Dream Festival!

For all of my prior reviews, I never took concern regarding the seiyuu's performance (voice talent) because they always made it seem so easy regardless of the material. Unfortunately, there is always a first for everything and for my review on Dream Festival!, the greatest issue --for the first time ever-- lies on the seiyuu. Especially for idol genre, the performance of the seiyuu becomes more vital than ever because it would take a different kind of muscle. As it is about singing, the speaking dialogues must be well-synchronized with their respective character's artistry and inner turmoils. Additionally, just like artists in real life, the idolsin idol-genre anime tend to be vulnerable, whimsical, quirky, difficult, and mysterious. One cannot simply utilize the same method with idol characters as they do with Shounen or Seinen characters. The conclusion? It takes the pro among the pros to bring music-genre anime come to life. Unfortunately, the seiyuu in Dream Festival! somehow seem as if they had not gotten that memo. It is not to say that every seiyuu involved is terrible. Notable exception is definitely Sasaki Junya (voiced with gusto and charm by Tomita Kentarou-- who would later on find his breakout role in Ballroom e Youkoso) to the point of which Junya would have been better off as the primary protagonist than Amamiya Kanade (which, in opposite, is voiced flatly and tentatively by Ishihara Souma). It is understandable that Kanade is more of a blank canvas of a character, but it is as if Ishihara Souma took that character on far too literally. Nonetheless, there are potentials to be found in this anime. The Dorika element does not always work but once it works, it does make the overall narrative stand out for a bit. It is not to say that the season two should be missed. Some anime deserve a second chance and Dream Festival! is one of them. #felixlovesanime

Good enough idol anime but with a couple of things thats hampers it to be any better than an ok one and here is why. Although the story has a nice beginning thats kinda original and the progress through it is done well in its own way it tend to gets dull as it progress. The reason for this isnt necessarily the story itself but the storys content you can say. The sound is one of those elements i talked about when it comes to a certain downfall of this anime. I find the songs uinteresting and the op and endings arent any better. I meanits not horrible songs and i would grade them as passing idol anime songs but nothing about them makes me want to go back and listen to them again. I would rather watch another idol anime for the songs than to watch this one again for the same reason. When it comes to characters i actually find them well done in a sence but as we know the main character has alot to say even if its an idol anime. The main character here is a noob in the buisness which can be used as a reason for his slow progress but he problem is that even after that he doesnt progress much in the sence of becomming more interesting or engaging. I find myself remembering many other characters more than i do the main one. His only redeeming quality is one thats with a lot of other mains is that he can do it always but not much more. Even main characters who only seem to have a good attitude also manage to show other abilites that they might not be as much aware of but this main isnt interesting overall. I enjoyed it to some regards but this anime wont be that anime i go back to if i find myself wanting a good idol anime. Overall as i see the story combined with the mediocre music and ok characters thats been overshadowed by an uninteresting main character i cant give it more than a 5. I mean if you want to enjoy a great idol anime with good songs to booth this isnt the one but if you just want to go into the idol anime world i think this anime does that well. As long as those who watches this doesnt think this is what idol anime in general are. Since there are alot of better ones out there.

So, first thing: If you are you are going to watch this anime is a MUST that you like boybands, bishonen, why? After all... this anime is about bishonen in a boyband. If you don't like these two things you can still watch the anime, but you're not their target audiance so I'm sure you're not going to find the same enjoyment as I did, Let me state the obvious, I LOVE these idol/boyband/bishonen anime but this is a review so I'm goint to do it as it has to be made. Story: The story is good, is about a group of boys who wants to becomeidols(each one with their motives) and the anime shows their path to do it while they grow as persons and professionals. Simple and good and they worked this in a good and enjoyable anime. Art: The art is good, is not the best in the world, I got myself thinking a lot of times staring and thinking that something was missing, the movements were a little stiff, something like thiis. They use CG for the dance parts, is a good CG and is well blended with the 2D animation, Have I seen better CG usage in this kind of anime? Yes. But is good so I'll give the Arts a 7 Sound: I love the "main songs" and the anime introduces us to a good number of songs so they don't always sing the same(this is a really good point), when they are not together as a group you see the seyuus are not exactly the best singers you'll find out there. And the voices for Chizuru and Kanade are quite annoying for me. But the songs are addictive and nice to hear so I'll give an 8. Character: This is a usual idol anime, you'll have a little of their stories as persons, why they want to become idols and their doubts like "should I really be an idol?" "Why am I doing this?". I liked their backgrounds, is convincing and well wrapped, it explains their personalities and you get to really cheer for them, the anime gives the space for them to grow up as persons and idols so is good, and for those who didn't get their space the anime ends announcing a second season for 2017 so I believe they'll explore some characters more in the second season. I'm going to give an 8 and wait for season two :) Enjoyment: I liiked the characters as said above, the songs, the ending(since there is a second season announced) so I'll give this a 9. Overall: 8 Is a good anime, not the best I've seen in my life but I enjoyed it and the songs are going to stay with me for a while. I'll be waiting for the second season :)

I watched both seasons of Dream Festival. Here are my thoughts: This is basically male Aikatsu. Surprisingly good direction. Drama is handled well sometimes. At times there was definitely some 'forced drama' (forgive me for using this phrase), but it's a male idol show so I basically expected that. Forced drama and corniness comes with the territory (keep in mind the target audience demographic of this kind of show). I don't necessarily dislike forced drama but I will acknowledge it when I see it. In any case, the anime did a decent job of achieving the 'emotional rollercoaster' effect that I often enjoy in idol shows suchas this. Richer characterization than expected, especially with consideration for cast size. Most episodes had some element of character development within them, which is something I perceive as being a major strong point. The cast is fairly likable as well. There was occasionally some shounen-ai subtext between characters, but it wasn't prominent. I would have expected more of that kind of thing from an anime like this actually. Not a negative or positive thing, just a neutral observation. Idol songs themselves are good and the background OST is decent too. I notably enjoyed the voice acting of some of the characters (Yuuto and Chizuru). Over-the-top tacky idol outfits, just like Aikatsu! Warning: CGI is used for the dance scenes. The character designs are very simplistic, probably to make CGI easier. Animation quality is serviceable at best. Art style is quite bland and lacking in detail. Visually, the production seems low budget. My rating: 7/10 Overall, this anime is surprisingly good for a low-budget low-viewership ONA associated with a video game. It did everything I'd expect from a male idol show and I felt satisfied with its performance. I wish there were more seasons. I would have rated this higher if the drama was executed a little better or if I liked the characters a little more; that's not to imply that the anime did poorly in either of those regards though. I'm a huge sucker for idol shows that depict the more realistic/harder/behind-the-scenes aspects of working as an idol. This show does this fairly well, in addition to its other positive qualities. My expectations going into this were admittedly low, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I really like idol anime though so I might be biased.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes