Girls Band Cry

This anime seems to be in a sweet spot between the big comedy of Bocchi the Rock and the big drama of MyGO!!!, both great shows focused on 'Cute Girls Doing Music Things'. Girls on Girls Band Cry has grounded backgrounds and issues that are realistic, and the chemistry between the three of them we've seen so far is very good. The music, as important as it is for a show like this, delivers great J-rock songs. Series composition is in charge of Jukki Hanada, man behind this role on series like Steins;Gate and A place further than Universe, so it seems that this anime ... is in good hands.

Since this is a music-based anime, the music of Togenashi Togeari (the band that the girls are forming) is powerful J-rock. If you are a fan of the genre, you'll be pleased to know that the band has already released 10 very good songs before the anime starts. The opening (which visuals start with great 2D versions of the cast leading to the 3D versions) and the ending are performed by the band as well. Regarding the voice cast, all the actresses are new, and this is especially noticeable in Subaru's voice, but it makes the character's conversations more realistic and "normal". As a curiosity, the voice actresses are the actual members of the band Togenashi Togeari, who play their instruments live, like some Bang Dream bands do.

The CGI in the show is well executed. Despite some minor details (for example, the texture of Momoka's cat is a bit weird), the show fully embraces the medium and uses it creatively, especially in the two performances shown. The facial expressions of the main cast are very expressive, giving a good amount of movement to the mouth and adding little movements to the characters that seem to move like real people. This may seem a little strange to some people, and the whole CGI aesthetic might alienate some others, but you have to give it a chance. It's not just acceptable CGI; it's actually good CGI and good animation.

One of the big problems of the show is that it is not available legally at the moment in the West, so the subtitles are an issue, and not being licensed on any major platform may cause the show to go under the radar of many people. This has the potential to be one of the best musical shows of the year, and it deserves to be seen.

If you're wondering if GaruKura is worth the watch, it is! If you're asking yourself if you should watch this or the other Idol anime airing right now, the answer is watch both!

The animation is extremely good even if you dislike CGI, the characters are realistic enough that it's easy to relate to them, the music is great, there really isn't any reason for not watching this show.

There's an on-going issue right now with the subtitles being of a pretty low quality but once someone picks this anime up for translation please try to give it a watch and don't let it go under the ... radar, you wont regret it!

The first three episodes was a pleasant surprise. It’s hard not to compare when there are two girls’ band anime in the same season; so far I enjoyed Girls Band Cry more due to its polished screenplay and vivid characters.

Ep.1, serving as an intro, was quite rushed, a bit exaggerated, and somewhat clichéd. I understand that conflict is the heart of drama, but this 24-minute episode crammed in too much! However, the merit of efficient storytelling emerged in ep.2, with a much better viewing experience. The screenplay was so developed that a short dinner scene revealed the distinct personalities of three characters naturally, including new ... character Subaru.

Undoubtedly, main character Nina was the most impressive. I saw the unique vitality of adolescence on her - strayed, naïve, hysterical, yet filled with a contagious power. Her backstory wasn’t uncommon in anime characters, but Girls Band Cry was able to convey the "volume" of her trauma, rather than glossing over it lightly. Her paranoid and sensitive personality made her a "troublesome" character, but this vulnerability was exactly what adolescence looks like. Yelling at a random stranger while flinging a lamp? That’s quite rock’n’roll for a high school dropout. She needed to vent; she needed to make her scream heard. She needed to join the band.

There are some lesser satisfactory (but not detrimental) aspects. First, 3D animation wasn’t that enjoyable - the characters’ movements were unnaturally smooth, and there was always a greasy lighting on the characters. Secondly, Nina’s voice when singing lacked the rage and loneliness as shown in the anime; it was not bad though, I still enjoyed most of the singing scenes.

Hopefully Girls Band Cry will never turn into another “cute girls doing cute things” anime. According to the screenwriter Hanada Jukki, the anime aims to explore the story of young people floating between dreams and reality - and I hope it ends that way.