Kawagoe Boys Sing

This is one of the most baffling anime experiences I've ever had. Here is an anime almost nobody knew about, both in Japan and over in America, and this project appears to be this studio's very first anime. Well they are definitely learning how to make anime in the School of HARD KNOCKS It's supposed to be a Boy's Choir, though in the very first episode they show dancing, and a routine that more resembles idol performance. There are some bits and pieces that hint at someone in this studio knowing about singing... but it's not much, and the show has a distinct feeling that itdoesn't really know much about its subject. And then there's the music.... Oh God. For reasons known only to the show's creators they had an ambitious choice of songs but which include a lot of English lyrics. But they apparently didn't have the budget for fluent English vocalists... the singing is by a bunch of amateurs and sounds awful most of the time. And I don't mean mild accents here and there, but such bad mispronunciation that it literally made me CRINGE!! Speaking of cringe, the opener for this thing is an acid trip. It's one of the most terrible looking openers I've ever seen, made all the more baffling by how much passion was clearly put into it. This entire anime feels like a Case Study for the Dunning-Kreuger Effect. The plot is pretty basic- smug rich boy failed conductor (Haruo Hibiki, who I called "Maestro") is recruited by his grandmother (better known as Old Hag) who decides that he must coach a boy's choir at the Kawagoe Boy's School that she is headmaster of, and win a National Competition or else his conducting career is over. He first scouts Tenshi, known as "Cardbocci" in the anime, which means Cardboard Box...heh, a very apt description of the impression this anime makes on you. Tenshi is cute, talented, but has stage fright. But it quickly forgets the plot and becomes an after-school music club anime, with all these other oddball boys joining. One who has facepaint like you'd see in Kiss maybe, a couple of twins and a rich kid (who all have the same face), and a big marshmallow guy (Bartleby). It teases shonen-ai romance but never gets farther than the characters just being nice to each other. The animation is stilted, a lot of scenes make heavy use of stills. The characters all have these prominent eyelids drawn over their eyes that just make them look tired. The direction is all over the place, and the episodes range from pithy, slightly boring inexplicable school antics mixed with character drama- to downright awful. One episode in the middle of the season features the boys moving to another auditorium and somehow getting taken hostage by the worst terrorist in history, while an old guy shows up with a camera and ends up with his pants down... I can't explain, it's just terrible. Other times the direction takes a dark, artsy turn. Characters are introduced and then forgotten about. Most of the episodes began with Maestro sitting on the sofa in Old Hag's office while she prods him for progress on his choir recruitment while they eat desserts (like PEPPER FLAVORED pudding! BLEGHH!!) Another episode has her ride up to challenge a competing choir group while riding a Segway. I could tell you to just go ahead and watch this just to see for yourself, but you're more likely to be bored to death and that is why I can't recommend it. Even so, there are moments of true brilliance- sometimes the music is emotional and fitting and very good. Sometimes the arthouse direction actually pulls off a great scene. Sometimes the character IT-kun is actually kind of fun and entertaining. The backgrounds don't look like anything you see in other anime, it's different scenery and shot from different angles than you usually see and gives it an interesting vibe. This isn't a truly bad show, it tries very hard and has a positive message, but its execution is so clumsy and its writing so sloppy, and it's a musical anime that doesn't understand its own subject and doesn't have enough MUSIC!!! And in the world of music anime that's a deal breaker.