Cue!

"Cue!" is a series that I will defend until my dying breath. What an absolute gem of an anime.

"Cue!" pulls one of the greatest bait and switches of all time. It was immediately made known that the anime was going to run for two seasons, and while following Haruna and her unit was enough to hold my attention for the first few episodes, it made me wonder how quickly it would become repetitive with about 18 episodes left to go.

Then without warning, the show starts branching out into the lives of the other characters. 16 total characters, to be exact.

And 16 characters means 16 stories.

"Cue!" ... is a series without side characters. Each of the 16 voice actresses is given ample time for the viewer to learn their personality, struggles, and inspiration for pursuing voice acting. While certain character traits can bleed into each other at times, every unit of 4 is given a unique dynamic that makes their interactions meaningful, and even emotional at times. I had an amazing time with this one through its entire run, and it's a shame it's not available on any Western streaming platforms because I believe this is a series that any slice of life fan can dive right into.

I gotta be completely honest here, as someone who thinks this anime is a 11/10. I was in love with it right when i saw it for the first time. The first second of the first episode and i was hooked!

I just love the characters and i love that they all have their own cute little stories instead of the anime just focusing on one of them. If the anime would just have had one of the girls the main character, the chance of me dropping it would be so high I would throw up by seeing the title.

What i want to call this ... is a masterpiece, and I adore every second of every episode. CUE! is truly a masterpiece in my opinion. I'd never believe that I would ever love an anime this much.

Let me tell you about Cue. Cue is an interesting show that is not only cute, but a simple concept, that really is a relaxing watch. It reminds me of an anime I recently watched in idolmaster, along with Shirobako. Which will impact of how I review this show, not in a bad sense, but more you'll understand as I go on. But let's go over the show!

Story and characters: 7
The story is about the characters themselves. But unlike certain shows, there is a dozen characters. A dozen of them. A wide enough cast, with a bunch of personalities on full display. That all want ... to be one thing. That is a voice actor! Combine the two of these, and you're in for an entertaining and relaxing watch. Plus it gives a good look into anime or game production in terms of a voice acting sense, but also a great presentation, of how it looks and works. Cute gals, cute setting, etc. Realistic goals and feelings. Can't go wrong there.

Art and sound: 7
There is a lot to appreciate when it comes to this section. Not only the sound is fitting, and it's perfectly set in so many areas. From the production, to the OP and ED themselves. But te art style is not only cute, but their are inner details that you will truly appreciate within it's product, that really shine through. It really gives a great inside look of how an anime, or game is truly made. The panels and such. It's super well done, and should be appreciated more.

Cue is an interesting show, that really details voice acting, and voice actors in general, and production values. It's a nice show, that you should be checking out!

Cue! in my opinion suffers from too many ingredients in the soup.

I really don't think they needed to cram 16 voice actors into the story. As a result, it necessarily has the more interesting plot lines rising to the top in season one/part one, that being the Bloom Ball anime group arc, and the singing idol group arc. The show could've easily just focused on those eight characters, maybe having some other girls just in passing, much like we see in some episodes with other voice actors for the anime, for example.

It seems they wanted to get as many types of girls as they ... could on screen, and the storyline took a hit because of it. Maybe they focus on the other groups in part two and those arcs become more satisfying, but even so, it's just a lot going on. I'd have rather they really developed a handful of characters versus splitting the time between 16 of them (plus the managers and side characters). I basically only feel anything for like three or four of them.

All that said, it's a pretty enjoyable show overall, with the main premise being an interesting one. The interactions between the groups is wholesome and has enough intrigue to not completely fall flat. I think the show is at its best when we see the characters "become" their roles; when it cuts to a character transforming into their anime counterpart, or the singing group becoming their idols. That's about as powerful as this show gets.

I also like Rio, and I'm glad they include her working alongside the girls throughout. She gives a consistency and continuity to scenes where it can sometimes feel like we're bouncing between storylines. She's the glue that holds AiRBLUE together.

I lean rating this a 6.5 in reality. Worth watching, don't feel like I'm wasting my time. But I'm just not engaged in all the storylines and characters, and it could've been tighter and punchier.

This Anime is incredible! A lot of people are throwing the anime down, saying it's bad and all, but that's not true. The anime may be simple but it's very good, it moved me and gave me inspiration to keep going with life, like many animes. The anime shows the girls' insecurity in this life of voice actors and how they decide to move on while trying their best and having fun in the process. This anime is amazing, but underrated. Just sad, I wanted to see a new season... These people...

I put 10 in the "Rate the anime" part because I don't rate animes ... in MAL, I don't like it.

This is a review from someone who really likes idol anime. Cue! is a show that grew on me. After an episode or two, I was ready to drop it. Once the show starts having episodes about characters you haven't heard much from, it really start to find it's identity that I felt it lacked in the first 8 or so episodes.

The story is simple and for anyone who's tried a few idol animes, it's very-very familiar: new group of girls new in the seiyuu biz trying to 'make it'. The overarching story isn't what's interesting, but rather character moments and development. I encourage ... you, if you're a few episodes in and are bored by the very little progress t what I'll call 'the overall story', know that there are character-centric episodes that add up to make the majority (but not *every* girl as of Ep 19) feel more fleshed out.

The art's good, the character designs feel a little same-y at the beginning just because there are so many girls in this one. But that feeling goes away, at least it does for me. There's only so many combinations of hair style, hair color, eye color, body shape and size, etc. to make 16 teenage girl anime characters feel unique. This is a nitpick, though, because the art style in a general sense is good.

What I can tell you about this anime is not only a good anime, but this anime also gives us more details about the life of becoming a voice actor, aka seiyuu. I do not care if someone just said that anime is too bored, I just want them to understand that if they want to be a seiyuu, they need to do the same thing as they do. Further, I love the way they tell the story about the seiyuu and the struggles they have to become the greatest seiyuu. Of course, we all know that a seiyuu might be a center of fan ... criticism, but we still keep supporting them.

In brief, if someone wishes that they could be a seiyuu, tell them to watch this anime.