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Senpai wa Otokonoko is really the most recent art-deco for Japanese popular otaku literatures. Senpai wa Otokonoko is equal of quality with Eighty Six, Trapezium, or Idoly Pride, even Spice and Wolf or Yakusoku no Neverland (The Promised Neverland). It is so worth to stop people remembering Wonder Egg Priority, or increase the reputation of Project No. 9 which also did relatively better in 3 episodes compared to their works in in-linear Higehiro and Otonari-no-Tenshisama. Senpai wa Otokonoko anime is really historical for everyone across the industry and communities, even if this is adapted to fulfill Fuji Television's NoitaminA in Summer 2024 season which will ... share its own timeslot also for Paris 2024 Olympics coverage there.

The story centers itself in the dynamics of two confused persons called Hanaoka Makoto and Aoi Saki. Yes, I might call them confused because Makoto knows also actually of his gender identity and also his conformity in his core family. Vice-versa, Aoi Saki knows also of her romantic aspirations and her conformity in her bigger family. Makoto decided to throw out of his privilege on having a better couple named Hasegawa (and also Hayase) for Aoi Saki, and Aoi Saki decided not to be coupled with Ryuji (if everyone are not caring on Ryuji's gayness). This story is really revolutionary, even more than what I have analyzed from Nojima Shinji when he wrote out Wonder Egg Priority with CloverWorks. This is beyond the recent politics that plagued Crunchyroll a lot since the early 2020s, or beyond the smart, meaningful creativity Japanese people has already pushed with anime a lot. The story of Senpai wa Otokonoko really brings out people to rethink again about personal aspirations and personal inspirations, both, more than several names I have already mentioned regarding its coming-of-age aspects.

As the bonus for your meaningful life with anime: I recommend watch Senpai wa Otokonoko after watching Idoly Pride, Wonder Egg Priority, and Trapezium movie. Those are in sustain meaning of stories, but also proving the fact that Senpai wa Otokonoko can also be said "the most" among those titles.

The content is too same with Idoly Pride (from Winter 2021 line-up) with a really bit of unnecessarily modifications and even Selection Project haven't made a proper SWOT analysis on Idoly Pride so they are still lacking much things from Idoly Pride and even can't properly make more differences from Idoly Pride, so whatever that high quality of the animations from Doga Kobo, whatever the great job from voice actresses here, it's still disappointed because it's disrespecting Idoly Pride's creators and production companies, and also disrespecting the real purposes of Idoly Pride's production although if then Selection Project's production's real purposes has same thing with ... Idoly Pride's.

Although, I can respect only the episode 4 and partly episode 5, the only original thing from Selection Project.

6/10

Hmm, actually I'm speechless about Wonder Egg Priority because I have experienced watching Mahou Shoujo genre only in 2 animes (Wonder Egg Priority and Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story), and I think it's totally great (everything, from the story, moral messages that want to be shared, the art thanks to CloverWorks and A1 Pictures for their great dedication, the characters, and the seiyuus too (I know the profile of newcomer seiyuu that is voicing Ohto Ai, by the way, :D)), from episode 1 until episode 6. In episode 7, We begin to see fully the humanist and dramatic side of the story ... which is more oriented towards the elements of fantasy, supernatural, and mecha which is classified as metaphorical and uses a lot of symbolism, something that is rarely mentioned in the previous 6 episodes, by looking at the side-story of Kawai Rika, something that makes it easier for me to digest every suffering and struggle than the other 3 characters in the previous 6 episodes. In episode 8, which is a summary review of episodes 1-7, this aspect of the drama is re-emerged and even enhanced to provide insight to the audience about what is actually happening in their lives and the Wonder Egg Priority system itself (including one about Neiru's sadness. , a character that will be my concern afterward, because honestly, it would be terrible if the development of the story was like what happened in episode 9).

Entering episode 9, how shocked I was when Neiru's real profile was opened and the identity of the adult who used to be next to him, exposed. This was exacerbated by the last scenes before the credits, which began to expose the nature of the Wonder Egg Priority system and reveal facts related to that children's psychological suffering. My question: how low did the screenwriter view depression and mental suffering? Depression and mental suffering are always interesting issues when we talk about the causes, but "making it the basis for a supernatural fantasy mecha plot, which later evolved into a science fiction anime-mystery mix-genre drama by directing what really happened with Wonder Egg. Priority system," this is a major crime against the survivors. Besides that, all the aura and social messages that were conveyed in episode 1 to episode 7 all fell apart, something that really disappointed me.

There are several reviewers who also highlight how the actions of these 4 characters, especially related to sensitive issues, indeed many are contradictory to the messages I mean, but in my opinion, also understand the humanist side of each character. That's why I've also given this character element a 10/10.

Enjoyment? I want to reclarify and restudy the definition and the concepts of enjoyment here because I can't see any enjoyment here, except Anemoneria songs, the characters' relationships, and the art itself, something that actually can be complemented in other animes. 3/10.

EDITED: After episodes 7, 8, and 9, I can't believe this is really not just an idol anime, it's more than! Supernatural aspects here aren't just only the "spice" for this anime; it's the main theme of this anime! Even Idoly Pride just can tell the story better than Wonder Egg Priority :/ Anyway, since episodes 7, 8, and 9 too, we can also predict the last episode of Idoly Pride (and I predicted it will be satisfying because of its sports elements here, added with this will give impacts to the supernatural and drama aspects of the story).

Actually, I really want to write ... this early, but after I really know that actually this anime is developed like 'a movie but then edited and cut into 12 episodes because their byproduct is a 30-minute television show who airs once a week on Sunday night', and 'the first episode until the 6th episode is developed as one whole story, a story that is continuous and unbroken', I just can write this review after the airing of 6th episode and 2 days before the airing of 7th episode (some newly developed plot but still related to the first half plot, according to the 7th episode trailer that is released by staffs yesterday night).

In the middle of harsh winter 2021 anime season with much good anime, with many new genre formulations that have been developed, Idoly Pride is now one of my best experiences as a Japanese animation fan, not only on the plot itself but also on the production things information around this idol multimedia project. Actually, this project has been launched in December 2019, as the collaboration of QualiArts (CyberAgent Group), MusicRay'n (Sony Music Entertainment Japan), and Straight Edge, with Hanada Jukki (SATZ, and has been well-known in this genre enthusiast as a legend of idol-themed animes and multimedia projects due to his best works in this genre) as one of the original creators of this anime. But, what I expect Idoly Pride will be a great entertainment work, is how ambitious this project is developed; if you have watched this anime itself, or already follow this project since the first day, you might already know of the list of musicians that are getting involved on this project (Wicky.Recordings, kz-livetune, Ooishi Masayoshi, Q-MHz, and some J-Pop nationwide level musicians like Kishida Yuki, Okii Reiji from TWEEDEES, Kiyoshi Ryujin, yashikin, PA-NON, Kitagawa Katsutoshi from ROUND-TABLE, etc), or the list of works that will be developed and released in this project (those are anime, mangas, game, and discographies) who has been presented all and has been proven all as the high-quality works (even the level of the 3D animation of the game has been high level since the first day of presentation, or how they develop the live performances' scene in the anime on the most idealist yet cool animation development ever, or how they insert the songs in this anime, is maybe the coolest thing for this genre, even since the first idol multimedia project has been developed in the first decade of this century).

What these anime make me satisfying on a great level then is the casts. You know, because this is basically a MusicRay'n's project, Sony Music Entertainment Japan first seiyuu agency, also first and only seiyuu idols agency, until this time. MusicRay'n is the brainchild of Sphere (Tomatsu Haruka, Toyosaki Aki, Kotobuki Minako, and Takagaki Ayahi's idol unit) and TrySail (Amamiya Sora, Asakura Momo, and Natsukawa Shiina's idol unit), 2 legends of seiyuu idol units who have always been getting the spotlights, especially in Aniplex-produced animes as the super performers of opening and ending themes. Moreover, these 7 MusicRay'n talents are also the great seiyuus, and now also have well-known as top-qualified seiyuus in every single anime where they get the roles. For me, because I'm also TrySail fan and also have always been satisfied with many MusicRay'n works before, this is not just like 'seeing the high level of animation work', but also 'feeling super that finally, we can see many legends in only a multimedia project at the same time'. But this is not their main agenda; MusicRay'n priority on Idoly Pride project is to introduce their new talents, the winner of MusicRay'n 3rd Super Seiyuu Audition, who then will be known collectively as MusicRay'n 3rd Generation (until their unit name has been announced). If you see the names of Aikawa Kanata, Tachibana Mirai, Natsume Kokona, Hinata Moka, and Miyazawa Koharu, nah that's MusicRay'n 3rd Generation talents as I have already told. These newcomers themselves, have also shown their wonderful talents and skills as new content makers and content providers, the thing that always been MusicRay'n's core business in Sony Music Japan's system (One of them, Aikawa Kanata has gone a step more ahead when she, in this anime season too, has been trusted to voicing Wonder Egg Priority's Ohto Ai, the anime main character that now has been viral abroad in this season). With these outstanding casts, this anime has nearly perfect with some dramatic and emotional plots they already brought to audiences. Although, this isn't enough for MusicRay'n. For giving more entertaining aspects on this mix-media project, they also auditioned more seiyuus outside MusicRay'n even Sony Music Japan, with I think, the most ambitious audition ever, for finding seiyuus that are not only just capable and fit with the characters, but also finding the seiyuus who have the specialties that can make audiences shock. And from that audition, they get Kanda Sayaka (yes, a legendary Japanese idol that has 20 years-long careers and has been well known as Anna's Japanese dubber in Disney's Frozen project), Kanno Mai (a newcomer too just like MusicRay'n Generation 3, but have a super talent in singing even she can fulfill the special ability of Kawasaki Sakura as a Hoshimi Production idol who is been said as having a similar singing voice with Nagase Mana (that is voiced by the legend itself, Kanda Sayaka)), Shuuto Yukina, Takao Kanon (the seiyuus who can bring the characters with the type like Nijigasaki School Idol Club's Tennoji Rina, of course also with their kindly each different development routes around these characters (Hyodo Shizuku and Shiraishi Chisa)), Sasaki Nao (the seiyuu that have a mature voice, so can bring the character that has been developed as Nagase Mana's senior in Hoshimi Production, the senior of a legend-voiced character itself), and Moeko Yuuki (a professional singing artist that has been with good singing skill and an aesthetic artview as an artist since her debut as Megumi Wata in 2014, who then turned into animation industry as a seiyuu. Her character itself in Idoly Pride, Ichinose Rei, is also getting viral abroad for the dance scene in this anime). Of course, all of these kindly bring many new entertaining aspects to this multimedia works.

For the anime story, I recommend you should watch it by yourself. Until the 6th episode, I have always cried in happiness and pride at the end of the episode. The story is so emotional, even not only just in the context of the anime universe but also related to the real purposes and development of this project itself. Every detail of the story is so related to the plots even makes every moment in the anime more dramatized, some giving a much easter egg impression according to production and who are getting involved in this project besides of CyberAgent Group, MusicRay'n, and Straight Edge (yes, it's actually Sony animation development tradition, especially in original animes, where you should watch the animes until the details, if you are Madoka Magica audiences, or Magia Record audiences, or maybe also the audiences of Wonder Egg Priority this season, the knowledge of details seeking will be also useful in Idoly Pride because you will can understand the whole plot of Idoly Pride by elaborate the dialogues and the visual).

But, what I cannot stop respect much this project is the branding and the art of the project itself, thanks to CyberAgent Group teams especially to QualiArts team. Their level of aesthetic and art idealism is kindly on another high level than their compatriots in this genre. All of Idoly Pride works have been developed with such high quality and some strange art style that make this project is kinda unique than their any compatriots in this genre. You should check their official Youtube by yourself and see how super-creative these people behind this project. Also, QP:Flapper, with all of these character designs, is totally genius, undoubtedly.

Finally, what I respect much to this project is, how MusicRay'n (togetherly with its partner, CyberAgent Group and Straight Edge) develops this project for the first time as an independent content creator, being apart of their 'lord' who usually always get provided on their talents and human resources. Yes, they are Aniplex itself, Sony Music Entertainment Japan's anime-specialty subsidiary company. Every aspect of this franchise is much to say that MusicRay'n is a well-capable anime, manga, game content creator, even can have any competition with their senior, Aniplex. Moreover, MusicRay'n also, for the first time, appeared as a separate music label within Sony Music Entertainment Japan, particularly in the distribution of all Idoly Pride songs. Uniquely, MusicRay'n usually delegates the distribution of all its musical talents' works to other Sony Music Japan labels, namely Sony Music Labels, SACRA Music, and even Aniplex itself.