A3! Season Spring & Summer

I seriously hope they delayed the episodes to up their animation skills because it's one of the trashiest I've seen and I thought my tolerance had been pretty high.

I'm caught up to the most recent chapter in the game in Japanese and the story's as good as other prominent idol games (ie. idolish7, which is thankfully blessed with good art studio). It pisses me off these lovely a3 characters receive such poor treatment in comparison.

They screwed up on the body motions? Fine, whatever. But they just had to also screw up on some basic face turnarounds, like c'mon. It's an idol anime and the ... face is like a good percentage of the selling point.

With that in mind it might be a little much, but it would be nice if they put more thought in their framing so it's not all like, bam 3/4 head shots/half body shots + the little animated movement that they already cucked up on.

Being super lenient and giving it a 5 for now for the potential it has in character/story and in hopes of some upgrade in the animation department.

Another anime of a game adaptation, but not the usual kind of "idols" that we'd expect. Instead, it's all about theater troupe acting. A simple act of gesture can go a long way...or so it's said.

Based on the game A3!, the player (director) must navigate through the simple plot about saving a theatre company (that's the Mankai Company) from the demolition of its "good ol' days", which specializes in 4 troupes that's named after the 4 seasons. Sounds simple enough? The anime also has that plot, but for the sake of time, the 1st cour here samples the Spring and Summer Troupes, with every troupe ... being unique and of itself that's based on the past experiences of the niche in talents.

Each and every troupe's group has a specialized theme, of which its 5 grandiose bishounen members must venture though high hell and back to cooperate with one another, and going through their hard-felt journeys of cohesive learning makes for one of the show's finest moments. The times where everyone couldn't see eye-to-eye, or have disagreements pertaining to personality or plain characteristics, all these are the hallmark of good and successful group camaraderie, and by the end of it, the groups are able to pull off their success "stories", which are the icing on the cake, and able to save Mankai Theatre from one step closer to shutting down for good. Different characterizations for all, and while generic, is still good.

Needless to say, the production for this series is quite horrid, but overall poor. A Studio 3Hz and P.A. Works collaboration (with 2 directors), the show really doesn't look any gorgeous, but it resembles ugly paintwork jobs all around, even for the character designs, which look at all decent to the honest eye. Originally set to finish in the Winter 2020 season, the production problems suspended the show for a postponed season (that is Spring), so that's that. Despite that, it's bearable to watch though.

Music? Of course. When it comes to "idol" shows (I'm not saying this is one), music helps a lot in gaining traction, and the songs here are fine though. From the OP to the season troupe's EDs, they sound fine really, nothing that will blow you away (that is if you've played the game and enjoyed for what it is).

Overall, a fine taste of what the series will be like for a start, since there's still the 2nd cour (comprising of the Autumn and Winter troupes) coming up this Fall (postponed from Summer 2020). But as for now: "The world is your oyster." To build the stage together and act their hearts out.

This show is fine, and that’s the best way I can say it.

The story is fine. It’s about a kid that likes to act and other people help to keep the business up with whatever the fee of the day is. It’s okay. Nothing really happens, although the story does drag a little a points. 6(.5)/10

The art is good. It’s nothing special, it’s just good. It can sometimes be a little distracting with the main actor’s face looking weird and the buildings looking different and off from weird angels but that’s about it. It’s still good. 7/10

The sound is fine, again. The music is fine. ... The sound effects are fine. The mic quality is fine. The voices are just fine. What else can I say? 6/10

The feel of the show is nothing special. It’s kinda forgettable, and the pacing sucks! The characters in the show are okay, but that’s about it. Okay. That’s it. 5/10

I enjoyed this show, but it’s nothing amazing. I would give it a watch for some time, because it’s still good, but it’s not great! It’s a fine show. 6/10

This show is a 6/10

I went in thinking this was going to be way worse than it was. Despite being better than expected, it at no point was a memorable experience for me.

The characters bring a sense of life to this anime and that is effectively it. They have interesting a realistic stories that are easily accessible to anyone. I teared up a couple of times at the writing with how well they handle the emotions of characters, and I think this is the only selling point to this series.

On the other hand, the animation was boring and stiff, and there are multiple points in ... the show where so little movement was happening at all that I was surprised when something moved. The show felt like a visual novel. There were sequences where characters will hold conversations off screen while we looked at a piece of background art, or characters would be talking but to skip on animating anything at all we were made to look at a still image of the character's body below the head. Comparing that to other series I have watched and it practically put me to sleep.

If your show is going to have every character be attractive, the least you could do is animate them decently.

This could be a good series if they animation team starts animating the characters who have so much life to them. My recommendation if you are considering watching is that this could easily be skipped, but if you feel like watching focus on the characters and their growth and try not to focus on the animation for your own sake.

Have you watched titles like Uta no Prince-sama, Kamigami no Asobi, and the like? Do you enjoy them? If yes, you might enjoy this as well. If not, stay far away.

This anime shows the typical otome plot line, and every objective review for them may as well be recycled for this one. I guess I've grown out of this phase since I enjoyed the titles I mentioned above back when I was younger, but I found myself having a hard time finishing this one as I go on. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea anymore.

It does meet the expectations of what it's marketed ... for, so I don't want to be too harsh on it. The ikemen are as you'd expect them to be. The MC is a slight breath of fresh air--her fate as the character who "changes the life of every guy in her harem which makes everyone absolutely adore her" is unfortunately sealed as expected, but compared to most MCs from older titles, she has her cheeky moments. It's a nice change despite being a small one.

What I really appreciate are: (1) acting as the main focus instead of being an idol, and (2) the music. I like that only a facet of being an idol (and not even putting much emphasis on fame and huge productions) is where the main plot revolves on, and I did enjoy the opening and ending themes. I won't be able to comment on other soundtracks since I tend to pause often and not notice them at all.

The art style ranges from simple to unique, which is a plus, however the animation really does fall flat. I wish they invested more time on that instead of the small movements and declaring them "good enough!" as they shut down their computers and end their day.

All in all, it delivers what it says it will. Pretty okay for an adaptation of an otome game. If this is your style, go for it, I'd bet you'll enjoy it. It just isn't for me now, sadly.

A3! is a perfectly fun anime as long as you don't take it too seriously. Does it have the best animation, or the most solid plotline? No, not by far - but if you enjoy a little tomfoolery and a whole bunch of pretty boys, I'd say go give it a watch.

Now to delve into it a bit deeper; A3!'s about a theater that's about to be demolished when director Tachibana stops it and promises the owner that she'll make the company profitable by the end of next year. And so starts a rotation where each 6 episodes 5 new guys prepare for a theater ... play and eventually perform it. Now you might say, 5 guys per 6 episodes and 2 seasons, that's... 20 guys? Isn't that a lot? Yes. Yes it's an awful lot. This also means that a lot of them miss some depth, with the exception of the main characters. Now this may objectively be a bad thing, but personally I greatly enjoyed how little these guys are expanded upon. In one of the episodes (minor spoiler ahead) we find out that one of the characters is actually being tailed by a foreign organisation. Do we ever learn more about his past or is there any follow-up on it after this information is revealed? Absolutely not. One character just really likes triangles, that's it. That's his personality. He's my favorite. Another character has lost his memory and all the others pretend this is perfectly normal and fine, and just invite him to live and act with them. Maybe it was not meant to be comedy, but it was amazingly hilarious to me. The main characters' backstories are fleshed out a little more and are pretty decent - I wouldn't call them special but they were enjoyable to watch. I also liked the personal relationships between all of the actors, a big part of the plot is based on their forming friendships.

The designs of the boys are pretty fun. Cool clothes, different (hair) colors and generally just nice characters to see. The animation isn't exactly up to 2020 standards, so if that's something that bothers you maybe stay away from this anime. I've seen worse, but it's definitely choppy compared to a lot of anime airing at that time. The voice acting is solid, which is nice since the whole series is about acting. I was honestly kind of surprised at the level of professionalism coming from what seemed like a low-budget project otherwise. Oh, and the opening is a banger.

Overall, I would recommend A3! if you're looking for something relaxing and not-too-deep to watch. It has fun characters and an enjoyable but sometimes little ridiculous plot. Plus a little bit of secondhand embarassment here and there when they're street performing. Cheers :)

To get things out of the way, yes I have played the game before watching the anime. The game is fine on its own, the otome genre never interested me but the game wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I finished the anime a few months ago and I was like you know what? I'm gonna write a review on it. Now is this adaption faithful to its original source? And for the sake of this review, I'll be referring as harem anime with a female lead involved with male characters as otome.

Story: 6
The story is simple yet a bit cliché to ... me, theater is in debt and our fellow main character decides to help, and meets a group of eccentric male actors. To me it's cliché because it just sounds like your typical otome anime plot. Another reason why it doesn't really appeal to me is that its centered with acting and theater, so maybe theater anime fans will enjoy this.

Art: 5.5-6
Look I get it, due to covid-19 being at its peak the anime got a huge quality drop. The animation got choppy at times, it used frames that were already used, and it's nothing that impressive. I wasn't surprised by it, it's not an action or fantasy anime, which it usually has amazing animation. The artstyle to me is nothing special, it's just your average otome artstyle.

Sound: 6.5
One of the things I think this anime did a good with was the opening, it got annoying at times but its pretty okay. It's nice to see that the voice actors of the game sing, and speaking of the voice actors I want to tackle one thing that bothered me while watching it, the voice acting. The characters' voices in the game are good, not outstanding, but they aren't terrible either. But characters voices like Misumi's kinda bothered me with all the voice cracks. The voice acting isn't impressing, but it's passable.

Characters: 7
Now let's talk about my favorite thing about this anime, the characters. They act just like how they act in the game. In the Spring Troupe we got Sakuya, the troupe leader who just wants to act, Masumi, who has an obsession with the director (who by the way he's like 16 and the director is on her twenties), Tsuzuru, who writes the plays, Citron, an immigrant, and Itaru, an office worker who secretely streams him playing videogames at midnight. The reason why I say why the characters are my favorite thing from this anime is mostly because of Citron, he's hilarious and deserves more, Itaru is also likeable. But then there's characters like Tsuzuru who I found annoying as hell from the beginning, but the rest of the boys are okay. Then there's the Summer Trouble, which has a crazier cast of characters, Tenma, a former actor, Yuki, a crossdresser who makes costumes for the plays, Muku, a shojo manga fanatic, Misumi, a man obsessed with triangles, and Kazunari, who's obsessed with social media. The summer troupe is definitely more energetic than the spring troupe.

Enjoyment: 7
If you aren't into harem anime then this is not your cup of tea. However, I recommend this one over other harem anime, as person who dislikes harem anime with a cast of boring male characters I found A3 to be quite enjoyable. Of course if you're the opposite of me and enjoy harem with a passion, then you'll definitely like this.

Overall: 6
Does this anime adaption remains loyal to its original game? Yes, I think it does. If you haven't played the game would you like this? Depends on your current anime taste. The second season is gonna be out in a few days and I hope it does better, but just by watching the trailer it feels like it's gonna be the same as the first season. All we can do is hope it's better animation wise.

Thank you for reading my review! I apologize for my spelling errors and grammar, English isn't my first language.

I haven't played the game, which is the base of this anime, therefore i'm only commenting on the anime itself.

Story
the story is fine. The pacing is alright and so is the concept but it's nothing too special. It reminds me of every other idol anime i've watched so far (like "Uta no Prince Sama" and "Love Live! School Idol Project"). The twist that the characters are trying to become actors instead of idols, is in my opinion, not that big of a change

Art
It's alright. the art is neither the best nor the worst i've ever seen. It's basically nothing too special and if i'm ... being honest, very rough around the edges...

Characters
The Characters are... let's say meh. There are the basic type of guys, e. g. Tsundere, Deredere, a NEET, a foreigner, the mature one, a shy guy... It's once again nothing too special. The characters even seem rather flat, there's simply not a lot of development happening. Sure, the shy one becomes slightly more comfortable around the group and opens up and the "mean/Tsundere" type becomes more friendly but that's it. One's whole character trait is that he likes triangles and i don't think there's anything else to him…

Overall
If i'm being honest, i don't know what this anime is trying to be. Is it trying to be a re-harem? i don't know. Is it trying to suggest that all the characters are gay without showing it (like "Free!")? i don't know. I don't think i would recommend this anime to someone else. It feels like it's trying to be too many things/establish too many characters at once. Maybe it's a nice thing for people who've played the game and know more about the different characters but since i don't have this experience, i can only see the characters and the story as flat.. :/

For an idol anime, the plot is on par with idolish7 which is one of the most prominent idol anime. it is very enjoyable. but there are times that the animation looks off, they lower the fps or something for example when the spring troupe performs.

Although it is very enjoyable, this anime is not for me. i dropped at episode 10 when i realize this anime changed characters every 6 episodes. i'm already attached to the characters that appears from beginning (the spring troupe) so it kinda sucks when we can't see them anymore later in the anime. so if you don't mind with anime ... that changed characters often, i recommend you to watch it.