Kabuki-bu!

Kabuki-bu! I enjoyed this anime a lot more than i thought i would.
This is my first review on MAL btw... i thought i had to write something given how badly this show has been perceived by some viewers (maybe because kabuki is not this generation's thing?)
Aaaanyway! When i first started this show, i thought the story was gonna go the cheer danshi route where we hardly got any content on the actual club activity. But to my surprise, this show brought the Kabuki and it brought it really hard! i.e. absolutely well executed, enjoyable and still realistic enough. My love for the art called ... "Kabuki" literally cannot be measured now thanks to Kabuki-bu!. One more reason to love Japan!

Okay lets lazily follow the usual rating system..
Story: 10. Beautiful well written story. I've seen countless of anime and this has to be one of the most well paced story I've seen. The author knows what he wants to achieve with this story and no episode is wasted in pointing that out.

Art & Sound: 10. This part really shines whenever the kids do the kabuki play. You could feel the passion they have for the art from their body movement, facial expressions, plus the costumes are hot! (Genroku era type of hot). Sounds also on point, really sets the atmosphere

Character: 10. What is more important here than character development? well you got tons of it. But what i liked the most was how dynamic the characters are, you can never get bored with them. Totally squad goals.

Enjoyment: 10. I look forward to Fridays not cos of tgif, but cos of Kabuki-bu! The show just has a way of relaxing you. What better way to unwind after a stress-filled week?

Overall: 10. I would like to use this moment to say a big thank you to the author for this beautiful story and to the production team for a well executed job. Thank you for introducing us to the world of kabuki, and for breaking it down so well so we can understand and relate. Here's hoping we get a second season!

And not to forget, if you like relaxing well-paced shows, i recommend kabuki-bu! You should totally see it! And come back to thank me XD

This was one of those series which caught my eye when I was checking out the PVs for Spring a couple of months back. Right now, I can safely say that it has hardly disappointed me and even exceeded my expectations.

Kabukibu is a story focusing on a youngster, Kurogo, who is incredibly passionate about kabuki (classical Japanese dance-drama), as he aims to gather people to form a kabuki club, hence the title of the show. The plot is not in any way unique; it's probably not the first time you will have heard of an anime where some guy decides to form a club ... and tries to persuade everyone around him to join. However, in place of the plot's simplicity, there were other areas which made the show appealing. First of those which comes to mind would be the comedy. While humor can be pretty subjective from person to person, I found myself really enjoying the comical aspect of the show. The jokes they made didn't really feel forced, most of them felt casual and really things which everyday high school students would do and say. Apart from that, it was also really interesting seeing how Kurogo goes about trying to persuade the others to join him in doing kabuki. Imagine if you were asked to participate in a club which focuses on performing a 400-year-old traditional art form which supposedly has no part to play in modern society. You'll probably decline the offer, wouldn't you? That's exactly how everyone reacted to his proposal at first. And that was just the first of his troubles. Honestly, the ending is predictable and there's nothing to hide, Kurogo was always going to be successful, but this story is about HOW he will accomplish it. That is precisely what's intriguing about the show and makes you want to watch on every week.

Another element of the show I would like to touch on is the characters. What I really love and what I feel really makes the show is the interactions between the characters. It wasn't a one-man show where one know-it-all character goes "Leave this to me, I'll carry everyone". Stuff happened. There were conflicts, some of them even somewhat unexpected, and the characters had to talk to one another in order to solve them. The characters themselves were not unique individuals per se, but together they formed one unique group of people striving towards a common goal. Although the show did not address every single character, I felt they generally did a good job for those they focused more on. The backstories were not too complex to understand, and simple enough for viewers to sympathize with the character involved. Overall, I liked the characters a lot and couldn't really bring myself to dislike any one. With regards to the seiyuus, at one glance you can see that while the cast isn't exactly star-studded, they are all adequately experienced. While it was certainly a challenge for them to try and voice lines in the kabuki style, I feel they did a great job. It actually helps that they aren't adept at kabuki lines, because after all, the characters themselves are mere amateurs, just like the cast.

Checking the synopsis of this anime out, I'm sure you'll start to wonder things like "But I'm not interested in kabuki, will I be able to get into this show?" I can safely assure you that you do not need to have any background knowledge of kabuki in order to watch this. In fact, it's quite the opposite; watching this show could be what gives you the background knowledge of kabuki instead. Of course, if you're already interested in kabuki, you're definitely going to enjoy this anime. Nevertheless, that is not a necessity. I went into this show not knowing much about kabuki (heck, I don't even know much about Japanese traditional arts), but still wound up enjoying myself watching it. Dare I say, it has even got me interested in kabuki to the extent that I would give it a try if I had the chance to.

I'd personally give this anime a 7, or at most 8... but that's just me. I hope reading this can help convince you to ignore the bad ratings and give this anime a chance, because I feel that it truly deserves more attention and love!

Not really a master piece, but this is what I would call a hidden gem. So yes, 6-point-something MAL score is definitely less than what this show deserves.

So, the premise of the story is an optimistic boy loving something and want to spread that love by gathering member to make a team, or a school club in this case. Sounds cliche, right? Yes, even the most of the characters are the usual mix-ups: The Optimistic Guy, The Super Smart Guy, and even The 'Refuse Doing Something Because of Some Dark Issues But Ended Up Doing It' Guy.

Some people might think this is just another boring, ... cliche slice-of-life. I also thought that at first. I even almost dropped it. But after watching about third of the show, after about 3-4 episodes, I started to like the characters more, started to appreciate this thing called kabuki that they're trying to explore more, started getting curious about what they'll do next. The plot doesn't really develop much more even until the very end. But I think, the interesting point of this show lies in its characters.

For the MC, we have the ever optimistic little guy, Kuro. Barely has any personality in the early episodes, I found out that he is much more a realist than I thought he was. He's so stubborn, but he knows when he needs to give up and is quick to make decisions if something doesn't go according to the plan. He also has his moments where his confidence deflates, and I realized much later that many of the characters has something 'hidden' beneath their first impression personalities.

Another thing that I like about this show is that it touched some topics that many people actually struggle in real life (such as confidence issues, femininity/masculinity issues, body image issues, abandonment from parents, people's expectations) without making it overly dramatic, and even showed that the characters themselves can overcome the problems.

All in all, yes, it's not a master piece or something. But definitely a worth watching in my opinion.

A simple and yet complex work of storytelling medium about the art of Kabuki from the Japanese culture. A story about following your dream and doing everything without any regrets later.
The story at first glance it may seem generic , a high school student trying to make a kabuki club and recruiting members, but after a few episodes the anime starts to shine and reveal its main attraction which are the characters .

The characters are what makes Kabuki-bu worth watching it. They are not simple or plain either not sophisticated or pretentious , their true nature is revealed on stage during ... the Kabukibu play. Don’t be fooled by the new concept this anime delivers for its viewers ,everything about the art of kabukibu is explained during those 12 episodes. To make it more attractive and interesting the anime tries new methods for its story deviating from the original Kabuki-bu and adding modern elements so that the viewers can understand what the characters actions and dialogue scenes are all about.

The anime presents his characters to its audience not through the generic and overused plot aspects (eating the bento on top of the roof school, forced romance , fanservice, changing locker accidents ) but with the help of the Kabuki-bu art. On stage during the play our characters reveal to us their inner struggles and ambitions , their dreams and how hard they work for what they enjoy doing.

A slice of life story told through the art of Kabuki-bu about spending your youth and doing what you truly want from the bottom of the heart without the usual melodrama, forced romance, fanservice just following the plot and story which is to reveal more about the art of Kabuki-bu in Japan.

Kurogu had a love of kabuki theater instilled in him from a very young age thanks to his grandfather. Now, as a high school student, he desires to create his own kabuki club in order to bring an appreciation of kabuki to a wider audience. He'll find, though, that with the weight of hundreds of years of strict tradition, it's not so easy to get high schoolers interested. A rough start is not enough to deter Kurogu, and he’ll work hard to inspire in others the same burning passion he feels, until the day he can put on his own performance!

The character development isn't nice, ... it's not entertaining. However its attempt to portray a unique japanese culture is definitely interesting.

With Clamp designing the characters, the artwork is incredible.
There is not much story behind it and character sidestories have been rushed. It takes less than 3 minutes to show the complex background of the character which is frustrating.

However, watching a unique culture will not be boring.

Story: 8
Kurogo is really cheerful and sincere about Kabuki, giving his own opinion on things and advice for his friends. It definitely shows a bit of what Kabuki is about and you will be able to learn some of it. However, it started off with an overused plot of some typical school animes that shows the main character wanting to start a club being all positive about it and starts to recruit more people to join in. Also, I actually find myself not really focusing or remembering some of the lines in the script for some of the Kabuki plays, be it big or small ... as I got a bit confused with what it was talking about and don't find myself remembering it.

Characters: 9
The characters are really interesting with different personalities. The anime progresses and slowly leaks some family background in each episode about some of the characters which are not too difficult to understand and sometimes can be quite shocking.

Art: 7
Not the greatest but still pretty good enough for me, knowing CLAMP's art style. The way they animate Kabuki is beautiful and makes you appreciate this sort of culture that Japan has.

Enjoyment: 8
This kind of anime is for people who want to enjoy something laid-back and not about serious Kabuki. The first two episodes were kind of boring for me to watch but, I still continued to watch hoping it will get better which it did, thankfully. As I reach the last episode, it feels a bit incomplete for me as I feel there are some things which can be explained further. For example, for Ebihara.

Actually hoping that there will be a Season 2 for this. Giving this anime 8/10

This is my first review on MAL and I was mostly driven by the low-ish ratings on here when, personally, the 12 episodes were indeed quite the delight! Kabukibu! was rather an unexpected find and quite the unexpected gem! As a non-Japanese person who enjoys anime as well as the art and culture that Japan has to offer, Kabukibu! was indeed an eye-opener as I had been of the thought that Kabuki was primarily a dance form but apparently it is a type of dance-drama performance and I wouldn't have known that had it not been for this anime!

Kabukibu! gives a thoroughly slice-of-life-esque look into ... the art form set within the context of a high school and its various clubs; to summarize: it shows the extreme perseverance of a single student and his attempts to have his high school provide a platform wherein people can casually learn and practice Kabuki, which in this universe, is an unusual feat (Aspects of this can appear somewhat corny, to be blunt). It allows the viewer to know the basic nuances of what goes into Kabuki within the span of 12 episodes through the perspective of characters that either love or at the very least understand Kabuki, characters who indulge in the performance of the same, and audiences of various age groups who either know or do not know about the art form. It enables the viewer to see the value of such an art form from a cultural point in addition to depicting ways in which the art form could be distant from the modern viewer and even makes attempts at bridging that gap...

By no means, is this anime some masterpiece but it sure does offer a good time, a thorough ground for base-level knowledge about Kabuki as far as an anime in a high school setting can go with predominantly high school characters; it's soft, simple, cheesy, wholesome to some extent but absolutely enjoyable if one was to give it a chance...It's a fairly lesser-known anime and I for one, believe that it deserves more than the 6-point-something rating that it currently has on MAL! Again, it's no solid banger but it is fairly decent for a single-season anime! :) (And it had me looking up actual Kabuki videos on YouTube, so I suppose that's a plus as well!)

I'm salty about some of the reviews on here. This anime deserves more credit than people give it.

Story:
The story is basic. It's a typical high school anime with a club involved. But it's about kabuki. There aren't a lot of kabuki animes in general.Because of that, it might be difficult for people to get into.

Art:
It's alright. I like the design of the characters.

Sound:
Not anything to scream about but it's not bad.
...
Character:
In my opinion one of the most redeeming factors of this anime. Everyone has a motivations that makes them go a little bit beyond their trope. They are all likable and no one makes me want to rip my scalp. Even the support characters are very endearing.

Enjoyment:
With the aspect of Kabuki it's unique. I enjoy the interactions between characters. The conflict is solved by alternate means instead of yelling at each other for several episodes and the conflict doesn't revolve around stupid misunderstands and the lack of communication. There's a lot of communication.

Compared to other highschool animes, this one lacks the same intensity and 'over the top'-ness that modern animes tend to have. However that doesn't make it bad. It makes it feel like a very natural anime.

Overall:
There are some animes that don't deserve the high ratings that they get. Then there are the hidden gem animes that don't deserve the low ratings that they get. Kabukibu is one of the animes that doesn't deserve such low ratings.

This is a relaxing anime and people should give it a shot :)