Reviews

Sep 18, 2019
Girl do you even lift!?

How Heavy Are The Dumbells You Lift or my preferred name up above is the recent edition to a new sub genre of anime that I like to call cute girls doing cool and educational things. This year we’ve had girls singing beautiful songs and girls surviving on a deserted island. This time we have girls working out and getting in shape for our viewing pleasure, and what a pleasure it is.

The concept for this anime/manga is genius. How do we get people to start taking care of themselves? How do we get people to hit the gym? The answer is simple, get some cute anime girls to hit the gym in your place thus inspiring you to do the same. I mean what could be a better motivator then you and your waifu working out side by side.

The anime even has a good starting off point for those who are hesitant to the idea of “physical activity”. The show starts off with the main character Hibiki wanting to get in shape for the summer. The kind of goal that just about anyone post New Year’s Eve can relate to. The only difference is Hibiki follows through with her plan by joining Silverman’s Gym which is definitely not based off anything. From there she is introduced to her gym friend and muscle freak “ “ along with the gyms trainer Machio San which if the name is any indication is a completely normal average guy who just happens to have a rare form of gigantism where every part of his body except his head is supersized. Normally that kind of disproportionate body size thing would irk me but this is a comedy, so it just works. The dude is also allergic to clothes if you know what I mean.

There isn’t really much of a story aside from every day presents a new workout for the girls to try. There are a few short story arcs with some surprising cameos but most of the time is devoted to flexing and posing. Yes, that’s right. This show is one big Jojo reference. The cats out of the bag. It was just a JoJo anime all along.

Getting back on track, I like that the show is actually taking the time to educate me on the different workout techniques that are displayed. Now I know there are going to be some people that say the fanservice distracts from the learning opportunities but in all honesty, for once the fan service is both needed and justified. It’s needed because an anime just about people working out with no fan service is not going to motivate anyone to check out the show let alone attempt any of the workouts. Finally it’s justified because the act of working out is all about improving the body. Making the body look good. It’s a necessary evil.

When it comes to getting in a good work out, the right music play list is needed to get you in the mood to train hard. Luckily this anime provides both a good opening song and ending song to listen to the next time you feel like pumping iron. Art and animation is pretty good especially the when it comes to accentuating the finer details of the human body for educational purposes of course. Seriously though, lots of eye candy in this show and you have the art/animation to thank for that.

Overall, this is my kind of show. It’s the perfect blend of entertainment and education. Call it edutainment. Might even have to give it the rewatch just so I can workout to it and follow along with the characters. I can confidently give “Girl Do You Even Lift!?” my full recommendation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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