D4DJ First Mix

Having lived abroad in Africa for most of her life, Rinku Aimoto is now returning to Japan to attend Yoba Academy, a school where DJ units—groups made up of DJs, vocalists, and dancers—are extremely popular. There, she meets Maho Akashi, an aspiring DJ who teaches Rinku the basics of DJing. The girls attend a performance by Yoba's famous DJ unit Peaky P-key, and struck by inspiration, they decide to form a unit of their own.

Rinku and Maho soon recruit Muni Oonaruto, a talented artist and Rinku's childhood friend, as well as Rei Togetsu, a shy and caring pianist. Newly named Happy Around, the group aims to use the budding friendships and combined talents of its members to become one of the top DJ units in the country.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The D4DJ franchise released a mobile rhythm game, titled D4DJ Groovy Mix for iOS and Android, which was developed by Donuts and published by Bushiroad. The Japanese version was released in October 2020, with the English language version of the game releasing in May 2021.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Other:	D4DJ Petit Mix
Side story:	D4DJ Double Mix
Character:	A lot of life, Happy Music♪, Wish You Luck
Sequel:	D4DJ All Mix

Satou, Hinata
Japanese

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Staff

Matsuura, Hiroaki

Producer

Mizushima, Seiji

Director

Nagasaki, Yukio

Sound Director

Umetsu, Tomomi

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"Guru Guru DJ TURN!! (ぐるぐる DJ TURN!!)" by Happy Arround!

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Ending Theme

"WOW WAR TONIGHT ~Toki ni wa Okoseyo Movement (WOW WAR TONIGHT ～時には起こせよムーヴメント～)" by Shano Himegami (Raychell) and Airi Amano (Nana Mizuki)

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Jan 29, 2021

dlxuniuniu

Recommended

Do you like good music and cute girls? Do you love the bands from “BanG Dream!”? If so, then D4DJ is the perfect anime for you!
Bushiroad is a very well-known name in the mobile gaming industry, the team brought us "Love Live!", "BanG Dream!" or also "Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight". "D4DJ" is their new project which includes different DJ groups who want to be in the big spotlight one day as well.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “DJ”?
I always associate this term with people like "David Guetta", "Alan Walker" or "Avicii" (R.I.P, you were a legend). ... Everyone knows and love them. With their music, they not only changed the music world, but also made our everyday lives happier.

Our little DJ anime focuses on the everyday life of the unit “Happy Around!”, the central unit for the D4DJ franchise. Rinku, our always happy girl, is the one who started the band. The name for "Happy Around!" also came from her habit of yelling the phrase while joyfully spinning around. She is always cheerful, optimistic and never gives up. After her first encounter with Maho, she became interested in the whole DJ project.
Deeply moved by a DJ performance she had seen in her past, Maho became interested in DJ activities herself. She is the DJ in the unit and also doing the track-mixing. Although not very enthusiastic about the whole thing in the beginning, Rinku convinced her in the end to form a unit with her. The skills of "DJ Mash" have become even better as a result.
The third girl in the unit is Muni, she has been with friends with Rinku since childhood and was really happy to reunite with her in high school after Rinku's family frequently moved around the world. Muni is responsible for the VJing in the unit. She is very close to the fourth and last member of the unit: Rei.
Rei was born into a wealthy family and is very talented in many things, of which playing the piano makes her most happy. Before meeting Rinku, she lived the life her parents had prepared for her, but didn't have the courage to make a change. Rei is very grateful for her chance encounter with Rinku, who instilled more confidence in her.
From starting the unit with Rinku's commitment to their daily training sessions and even participating in the competition at the end of the day, we experience all of these beautiful moments. All the girl get along with each other, even not being in the same unit. They just have fun together. It's a classic, pleasant slice-of-life anime with nice music.

In this show we experience how wonderful DJ music can be. We don't just hear the music from "Happy Around!" , but also from the other units like "Peaky P-key" or "Photo Maiden". Each unit has a different direction in terms of the songs and their appearance. The OP already gives you a heavy DJ vibe while the ED is just beautiful listen to, it's relaxed and exciting at the same time.

Why did I mention “BanG Dream!” in the beginning? Not only because of the same producer and studio, but also the art style is very similar to them. Even some of the voice actors from “BanG Dream” are a part of this DJ project as well. The 3D CGI is very well presented as well although I feel a little bit sad for the background characters since the difference can be spot directly. But you definitely can feel the “BanG Dream!” vibe in this anime directly. The characters and musical directions are very similar. It's just fun to watch and listen to our girls playing their music.

Besides the good music and the cute girls, I was also able to learn something about DJing. Never read or experienced anything about that before, some basics about it is also explained to us in this anime. As a big “BanG Dream” fan I was already pretty hyped after seeing the trailer, it reminded me right away. If you loved that one, you will like this one for sure!
In the end, I really hope we will get a second season. We all want to learn more about this DJ project and the other units as well!

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Jan 29, 2021

Britannian13

Recommended

Today I'll be giving my thoughts on Bushiroad's newest media project after BanG Dream!, D4DJ First Mix. This show is really great, and I'll get into why it's so great in this review. Let's get into specifics.

Story: 6
Since MyAnimeList hasn't really done a proper synopsis of this show, I'll do it myself. The show follows a high school girl named Rinku, who has just recently moved back to Japan after living in Africa for years. The high school she attends, in a deviation from the standard music-centric anime, is big on DJs rather than idols. Rinku becomes enamored with DJing, meeting an unpopular DJ at ... her school named Maho, who begins to teach Rinku about DJing. Rinku and Maho eventually get together with 2 other girls at their high school, Muni and Rei, to form the idol group known as Happy Around!. The show follows the group of girls as they try to rise up the ranks of the school, along with their interactions with other school DJ groups Peaky P-Key and Photon Maiden.

The story is pretty standard as far as music-centric shows go, as it doesn't too anything exceptional. However, what it does is still quite solid. It revolves around Rinku and the gang climbing up the ranks of DJ groups in their high school. It is a pretty straightforward plot, but it still manages to be engaging through the music and character interactions. It's pretty run-of-the-mill in terms of the plot, but there are some drama elements sprinkled in. These drama elements are pretty good and add some more flavor to the plot. The story manages to back in plot, character development, and music in each episode without feeling off in the slightest. The pacing is good, however, for some reason, the first few episodes would sometimes have moments of silence or lingering on the same shot for too long, which was pretty jarring. Luckily, the studio behind this show, SANZIGEN, seemed to have realized this early on, as that is really only in the first few episodes. The concept of a DJ anime intrigued me into watching it and it most certainly delivers on that interesting premise. The show gives actually good insight on DJing. I learned things about it that I never knew. I bet this show will get some viewers interested in DJing.

Art: 9
I know what you all are thinking: "A CG anime having great animation? What is this guy on?" I'll admit, I too was originally concerned by the fact that this show is 3DCG animated, but all my doubts were put to rest by the very first episode. The CG is really great, probably the best I've ever seen in an anime. The characters move very fluidly, not looking janky at all, unlike many other 3DCG anime. The characters' faces are super expressive, perfectly displaying a wide range of emotions. The CG is especially impressive during the music sequences, as the animators go all out in making the dancing look authentic, the lip movement match with the lyrics, and the lighting look very visually appealing. The only gripe I have with the animation is the very little instances of traditional animation. They contrast quite a lot with the CG characters.

Sound: 10
Now this is probably the most appealing aspect of this show. To be blunt, this show has some of the freshest and sickest beats I've ever heard in an anime. Unlike idol music, which often sounds somewhat rinse-and-repeat, every DJ group's music is uniquely crafted to their image. All the group's music is easily distinguishable from each other due to their defined styles. This also allows for viewers to more easily pick favorites, but honestly, all the music is so good that I can't decide what my favorite group is. All of the music is very catchy and just a great listen. I personally listen to music from this show very often because it's so good. Even the background music is good, having the same techno cues that the main songs do. As for the voice acting, it is also of high quality. All of the voices have a unique sound to them and are very expressive. As for the opening and ending songs, they are very good. The opening performed by Happy Around! themselves, Guru Guru DJ TURN!!, is a very catchy and upbeat tune. The same goes for the ending song by Airi Amano (Nana Mizuki) and Shano Himegami (Raychell), titled, and this is a long one, WOW WAR TONIGHT ~ Toko ni wa Okoseyo Movement. I found myself never skipping these great songs.

Character: 8
The character development in this show is also quite good. All 4 of the main characters' personality and emotions are well explored. You really get a sense of how these characters feel and you begin to care about them. This show also includes 8 side characters, 4 from Peaky P-Key and 4 from Photon Maiden. While they obviously receive less development from the main cast, some of them are still well developed. Kyoko and Shinobu of Peaky P-Key and Saki of Photon Maiden have especially good characterization out of the 8 side characters. All the characters are filled with expressiveness, making their interactions with each other a blast to watch.

Enjoyment: 10
This is some of the most fun I've had watching an anime in 2020 (and a bit of 2021). I often found myself with a smile on my face while watching it. I looked forward to each and every song and character interaction every week. Watching it was a fantastic part of each Friday it aired.

Overall: 9
Even with a few small gripes, D4DJ First Mix manages to be an entertaining ride, jam-packed with great visuals, good characterization, and absolutely sublime music. Giving the music genre a fresh DJ twist, it keeps you entertained throughout the entirely of its 13-episode season. I highly recommend anyone to watch this show. This show is probably the most accessible one I've watched, as it's on a ton of different services. For North Americans such as myself, it's available on Crunchyroll, Funimation, HiDive, Anime Network, and even YouTube for viewers worldwide.

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Jan 29, 2021

MetaThPr4h

Recommended

D4DJ is a multimedia project I have been following for a bit less than a year before the TV series started, my excitement towards the anime was huge, and I'm really happy to say that not only it was nice, but it also surpassed my expectations.

This anime follows the cheerful Rinku and her new (and not that new) friends as they form a DJ unit in a school very heavily focused on that activity (the funds spent on that big-ass beautiful building and all the rooms with equipment to do DJ performances must have been crazy). As the episodes pass, they will meet new rivals ... that will both bring a bigger challenge to overcome, and also become friends that will help out each other to improve even further.

One of the most important things to mention is that this is one of the rare music anime that is not really focused on drama, the characters do have problems and sad moments, but they all get resolved without being dragged out more than needed. I sure love a good drama, but I personally loved how D4DJ managed to have emotional moments while mostly just being an anime focused on sheer fun and good vibes.

Now time to take on a part that is usually very controversial for the anime watchers but that really shouldn't be the case for this anime: CGI animation. SANZIGEN is a studio focused on anime of this type, and as someone who watched how Bang Dream from that same studio drastically improved between the second and third season in terms of CGI quality, I can say that D4DJ now took it not one but three steps further to become one of the best looking works using that style of animation. It makes me so happy to read so many people who are not a fan of CGI say that they found this anime to look great and not feel uncanny as they usually feel. With that said, I have to admit that the background chars suffer from generic face syndrome, but how well the main cast looks and expresses their emotions, and how great the performances are make up for it hard.

As a music anime, one has to indeed give a lot of value to the music, and nothing to worry about, because this anime covers that section nicely as well! Nearly every episode has a new song (or two) that make you spam on loop on youtube after watching it due to how nice it sounded, and the normal soundtrack that plays during the series is also very solid and memorable. Not fully related, but since series about DJ performances are close to none, I really liked how D4DJ made sure to show the basics of how it works so one can make an idea about what the characters are doing and not just feel clueless with what the task of a DJ is.

I have to give its own paragraph to the opening song of this anime because it not only sounds fantastic and shows how good the CGI of this anime is, it also fits so well with the theme of DJ performances this work focuses on. Guru Guru DJ TURN!! Really can be seen as three different songs transitioning one after the other, and this (groovy) mix delivers hard to make it one of the best openings from 2020. Make sure to check it out if you haven't yet!

Sadly we're now reaching the end of this review, I hope I managed to convince you to give this series a chance! I glossed it over to not go full on detail, but while I really enjoy the music, what makes me truly love D4DJ is its lovable cast full of different personalities that just work greatly together (or become closer after struggling due to their ways to be), I'm sure that if you watch this anime you will end up feeling the same way and will want to see more of them. At the time of this review, we will be getting chibi shorts starting the week after to fix that, hopefully sequels will be coming soon as well!

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'D4DJ' TV Anime Gets Second Season for Winter 2023

The official website of the D4DJ franchise announced on Friday that the television anime series will receive a second season titled D4DJ: All Mix. All six units wil...read more

Apr 8, 2022 9:10 AM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (18 comments)

'D4DJ: First Mix' Gets Anime Special in Summer 2022

The Merm4id 3rd Live S.T.O.P.ING concert announced a special episode for the D4DJ: First Mix anime series on Sunday. Titled D4DJ: Double Mix, the special will air i...read more

Mar 13, 2022 9:55 PM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (3 comments)

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Poll: D4DJ: First Mix Episode 9 Discussion KANLen09 - Jan 1, 2021	28 replies	by Moosh2727 »» Mar 30, 4:12 AM
Poll: D4DJ: First Mix Episode 10 Discussion Ellenwitch - Jan 8, 2021	38 replies	by BDWhydiSan_ »» Mar 3, 7:47 AM
Poll: D4DJ: First Mix Episode 4 Discussion NeoAnkara - Nov 20, 2020	29 replies	by Th0rAxe »» Mar 2, 6:36 AM
Poll: D4DJ: First Mix Episode 12 Discussion yvsei - Jan 22, 2021	45 replies	by thehornedrat »» Jan 11, 3:17 PM
Poll: D4DJ: First Mix Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) NeoAnkara - Jan 29, 2021	53 replies	by thehornedrat »» Dec 25, 2022 4:39 PM

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