You know, as an adver-anime for the real life Alice In Theater Troupe, I must say I am impressed they'd bother doing a strange sort of plot that goes above and beyond the generic idol-style trappings of other shows. For that, I must applaud its bravery in doing so. I like giving credit for shows that bother to challenge the medium instead of conforming to usual genre cliches and tropes, and for that, Gekidol at least deserves a participation award.
I did say it's rough though, and most of that comes to pacing and presentation. Fundamentally I do think Gekidol presents a genuinely fascinating story with parallels to the stage play the girls put up, the problem does come from the rough animation and pacing. The show is a pretty slow burn that doesn't reveal its cards until very late, and even then most of the show is relatively grounded up until the halfway point, where it just goes off the rails.
The main characters aren't particularly interesting, with Seria kind of losing her spotlight after the focus shifts to Takezaki and Kaworu in the latter half, and none of the other members of Alice In really do make up for the slack. I suppose the main plot could have used more episodes to flesh it out, as it stands the shift from "PTSD girl does theatre to get over her loneliness" to "Time police shenanigans", while not unprecedented, does feel quite jarring. Perhaps I could also use another viewing to catch any foreshadowing I may have missed.
As it stands, Gekidol is in a bit of a strange spot for me to recommend. On one hand I do adore the fact that it tries to do something different, but on another I feel like its shortcomings do overshadow its ambitions at times. Still, I'd recommend anyone with an open mind to give it a shot. Horror-mystery shows don't come too often, and just theorizing on what could happen in the next episode each week is riveting in it of itself.
5/10
