Introduction
In Wake Up, Girls! Green Leaves Entertainment is in the worst situation any Talent Management Agency can be in... they have NO talent! Desperate for an act, President Junko Tange targets the idol singer market and gives her flunky Matsuda his marching orders: get a girl group to manage, even if it means building one from scratch!
Since complete singing groups rarely appear out of thin air, Matsuda's now in the difficult position of having to find girls with the right skills who don't already have contracts with Japan's music industry. That girl at the Maid Café? Good enough! A lead singer who's been fired from another group? Sure, why not? How about one who's only 13 years old? What could possibly go wrong there?
They may not be on the A-list, the B-List, or even the C-list to start, but with a little love and a whole lot of hard work, it's possible that all Japan may someday wake up to the music of WAKE UP, GIRLS!
(Source: Sentai Filmworks)
Audience reviews
6 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
noelpixel
TL;DR: Weird fan service, there's misogyny, sexual harassment, pedophilia, hypocrisy, fan service during "important" scenes that ruins the moment, plain male MC, good production but It feels like a waste.
The production in general it's pretty good, there's a good animation, character designer, voice acting, songs, etc. but it just adds more to the disappointment/wasted opportunity.
The male MC has sexual harassment and 'accidental' "fan service" scenes with the girls (they're teenagers, he's an adult), there's also multiple scenes of them showing their panties.
What makes the fan service worse is:
1. They sometimes happen during "important" moments (like character development) to the point that it makes you wonder if the author really wanted anyone to take it serious;
2. Hypocrisy. The…
Read at the sourceRundownPaper4
So here we go. The movie prequel to the TV series.
Let me just say this at the start that the idol genre is an unknown territory for me. I've never watched an idol show before this and I didn't know whether I'd honestly like it.
But that said, I did enjoy this movie and this is due to the pacing of the show. Being a movie and not a TV series it had the opportunity to take a slower, more progressive approach to plot progression.
And what this means is that it had a very refreshing pace which made it enjoyable to watch. Story wise it isn't entirely sunshine and daises since it had its fair share of darker than normal moments, but as a result it portrayed a what was to me more realistic view of the idol world, especially of people who want to debut and their management. I found myself cri…
Read at the sourceyngtadpole
I wasn't expecting such a great movie especially with the slow start this one has. But there's definitely a sincerity and theme of what idols are being all about that makes this anime really moving. The art's quite unique but the two reasons I enjoyed this anime so much was because the compelling stories and themes and the characters. It's a movie about Girls trying to become idols- the movie moves fast but the great thing about that is there isn't any downtime at all. Once the plot starts to accelerate it just piles on the enjoyment from the dilemmas and struggles, the individuality of all the girls, and coming together at the end. One of the best nicely paced little anime movies I've seen. I don't think you'll realize the impact of the story, art of them dancing, sound of their music unt…
Read at the sourcePockyG
Pop music. AKA shallow and pedantic. It's easy to be dismissive or cynical about idol groups. Putting aside any predisposition about the topic, what we have here an exciting venture about the unpredictable path to stardom. Unfortunately, this intro to the anime series only takes the first steps and cannot be considered a standalone work.
This intro nails the mood of the development and tribulations of a newly formed idol group, Wake Up, Girls! Fear of the unknown, excitement and hope of potential fame... this anime oozes potential of a fantastic journey to the spotlight. Introducing the character arc of center, Shimada Mayu, retired idol, the "problem" with this intro is that there is no definite conclusion. Obviously this will be resolved within the TV series but taking it as a standalon…
Read at the sourceStark700
Get a group of girls together with dreams, give them your business card, and ask them if you want to be an idol. What do you get? Wake Up, Girls! It’s no mystery that the movie is about a group of girls performing music as an inspiration. Although they each have their own different reasons for becoming an idol, the girls of this group stands together in unity to perform music for the audience and hoping to earn themselves a name in the music industry.
Wake Up, Girls! Shichinin no Idol serves a prequel to the anime series of the same name. I highly recommend watching the movie first because it introduces initial concepts to grasp before venturing into the official anime series. The movie runs initially less than a full hour and offers some basic concepts of the show’s aesthetics.
The con…
Read at the sourceJupiterbae
Wake Up, Girls! Shichinin no Idol works as an intro into the show, think of it as a 52 minute long first episode. It's simple enough, a talent company runs out of talent and tries to scramble together some girls to start an idol group. The characters are cute and the music is great and it even made me laugh a few times, it's enough to make me start watching the Wake Up, Girls! as it airs.
8/10
Read at the source