Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Hypmic

Japanese: ヒプノシスマイク -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 13

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 3, 2020 to Dec 26, 2020

Premiered: Fall 2020

Broadcast: Saturdays at 00:00 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Half H.P Studio, Evil Line Records

Licensors: Aniplex of America

Studios: A-1 Pictures

Source: Other

Genres: Action, Sci-Fi

Theme: Music

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 6.80¹ (scored by 16,549 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #4808²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2599

Members: 51,621

Favorites: 607

External Links

Official Site, AnimeDB, AnimeNewsNetwork, Wikipedia

Streaming Platforms

Funimation

6.80

Ranked #4808Popularity #2599Members 51,621

Fall 2020TVA-1 Pictures

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Episodes: /13

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Synopsis

In a world overtaken by war and conflict, "Hypnosis Microphones"—devices through which a user channels lyrics that can affect the listener's brain and even cause physical damage—were introduced to the masses by the Party of Words. Revolutionizing warfare, Hypnosis Mics have transformed words and music into the sole weapons used by gangsters, terrorists, and the military, with physical weapons having been banned from use.

As a result of swooping in during the chaos, the all-female Party of Words rules over the Japanese government. Women in Japan now live in Chuuouku, while men battle over surrounding territories outside the ward through rap battles.

With intentions unknown, the Party of Words begins to gather the former members of the now-disbanded legendary rap crew The Dirty Dawg to fight not for territory or war, but for their respective crew's pride and honor in the greatest rap battle of all time. The first Division Rap Battle is about to commence, and practice isn't something these rappers are going to need.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - side B.B & M.T.C, Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - side F.P & M
Other:	Survival of the Illest, Glory or Dust, Hang Out!

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Amemura, Ramuda

Main

Shirai, Yuusuke
Japanese

Kannonzaka, Doppo

Main

Itou, Kento
Japanese

Aohitsugi, Samatoki

Main

Asanuma, Shintaro
Japanese

Yumeno, Gentarou

Main

Saitou, Souma
Japanese

Arisugawa, Dice

Main

Nozuyama, Yukihiro
Japanese

Jinguji, Jakurai

Main

Hayami, Show
Japanese

Yamada, Ichirou

Main

Kimura, Subaru
Japanese

Iruma, Jyuto

Main

Komada, Wataru
Japanese

Izanami, Hifumi

Main

Kijima, Ryuuichi
Japanese

Nurude, Sasara

Main

More staff

Staff

Ono, Katsumi

Director

Motoyama, Satoshi

Sound Director

Nogami, Kazuo

Episode Director

Ron

Music

Edit

Opening Theme

"Hypnosis Mic -Rhyme Anima- (ヒプノシスマイク -Rhyme Anima-)" by Division All Stars

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Ending Theme

	1: "Kizuna -Ikebukuro ver.- (絆 -IKEBUKURO ver.-)" by Buster Bros!! (eps 1-3)
	2: "Kizuna -Yokohama ver.- (絆 -YOKOHAMA ver.-)" by MAD TRIGGER CREW (eps 4-6)
	3: "Kizuna -Shibuya ver.- (絆 -SHIBUYA ver.-)" by Fling Posse (eps 7-9)
	4: "Kizuna -Shinjuku ver.- (絆 -SHINJUKU ver.-)" by Matenrou (eps 10-12)
	5: "Rhyme Anima's Mixtape" by Division All Stars (eps 13)

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Reviews

Dec 25, 2020

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

SunlitSonata (All reviews)

70 people found this review helpful

“And they’re ‘rhymes wack, you hear’?”

HypMic.......is a mess. A massive, massive mess. The dialogue is stilted, the tone bafflingly serious despite the premise, the lighting weakly considered, characterization inconsistent with numerous unearned turns, animation mediocre at best and empathetic context missing.

Yet, somehow, it manages to be a really funny time.

“So Bad It’s Good” is hard to truly quantify, since it depends on what can crack the spectrum to any particular person beyond average, everyday badness. However, most of the time, when applied to anime, it’s used to refer to something that tries to be dark and miserable but comes out as comedic instead; Assassin’s Pride, read more

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Dec 25, 2020

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

KANLen09 (All reviews)

66 people found this review helpful

In anime, everything happens for a reason. But what happens if you try to mesh some of Japan's well-known corporations altogether? Take for example:
King Records' (famous for co-producing shitpost anime) Evil Line Records X Idea Factory's Otomate label (Fujoshi-bait) X A-1 Pictures (one of the best high-quality anime studios), and you get Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle, more commonly known as HypMic to hardcore fans and fandoms.

First spawning hip-hop rap battles of endless hit banger songs in 2018 under the Evil Line Records sub-label, then manga adaptations of its 4 main rap groups and stage plays in 2019, and this year, other than Idea Factory's smartphone game (appealing to Fujoshi fans), HypMic fans have been eagerly waiting for the next notable hit of the mixed-media project: the eventual anime adaptation, produced by none other than A-1 Pictures.

I'd like to preface this as an anime-only: if you like the presentations of the anime, please check out the official Spotify and YouTube channels, along with the other mixed-media iterations, there's a hell lot more to the HypMic universe than just pure Fujoshis rap-battling with hip-hop music.

Believe it or not; I really want to say this: "Fuck the story and its plot. Fuck character development. All you absolutely are required to tune into is for the bat-fucking-shit, "balls to the wall" ear-rapping insanity of banger songs!" But hold on, there's actually a very simple world-building context for this: Image Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)" song of a weapon-prohibited setting, leaving the Fujoshis left with HypMics for violence tactics. Manga readers will know the story of -Before the Battle- The Dirty Dawg: the main leaders splitting up and representing their own territorial states with the formation of rap group trios. AND THAT'S IT, HOMIES.

Otherwise, wash, rinse and repeat the last paragraph from the top, because the music is what you're here for. It's not just some mindless circumstances leading up to the eventual musical hip-hop travesty: Fujoshi guys bein' MA-18 dudes and spittin' fire bars of bad-ass songs of fiery and burning bridges, because this show is barely worth trying to be serious at all. You might think that ham-fisting this bullshit setting would sound inferior on paper, but bring it to the small screen and let the execution deliver with outstanding levels of lunacy and madness. Combine that with A-1 Pictures' calibre of exceptional visuals and animation, from the bearable CGI to the high-octane MV-levels of audio-visual rap battles, and you're inviting yourself into a marriage of the wackiest, unhinged, yet stylish anime that's indeed worthy of the "one-of-a-kind" moniker.

Oh, that Rhyme Anima opening? Absolutely another banger song of insane proportions and done with majestical CLASS (especially the chorus, also the refrain of Doppomine singing with his old-school cellphone to a screaming "BATTLE ROYALE!!!" shriek of an exclamation. Now that's awesome!).
And the ending song covered by all 4 main groups in their own specialized versions, that's another "Easter Egg" degrees of uniqueness. Solid OST and visuals.

Stop watching anime from the lens of seriousness, you watch anime because you want to have fun and be entertained all the time, so switch off your brains and appreciate HypMic for what it is: a large-scale (small) concert that's 1000% guaranteed enjoyment of a niche hyped music-fest battle royale.

"Hypnosis action ends corruption...Ignition! Division Rap Battleで!"

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Dec 25, 2020

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

Auron_ (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

The introduction to the beloved multimedia franchise establishes serious concepts with a likable cast, but has trouble utilizing them to any meaningful degree, coming off as insincere.

The streets of Tokyo have been rid of weaponized conflicts. Spearheaded by the Party of Words, a coup d'etat has radically transformed the way of living for the Japanese populace, springing up a matriarchal society where women alone are in positions of power and men are segregated to regions called "divisions" where they have to settle disputes by lyrical battles through the use of state-issued augmented microphones and with it either gain or lose territory; naturally, any other form of violence is strictly prohibited, including non-state issues mics. Through this mechanism, women have taken the lead where men has failed since time immemorial, to construct a society wherein peace and order are upheld in the truest sense, curbing of freedoms but a small price to pay for that worthy endeavor, surely. And thus would be the premise to our title. All of this may have sounded very enticing, and Hypnosis Mic too, is quite enticing in some respects. But you might puzzled as to why I'm phrasing it like my description and the show are two separate entities. And that's because, well, they are. The show could not possibly be more dissimilar than its premise would have you believe. I'm sure you the reader can attest to this, while reading the start of this paragraph, have you honestly thought, even for a second, that I was talking about a different show? Because see, HypMic ARB is hopelessly ordinary, and don't get me wrong, some of my favorite shows deal with the mundanities of life, but in a world that is supposed to feel extraordinary, it sticks like a sore thumb. I want the characters to feel the weight of the system under which they live, to have the fangs of tyranny seeping into their corner of the world, and seeing their opposition forming the baseline of their character. Unfortunately, vast majority of the show goes on like nothing abnormal is happening at all, and the last 2 episodes a last ditch effort to get things back on track to what the pilot episode promised, but too little too late...

The characters are your usual diverse ensemble cast who share roughly equal screen-time as is the case for idol or idol-like shows. Normally this will result in the cast ending up being tropey and weak, and while I can't entirely deny this in the case of HypMic, I argue that it does more than most of its kin. There is some genuine attempt to individualize each character beyond just superficial elements like verbal tics and hair colors, during its runtime all 4 of our division will be facing certain turbulences—some serious and some more light-hearted—that communicate parts of their identity to the viewer in a surprisingly apt manner. Jakurai-sensei's comatose patient for whom he blames himself and suspects foul play, the brief moments where Samatoki seems to have concern for his teammates like not wanting to involve them to his familial issues, Rio's loyalty to his former Navy general, and yet him opposing his fellow comrades in their Machiavellianistic ways... these sadly do not tie up to some grand narrative, likely due to time limitations, but it shows that it's not just about pretty boys dissing each other. A good litmus test for well-put-together characters is, in my view, to read a random part of the script and attempt to identify the speaker, and I believe HypMic fulfills that criterion relatively well.

Art and animation are largely inoffensive, but staticity of frames is noticeable in certain parts. The CGI for rap portions are not jarring in the slightest, impressive even, when it's at its peak. The tracks are obviously not on par with the franchise's discography, but nothing to scoff at all the same. The character design has been a strong point of the franchise since it's very inception, and this adaptation is no different. All in all, it's an amusing "pick your favorite boy" kind of show that is bogged down by not having much to do with what you'd expect a show with concepts of such caliber to have.

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Dec 25, 2020

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

astrocoffee (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

Hypnosis Mic is set in the future where the government is overthrown by the all female "Party of Words." They ban lethal weapons and force citizens to defend themselves via Hypnosis Microphones by rapping.
Our story centers around the 4 teams representing 4 districts of Japan, Ikebukuro, Yokohama, Shinjuku, and Shibuya, as they prepare and compete in a division rap battle. As someone who watched idol anime growing up, I was intrigued by this concept, so I followed this anime during winter 2020.

The art style is very bright and colorful, and it brings life to the mildly chaotic world of hypnosis mic. One thing that I found amusing was how you can tell most characters apart based on hair color. The animation is also pretty solid. This anime used a combination of CGI and 2d animation. The CGI looked great, especially during stages, and the 2d is solid too.

The music in this anime also exceeded my expectations. The only "real songs" you get are the op and ed tracks, besides that the music is more like verses from the respective rappers. I never really found a song to be bad, I just personally liked some "songs" more than others. One cool thing they did was that they gave each team their own version of the ed track, which was fun to see.

Now, onto the characters and actual story... It isn't that great. The first few episodes were fun, I enjoyed seeing the teams and their day-to-day lives, but as the series progressed and got closer to the final division battle, you notice that a lot was left out.
Without spoiling anything - certain characters have past conflict with each other, and besides the occasional insult and flashback, we don't get that much information on their past. So, when it comes to the final rap battles, there isn't as much tension between the teams as needed for it to be a high-stakes battle.
The characters themselves are very distinct, and can be identified by their occupations and hair color. You get to see the contrasting dynamics between teams which also helps for characterization. There isn't that much development between the cast, and when it does happen its short and sweet.

I started off anime only, and went on to read the manga, and I was shocked by how much was left out from the anime. But, there's only so much you can do in 13 episodes.

With all this being said, I still really liked this anime. In my opinion, if you watch hypnosis mic with a critical lens, then you're watching it wrong. Not all anime has to have a complex and detailed plot to be worth your time.

Overall, Hypnosis mic is a fun, and colorful anime with a diverse set of characters. It's a weird concept, and the plot could be better, but these shouldn't put you off from watching the show. If you like music in anime, want to watch something fun, or are a simp, I totally recommend. If you want something plot heavy, or are more critical of your media, I say to give this one a skip, or read the manga.

This is my first review, Thanks for your time :)

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	Worth watching if you don't like rap music? bonefom - Jan 9	5 replies	by Crow_Black »» Mar 2, 2:59 PM
	Poll: Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima Episode 4 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 23, 2020	36 replies	by Nurguburu »» Nov 18, 2021 5:26 AM

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Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima

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Yumeno, Gentarou

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Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima

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