I really loved this show but I felt the need to make this review for a few reasons. After watching the second half of the show as it aired this season, I got a lot more invested once they finally started talking about becoming idles. For some reason, they decided to make the first 5 or 6 episodes purely filler. Sure we get a little bit of world building and some very minor character development, but that's half of the entire show. If they dedicated that time to the story or some deeper development for the main characters, this show could've been so much more.
Story - 4/10
Like I said, the first half of the show is purely filler. The story takes place in a magic school where you must accumulate enough points through doing various tasks to avoid getting expelled from the school. The main 5 girls do whatever they can to get enough points to do so for 5 episodes. With only around 6 episodes to develop the actual story, you can obviously tell that there would be some flaws. Some might argue that the first half of the show brought some necessary worldbuilding, but that worldbuilding is completely insignificant. Instead of building up the threat of the magic beasts' invasion, they decide to play dodge ball and walk around a haunted house. It's almost insulting that they just wasted all this time for nothing. They could've at least put the idea in the minds of the main characters of becoming idols, but they had to save that for later for some reason.
Once the second half of the show rolls around, Tiara and the gang decide to become idols so they can get the final remaining points they need to avoid expulsion. Some more stuff is revealed in the last episode about her relationship with her sister, and the series leaves off an unfinished note as all the idol groups declare to help recover Tiara's sister's voice. The story wasn't anything special but it wasn't anything too offensive besides the 5 episodes of filler. There were some heartwarming scenes and some hype moments. Honestly pretty solid since they decided to dedicate half of the show to filler. The filler was pretty entertaining but it barely added anything significant.
Art - 7/10
The art in the first episode is great, but gets a little worse for a few episodes after that. Eventually, we're getting an idol performance at least once every episode. The animation in the performances are pretty solid as well. There were some janky sequences as well as some extra nice ones. Nothing much else to say.
Sound - 7/10
The voice acting and the sound effects were nothing special nor terrible, but I personally loved most of the music. I was really hoping they would sing the opening in the show, but I'm not too angry. The songs that the girls sung during the performances were great. That's all I have to say.
Characters - 4/10
Another big issue with this show is the amount of time it takes to introduce a stupid amount of irrelevant characters. They take a few minutes to give some shallow development to the main girls except Tiara and then decide to introduce 10 more girls. That's an exaggeration, but it was honestly stupid that they did this. Tiara and her sister have a complicated relationship that ends up getting resolved in the last episode. It was pretty heartwarming but it was nothing special once again. Yet, the side characters are just plain stereotypical anime cardboard cut-outs. I even had a hard time remembering the characters names even at the halfway point during the show's initial run. If the show just kept LiGHTS, Supernova, and got rid of all the other groups, then it would've had time to sincerely develop our main girls while providing them with rivals. Nevertheless, I still love unconditionally love the girls, hence my unreasonable love for the series.
Enjoyment - 7/10
I like idol anime and slice of life anime. This anime had a lot of solid slice of life and lots of idols, so I liked it. The humor during the slice of life episodes was actually pretty nice. It was also satisfying to see Tiara get better at using her magical power, which she never uses once after episode 5(?).
Overall - 5/10
I really liked this show since it was one of my first idol anime to get into, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. It wasn't as if I didn't notice the flaws as I watched the show either; I just simply chose to ignore them and have a good time. This show is honestly just mindless fun with some heartwarming moments sprinkled in here and there. If you're lookin for a solid story or deep characters, turn away now. If you like idols and you're lookin for an anime to just chill and not think about anything when you're watching it then this is the anime for you. I'm gonna miss this show, but it is a multimedia project. Keep a lookout for the game and the manga adaption.
All in all, its not really an objectively good anime, in fact its probably closer to being bad, but you can still have a good time watching it.
