Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
MichaelBellonis
“I was given the gift of being born a girl - so I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”
Kageki Shojo!! is a 13 episode anime series that adapts the manga of the same name, written by Kumiko Saiki. The adaption was animated by Pine Jam, and directed by Kazuhiro Yoneda, who has also directed works like Gleipnir and Do It Yourself!!.
This anime has phenomenal direction across the board, from the sound design and score, background art, character expression and animation, to the script itself where every ounce of dialogue and character interaction is integral to the overall theme, as well as each character’s unique arc.
Kageki Shojo!!’s focus is on the all girl musical theater school that’s based on Japan’s actual musical theater school, Takarazuka. The real-life school was founded in 1…
Read at the sourceAirinn
One of the best animes I've ever watched! ^^ It shows it is a history written by a woman for women. It's difficult to find an anime that treats pedophilia as what it is: something nasty and a problem, specially in Japan. They talk about sexual harassment as well and depict how it feels very accurately. Also the characters are well developed and all their stories came very naturally. I really enjoyed this anime and I hope we get a second season, it's beautiful. I also found out about Takarazuka Revue thanks to this and I loved it. It's delightful to find animes that treat well their woman characters.
Read at the sourcePotato-Chhan
Kageki Shoujo is the kind of series that you really dont know if you wanna continue watching after the first episode but after watching a little more, you cant stop!
This anime really focuses on the acting world, the ups and downs the performers go through, their dreams as well as their fears and for some, how hard it is to keep going and not give up. Acting is harder then you might think but what you really see in this anime is how anyone from anywhere can become a star if they truly work for it and put all their time in effort into their play. If you cant offer any of that, then too bad so sad, you have no chance to become one of the big ones.
The characters are well thought of, each have a special personnality and arent the same just copied and paste. In my opinion, in this series, th…
Read at the sourceMimiHamburger
It's rare that the character design for anime teaser art catches my attention while browsing. Only four other anime series in the past 10 years have caught attention the way Kageki Shojo!! did from the getgo. And today Kageki Shojo!! adds to my perfect track record of being attracted to the best of the best.
The animation took absolutely no shortcuts. Like none. Every scene, even the silly scenes, is perfectly thought out. I can't even think of another anime that stays this constant with their animation and design. Which fits the entire theme of the show and the actual Takarazuka culture. Perfection.
Every character is good. Even the antagonist.
Everything from the character to the music had so much love put into it that it was almost overwhelming - but in the best way possible.
Alt…
Read at the sourceaudioxtc
I’d like to start out by clarifying I’m a guy whose not very familiar with musicals, ballets, etc. The most exotic prestigious outing I’ve had was for the Russian Nutcracker, and a few other classics at my local live theatre. I’m not really a big fan of live dramas nor do I watch them from home. Kageki Shoujo seemed to be a behind the scenes for these exact live shows that I’m so unfamiliar, thus I’m not even sure why I even decided to watch it; I can’t stress enough just how opposite of a show this is from what I normally would watch. All of this is to give a little perspective, because I ended up loving this series and honestly believe if given the chance others will as well!
Initially, I believed this to be an in depth look at live shows such as Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet. That’s part…
Read at the sourceVivavideoUser2x
Kageki Shoujo is a show that just gives me so much happiness and satisfaction. This show is really great, I can't really say more than that, so this review is going to be as brief as I can. And this is mostly going to be me gushing about it as much as I can.
STORY
The pacing felt very satisfying and its tone was very soothing mostly. Also, I can’t act for shit, but the way the show explains stageplays and the audience that watches it was interesting for sure. The show gave me an interesting teaching lesson about “otokoyaku”.I think my one and only flaw was getting a little lost with Sarasa’s family affairs but it did teach me about “kabuki” and such. And it was very interesting.
What also surprised me was the absolutely devastating yet realistic depiction of its more serious themes.The sh…
Read at the sourceLukesYGO_WSonYT
10/10 My new favourite anime and manga.
I didn't know about the Takarazuka Revue until now, but this show has made me a fan of it.
It told a great story for each of the main characters of the 100th class.
They all got their moment to shine and showed great personality's and storytelling.
It made you want to cheer for many of them after seeing their past, hardships and how much they are trying to become better. I really hope it gets a 2nd season.
I have all the manga so far and where they are currently up to is really exciting.
Read at the sourceBlackAlicerei
Kageki Shoujo's story wasn't as gripping as I hoped it to be, however it was enough to carry on and watch until the very end. Honestly, I didn't really hear much sound for the series. It mainly focused on character relationships and developments. It didn't really make me feel as if it was a drama academy. If all else, Ouran High School's Lobelia Girls' Academy was more expressive than the series.
I'd say it was still a pleasant and fair series to boot. At the moment, I'm checking out the manga to see if there's any glaring revisions or how much detail was stripped off to create the anime for this series.
Interestingly, the character design did faintly remind me of Honey and Clover's art style.
overall. I've rated it as a 6/10. Not bad. Not Greet. But good. :)
Read at the sourceFirechick12012
I pretty much knew nothing about this series until someone posted a review of the first part of the manga on Anime News Network, and that review pretty much made me want to buy it. I mean, hello? In this recent sea of bland isekai, bad ecchi, or generic media, when was the last time we had a genuine shoujo manga that actually had an intriguing story that harkened back to a lot of classics like Rose of Versailles and Glass Mask? Yeah, the whole idea of girls going to a specialized performing arts school has been done to death in other places, but my philosophy is that if you actually put effort into what you create and manage to make something compelling, complete with good execution and characters we can care about, then there's nothing wrong with reusing a well-worn premise. I actually bo…
Read at the sourceluvgds
Looking forward for a possible 2nd season of Kageki Shoujo!! The world of Kouka was completely new for me, so it was refreshing to see a school where things are a little bit different than the usual schools in anime. I had my doubts at first, but, after the story developed, I truly became interested in knowing more about the characters (even Hijiri, who's purposefully a hateful character). I've watched a lot of animes, but can't really remember on the spot of ones that dealt with sensible topics in the way Kageki Shoujo!! did... it felt like a punch on the stomach sometimes.
And, of course, so many boyish, handsome girls, both with long and short hair. A big treat indeed!
Read at the sourceCinaGinger
Did you love 'Rose of Versailles' and 'Glass Mask'? If you don't know any of them I'd recommend watching those (Glass Mask has a remake, by the way) and if you love the classics as much as I did, you'll totally love this series. This has been one of my favorite anime of the year.
It's difficult to tag what genre is this but something is certain: it's a mixture of shoujo and josei (some students are from high school and others are already 19-year-olds) and a mixture of shoujo ai and sorority. Everyone is complex and has their own situation and trauma. It has that old vibe about 80s and 90s but drawn with a modern animation and with values from XXI century so there's nothing cringy about it. They focus a lot on psychologic situations that are later on expressed through musical theatre, alth…
Read at the sourcebrillante
Wow, what a surprise this was! Kageki Shoujo is probably my dark horse of the year. Even though this isn’t a perfect anime for me, it drew me in and I couldn’t look away. It did exactly what musical theatre is supposed to do - grab your attention, keep it, and then dazzle you with shimmering lights and emotions. This is an anime full of heart and love for acting, and it is delivered through some of the best character writing of the year.
Kageki Shoujo is more of a school slice-of-life than anything else, but it’s one of the most realistic slice-of-lifes I’ve seen. All the characters share the goal to be top actors in the Kouka Troupe, but they each struggle with trying to reach it. As they struggle, we learn about their motivations and witness the traumas that haunt them, leading to revel…
Read at the sourceMatheusmiranda96
Kageki Shoujo, the anime that most surprised and won me over this season.
This show is not just the everyday life of girls craving stardom at a theater arts school. It's about dreams, overcomings, disappointments, traumas, and hopes.
The anime shows a very realistic vision, with several foundations, and cruel life, and often brutal, that a young woman can have when searching for fame and success.
Yes, brutal. Kageki addresses topics such as sexual abuse and persecutors, eating disorders, resentments left by hurt and hatred, problems in a destabilized family nucleus, family abandonment, ideals imposed on him by others...
They are girls fighting for a desire. Not an idealistic dream, or a desire for megalomaniac greatness, but a passion. They are girls who, when going through all kin…
Read at the sourcei-like-this
Summer 2021 Tall Girl Supremacy.
I try to be as non-bias as possible when I write a review, but Kageki Shoujo/Opera Girl is factually top tier, is one of the best shows of the summer season and has definitely cracked the top 10 anime of 2021 list for right now, so you're just going to have to forgive me whilst I indulge myself this one time.
The story follows Sarasa Watanabe a tall, happy go lucky cinnamon roll and Ai Narata an emotionless, cold, former J-pop idol as they enter into an all female opera school producing some of the finest Musical and Theatrical Artists Japan has to offer with the goal of becoming the main stars of a famous all female Musical Theatre Troupe. To get there they'll have to learn to overcome their sort comings whilst learning with and competing against a cast…
Read at the sourceEdenharley
Kageki Shoujo was such an incredible depiction of the acting world and really gave me a lot to think about regarding it, I can safely say it had some of the most realistic and modern drama I've ever seen in an animated show all based within a great setting with some fantastic characters to embody it. I really don't have any issues with this show, it did everything I wanted and was so captivating in doing it.
The story focuses on this prestigious drama school and our main cast who are admitted to it. From the opening episode the viewer is shown how elite Kouka academy is and you really believe this the whole way through. I cannot stress enough how much this show made me really think about the drama and issues it brought up, pretty much every episode introduces an issue or thinking point ab…
Read at the sourceKuvie28
Kageki Shoujo! is truly a hidden gem of the summer season and I would recommend this in a heartbeat with one caveat (see below).
I was truly surprised by the fact that out of all of the series I started this season, this was the one I looked forward to watching every single week. In fact, it was my favorite series this season by far. I literally got chills at times and couldn't help but root for the main characters as they took one step forward towards realizing their dreams. It almost gives me Skip Beat and Act Age vibes at times as the central focus is on drama and acting.
This anime is unique in the fact that it pushes the boundaries of a frontier that has not really been explored in recent years. It brings up real issues that teens go through in a considerate manner and should be ap…
Read at the sourceGween_Gween
Kageki Shoujo is one of those dramas that attacks directly to your heart through a beautiful sequence of impactful memories and a deep love towards its setting and motive. Through a ride into the backgrounds of accomplished characters there is a consequential presentation of all the struggles that are involved in the pressure of performing, a conscious and meaningful intent to develop a critique to the toxicity presented in the current era and a vivid intention to develop the concept of developing a sense of who we are in order to create something unique and beautiful.
The set of characters are in a perfect symbiosis, almost mathematically designed to create gorgeous juxtapositions over their emotions and reflection. From the trauma of being ignored by your family while being superficiall…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
Kageki Shojo took me by pleasant surprise. As a huge Love Live and idol stan, I was obviously going to give it a watch. What I was not expecting was such a competent story about the darker aspects of show-business and the pressure that many girls are under to succeed in the industry. By week two, it was by far my most anticipated show of the week and I loved it so much I couldn’t help but go out and by every volume of the manga.
So, firstly, Kageki Shojo isn’t an idol show per se, it’s more of an acting show and follows girls from various artistic backgrounds coming together to study the performing arts. That’s a bit of a different take on the usual girl idol group team-up to save a dying school formula we often get. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s nice to have somethi…
Read at the sourceg1l
It’s rare to see an anime that handles its themes as tactfully and down-to-earth as Kageki Shoujo does. I’ll be honest, going into this anime I had originally dismissed it as another shoujo that was targeted towards a different audience to me. The tall, energetic girl and the short, reserved girl contrast never stood out to me early on, and the setting of a prestigious theatrical school never grabbed my attention either. But then each episode would tackle some new theme or explore some new character, and before I knew it I was drawn in by everything this anime had to offer.
While the anime does tackle themes such as trauma, stalking, and eating disorders its important to note that this isn’t the sole purpose of the series. It explores the theatrical industry as a whole, and these are only…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
To lift off a page of ANN's article on the history of the Takarazuka Revue (you should defintely read that fantastic article BTW):
Shall I tell a modern tale of girls and a stage? Curtains unraveled to their far reaches, a grand staircase positioned in the back, the spotlight basks on two figures: a sweeping-dress maiden played by a woman, and an epaulettes-coat hero played by another woman. Both are from the Takarazuka Revue.
The Takarazuka Revue is such a historical and important milestone in the history of Japan's theatre scene, one that caters only to the women, and is the female version of the Kabuki, where both theatres cater to only the sole preferred sex (any criss-crossing are banned). Over time, we've seen influences that hold the Takarazuka Revue in high regard, from the likes…
Read at the source