Girls Band Cry

Everyone yearns to find their true purpose in life. This is also true for Nina Iseri, a 17-year-old girl looking to enroll in a good university, but the world always seems to work against her. On her very first day in Tokyo, she gets lost, ignored, and locked out of her new apartment. However, an unexpected opportunity arises when Nina meets Momoka Kawaragi, one of her favorite guitarists.

After Nina joins Momoka for a street performance, Momoka decides they should start a band together. While Nina initially hesitates, her determination grows as they start acquiring more bandmates—the beautiful drummer Subaru Awa, the aloof keyboardist Tomo Ebizuka, and the intelligent bassist Rupa. The five girls face challenges both in the music industry and within themselves, but their shared passion for music never lets them give up on their dreams.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Iseri, Nina Main

Rina Japanese

Awa, Subaru Main

Mirei Japanese

Kawaragi, Momoka Main

Yuuri Japanese

Rupa Main

Shuri Japanese

Ebizuka, Tomo Main

Natsu Japanese

Hina Supporting

Kondou, Reina Japanese

Nakata Supporting

Kanuka, Mitsuaki Japanese

Rin Supporting

Urushiyama, Yuuki Japanese

Ai Supporting

Miyashiro, Momoko Japanese

Nana Supporting

Matsuoka, Misato Japanese

Hirayama, Tadashi Producer

Sakai, Kazuo Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Miyoshi, Keiichirou Sound Director

Imura, Kenji Episode Director

Reviews

Sep 28, 2025

porQpineavenger

Recommended

This is what I wanted K-On! to be, best music anime I've seen yet. The biggest difference to versions of "girl band anime" I've seen before is that the characters all feel like real people instead of various paper-thin cute archetypes. What's also not paper-thin here is the animation, the new 3D CGI animation style allows instruments to look like they're being played accurately for the first time, if you're a musician you will appreciate that you can analyze the mo-cap performances similar to real shows. Finally, if you're a fan of J-Rock the original songs are genuinely great, and the concept to form a ... real-life band to write and perform the songs, in addition to voicing their respective characters, adds a dimension of authenticity and "realness" to the whole production.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by porQpineavenger (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Apr 2, 2025

Followkata

Mixed Feelings

Not great not bad. Somewhere along the lines of slightly better than average is what I felt about this anime

I watched girls band cry right after watching it's Mygo!!!!! And the sequel Ave Mujica. Simply put it was like watching a copy of its Mygo!!!!! but not as good. This review is going to be a direct comparison as I can't think of two animes that are so similar.


They are so similar that the entire time It felt as i was watching the same anime but with different characters, settings, and different problems. Both animes first and foremost fall into the ... category of drama and music. Both animes feature dysfunctional bands which argue amongst each other. Both animes focus on the character dynamics and relationships with each other. Both animes have the girls carry different problems. Both animes aren't the typical happy girls band cgdct anime. They focus on the characters and problems amongst them.

In all honesty if I hadn't watched it's Mygo!!!! And it's sequel Ave, I would have rated Girls Band Cry higher as then I would've thought that there aren't many girls band animes which focus on the characters and the darker tone, and the problems that each individual carries. However this wasn't the case and I had just came off of watching a better version.

To top it all off both animes animation are completely done in CG. Like come on lol. This happens a lot in anime where one studio creates an anime and another studio creates an extremely similar anime. I'm not a fan of CG in fact I used to despise it, however over the years CG with technology has gotten better but if you were to compare the CG of its Mygo!!!!! To Girls Band Cry the former definitely crushes the latter.

Some people may like the CG where it doesn't look like anime where it looks sort of fake. Unfortunately I am not a fan of that that CG. It's Mygo!!!!! produced the CG on a level where at times it looked like anime animation and I could not tell the difference, in fact I did not find out until after watching the show that it was all CG that's how good it was. Girls Band Cry from episode 1 I could tell it was CG, it has cringe worthy CG and I didn't get used to it until almost episode 12. So it definitely falls short in this category for me.

Overall story is good however I just watched an anime that had an extremely similar story. I give equal scores to both stories.


Overall characters are good except I just watched an anime with similar characters. In this regard I would say the characters are equally likeable as well.

Music...this is also the same and what annoyed me the most about this is the fact both MC's create and sing music in the exact same manner. They create music that's about their problems, struggles, and the screams within their hearts. The music they create in both animes is literally created from the truth and hardships, and emotions within each MC. The music in both is incredible.

Conclusion.

The anime felt like I just watched a reskin of its Mygo. Dont make my mistake and watch one after the other or you will end up disappointed. My rating for this anime reflects this. It would be rated higher if not. Now if your going to choose which one to watch take this with a grain of salt

In my opinion characters equally likeable, music equally good, story, Mygo is set in a city with most of the environment being school, studio, someone's house and is about highschool girls that cope with real world problems and internal relationships. Girls Band Cry is set in Tokyo and actually has more variety in settings and is about high school girl dropouts and adults that cope with real world problems. The pacing in Mygo is better for sure. The problems they face are different but similar in severity. The CG hands down goes to Its Mygo. The music is very subjective and both have great music.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Followkata (11)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Dec 18, 2025

kingmiku39

Not Recommended

For an anime about music, specifically J-rock, there was a distinct lack of good songs. I would outright say that the OP is bad music-wise. The only decent songs were the instrumental tracks, and that's only because they kept playing the leitmotif of the OP, and I'm a sucker for those.

CG animation was okay. Story and characters were melodramatic as hell. The first few episodes centered so much around characters 'leaving the band', to the point where the term entered my vocab.

To finish this review, I am lowkey baffled at the amount of praise regarding this show. Maybe it's just not my thing. I ... don't know.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by kingmiku39 (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

2020's Essentials Part 3 [2024-2025]

by baby_minu

47 Entries · 69 Restacks

Highest Rated Anime Of The 2020s (No Sequels/Donghua)

by eroguy

50 Entries · 60 Restacks

unpopular/underhyped anime

by seroza23

50 Entries · 13 Restacks

'Girls Band Cry' Gets Two-Part Compilation Movie

A two-part compilation movie for the Girls Band Cry anime series was announced at the Togenashi Togeari 2nd One-Man Live "Rinne no Kotowari" concert on Fr...read more

Sep 13, 2024 4:08 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (20 comments)

Spring 2024 Simulcast List [Update 6/10]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Spring 2024 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

Apr 5, 2024 1:40 PM by Snow | Discuss (29 comments)

	Poll: Girls Band Cry Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) KANLen09 - Jun 28, 2024	216 replies	by TomuKun »» Jan 10, 2:16 PM
	Is Girls Band Cry stalling in the West? Can we jump-start it? Tacsk0 - Nov 13, 2024	26 replies	by Astachanna »» Jan 6, 7:33 PM
	Final Trailer, KV & info. nirererin - Jul 10, 2025	11 replies	by Tacsk0 »» Dec 17, 2025 10:57 AM
	Poll: Girls Band Cry Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) KANLen09 - Apr 5, 2024	181 replies	by squidbait »» Dec 16, 2025 10:44 AM
	Where is the light novel? Here comes the GBC webtoon! Tacsk0 - May 31, 2025	38 replies	by Tacsk0 »» Dec 6, 2025 7:58 AM

A Stage of Surprises: J-POP SOUND CAPSULE @ Anime Expo 2025

The J-POP SOUND CAPSULE music festival brought the spirit of the Anisong World Matsuri back to the States with six amazing acts at Anime Expo 2025. Featuring GRANRODEO, FLOW, TOGENASHI TOGEARI, Hiroshi Kitadani, Sakurazaka46, and ASTERISM, this event was a night to remember!

by firefractal

17,632 views