Actors: Songs Connection

Tensho School is located in the 7th Ward of Thrive Central, where emphasis is put on extracurricular activities and all clubs participate in an annual fall singing contest. Having to delay the start of his school year due to his older sister's hospitalization, transfer student Saku Otonomiya finds himself struggling to adapt to his hectic new life. Balancing his part-time job and caring for his sister, he finds it difficult to make time to join a school club.

In preparation for the upcoming singing contest, the school's singing club wishes to use Sousuke Kagura's song "Cloudy Days," but Kagura is reluctant to grant his permission. The song requires someone with a three-octave range to sing it and he believes that only a VOCALOID can meet the standards. He allows for the club to use his song on the condition that they can find someone who possesses that vocal range to properly sing it.

While racking his brain over the composition of his next song, Kagura stumbles upon Otonomiya singing "Cloudy Days" perfectly. He invites Otonomiya to form a unit with him for the competition. At the same time, the singing club tries to goad him into joining so they can use Kagura's song. As the contest inches closer, Otonomiya must overcome his uncertainty and decide who to team up with.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Outa, Uta Main

Hozumi, Yuuya Japanese

Otonomiya, Saku Main

Kajiwara, Gakuto Japanese

Kagura, Sousuke Main

Urata, Wataru Japanese

Akika, Mitsuki Main

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Enjouji, Mike Main

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Marume, Chiguma Main

Kimura, Subaru Japanese

Saotome, Ryou Main

Tsuboi, Tomohiro Japanese

Mitsutsuka, Hinata Main

Hoshi, Souichirou Japanese

Akizuki, Kai Main

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

Kadonooji, Satsuma Main

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kaneko, Hirotaka Producer

Kudou, Masayo Producer

Miyakoshi, Tooru Producer, Executive Producer

Reviews

Apr 9, 2024

Rinshuu

Recommended

I was looking at reviews for this anime just for fun and I couldn't help but notice that a very important point was left out of a lot of them.
This anime is, at its core, a love letter to VOCALOID and the culture surrounding it. If that's not your cup of tea, that's fully understandable!
And I definitely think it would detract from how much someone enjoys this anime, but I do however think that this is not a bad anime. And I also do think there are things to enjoy even if you don't like VOCALOID.

Let me explain.

The anime follows a boy, Saku, who ... lives in a city surrounded by a big white wall. No, really. It's bizarre.
In this city, he lives a normal life - goes to high school, has a deathly sick sister; you know, the usual stuff. His sister's health is declining rapidly, so rapidly that he refuses to join a song trio with the deutergonists, Uta and Sosuke. In his desperation to save his sister, he remembers her telling him that the "white shadows" (beings that co-exist with them in the world) can grant wishes and, by some stroke of luck, him singing Uta/Sosuke's songs gathers a crowd of these white shadows.

As you can see, it's a pretty standard plot for your typical idol anime, but... white walls?? White shadows?? What???
Well... that's the charm of Actors! The story is absolutely bonkers. There is definitely no point in the story where you'll be able to predict what's gonna happen next, and I do think that's the beauty of it.
It's quirky on purpose, definitely a love letter to other surprisingly dark slice of life anime like Kemono Friends, so the story was entertaining to me.

As for the VOCALOID part of it...
Each episode has a cover song of a VOCALOID song sung by the characters. Why is that? Well, Actors is (was?) a CD cover series where-in famous Japanese voice actors sing VOCALOID songs. Although this exists in plenty by now, especially with the popularity of games like Project Sekai, back when Actors came out, it was pretty much the only thing of its genre.
First and foremost, the anime is a project made for the loyal fans who stuck by the CDs for 10 years (!!), just listening to song covers and hearding drama CDs.
If you're confused by characters, don't understand why they're sometimes shoehorned in/underdeveloped, et cetera, that is sadly just the reality of these anime adaptations made for fans. I didn't mind this as I've been a fan for a long time, but it is definitely a detract to most people coming blind in. Hopefully the anime sparked your interest in listening to the CDs as well!

Overall, I think this anime adds more than it detracts. Is it a masterpiece? Absolutely not. Far from it. But I think the insane premise, the music and the ability to turn off your brain and just enjoy it as an "cute boys doing cute things" anime makes it a net-positive overall.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 27, 2020

AoiHonou

Mixed Feelings

I considered dropping this because majority of the episodes are painfully boring to the point that I started practicing pixel art while occasionally glancing back to the screen to read subtitles.

The idea is okay and was wrapped up nicely in the end, but the build-up needs a LOT of work. Could've been an 8/10 anime if they wrote it better. The worst part for me, personally, are the character introductions. They're all over the place, and if I didn't finish this I wouldn't have even known why they were introduced.

My initial rating was a 4, but bumped it up to 5 for the ending.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 3, 2023

Sagaiko

Not Recommended

Sooo it has this cool lineup of characters that you can't help but root for... I spent half of the anime just trying to choose to who i had to fangirl more... Now, when it comes to the whole anime, it's a bit hit or miss. Theres no actual plot... Or thats what i feel like... The series uses musical performances not only as a form of entertainment but also as a means of character development, which is just... Mehxd specially for people who aren't into that type of genre. If you're a fan of anime that incorporates music as a central element and explores ... the lives of characters within a school setting, it **might** be worth exploring.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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