Tsukiuta. The Animation

I'm gonna be honest, I started watching Tsukiuta the Animation because I stumbled upon a picture of Hajime. Mutsuki Hajime, in all his purple and black glory. It is extremely understandable how Shun is a big fan of Hajime. Anyways, yeah, I fell in love with Hajime at first sight and searched him up, and soon enough, I finally got to watch this anime.

I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but this wasn't bad. I don't usually watch slice of life animes (is this even considered slice of life?), let alone idol animes. I've tried to get into stuff like Hypnosis Microphone and Enstars ... multiple times, but I really just can't vibe with stuff like that. Even after finishing Tsukiuta, I still can't fully vibe with the songs in the series. The "shakin', sugar, sugar" still haunts the back of my mind, though. It's kinda catchy.

Right off the bat, the show was introduced with the 12 idols introducing themselves on TV just like idols would. Unfortunately, even after I've finished watching all 13 episodes, I still can't remember all of their names. The plot didn't intrigue me enough, and the character development kinda lacked. I didn't really feel any big attachment to anyone, except for maybe Shun, in addition to my already Hajime-obsessed self. But, really, I kind of had high hopes for Hajime. The plot sort of let me down. The characters felt a bit detached? I couldn't really build the bond I wanted to with them, or empathize fully, or whatever it's supposed to be called. It started off super boring, but as the story progressed, it got better. That was one of the good things, I guess. Each character was able to get an episode dedicated to showing their struggles, too. They were able to highlight how even idols were human, fiction or not, and we all have struggles. It was a fresh thing to see, in contrast to some animes and movies I've seen and dropped due to the lack of imperfections. This was, overall, quite enjoyable. I'll probably watch the second season once it airs.

This is my first review and I'd never thought I'd do one but here we are.
I heard Awai Hana from Tsukiuta blasting in an anime convention, loved it, remembered there was an anime and decided to try it. I watched this thinking I was going to get something disastrously similar to the B Project anime but boy was I proven wrong!!

Story: It doesn't really have a plot to follow, which is kinda alright for me, it was kind of refreshing. Though it's understandable if some people do not like these types of animes. Also, there is no heroine (thank god for that) and the ... episodes just follow the life of a different member of the groups per episode. If you want really serious idol content or are looking for a reverse harem anime, this isn't really for you.

Art: It's quite decent though perhaps with a couple of animation flaws here and there but I find it bearable. It's not the best but I think it's pretty good. At first I was uncomfortable with the CGI during the performance scenes BUT it's not the worst I have seen. It's actually pretty decently done with some nice animation details that I can actually give them credit for. The 3D animation was a little awkward but again, it's not the worst I've seen. Anyway you'll only see CGI during performance scenes so personally I feel that it isn't too bad.

Sound: I just love most of the character songs in this anime! But it's not because they're idol songs but because the character songs are each made by different popular Vocaloid Producers like ChouChou-P, Utata-P etc. I like both opening songs as well but not as much as the character songs, though they are pretty catchy and well done. Maybe it's just personal taste but I do think the songs are good and that the voice actors executed their songs perfectly; so if you haven't listened to the full versions of them, I'd highly recommend it!!

Character: I feel that the characters are pretty unique and interesting. And their designs are also interesting! However I do wish that they could've let us feel the characters more and give us more information about each of them. Even though I've watched all episodes I feel like I only know a portion of their personalities. It would've been nice if they'd shown us small but kind of important/ interesting details from the beginning, like how each character represents each month of the year. (Seriously I wouldn't have known that unless I googled the characters or played the game .. or watched the PV).
Regarding character development, it's.. kind of rushed into one episode per character. But it's understandable since they only had 13 episodes. I feel that maybe they could have extended the number of episodes but perhaps they had some budget issues; I wouldn't know.
I also find joy in shipping some of the characters. Yes, this anime kind of ship baits, but the characters are truly really cute together...

Enjoyment: It's actually funny and I just find myself laughing more than I thought I would. The character development scenes, though rushed, were also pretty interesting and I was actually interested to peer more into depth into the characters who got an episode! I think I would've enjoyed it more if the animations were more fluid and if the CGI was 2d animated instead. But still it's a pretty fun and relaxing series to watch.

Overall: It was better than I expected and I don't really watch Idol animes till the end (dropped B project and Utapri). I started the game at the same time I started anime and did some wiki searches on the characters so I had a little bit of background on them. But for people beginning to watch this, it might be confusing at first. However, they might actually start to grow on you in a few episodes as how they did for me!

In conclusion: Perhaps this anime was made just to promote the game, and I won't lie and say it's the best anime I've seen, but it certainly does have its enjoyable moments. If you enjoy music, if you're looking for a chill anime with maybe a little bit of "drama" occasionally, if you want to have fun watching and stare at your favourite person(s) in the groups and if you want to have a good laugh, do give a few episodes of this anime a try! (Though I would recommend to either try the game as well and/ or read up on the characters' backgrounds for maximum enjoyment, because they kind of just throw their characters at you or that's how I felt anyway.)
Otherwise maybe if you think this anime isn't for you, try listening to the songs instead. I can guarantee that vocaloid producers and the seiyuus will not disappoint your ears.
I also see that there's a second season coming up and I genuinely can't wait for more of these daily shenanigans of Tsukiuta.

It's a male idols anime and the target of this anime is clearly girls. It's not really built
on music and dance, neither on gaining popularity. It's more about showing the male idols personalities during their activities like job, promotional shooting or acting.

My opinion on this anime is mixed, i liked the topics about fans energy and hard work, but when it comes to the characters developments or interactions, i'm not really moved. Maybe their personalities are not developed enough, i can't really tell. I liked one of the characters development though.

For the people who are looking for an idol anime because of some ... material about idol industry, music and dancing, idols daily lives, you can still watch this anime but don't have too great expectations. You can still find out which character is cuter, funnier, manlier etc.