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I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22~
Happy birthday to me!
Hey guys kanna here. Welcome to the first Anime Monday of 2017! I would have put this up sooner, but I had no computer access, because I was out of town and couldn't take my laptop with me. If they still had the Blogger app for iPad, I would have used that, but they don't. Oy vey...
Anyway, I'm out of words. I mean...the last half of UtaPri was just explosive. I had no idea what to expect. I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind because of the first half of the season. The music wasn't anything to brag about, the plot was...poorly executed, for lack of better phrasing, and do we need to COUNT the number of innuendos?
Look, UtaPri has good music. It hadn't let me down...until this season. The genres of songs weren't what their characters would usually sing (don't get me started on Ren's song...that was probably the worst one of this season), which can sometimes be a good thing. It's good to have singers try different genres of music every now and then. But...these changes have to make sense. I can't imagine Ren singing a song where his precious sax isn't the featured instrument, I can't imagine Otoya singing a song about stuff that isn't all sunshine and happiness, and I can't imagine QUARTET NIGHT singing a pop song about their bond. None. Of. It. FITS!
The three songs where it kind of works (in terms of the duet projects) are Mighty Aura (Tokiya and Eiiji), JUSTICE IMPULSE (Syo and Yamato), and LASTING ONENESS (Masato and Kira). Although that could be because the singers stuck to the genres they were good at and good for their characters.
Aside from that one song that QUARTET NIGHT did in the second episode of the season (it wasn't good enough for me to remember the name), QUARTET NIGHT did NOT disappoint. The song they sang at the Triple S Decisive concert, G-d's S.T.A.R, was AMAZING, and probably my favorite song of the three that were performed at the concert. Then again, QUARTET NIGHT is my favorite group of the three (HEAVENS, STARISH, and QUARTET NIGHT), so my opinion is a little biased.
This season was primarily HEAVENS focused, unlike last season, which focused more on QUARTET NIGHT. We really got to know the members of HEAVENS, which was great...to an extent. I couldn't stand Van Kiryuin or Eiichi Otori. The other members were just ok, except for Kira, who is officially my favorite member of HEAVENS. Anyway, the members of HEAVENS (now that I can name them all), are Yamato Hyuuga, Eiiji Otori, Shion Amakusa, Van Kiryuin, Eiichi Otori, Nagi Mikado, and Kira Sumeragi.
Music-wise, there really wasn't anything to brag about. They didn't play the good music until towards the end of the season, which really sucked and probably lost a good amount of viewers. I feel the people who did the music for this season were riding the popularity train from the previous seasons, got lazy, and by the time they realized they were producing crap, it was too late, so they could only give us 5 good songs in the second half of the season.
That's right, five. I'm thankful it wasn't zero. Those songs were (in order of appearance): Lasting Oneness (Masato and Kira), NEXT DOOR (Otoya and Eiichi), G-d's S.T.A.R (QUARTET NIGHT), Immortal Inferno (HEAVENS), and WE ARE STARISH!! (STARISH).
The interesting thing about the last episode was that unlike the previous seasons, the song that was performed in the big performance thing wasn't the ending song. It was an entirely new song, which was WE ARE STARISH!!. Don't get me wrong, they still sang the ending song (in its entirety) after they sang WE ARE STARISH!!, but I thought it was interesting that they did that.
The animation...don't get me started. It was awful. A lot of the characters' movements look like CGI. Which isn't always a bad thing...it just has to look good. This did NOT look good.
Lastly (and this is a spoiler, so if you want to be spoiled, read ahead; otherwise, go watch it), the ending. Good freaking G-d, the ending. It was...predictable. Granted, we got some great music out of it, but it was still predictable. STARISH won the opportunity to be the opening artist at the Triple S concert. Let's be honest: we all saw that coming.
After the credits of the last episode, they advertised a live concert featuring the voice actors from all three groups. But that's not the worst part. No. There's nothing wrong with advertising a live concert, and I'm kind of looking forward to this one. If I was in Japan and got tickets, I'd probably be one of the many screaming fans in the audience.
The worst part is when they tease us with a new anime project. We have no idea what it is, no rumors or anything to go off of, nothing. I don't understand why. They don't even get all cocky with a "see you next season" or anything like that. It makes no sense. I mean, it's great that they're starting a new animation project. Just tell us what it is for Pete's sake!
So, rating of Legend Star: um...wow, this is really tough. 5/10 (until someone has a legitimate argument for a different rating)?
Why: The first half of the season (or series, if it's just one season) of any anime is (in my opinion) the most important. It gives viewers an idea of what kind of anime to expect, and with musical anime like UtaPri, it tells us what kind of music to look forward to.
The first half of the anime did NOT deliver at all. I have a feeling that Legend Star lost a lot of viewers because of the first half of the season. The music wasn't good, the writing was laughable at best, and do we even need to count the innuendos?
The second half of the anime, however, delivered where the first half didn't. We had great music, great character development, and little to no innuendos. The only part that was a little lackluster for me was the animation, but I'm willing to let that slide a little.
The opening wasn't that great, and it took me multiple listens to the ending for me to say, "Wow, I like this song." It wasn't great, but it was a decent song.
Well, those are my final thoughts on UtaPri: Maji LOVE Legend Star. Look forward to next Anime Monday, where I review...oh, dear G-d, no.
No, no, no. I'm not subjecting myself to torture again. I'll lose my sanity. There has to be something here on my list of anime I'm planning on reviewing. Hm...well, it is January. And...that has absolutely nothing to do with anything! I can't even contact that one guy I kinda-sorta know (he's a friend of a relative of mine) for a live video chat! G-D WHY DO I HAVE TO SUBJECT MYSELF TO SUCH TORTURE?!
