B-Project: Kodou*Ambitious

First things first... Nonsensical setting and story? I can live with that, not everything has to be perfectly realistic and not everything has to make sense all the time. It's "harem" again? Obviously if I didn't like those, I wouldn't even be on B-Pro's page here now. I'm no expert on art or sound, so all I can say is a personal opinion: I really liked the styling, the colours, the characters, the music. A solid 8/10 for those as far as I'm concerned, they all really appealed to me. Again, I don't expect everything to make sense or be realistic or perfect all ... the time.

Having said all that, why the overall score of 6 then? I was full ready to give an 8, even as I just started watching the last episode. But by the time it concluded, I was so utterly floored with a slew of WTF???'s that I just couldn't. I have absolutely no idea what on earth went down there, or why, or how (well, some of it is explained, but it's spotty and inadequate). What I do know though is that it was really a complete a××pull out of exactly nowhere. It could be argued that the signs were scattered over the previous episodes, but one just does not expect something like this, not from this kind of anime. Not only does it not fit into the general upbeat and fun mood, but because it was all left for the last episode too, it just ended up being a sloppy mess, leaving the distinct feeling that it could've done with at least one more episode so that all this is properly unfolded, explained, and then tied up. That way it might have felt a little less out of place. As it is though, it managed to sour the entirety of the show, which is a real shame.

Some may like these real serious sudden twists that turn everything upside down, personally I really don't. Especially when it's ill-fitting for the genre.

Summary Review:
This is your typical reverse harem with idols (except there is 0 romance). Its more like a harem of friendship with the main character. While it is refreshing to have a idol harem where the idols arent all falling all over the plain boring girl, keep in mind it is still your typical "idol anime". Sound 8, Art 9, Characters 7, Story 5. Overall 6 - decent anime that is ruined by a rushed ending.

Full Review:
Firstly, the art and sound are good. The music doesnt vary much as its all the same songs pretty much but the music as a whole isnt too ... bad. Its probably just my personal preference but the art was good, it suited the anime genre. Sound:8. Art: 9.

The characters arent too bad. Sure there are your typical "idol" types but you see them everywhere and you should know what your getting into if your watching this to begin with. They try to give everyone an individuality to them and even tell you a little bit of backstory to a few of the characters while almost none to others. Not too bad in terms of character developement considering this was only 12 episodes, i have seen a lot worse. While there are a character or 2 that are way too much for me to come to like, not too bad. Character:7.

But its all downhill from there..... The story started off not too bad, it doesnt have much of a "story" as such but thats to be expected from most idol anime and the people watching will generally understand that. For the first 9 episodes it felt as if everything was going almost too well at times but in general it wasnt too bad, and if the last 3 were just as good i would have given the story a 7. However, the 10th episode throws a spanner in the mix. I wont say what happens because spoilers but its a big plot twist (a semi forseeable one at least). Now thats fine, i dont mind a plot twist but by leaving the plot twist until 2 episodes before the end they had to rush it and explained NOTHING. They throw a million questions at you and answer 1. A huge disapointment that has probably ruined the minor chance for a season 2 so we will probably never learn the answer to those 999 999 questions we have. Story:5.

this is coming from an avid bproject fan -- i found this series enjoying, i love the bpro boys a lot. before, when i had watched it for the first time, i wasn't a fan so i initially disliked the show because of the inconsistent art and the typical harem (i've never been good at dealing with idols x 1 girl anime) was coming off as cringy to me. but eventually i came back to it and i fairly enjoyed it...

characters: 10
if it weren't for the characters, i wouldn't forgive bpro for ruining the anime as much as they did so look into their ... personalities, pick a favourite and try to get to know them because it makes the anime a bit more bearable

if you're just watching the anime for the sake of doing it, it's gonna be hard remembering names but that shouldn't really bother you

story: 4 (spoilers)
it was okay, the episodes had their own stories and weren't so much consecutive as they focused on the growth of the boys individually or within their relationships with other people. one episode usually told a tale with a morale for the boys to realise and make better of themselves. i found these episodes to be really sweet though some were just strange and exaggerated.

(personally, the episode with momo's spiritual power was strange to me... i wish they just focused on acting.)

the ending was ABSOLUTELY terrible. episodes 1 - 9 are average but 10 - 12 was just bad. if you're enjoying the show so far, don't bother watching after 9 or it'll ruin the series for you. there's too many plot holes and they rushed bpro's song -- which they had shown for two episodes to be working very hard on... the ending was really bad. i'd give it a 5 if they ended it differently and LESS weird but it can't be helped.

art: 5
the art is inconsistent, as many people have said. when there are keyframes, however, the art improves A LOT, ofc, but the difference between the CG-like-keyframes and the regular animation is too much and sometimes bothersome.

the boys dance but it's not in 3d, so it's all drawn as in-between animation and it looks terrible.

sound: 8
i personally loved the soundtrack. it was very nice. also the songs are really good, please check them out.

enjoyment: 6
i'm always looking for more bpro content so i can't lie and say i didn't enjoy it... but it could've been better.

overall: 5
if i weren't a bpro fan this would be a 4/10 and my individual ratings would be much lower than what they are, some things can't be tolerated if you're picky about your anime.

these boys deserved a much better anime than what they got, it's so disappointing. they have a huge fanbase in japan but it's just not gonna follow through internationally unless you were to do your own research and enjoy them outside of the anime. so disappointed.

I wrote this review a while ago when the show first aired on a different site but since I have reviewed other things on MAL I figured I would move this over.

I watched the first episode and it seems like a really average anime. It has a large cast so I don't expect much in terms of character depth. The main character seems like she is going to be a naturally gifted person which is why she was hired but she does not know any actual terms that basically anyone should be aware of... I mean how can you not know that take it from ... the top means "start from the beginning."

I also noticed an error in the art during the first episode where the character with the pink highlight in his hair had the highlight go away in the middle of a close up (like it was there at 11:47 and once it gets to 11:49 it turns black for no reason until they cut away from him).

So if you're watching it for the singing or idol aspects it could be okay but the plot looks generic and if the make an art issue that obvious in episode one I'd expect to see more errors later so I'm going to pass on this show.

The thing that held B Project back for me was its weak cast management. Telling the stories of ten characters (3 idol units) requires solid writing to pull it off. However, the show failed to do that. Episodes shift from one unit to another so fast that I barely got to know them. Because of its lack of focus, the characters ended up more like archetypes and tropes than human beings trying to make it big in the entertainment industry. Their growth was either hard to tell or nonexistent as the storytelling makes relating to them challenging. Furthermore, B Project seemed more interested in adding ... some fanservice instead of developing their personalities. The anime-only characters seemed to have more personality than the idols themselves.

The only idols that stuck with me were the ones from Kitakore, because 1. their song plays in the ED and 2. they seem to be the only ones with the most screen time. The unit THRIVE was typical and I barely knew anyone from MooNs.

Speaking of which, for an idol anime the show's OST wasn't fantastic. While the characters can sing, the insert songs didn't feel original or fun to listen again. The artwork was pretty with okay animation. The voice acting was alright, but nothing noteworthy given the writing.

Overall, B Project is not a terrible idol anime. Rather, it's slightly below average due its writing and weak cats management.