Gekidol”.

It can directly be recognized that “Gekidol” has something dark and hidden already from the first scenes in the very first episode: a vanished city. The color is very dark and somber most of the time. Only during the performances, a lighter shade appears. The very few beautiful moments in everyday life and all hopes are associated with them. Not only the animation of the environment is successful, the characters are also well animated. The girls are portrayed in a cute way that it's just fun to watch their play.

Let's take a look to what I think is the best part of the anime: The music. You cannot spell "Gekidol" without “idol". Even if they are actually stage girls and thus differ from idols, the music is absolutely top class and certainly just as good as “normal” idols. Their songs have all the typical idol characteristic that are usually known. During the whole anime there are many insert songs as well from different characters. It's the typical idol music that makes your day better.
The stage performances are also very successful, you can tell from their performances how much fun they are having and what it all means for them.

What exactly did I just watch? That's probably the question everyone is asking after completing the 12 episodes of “Gekidol”. Hoods Entertainment attracted us all with idols and stage appearances, something the “kira-kira shiny” way. In the end it turned out to be a 200 IQ plot that includes all sci-fi elements. From the disappearance of a city to time travel and seeking out criminals, everything is included. Honestly, there’s too little time to resolve the plot regarding Kaworu and the Theatrical Material System (TMS) while focusing Seria’s journey of becoming an actress. These are two different pairs of shoes that have little connection with each other. I think that this anime would have much more potential if it didn't mix it all up and go through it in a rush mode. The performances and especially the music are wonderful, but unfortunately the plot in our play "Gekidol" failed in the end. It showed us a "dream" which is surely possible but only with sacrifices.
For every fan who is into chaotic things, which may not be related to each other, this anime is a suitable choice. You will have a questioning face very often for sure. If you expect something more relaxing, this anime will disappoint you.
In conclusion, you should take a quick look at the first few episodes to decide whether this anime suits your taste. On the other hand, a second season seems very unlikely to me, especially when you also consider the popularity and sales.

Gekidol's OVA "Alice in Deadly School" is their most favorite place that they performed on stage.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 20, 2021

KANLen09

Not Recommended

This show is a classic case of the "golden rule" of "Show, don't Tell" gone horribly wrong, and trying to salvage any further predicament will only harm your brain cells, much less your eyes. I know I did.

But first, a crash course on "Show, don't Tell":
‘Show, don’t tell’ is a classic advice for writers – something like a ‘golden rule’, delivered with complete surety and an authoritative tone by the last generation of authors to the next. This ‘set in stone’ approach drives many authors to try and pick it apart, but it’s survived so long for a reason: it is good advice, most of ... the time. Learning how to ‘show’, and when to do so, is an important skill to have as a writer, and perfecting it can mean the difference between rich, immersive writing and flat, dull prose.

Now look at Gekidol. It shows us things, tells us things, but somehow it couldn't find the OOMPH factor to stay relevant, and proceed to butcher like it was nothing. If anything, I will say this now: SKIP this show and the "Alice in Deadly School" OVA tie-in, both shows are definitely NOT worth your time. And yes, you're not reading it wrong, those are extremely BOLD words of confidence.

Lightning round for what this show is (but honestly I don't care):
- A theater act disguised as a systematic approach to the postmortem setting, yet the BTS (behind-the-scenes) paints a graphic picture of confronting past mistakes and attempts to resolve whatever conflict that may come and fly by. SHIT.
- A love story for the post-apocalyptic setting that just doesn't click up with even power fantasy terminologies, and only has them because it's a requirement in name only. SHIT.
- Characters that are gathered together for the love of acting, but yet most character development is just as worse of the generic kind, from a large-girl cast of theater + idol (that's how you get Geki-dol by the Japanese Hiragana annotation) to emitting pure distasteful Yuri and fraudulent ass-pulls for friendship conflicts. SHIT.
- For an idol show that calls itself "Gekidol", music should be central, but it seems that the Gekijou theatre act is overplayed against the music being overshadowed for the most part. At least, the first OP was what I've liked at the start, but that's about it. SHIT.
- Getting some of the worst low-budget studios like Hoods Entertainment to help back up in the visual department? GOOD, because it seems that no other studio is willing to do this batshit of a job premise, good on them. It's also SHIT.
- P.S. DO NOT let the production committee have a say in the series composition (and scriptwriting for that matter), their tendency to flout ideas back and forth is just so wack that the story doesn't make any sense. SHIT story, SHIT enjoyment.

In a nutshell, this show is SHIT-tier levels of BS, because it can't do anything right, much less give a resolution that also sucks, even with such a simple premise. I wish I hadn't spent my brain cells racking on this, but here I am, talking about BS shows like this that seems to be "The Usual Suspects" that people just don't care about, but rather getting every penny of its worth regardless of its low-ball quality. Again, another classic case of quantity over quality.

If at this point you still don't get what I'm trying to say, I'm speechless. Just save your time by not watching this show (and the OVA), I beg you, PLEASE.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Gekidol Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) removed-user - Mar 16, 2021	63 replies	by Destroyer31 »» Nov 12, 2023 9:10 PM
	Poll: Gekidol Episode 5 Discussion Ashhk - Feb 2, 2021	32 replies	by Destroyer31 »» Nov 12, 2023 12:09 AM
	well i think this is the most memorable show ever made Almyx2 - Jan 30, 2022	1 replies	by Ima_Ga_Saikou »» Jun 6, 2023 2:27 AM
	Poll: Gekidol Episode 11 Discussion KANLen09 - Mar 16, 2021	28 replies	by removed-user »» May 9, 2023 12:15 AM
	Poll: Gekidol Episode 10 Discussion KANLen09 - Mar 9, 2021	17 replies	by removed-user »» May 8, 2023 1:41 AM