Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima

Every moment of this anime is enjoyable and plain ol' fun, simply because every single moment is absolutely bat-fucking-shit insane. This anime just dives straight into the juice with no regard and has absolutely no shame as their entire world literally runs on rap.

Want to rob a bank? Rap. Want the win a war? Rap. Want your E-girl you stan to love you back? Rap. You could literally threaten a whole entire city by rapping. It's like this world runs on Yu-Gi-Oh! logic, which is the best logic btw. 10/10 worldbuilding.

Fuck having a story. I want to absolutely enjoy myself. Maybe one day I'll go ... get the homies and get absolutely shit face as I enjoy this. 10/10 would rewatch.

Doesn't help that unironically, the songs are outright bangers and the editing is god-tier. Not everything is CG, but occasionally there is some. If CG is not your cup of tea, honestly this has one of the better CG in anime, nothing is janky, and maybe if you squint hard enough, you'll miss half of it. Not a problem. The world probably turned CG because the raps are so insane the universe had to adjust to the massive 10-foot johnson the characters are waving around (including the god damn ladies) so that it could survive another day.

One guy literally shrieks in the opening because he's too busy choking himself over office work as he sings into his old ass cellphone for a mic. This is not a sentence I just made up. This anime is balls to the walls, bonkers. Every episode so far has not failed to make my blood pumping.

I'm tired from watching most anime from this season. They've released so many (and that means a lot of bad ones), so taking a break and watch an anime I'm entertained 24/7 of the time is certainly helpful. This ain't really a serious review, bc come on, this show isn't meant to be taken seriously. If you are watching this through critical lenses, than you are watching this wrong.

Hey guys, so let me give you some advice before watching this anime:
If you don't know anything about HypMic, it's pointless to watch this show.

So let me tell you a few things before you start this show:

If you have no idea at all what HypMic is, it's a Spotify rap project. There are now 6 divisions, each has 3 characters and they basically do rap battles. But that's not all. There's a story told trough drama tracks and manga. But that's still not everything at all. There's also a game, stage play and the official youtube channel. Let's sum this up so you're not so ... confused about it:

You want to get to know HypMic and find out if it's really a thing for you? You go visit the official channel and try it out. There are some introduction songs and basically all of the songs that are out, but in short ver. You can find full ver. on Spotify but you're trying to get to know HypMic I advice you to give it a shot on youtube first. If you get to like some songs, overall style or some character, you're halfway there. But you probably want to know the characters better because there's a shit ton of characters and you have no idea who you like, unless you instantly fell in love with someone.

After that, there're 2 possibilities: either go read manga/drama tracks so you can get to know the story and characters more like a normal person, or do it like me- spend hours on HypMic wikia and read about the characters. I warn you this spoils everything but I was so confused about it I still had to read about everyone at least twice or thrice to finally feel like I know the characters and what the hell's going on.
But I strongly advice you to go read manga/translations of drama tracks. I just had noone to tell me what the hell to do.



Manga:
Follows the same story as drama tracks. Is divided to several titles:
-The Dirty Dawg Directory-
-BB and MTC Directory-
-FP and M Directory-
-DH and BAT Directory-

You should probably start with TDD manga but then it's up to you. All manga were/are airing simultaneously so it doesn't really matter after the TDD manga.

Spotify:
Your main spot as a HypMic fan.
There are drama tracks (which are translated on HypMic wikia) and full ver. songs. And if you want to support the creators in any way, Spotify is the easiest way to do so.

Game:
There's a game called HypnosisMic ARB (Alternative Rap Battle). As the name implies - it's a game with alternative story. That's why you won't gen anything from playing the game. Yup, it's fun and feel free to play it, but the game came out in Spring 2020, yet HypMic is a 3 years old project. So the game isn't something that's going to help you get into the story so you shouldn't rely on it.
Also it's only in Japanese so be prepared.

If you need additional info about something I haven't mentioned you can always look it up on HypMic wikia or ask a fellow HypMic fan, we don't bite :) But please, don't be rude and respect others' opinions. The fandom is pretty chill and we respect each other's opinions. So for example don't go bitchin' about Samatoki for being violent because it just shows you're new or just ignorant and know nothing about him. The same applies to any other character. So please try to refrain from giving your opinions unless you really know 'the HypMic.' It takes some time but if you're really passionate about it you're gonna catch up to us in no time.

TLDR: HypMic is a Spotify rap project, go check it out first. It's also on youtube. There's a story told trough drama tracks (on spotify)/manga. There's a game with an alternative story, don't rely on it. At least read characters' introduction. All links are in the text. And be kind to other fans. Be sure to ask us or go to HypMic wikia for more info.

There are fonna be fans who maybe won't agree with some stuff I wrote here. But this is just my opinion and I just wrote this on the spot since I noticed the poor score HypMic has. Probably because most of the people know nothing about HypMic and that's not a reason to give a low score. You lack information about anime that's aimed at HypMic fans. If you're not a HypMic fan, then it's obvious who's at fault here.
But I don't wanna sound offensive here ^^ The fandom is open to anyone and we'll gladly accept anyone new who wants to join. I just want people to enjoy this show. But to do it you'll need to get to know HypMic at first. And that's basically what I wanted to say here. Thanks to anyone who read it all and hope it helped some of you.


But OFC it's totally okay to watch this without knowing anything. I just say you're probably not gonna enjoy it as much as a fan would : )
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And as for my actual opinion on HypMic anime from the first 5 episodes:
We're lacking the story but don't worry, it's definitely gonna appear soon. I love people trash-talking HypMic because It dOEsN'T hAvE a StORy, iT's jUsT a FUjosHi bAit. It's like they've never seen any other anime that has many characters so they would like to introduce them first ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway I feel a little confused watching HypMic myself. I feel like the creators weren't really sure if they're aiming at HypMic fans or at new potential fans. And I can feel they decided to aim for both and so the story is going to be a bit rushed due to that... But I still appreciate all the hard work that animators, seiyuus and songwriters put in. Even if the anime turns out to be not that good I'm still gonna give it some love it deserves!
I still hope they would animate TDD arc someday...

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!"

“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, ... Mirai Nikki/Big Order, Ousama Game, Mayoiga and the early episodes of Arifureta as common go-tos. However, those shows tend to operate too much on misery to really hold any likable impressions for my part. Garzey’s Wing is a popular go-to for this category, moreso because of how absurd its entire conceit is than edge falling flat.

Hypnosis Mic, though, champions being so bad it’s good for the sheer WTF value nearly every episode. It’s almost impossible to tell how much of the show is merely being an advertisement for music CDs, and how much is the animation team trying to make some sort of grand cohesive tale out of thin air. This push pull between corporate ad and direction vision gives the show a distinct flavor of entertainment.

The core idea of the plot is that somehow, in some way, every normal weapon was banned from existing, except for microphones. An all female government is in place, which holds a rap battle tournament that four teams of three, who were once together in a group called “Dirty Dawg”, prepare to join.

Any worldbuilding required to make this all happen is borderline nonsensical. The idea of an all-female government taking power, getting normal weapons totally banned (when most people IRL can easily slip illegal marijuana) and standing being asserted by rap dominance naturally only make since by Yu-Gi Oh/Jojo logic, but that just makes things more exciting. The sheer absurdity of these facts plastered onto what’s otherwise a fairly normal setting leads to some hilariously goofy moments.

HypMic’s first eight episodes are essentially prep to get viewers to know each of the four teams, titled Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse and Materno. Aside from Buster Bros they aren’t even in careers associated with rap, some being doctors, salarymen or military men. To get the audience to pick favorites among these Sonic Heroes, the show runners decided “let’s throw these pastel colored fujioshi avatars into deafeningly serious plots that’ll have nothing to do with anything else!” The plots tend to have a lot of threats thrown each team’s way, with the power of corny camaraderie to save the day. If nothing else, these episodes do a passable job showing why each team cares about their respective members.

But remember, weapons are banned in the world of HypMic, so how are all these conflicts solved! RAP BATTLES! Scenarios where guns and grenades would exist are replaced by microphones because that’s just how the world works and everyone completely accepts it. The sheer power of rap allows teleportation, and it’s a sight to behold.

Bank hostage situation? Rap Battle.
Yakuza caper? Rap Battle.
Mortgage scheme? Rap Battle.
Illegal drug deals? Rap Battle
Murder framing? Rap Battle.
Terrorist bombing specifically to prevent one team from participating in a rap battle? Rap Battle.
Only getting a B on my college final?! Rap Battle.

These rap battles are the only times the show gets to add flair where there generally IS none. Most scenes have no flair; the animation is choppy, the lighting poorly implemented and garishly bright enough to make you think all the available colors got used on the character designs alone. With realistic backgrounds featuring absurdly costumed characters, you get the type of wacky dissonance that can elicit a chuckle all on its own. That said, the scenes before one of these conflicts get going with flat exposition are some of the only times the show is actively boring, little but basic partnerships to pass the time. Once the conflicts get into full force and get solved with a rap at the end, then it’s a blast.

So how about the raps themselves, likely the main reason you’ve checked out this anime?

I’m happy to report that they’re absolutely wild. If you’ve watched Epic Rap Battles of History before, they provide a good sense of what to expect; killer beats with over-the-top visual effects in conjunction with mad disses. Given the language barrier, I can’t tell if the animators took influence from them, but it catches a similar vibe. At some points it’s more effects than animation, with different filters thrown about, kanji and battle effects splattering the screen during the rap. 2D characters swap into CGI and back and forth, but the timing of the rap music videos is on POINT. It’s clear this is where the most effort went, for good reason, but it contrasts greatly to everything else in the anime. Props to the translators for creating subtitles that seem to fit into rhyme scheme. It’s hard to tell how well the seiyuu ACTUALLY sing the lyrics as someone who doesn’t understand Japanese, but if I could judge, the Buster Bros have the most amount of oomph and flow to their lyrics while Materno seems like they struggle with nailing lyric flow the most. The raps slap, and when they don’t, they’re so silly it’s hard not to laugh at them.

Of course, the galaxy brained writing doesn’t stop once the division rap battles in title begin. If anything, the presentation gets even more bizarre.

There’s attempts to add some angsty spice by implying that one character was involved in what happened to another character’s sister. Of course, this drama lacks the punch it needs without proper context. Because there was no time to build that up in the 8 episodic segments before that.

Shonen battle mechanics get introduced! Now every character has specialized “traits” that only appear as they rap! Once again it’s spontaneous, poorly built up, and means nothing outside of specific scenes, but it adds to the general madcap nonsense that is this show’s existence.

At around the same time, one character rather inexplicably appears to be a twist villain, with a more sinister grin and complicit goals. Yet, before the episode is even over, they’re instantly talked out of it. It’s almost incredible how the show decides to hold off on its conflict. This is then doubled down further by having two morality turns in incredibly quick succession for events the audience never got to see, only to have neither of them mean anything soon after. You can’t make this up.

Despite all of these issues, the big conspiracy plot keeps rolling, with a repetitive background score of funky fresh beats even in the serious scenes. It’s fitting at times when things are more lowkey but only makes sillier any attempt outside of that. Like trying to understand its attempts to tell a story and remembering; we’re watching working professionals stuck in the rap circuit.

Hypnosis Mic is a respectable anomaly of confused existence and cloudy vision. In this bizarre place where it’s narratively, tonally and structurally nonsense, but it somehow works to be entertaining. What makes the show so bad it’s good for me is that I just can’t tell what they were really going for with this story, beyond an attempt to show off seiyuu vocal range to mixed effect. The characters have light chemistry with their team members, but any attempts to develop anything fall hilariously flat. Its plot goes through every spectrum of tense you can think of under a weak production that gives it no gravitas. It’s a 3/10 for serious merit, but a 7/10 for enjoyment, so 5/10 is a fair way to place it. You might not find it hilarious, or just be interested to see all of the raps out of context, yet for me it hits the perfect spectrum of unintentionally intentional comedy to make it worth something.

So... I won't talk about the story because there is none. Everything it's just an excuse to show men who fall into fujoshi fetishes "battle rap".

This is probably the worst shit I've ever seen.
I can't even find words to express how high this pile of trash is, it's probably worst then Pastel Memories.

It seems they wasted all their money in voice actors and then asked to the cleaning guy to write an script that were appealing to the Fujoshi community.

I don't even know how an already existent midia about music portraits itself with some of the worst lyrics I've ever seen.

Please, if you want to ... feel sick there are better ways, don't waste your finite time with this, go watch Boku no Pico 10x in arrow.

Stay safe

Hypnosis Mic is a prime example of a premise that should not work, but is executed wonderfully. I'm incredibly surprised that this ended up being one of the shows that just blew me away this season, but there are a lot of really great components to it.

First thing's first, Hypnosis Mic has what is probably the best usage of CG that I've seen in a 2D anime. The transitions to CG animation feel like you're jumping from the show to a music video, which is a perfect mood for these sequences that keeps the switch from feeling jarring. On top of that a lot of ... the music just slaps, not just the rap itself but even the background music goes in hard sometimes.

What really makes this a fantastic anime though is just that it's really fun. I'm personally not a fan of yaoi-centric shows like Free or Yuri on Ice, and I see a lot of the criticism against Hypnosis Mic talking about how it appeals to fujoshi similar to those series... and I just don't get that critique at all. This isn't about male-oriented fanservice, this is a show about guys bein' dudes and spittin' some hot fire. For better or for worse, I think HypMic is something truly special.

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 :)

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.

The Hypnosis Mic anime was a very hyped anime within the HypMic fandom, but I can't help but feel like it just completely missed the mark entirely. As a fan of the original multimedia project, the anime pales in comparison and was just not a good show on its own either.

What is Hypnosis Mic? It's a multimedia project created by King Records with character designs from Otomate (Idea Factory). The premise of HypMic revolves around a fictional Japan run by women where weapons are illegal and men fight for territory using the power of rap. The story follows the relationship between ex-The Dirty Dawg members ... Yamada Ichiro, Aohitsugi Samatoki, Amemura Ramuda and Jinguji Jakurai and why they are are all at odds with each other. HypMic has been around since 2017 and has spawned multiple CDs, drama tracks and 5 manga series, each detailing the storylines of the main protagonists and what happened when they were still part of The Dirty Dawg. The so-called rap battles done in the project are an opportunity for fans to interact with the project and directly affect the outcome of the battles. Fans can buy CDs of the respective rap battle and inside each CD is a code that they can use to vote for the winner of the battles. This also affects the story of the universe, as each character faces consequences for winning/losing the rap battles.

The anime was hyped up to basically be another adaptation of the first division rap battle arc. Fans from the music and manga were aware of the results of the division rap battle being depicted, but were excited to finally see the rap battles be depicted visually with animation, rather than with static manga panels or audio. The animation itself was pretty standard. The usage of CGI wasn't too intrusive/distracting. The character designs are classic fujo bait material, which is the reason why I got into the series in the first place.

The raps were very creative and felt true to the original music style. Though they had to compose new raps for the actual rap battle part of the animation, the new songs echoed similar sentiments to the original music. I found myself enjoying a lot of the songs and still listen to them regularly on Spotify.

The story is by far the most disappointing part. Though the rap battle tournament was still the same in terms of the results, everything else about the story was a mess. The anime spent way too much time setting up character introductions and very little time on the relationships between the characters outside of their respective divisions. You don't really learn why Ichiro and Samatoki hate each other nor why Ramuda and Jakurai are at odds with each other. You don't learn about The Dirty Dawg rap group until the very end of the anime, even though the reason for the entire story stems from that rap group and is the central event stressed in the other media. These relationships are explained in the manga and drama tracks but failed to be captured in the anime. The anime introduced new original characters that were never seen in the previous media and they served little to no purpose until the last 2 episodes. The story diverted significantly from the canon that has already been established, which is a major disappointment for those who have been following the HypMic story for so long. Even as a standalone anime, the story makes no sense and suffers from "13 episode syndrome". There was just way too much source material for the animation team to condense into a 1 season anime and make it coherent and they did not manage to do that.

The HypMic anime is nothing more than a series to get your toes wet and a way for King Records to sell more HypMic merch. If you found yourself intrigued by the premise of the anime, then you will want to go out and seek/buy the music and the manga for more information. If you didn't like the anime, you may still find some value in looking up the source material, since the pacing in the manga and drama tracks are much better for telling the story. Overall, this show is just disappointing in terms of being an extension of the HypMic multimedia project and as a standalone show. It's just fujo bait without a coherent story and decent J-Rap music. I wouldn't waste my time watching this show if you're intrigued by the premise; just go read the manga or listen to the drama tracks on Spotify instead.

I'm not good at writting reviews so i'll go straight to the point and keep it short.

I love the characters, especially their designs but the story is kinda shitty. For half of the season they tried to show of the characters but i still fell like it could be done better. I see the potential but i still wasn't satisfied with what they did. The story had some good moments but overall it was pretty boring and i had a hard time watching this anime. At first, before starting it i was actually exited to do so, but later i only watched it for the ... characters hoping they will do something interesting.

Hypmic, A rap-battle anime, yes, a rap battle.

Hypnosis Mic is not really the first all-male idol music-based anime of its kind, but let's say this is the first anime to be based on rap-battle and hip-hop (Correct me if I am wrong)

-Story, as of now (5 Episodes in) the anime doesn't really show anything, for now, they are currently showing the characters and introducing them. But I think episode 6 will finally show the DIVISION RAP BATTLE.

-THE LORE, yes, the lore in this series is very unique, (as you can see from the synopsis) A world where war is terminated and you can ... only fight by rapping, and a RAP BATTLE DIVISION CONTEST!

-The rap-battle concept is very very unique, this is my first rap-battle anime, but everything about it is already promising.

-The rap-BATTLE itself is perfectly shown. Everything you are expecting in this series, they will really show it.

-Art, really is beautiful, every time they do a rap scene, oh boy, you will have eye orgasms with their visuals.

-THE MUSIC IS REALLY DOPE NOT GONNA LIE if you are expecting just a bunch of beautiful boys spitting bars at each other, well you are not wrong but, it's not just about bars, THE WAY THEY RAP IS PERFECT, AWESOME BEATS, FAST RHYMING, EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SONG AND MUSIC IN THIS IS DOPE!

-Characters, oh, just a bunch of pretty boys, BUT AS I CHECKED THEIR FANDOM WIKI PAGE, THEY ARE PRETTY WELL WRITTEN.

-Overall, A GREAT ANIME, (For me I guess) It's really great, if you don't like the series itself then try giving it a second chance, The music, visuals, and everything are good.

Very good, damn this is the best brain rot to watch.
If you're looking for something fun to watch while also not having the braincells to think, this is the perfect show.
The raps are great and the dialog is very fun.

The show takes itself very serious, but that honestly just makes it more fun to watch.
Though, I wouldn't recommend taking the show too serious, since it's much more enjoyable not doing that.

Also, a thing I think is kinda rare for music focused anime is having good 3D animations. I'm personally not really a fan of anything 3D related in anime, but HypMic manages to hide it ... very well since their models are very on par with their 2D art style.

Again, I would recommend this anime for anyone who likes a good laugh and has major brainrot like me.
Listen to more of their music and vibe with me~~

Amazing/10, very excited for S2

Wait, why would someone said that this is not worth a thing??? I mean like, I've been in love with the music since way before this came out and I would say I'm hooked up. I don't understand the haters but for me, this is the best anime of the year and I'm glad I spend my time on it. Sure, the concept is very different but that's what makes it interesting and every moment of the episodes I enjoy them plus the raps just awesome.

The plot so far is enjoyable because we get to see each of the divisions' stories and I love ... how they still keep in contact with one another.

The art of course, for me, they're gorgeous. It's their own style, their own way of expressing their characters' characteristics. Ramuda is so colorful XD

I can never say no to the music. I love every part of it. The lyrics are as usual, so powerful.

Overall, I'm still waiting to get to know the anime version of the boys. Because somehow they're bringing the new sides of them.

My piece of words, GIVE THE MUSIC A TRY BEFORE YOU JUDGE THE ANIME.

I don't really know much about writing reviews and such, especially the scores on Story, Art and Overalls but i'll try my best for this is my first ever Anime review.
*CERTAINLY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS AND GRAMMATICAL ERRORS*

First of all, I'm a Hypster.
Hypster is the name of the Hypnosis Mic fandom and i've been a fan who've listened to their songs for over a year. Finding out the news of Hypnosis Mic being adapted into an anime made me extremely happy that i've never been on my happy switch for so long. BUT now that i've watched every episode of this adaptation, you cannot ... even fathom the disappointment i felt after all those 13 episodes. Hypnosis Mic Anime is a Mess. I wish it could've just followed the Manga, or Drama track. At first, i was extremely enthusiastic with my beloved characters having quality animation, and are finally moving around and talking. Fling Posse is my absolute Favourite group and i was happy i got to see 'em moving. But disappointment came around episode 5. (but to be honest i was already confused and down at episode 2 but i endured all that before actually facepalming.) I mean, we got to see every group that needs attention in the first episode right? so whats the use for 4 episodes focusing on each 4 groups? To make the viewer understand and know them? fine. BUT HYPMIC ANIME DIDNT DO THAT. It just straight up made us watch our boys just rapping on random situations given unto them and revealing vague information about them and their past when they could've just followed the manga or drama track itself to make everything LESS CONFUSING. Even as a broke fangirl like me who loves this franchise, i can still cringe with the fact they fight with mics lmao but i should say that a world ruled by women and no weapons is indeed interesting.(if done wisely and better that is.) Another one of my problems was that the anime adaptation of Hypmic had moments that had this one character act differently from his personality/character. For example, Samatoki who tried to punch Ichijikuand hurt other women offiials which was absolutely out of his character even if he was angry and pissed at that time.

Now, finally i came to the point of forgetting everything disappointing that occurred in this anime just to let myself try to enjoy the battle episodes. Yes, i actually did enjoy them but the problems were of that a lot of characters were out of character in the battles which made them look weak than they originally are. Now, i really want to stop comparing this to the manga as it seems to be of original work, but the source says "other." The music used in this was something which i had high expectations from as Hypmic franchise is about all those catchy and sweet music. I could say i enjoyed a lot of the new songs and i am still waiting for the release of all the full version ones. Tho i wished the lyrics stuck to the character more in depth and not just adding lyrics of the character's personality that only touched a few certain levels and then added supposedly rhyming words. The 4 groups and that whatever sEcrEt AlieNs(which i surprisingly liked) VS Chuohku episode was definitely the most facepalming and 2nd hand embarrassment episode i've ever seen. Chuohku is a powerful women ruling government system that defeated the previous government with its you know what or not methods, but now it's troops or whatever is being busted thru by 4 groups with leaders being from the legendary "almost started a coup d'etat" disbanded group? I expected more of Chuohku man. Chuohku has done more better ways than the ones that they did in the anime. I'd say Chuohku could've easily handled all those mundane situations with a better solution.

I really have not much to say about this anime i guess. My feelings of the "tried but kind of failed" adaptation of Hypmic is a mix of Gratefulness, Excitement, or ,Disappointment and Cringe. Tho im still forever grateful seeing my bois animated and talking once again and Hypmic being a Guilty Pleasure for me, despite its cringey executions and all its flaws, i hope for a second season that will be less confusing and something that will actually be better.


Just read the manga or listen to the drama tracks please, its actually more interesting and less cringey.
Seriously the Drama tracks/manga, Game, and Anime have different fucking universes and stories.
:))

First of all, I have to say the animation is amazing. The CGI is very smooth and works well with the art style. It's really cool to finally see the characters animated, they're easily likable and their personalities clash well together. The music that's added is, of course well made. If it werent for the characters, animation, and music I would have probably dropped the show.

I was very disappointed with the storyline, I honestly got bored in the last few episodes. I feel as if the plot has no structure, at this point it feels a bit draged on. I feel like they could have ... done so much more concidering the lore, and budget. If your looking to watch an anime with an awsome storyline, skip this one. However if you were previously a fan, enjoy hiphop/rap, or just looking for intresting characters, I thinks this is a good casual watch.

Easily one of the most convoluted, pretentious, and trope filled shows that I've ever watched and one that I could not recommend highly enough.

It was the worst show that I had watched this year and also the one I had the most fun watching. This is the picture perfect definition of a so-bad-that-it's-good piece of media.

Everything about it is pretentiously extra. You know how shows usually only have one main character? Well this one has 12.

You know how the main character sometimes has weird hair or unique eyes? Well almost every character in this show has two tone ombre hair, usually in some ... pastel candy colored shade. Along with multicolored eyes, which are different from the THREE characters who have actual heterochromia, and pupils shaped like an hourglass. In fact, you can easily tell who will eventually become a relevant character solely on how many colors are in their eyes.

Every character has the most extra backstory imaginable (which usually is somehow intertwined with everyone else's extra backstory). Any trope or profession that you could possibly want is probably in here somewhere. Everything from yukaza leader to host club worker, expert hacker to professional writer.

Every time that they have a rap sequence the animation goes absolutely wild. Depending on who's singing the entire environment changes like they've just unlocked some strange combination of a domain expansion and a bankai.

The best part about this ridiculous world and the bizarre premise that the show is built around is that the story plays it almost completely strait.

All this combined with the almost stroke-inducing, neon colored, and (surprisingly) well animated rap sequences makes for a delightful time.

If you are looking to spend your time watching a good show then you'll likely be let down but if you go into it looking for a good time then you won't be disappointed.

This anime is really fun to watch!

Only if you know the characters already.
Most people watching this series are already fans of Hypnosis Mic's songs, manga, characters, drama tracks, ect, and they get to enjoy their favorite characters fully animated.

I only dipped my toes into the series with reading the prequel manga, meaning I already knew a lot about the group leaders along with all of Buster Bros and MTC. Having this prior knowledge meant I personally had a lot of fun with the show, and I already had a favorite going in. If I didn't have that, I think I wouldn't like this show nearly ... as much, which is why I ranked it 6/10 despite the average score of my stats being 7.8/10. Speaking of, let's go through the categories:

Story: Let's be real, it's nothing impressive. The premise is really interesting, but you get about 6 episodes to introduce the characters for those who are new to the series and then you get the actual Division Rap Battle before we hit that finale (which was poorly executed, but that's for the spoilers section). Because of this format, the pacing is weird and the show winds up being really boring if you go by the 3 episodes rule. Again, having even a mild interest in the characters before going in makes it much more entertaining than it would be otherwise in that first half of the series. 5/10 Good premise, shit pacing, too little story.

Art: The character designs for this show are simply amazing, and the visuals during the rap battles are fantastic for the most part. However, the rest of the animation is nothing amazing and isn't groundbreaking in any way. 8/10 Solid animation and great visuals but nothing beyond that.

Music: This is an anime about rap battles, if the music was bad then this show would be very disappointing. Fortunately, the show delivers on that front, using some pre-existing tracks from the franchise but also including tracks made specifically for the show. However, I highly dislike the decision to write new rap sequences for the DRB instead of using the pre-existing ones, especially when tracks like Battle Battle Battle are considered some of the best in the franchise, so it's 9/10 for me.

Character: Despite having 6 whole episodes of character introduction, and giving every group their own episode, you can't really learn much about the characters past their basic traits, because they're introduced via some kind of episodic story that needs to be resolved. Characters like Doppo, Jyuto and Rio got a somewhat proper treatment, but the Yamada trio felt especially underdeveloped to me, since their screen time was more about Jiro and Saburo wanting nii-chan's attention and Ichiro kicking ass than characterizing any of the siblings. However, I will give credit where credit is due, the writing on Ramuda and Jakurai was really well-done in the latter half of the series, and even without knowing the full details of what happened between them, you can feel the tension between them, and it makes the viewer curious about what caused their relationship to become so strained. Besides that, the characters are at least entertaining even if some of them are a little too shallow compared to the others. 7/10 Entertaining characters but some are poorly written.

Enjoyment: I had fun, but again, that's because I already cared for the show. I'm giving it a 10/10, as I laughed a lot in the early episodes and got attached to my favorites very easily, but like I said it's because I already know those characters and so I enjoy their banter more, so realistically the enjoyment level would probably be much lower for the average anime fan.

This paragraph spoils the season finale! Skip to the next paragraph for final thoughts.
Calling this season finale disappointing would be an understatement. The visuals were extremely boring compared to some of the thing we saw in the last few episodes, the dialogue felt extra corny at times, but by far the most disappointing aspect was the temporary reunion of The Dirty Dawg, if you can even call it that. This group has been hyped up throughout the series as this legendary group of 4 rappers that was so powerful it provided a threat to the government and caused them to have Ramuda force the group to disband. Even in the episode, Ramuda says something among the lines of "You better watch and learn from the legends" to Gentaro and Dice who were about to witness the fight between TDD and Secret Aliens. The rapping was underwhelming on most ends, and we didn't even get to see TDD rap TOGETHER. The only combo we saw was of Ichiro and Ramuda singing together and then they got knocked down. I feel like adding an additional turn where each team sang as a full group before TDD was down and needed everyone's help would make this battle so much cooler and more dramatic, and it pisses me off just how simple the solution here is.

Final thoughts: As a Hypnosis Mic fan, this show provides on almost all fronts (besides some disappointing decisions), and I would easily give it an 8 out of 10. As a regular watcher though... It's nothing groundbreaking, the pacing is slow, a lot of the characters feel shallow and hard to get attached to, and while it does have a decent production value and is at least somewhat entertaining, the writing is very flawed. 6/10, it's a decent show but I wouldn't bother watching it unless you're into HypMic or plan to consume the franchise in other media.

So. I'm going to preface this by saying: I love Hypnosis Mic. I've been into this franchise since the very beginning in 2018 when all we had were jpeg images for official artwork and the only lore we had were the drama tracks. It's one of my favorite things in the whole world and has been for a couple of years now, so believe me when I say: It's so bad that it's good.

The story? Horrendous. It's atrocious. The story is just women taking over the government and banning weapons except for government monitored rap battles. That's it.

Here's the thing you need to understand about ... Hypnosis Mic: The story is not (and never was) it's selling point. What makes it so appealing is the music and the characters. Every character has their own charm and every group has its own unique dynamic that makes you want to know more about their relationship and how they came together in the first place.

If you're looking for a well-written story or anything thought-provoking about gender roles in society or anything deep and thoughtful, you're going to be sorely disappointed. You will be 100% valid if you decide to watch this because the characters are appealing, and honestly, that's the way you should approach this. The entire series is beyond absurd and stupid, but the characters have a specific charm to them that make it difficult to say it's terrible.

The music ranges through a few different genres related to hip hop and rap and tends to blend the use of pop and rock into its songs. They have pretty high production value, too, and you can tell that the voice actors have a lot of fun with the material they're given and work together incredibly well. The visuals certainly compliment the songs and the rhymes, which is really what the whole selling point of the franchise is about. Despite them being in CG, the animations compliment the characters incredibly well and give them life.

So, basically, my advise to you is: go into this with low expectations. If you're here for the story, I suggest you keep the bar in hell because you're not gonna get a good story. However, you might come out of this liking the characters and finding the visuals stunning. The whole point of this is to have fun, and I feel like the anime does a good job of doing just that-- being a fun experience that's amusing in how absurd it all it while also giving us a visually unique show.

Hoo boy, this anime. What a roller coaster. Hypnosis Mic definitely sits in that "so bad it's good" category. I ONLY watched it just to laugh at how bad it was, I swear.
Okay so an anime about rapping. That's already pretty out there. Now what if I told you they used rap battles as a form of combat. And the rap battles are done in CGI. Yep.
The characters all look straight out of a yaoi anime, no joke. ALL OF THEM. I'm still not 100% sure that it's not yaoi. On top of that, they're all pretty dang forgettable. I can't even tell you ... a single name of a character, they're all kinda the same. Edgy guys who rap each other. Each group has like a serious guy, a tough guy, and a more feminine/wimpy guy (or at least that's what it feels like)
The actual rapping is so... jarring? It's very very strange. Only maybe 2 or 3 of them can actually kinda rap, the rest just sound so awkward.
If you want something to laugh at, check it out, otherwise please spare yourself. Maybe go play the game or read the novel or whatever else exists of this (because apparently it's a huge franchise!)

Spoiler warning below (just in case)

First of all, even though I love Hypmic project I have a love-hate relationship with this anime. I was eager when Hypmic has an anime adaptation, but when anime already airing I was like.. oh well.

Story
First episode started with all divisions introduced and rapping to random opponents. When they gonna rapping, they have magical girl transformation vibe (I'm saying this uinronically).
Their rapping has special effects (thus called Hypnosis Mic). It's usually goes 'boom' after the divisions defeated the random opponents. Admit it, that moments make you go "what?"

Then from episode 2 to 8, mostly are one division focused (there's ... also 2 divisions combined in 1 episode). The episode order are Buster Bros, Matenrou, MTC, and Fling Posse.
They doing random things which followed with an occurrence and the divisions defeats the opponents who did the occurrence with their rapping.

Up to episode 9, plot somewhat gets interesting. The divisions are defeating each other in one place. If you read the manga, it's predictable who's gonna be win the competition and vice versa.
There's also 3 anime-only characters, at first they seems like random background characters and interacting some of the division members. Who knows they gonna be impacted to the plot. The plot really confusing to me and the anime ends with cliffhanger ending.

Art
The character designs are pretty similar to Kazui's character design. I'm not getting biased but personally the character designs are memorable. The animation and effects is pretty good.

Sound
Most of the episodes has brand new songs, the anime didn't reused the older songs. Obviously all of the songs are in rap genre. Even the ending song has different divisions who sang it per 3 episodes. The songs is good and it makes me goosebumps when the divisions defeats each other. The voice acting is fine.

Character
If I remember correctly, there's some characters who has a slight flashbacks about what they're do in the past and usually the division leaders. Some of the characters seems having a questionable background and probably because limited episodes it's couldn't be described what they are (more likely Fling Posse members). Buster Bros members are clearly brothers who lives their own. The 3 anime-only trios are foreigners who gonna be defeating the main divisions for Ichijiku's intention.

There's so many HifuDo moments and Rei appeared as a cameo in last episode. More importantly, there's no the rest of Dotsutaire Honpo and BAT appearance cameos. Just Rei.

Overall
Is this anime enjoyable? Ugh.. kind of. I was curious what plot they're gonna bring in the anime. I'm a fan of Hypmic project so I decided to watch the anime until ends.
I get it why this anime having a low score, well this anime isn't for everyone actually. Even the premise sorta weird, but yeah that's Hypmic is.

If you liked a music (especially Japanese rap) anime with weird elements in it, maybe you can try watching this. If not, stay away.
If you curious about Hypmic project, try their manga, drama tracks, and songs. The anime may confusing for newcomers and assume the anime is the alternative story of Hypmic.