Kami Kuzu☆Idol

Went into this expecting an anime type treatment of Idol anime mash-up with Phantom of the Opera and was pleasantly surprised to find there was something new and different in this story with a lot of heart. Animation - Sub Par - 5/10 Let's get the bad news out of the way first. The CGI 2D/3D animation is a little wonky and not great. The high water mark of 2D rotoscope or motion capture would be Yuri on Ice, and possibly Dance Dance Danseur. This anime is maybe 30% of that. It's visible and obviously not the best. The only good thing I can say is theyat least got the dancing right, plus it's ULTRA obvious the Yoshino dancer guy is a much better dancer than Niyodo, he's got all the right flourishes at the right places to give that extra Oomph to a dance performance. Kudos to him! So the animation is a problem but the character designs are great. Asahi (the ghost) is personable and cute, Yoshino is adorable and Niyodo is the tall, handsome one. In short, good character designs, rotoscope but animation could have been handled better at least to Idolish 7 standard. Music / OST - Slightly above Mid - 6/10 Music wise all the songs are nice and catchy, but not necessarily memorable. I'd dance to them if they came on though. Story and Characters - 8/10. The story and characters are where this anime breaks new ground. Character wise, we have Niyodo who became an idol because he was lazy and wanted a way to make a quick buck. He makes no bones about being what he is but that's not the normal mold of idols, which Asahi and Yoshino fit. They try their best to get him to at least like his career, which is what good friends do because his initial wave slave mentality was honestly off-putting at the start. Still, it's refreshing to actually see an introvert succeed as an idol with support from his partner, management and fans. Where this anime shines is in its examination of fans, FANDOM and all that entails, good AND bad. Obsessive fans. Stalkers. Haters. Devoted ones with high expectations. Idols having zero break or privacy as everything these days is instant news. Where does one draw the line between work and private time? What is the true cost of success if an idol has to have a "fake persona" to please fans 24/7? These and other themes are explored in a non judgmental, light-hearted manner that still gives the viewer plenty of food for thought. And of course, the shining stars and best part of this anime were the "nerd" fans. They were LIFE!! The nerd fans provided so much comedy I wanted another season just so I can vicariously "squeee" and be FANS with them. The Calendar episode had me in stitches. It's hard not to identify with some aspect of those fans as there are some bands I was 100% fan-girling at so I really identified with them and they're the real reason I enjoyed this anime so much. Recommended if you like Idol and Music Anime, with a message that is subtle but wholesome.

I wasn't sure what to make of the PV, but I decided to give this anime a chance anyway and I'm really glad that I did. The characters were fun and engaging, the comedy made me laugh, and there were come cute and heartfelt moments scattered throughout the episodes. It was fun to watch how possession changed not only Nyodo but also Asahi as well. The recurring secondary characters were also a treat from the sweet and sincere Yoshino to the enthusiastic fan club members to the rival idols. There were no characters I dreaded seeing on screen. If you're looking for an anime towatch casually, this is a good pick. Just kind of go with the flow of it and it'll be worth it especially as the story progresses past the first few episodes.

I do not like idol anime. However, I am compelled to always pick one up with a slightly interesting premise. But hell, this isn't even my first idol show that I watched with a ghost assisting the MC, which was Idoly Pride, and that one was a disaster. So I wasn't really looking forward to Kami Kuzu. Yet, contrary to my low expectations, the complaints that I usually have with idol anime are solved here. First off are the members of the idol group. Thank god that there's only two people in the idol group in this show. Usually, there's like 8+ members in an idolgroup, and all the members blend together. Of course, in a 12 episode run that needs to cram in story, there's no way that a large cast of members in an idol group are not going ot be heavily archetyped. With a small two member cast in Kami Kuzu, there's a lot more opportunity for individuality and for you to get to know the two members well. Niyodo obviously has a lot of screen time because he's the MC, so you get to know him a lot. He's lazy, gets tired, has no particular hobbies, and enjoys getting money for free. His manzai with both Yoshino, and Asahi are nice. The gimmick in this show is that the lazy Niyodo can always trade places with an energetic Asahi to create a inconsistent idol personality, where some of his performances are energetic, and the others, more lethargic. That brings me to the to Asahi. While she's just a super generic idol personality that I'd hate if she were just the MC of another show, her setting being that she's a ghost that's haunting Niyodo makes her a much more bearable and endearing character. Again, both Niyodo and Asahi would be a bit too boring by themselves, but the pairing with each other completes them to become a good duo. Finally, we have Yoshino. If he was just in another generic idol group anime, he'd probably have little to no depth. However, him being the sole other member of Zings makes him a lot better of a character. He's a good friend to Niyodo, picking up the slack that he creates, while also trying his very best to overcome his own obstacles. He's lacks confidence, afraid of standing out and has stage freight, so he too, enjoys the company of a more confident Niyodo. Did you see that? I just listed every relevant main character. There was only three! That's a shockingly small amount for an idol show, and that small character cast brings out the best of all three of them. The side characters are also great. The manager is good, but the otaku fans are honestly just as good as the main cast. There's a lot of focus on a specific die-hard fan group of ZINGS, and their perspectives contrasted to Niyodo's and Yoshino's are great. Just the conversations that they have and the excitement they get from the events make them an essential part of the show. there was only one scene where I thought they were a bit too over the top, but that's also because I believe the show dragged on a chapter's worth of content into an entire episode. Other than that, there's also the poor animation. You can clearly tell that the anime reuses a lot of frames, and the conversations that the female fans are very static. The dance choreography honestly isn't the worst CGI, but it's also still unwatchable because of the horrific CGI. The facial expressions and mouth movement during dialogue aren't as dynamic as they should be. The last episode was basically a just concert with songs that ZINGS already sang, so they just reused all of the animation. Overall, a low budget anime with some poor pacing in terms of reusing animation and dragging on episodes to save on animation, but the content and characters are actually far better than most idol shows.

A very interesting premise that got my hopes up in the first few episodes, but unfortunately it's not developed and leads to nothing as you watch more. Explains why there were just 10 episodes - even that was probably hard to squeeze out of a "story" with no story. Even when we get moments with hints of possible development, like the risk of the ghost girl being recognized by a die-hard fan of hers, the authors chose to not shake things up. Disappointing. Well, I guess most people aren't in it so much for the story but for the music. Those will be happy with thefinal concert episode. It's a very subjective thing so check out if you like this kind of music from the trailers or something. Personally, I didn't like most of the songs, nor the CGI dancing that felt like repeating the same moves over and over every 5 seconds for almost 20 minutes straight. There was one song that had a part I liked in the middle and that's about it. I've not found a good music anime since Nana years ago, so I've mostly given up nowadays.

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