Kabukibu is a story focusing on a youngster, Kurogo, who is incredibly passionate about kabuki (classical Japanese dance-drama), as he aims to gather people to form a kabuki club, hence the title of the show. The plot is not in any way unique; it's probably not the first time you will have heard of an anime where some guy decides to form a club and tries to persuade everyone around him to join. However, in place of the plot's simplicity, there were other areas which made the show appealing. First of those which comes to mind would be the comedy. While humor can be pretty subjective from person to person, I found myself really enjoying the comical aspect of the show. The jokes they made didn't really feel forced, most of them felt casual and really things which everyday high school students would do and say. Apart from that, it was also really interesting seeing how Kurogo goes about trying to persuade the others to join him in doing kabuki. Imagine if you were asked to participate in a club which focuses on performing a 400-year-old traditional art form which supposedly has no part to play in modern society. You'll probably decline the offer, wouldn't you? That's exactly how everyone reacted to his proposal at first. And that was just the first of his troubles. Honestly, the ending is predictable and there's nothing to hide, Kurogo was always going to be successful, but this story is about HOW he will accomplish it. That is precisely what's intriguing about the show and makes you want to watch on every week.
Another element of the show I would like to touch on is the characters. What I really love and what I feel really makes the show is the interactions between the characters. It wasn't a one-man show where one know-it-all character goes "Leave this to me, I'll carry everyone". Stuff happened. There were conflicts, some of them even somewhat unexpected, and the characters had to talk to one another in order to solve them. The characters themselves were not unique individuals per se, but together they formed one unique group of people striving towards a common goal. Although the show did not address every single character, I felt they generally did a good job for those they focused more on. The backstories were not too complex to understand, and simple enough for viewers to sympathize with the character involved. Overall, I liked the characters a lot and couldn't really bring myself to dislike any one. With regards to the seiyuus, at one glance you can see that while the cast isn't exactly star-studded, they are all adequately experienced. While it was certainly a challenge for them to try and voice lines in the kabuki style, I feel they did a great job. It actually helps that they aren't adept at kabuki lines, because after all, the characters themselves are mere amateurs, just like the cast.
Checking the synopsis of this anime out, I'm sure you'll start to wonder things like "But I'm not interested in kabuki, will I be able to get into this show?" I can safely assure you that you do not need to have any background knowledge of kabuki in order to watch this. In fact, it's quite the opposite; watching this show could be what gives you the background knowledge of kabuki instead. Of course, if you're already interested in kabuki, you're definitely going to enjoy this anime. Nevertheless, that is not a necessity. I went into this show not knowing much about kabuki (heck, I don't even know much about Japanese traditional arts), but still wound up enjoying myself watching it. Dare I say, it has even got me interested in kabuki to the extent that I would give it a try if I had the chance to.
I'd personally give this anime a 7, or at most 8... but that's just me. I hope reading this can help convince you to ignore the bad ratings and give this anime a chance, because I feel that it truly deserves more attention and love!
